Darn, my media went bad!

[GLOOB]

It's not the cost, it's the space. I have one jug of media, and that's all I will ever need. I need room for my cases, bullets, molds, and all the other stuff I need to do this once-in-awhile hobby, not to mention the stuff I use for all my other interests. I'm surprised when I even have the time waste on reloading, lol. While I'm outside tumbling cases, it's no bother to spend the 10 minutes to maintain the equipment as needed, once a year. I also clean my tumbler when it's dirty.

I'd much rather have the space for an extra bag or two of cat litter than extra media. Actually I need to work on that, cuz my stock of cat litter is way too small, and that problem never takes a break.

 

[Sunray]

That's not cheap. That's just a waste of your time. Light soap, of any kind, will leave a film on everything it touches. Lose the polish and the soap. And the washing of media. A great big bag, like 40 or so pounds, runs less that $20 at any pet supply shop. It's called small pet or lizard bedding.

 

[gamestalker]

I knew I wasn't the only one, come on, who else has done this? This isn't really all that over the top, it only takes a few minutes to bring it back to life.

Hey Potatoehead, I caught my wife washing zip lock baggies once. Now that's just wrong.

I first started by putting it in tube socks, then submersing them in a bucket of hot water with just a touch of Dawn. Squish around, then hang from a tree branch and let dry. I still use that method during the summer months when it's real hot and dry out. And honestly, I don't notice any problems with it coming back to life again, it works nearly as good as new media. And because I always add a used dryer sheet, or an unrolled cotton ball, I have barely even a hint of dust present.

I also clean my tumbler when I notice it getting a build up. This is something that I've actually found makes a different with vibratory tumblers. A dirty bowel will cause the media to drag, thus it won't cascade as well.

GS

 

[joustin]

I've been tempted to rinse my walnut, I am at the bottom of the bag and it is dusty. If I could cut the dust in half I would be happy. Dryer sheets help but not much

 

[rcmodel]

Do you have a shop vac, fan, or a driveway with some wind blowing across it?

Humanity has been Winnowing the grain from the chaff since time began.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winnowing

Pour the media between containers and let the wind, fan, or shop vac take care of the dust.

rc

 

[gamestalker]

Or, pour the media in the tumbler, drop a few unraveled cotton balls in, and run it for a bit without brass.

GS

 

[joustin]

RC, I did try winnowing outside when we had a nice breeze, it worked OK, but not as well as I had hoped. Honestly I will probably replace it when I buy a new tumbler since my old one died. I mainly use the vibe tumbler to help with drying brass and a little Nu-Finish keeps the tarnish off

 

[witchhunter]

I guess I have never put that much thought into my media! I have two vibrators, one for lubed brass and one to polish. The lubed brass goes through more walnut shells because it gets dirtier. I just change it out when it starts taking too long. A 20.00 bag lasts a long time, even for me.....

 

[medalguy]

I take my used and worn out media and use it to do a first clean on really dirty brass that I've picked up from mud. I don't care if it polishes or not, it's just to get the dirt and dried mud off the brass. Then I tumble the *clean* brass in good media to polish it.

 

[TexasDon]

Come on guys, nothing wrong with washing media.
Some people have spare time...

Ok, yall forced me into this.
I had a single neighbor once that did not wash his clothes except jeans and shirts sometimes.
When socks and undies were used a few days, he threw them away and bought new ones..!! NO JOKE...

I'm NOT kidding...He did not like to wash clothes, surprisingly he had a girl friend that helped to wash his jeans and shirts.

I don't wash it all the time, but have several times. Plus I run paper towels,dryer strips, cotton etc. in my tumbler to pick up extra "crud".
Almost everything I use in reloading has to be bought over the internet, I live in a small town in the woods far from any large town.
SO I do things I might not otherwise.

It helps to develop self sufficiency.

