Rollin and a’ tumblin

Sounds like media dust. I put a dryer sheet in my tumbler. And add a dash of mineral spirits.. And a squirt of polish. This helps with dust control and helps the cleaning.

Add a little Nu finish to it, that may help.

What kind of media you're using and how shiny do you want it?
Those are two of the big questions.

Try adding some nufinish to the media,about a cupful. I also use corncob media for a second tumble after the prep work is done. Makes em real purty!

When you tumble it add some cut up used dryer sheets to the drum. This will reduce the amount of dust substantially. This time you could put the brass in an old bath towel and roll it around to remove most of the dust. Wash your hands after too as it could have lead contamination in it as well.

The fine dust acts as a lubricant in your sizing die. I roll the brass on a rag to remove most of it. Then there is just enough to help sizing and not so much to scratch the die.

When I used to do it dry, I’d hope for some wind, since you’re on the lakes, shouldn’t be a problem. I’d winnow the brass as it dropped into a bucket. Too much dust converted me into a wet tumble person.
Dryer sheets were mentioned, I used to cut up the used swiffer sheets and they work good too.

Enfielder said:

Lyman tufnut. I’m not all that particular. I just want to alleviate the media dust. I’ve been reloading dirty brass for years.

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I use cut up dryer sheets as mentioned in other posts.
I might try the swiffer sheets though, seems like they might hold more of the dust since that's what they're designed for.

I generally add polish gradually until the media is no longer dusty and stop. Roll the dusty cases in an old towel after you separate them from the media and load them until I get to the point I no longer need to wipe off the dust.

Misplacedtexan said:

Try adding some nufinish to the media,about a cupful. I also use corncob media for a second tumble after the prep work is done. Makes em real purty!

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I hope that "cupful" a typo. "Capful"? I normally just use about a tablespoon full of auto wax and that seems to be enough...

FWIW; I have been using core cob blast media for several years and I get much less dust.

Enfielder said:

Hello ladies and gents. I got myself my first tumbler today. I’ve been a good boy for the last 10 years and I’ve saved almost every piece of brass I’ve emptied and collected other brass that I’ve found laying around on the ground. Today, I piled a whole bunch of 45acp into my tumbler and away it went. It’s darn shiny on the outside but it all has a coating of the finest powder that discolors the fingers. What’s my next step? Do it wash it and dry it on my screen rack now? I have not deprimed or resized yet.

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Is it Tuffnut plus with red rouge media in it? That stuff is messy! It works well for extremely bad brass but a PITA. Get some regular corn walnut and clean them in that,

I do all the dust mitigation as stated above, but then my first visual QC check is with an old tee shirt in hand and wipe off and inspect each piece for cracks or anything strange, then into a loading block it goes waiting the next brass prep step.

If you purchase blast media you will have far less dust and better cleaning. Pet bedding is waste product not good for anything else.

I was using that lyman tuff nut stuff that has red rouge in it and I got fine red powder all over all my cases. I procured some used dryer sheets and cut them up and put them in the tumbler with the brass and that got rid of some of it. Then I just got rid of that media and went to pure corn cob media and I take the used dryer sheets and put them in the media separator when I'm done tumbling and it wipes the dust off pretty well IMO. I used to wipe them all down by hand with a microfiber towel. The dryer sheets definitely worked. I don't add anything else, just the sheets. I think you're supposed to run some cut up used dryer sheets through the media first before adding brass too in order to collect as much of the dust as possible before you drop your cases in for tumbling.

I'm in the walnut/ mineral spirits/ nufinish/ dryer sheets club and don't have a problem with dust. After I load I run the completed round through corncob/ nufinish/ dryer sheets to remove sizing lube, polish the round and leave a protective coating on them. I think the dryer sheets cut in quarters works for dust since they come out almost black.

mdi said:

I hope that "cupful" a typo. "Capful"? I normally just use about a tablespoon full of auto wax and that seems to be enough...

FWIW; I have been using core cob blast media for several years and I get much less dust.

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Yup, meant a capful, damn auto correct.