Ceramic polishing media ?????

[madriverbullets]

First off let me just say hello all
second i have a question regarding ceramic media i was glancing at a magazine the other day and came across an article regarding ceramic media and put it down now I cant find the magazine article anywhere and what i was wondering is has any one used or use ceramic media to polish cases with how does it compare to corncob or walnut is it dry or do you use it in a solution where do I find it can it be used in a lyman tumbler 1200 Thanx again Mad

 

[Sheldon]

I don't think it is common to find ceramic media used in reloading. I do know they use them to deburr sharp edges off metal parts in some industrial applications. It is probably overkill for reloading purposes.

 

[griz]

Hey, welcome to THR, and the handloading corner at that!

I would guess that ceramics are too hard to clean brass. The brass should wear out the media, not the other way around.

 

[Ross]

There have been a couple of threads over on BPCR this month.
The users are rather enthusiastic about it.
It is used wet.
Cheers from Darkest California,
Ross

 

[madriverbullets]

BPCR would you be able to give me the web site for this thread ?
www.bpcr.com dont work for me so I presume it is some thing else

 

[Jim Watson]

Augh, I was just launched into a reply this morning and my computer crashed and lost it all. Anyhoo, here we go again.

There is no point speculating on a product and procedure you haven't seen, guys.

I have just recently started using ceramic media to clean my black powder .38-55 brass. It is run wet with an acidic detergent included in the kit; in any tumbler that will hold water. I am using an extra bowl on my vibratory, but they say a rotary works better.

It is VERY effective on really nasty black powder brass; it will shine the outside like new, the inside looks like about once fired smokeless brass, and even the primer pockets are clean.

I know users who have put brass through the mix many times without grinding it away.

Procedure:
Decap brass on the range and take home in a jug of soapy water.
Flush out the black water and load the brass into the tumbler with fresh water, ceramic media, and the additive.
Run a while, I am going 4 hours.
Dump the tumbler into a collander and rinse the brass and media.
Dump the collander into a separator or pick out the brass by hand.
Shake out any retained ceramic pellets, pick out the stuck ones.
Dry the brass and drain the ceramic.

Sounds like a lot of work, but it is an improvement over washing the cases one at a time with a test tube brush.

But I would not go to the trouble with smokeless brass, walnut hull and a little car polish do my .45 ACP just fine.

I am using the Dave Maurer small size ceramic, available direct from him or from Shiloh Sharps. The other brand is by Harlan Sage of Sagebrush Industries, also sold by Cabellas.

Do a search at
http://www.shilohrifle.com/forums/

And that is BPCR.net, not com.

 

[griz]

That's interesting. I had imagined (wrongly ASSumed) it as dry and the same size as conventional media. How fine is the ceramic media?

 

[Jim Watson]

The Dave Maurer small that I use in my .38-55 is cylindrical 3 mm diameter and about that or a little more in length. I get a few clusters stuck in the cases but a stiff wire through the flash hole pokes them out easily. He started out with a larger size suitable for .45-70 down to .40 cal.

Sagebrush has a similar large cylindrical and a 3mm ball.

They are NOT to be run dry. That might well cut up the brass.

 

[Pumpkinheaver]

The latest issue of handloader magazine has an article by Mike Venturino in it about ceramic media.

 

[Ross]

Mad.
I don't know how to do the hyperlink, but I just Googled bpcr.
Hope this gets you there, it is a good site for the subject. There were 10 hits when I searched "ceramic" in the message board.
There was a link somewhere to a supplier of a large number of media types for all those industrial uses, from jewelers to iron foundries.
The Venturino article will be of help, but no more than Jim Watson's comments above.
Cheers from Darkest California,
Ross