Be careful with that case polish

[Tech Ninja]

So I was cleaning a bunch of brass and decided to add some case polish to the tumbler. The brass was already in the tumbler but that's not a big deal right? Fortunately I inspected the brass after cleaning and found this:

I know it would have caused the powder to overflow the case but I'm glad I didn't have to find out. Lesson learned, always put the polish in before the brass and let it run for a few minutes.

 

[243winxb]

Good reminder. Load some Bullseye powder on top of that, would make for a bad day at the range. www.photobucket.com/kabooom

 

[Walkalong]

I always turn the tumbler on, squirt in a little polish, and let it run for a few minutes before adding brass. I learned that the hard way also.

 

[Lafitte]

There is a reason why the instructions say to add the polish, run the tumbler for a few minutes, (usually 4 or 5 minutes), THEN add the brass.

Lafitte

 

[41 Mag]

Yep been there done that myself. Only I dumped the cap full straight in and didn't trickle it around in a small thin stream. I big clup of polish balled up in the bottom of the tumbler and stayed there, well until I dumped in the 300 cases on top of it, then it did it's dirty work.

 

[leefan]

One good reason to polish after loading.

 

[Spade5]

I stir mine

I have an old wooden spoon that I stir the media with after slowly adding any polish. Even so, I sometimes find small clumps.

 

[Gearhead Jim]

As OP mentioned, a normal powder charge would have overflowed the case and been obvious. But...

Right now I'm reloading .380 on a Dillon 650, with their Powder Checker Die.
One of my charged cases beeped the powder checker, I looked in and the level looked about normal. I dumped it into my scale pan and the wright was normal. Hmmm...
When I looked more carefully, there was a thin layer of hardened mud in the bottom of the case, barely visible because of its color and small size. But enough to make the case "overcharged".

As the case moved to the next (bullet seating) station, I would have done my normal look at the powder level. But as mentioned, it was close enough to normal that I wouldn't have detected anything.

If I was more adventurous, I would have seated the bullet and fired the round over my chronograph to see what happened. Seemed like a bad idea...

 

[Zotto]

I bought a metal cooking whisk. I stir the polish and a cup or two of media in a bowl and then dump it in the tumbler. I have stirred it directly in the tumbler, but always seem to miss a chunk or two.

 

[GBExpat]

So I was cleaning a bunch of brass and decided to add some case polish to the tumbler. The brass was already in the tumbler ...

I have never done that ... but ... periodically I do something like it that leaves me shaking my head and muttering to myself, as I work to fix the mess that I just created (if that is possible), that I sometimes need a Keeper.

For me, I try to apply a Murphy's Law check to most things ... unfortunately, it seems that the uncomplicated, under-the-scrutiny-radar, little things that always manage to get bollixed.

So ... how stupid did you feel?

 

[dh1633pm]

Who among us hasn't done something at some time that made us a bone head. Thanks for sharing a potentially embarrassing situation. It reminds us all to "take care".

 

[hapax]

I clean the inside of each case with a small wire brush after tumbling - removes any last traces of media (or clumped polish) that might be in there. A couple of twists is all it takes.

 

[sellersm]

Yup, made that mistake ONCE with the Dillon polish. Ooops! Thank the Lord for mineral spirits!!