TxD

 

[Potatohead]

It's not the cost, it's the space. I have one jug of media, and that's all I will ever need. I need room for my cases, bullets, molds, and all the other stuff I need to do this once-in-awhile hobby

You mean some of you don't load something every day? Maybe I have a problem

Hey Potatoehead, I caught my wife washing zip lock baggies once. Now that's just wrong.

LOL.

GS, I'd like to have seen that, yard full of trees with tube socks!

I live in a small town in the woods far from any large town.
SO I do things I might not otherwise.

It's ok Don..but you first have to admit you have a problem. We're here to help-




.

 

[Potatohead]

delete

 

[Potatohead]

delete

 

[oldfortyfiveauto]

I run my corn media forever. Did over 10,000 cases on the last batch. Most work 223's that were pretty nasty range brass I got cheap. Usually run the machine 6-12 hours.

 

[gamestalker]

Potatoehead, if you think socks stuffed with media hanging from the tree's as odd, you should see our Christmas tree decorated with various brass ornaments.

Sunray, I don't have a problem with soap film on my brass or media. I use just a few drops of Dawn, then I thoroughly rinse the media with hot water. But I can see how that could be an issue if someone were to use too much Dawn or didn't rinse it well. I tried using alcohol once, it worked very well, but I quickly realized that was economically very counter productive, hence the use of Dawn.

I enjoy what I do, and do what I enjoy. I think I've said it more than once, but there is absolutely no single aspect of reloading I don't totally enjoy doing, including trimming handgun brass.

GS

 

[GLOOB]

I use just a few drops of Dawn, then I thoroughly rinse the media with hot water. But I can see how that could be an issue if someone were to use too much Dawn or didn't rinse it well.

I might have added a little dish soap once or twice when washing my media. And I almost always add a bit of dish soap to the bucket of water I wash my brass in before tumbling. Just enough to see a little bit of suds. I have never had a problem with residue, either.

BTW, I will never go back to tumbling brass straight off the ground. It's dusty where I shoot, and not giving the brass a quick bath before tumbling is like walking into the house with mud on your boots. I don't care how many dryer sheets you put in there, it's sooo much better to not add the unwanted dust, in the first place.

 

[balderclev]

OK, this thread has got me on the floor!

I've got a walnut tree out back. Think I'll start crushing the nuts. That ought to save me a LOT of money! LOL

 

[rchery59]

Please tell me you are kidding about the wife's cookie sheets ! I wouldn't eat the cookies !

 

[dragon813gt]

I hope the cookie sheets don't go back into the kitchen. And while I don't place a value on my time. I have more productive things to do. At less than $1 a pound I toss it. Two 25# boxes take up little space and last a long time.

 

[gamestalker]

Well, I don't place the media directly on the cookie sheets, I line them with saran wrap, which makes getting the media back into the tumbler or the container rather easy, and a while lot less messy too.

But on that note, is there really that much lead considering I don't ever load / shoot anything but jacketed?

GS

 

[Potatohead]

OK, this thread has got me on the floor!

I've got a walnut tree out back. Think I'll start crushing the nuts. That ought to save me a LOT of money! LOL

LOL! Good idea. You might want to keep that quiet though, I bet that got Gamestalkers wheels spinning! Better lock your gate-

 

[dragon813gt]

Well, I don't place the media directly on the cookie sheets, I line them with saran wrap, which makes getting the media back into the tumbler or the container rather easy, and a while lot less messy too.



But on that note, is there really that much lead considering I don't ever load / shoot anything but jacketed?



GS

Yes, primers have lead styphnate in them and are the biggest source of lead contamination. A lot of jacketed bullets have exposed bases. You should not be using kitchenware in the reloading room unless it stays in there. I'm not going to say you're playing w/ fire. But it's bad practice to be baking on them and using them in the reloading room.

 

[Potatohead]

I have a pretty good feeling that GS knows what he's doing and isnt going to get lead poisoning from his wifes chocolate chip cookies in the future.

 

[TexasDon]

Quoteotatohead
I live in a small town in the woods far from any large town.
SO I do things I might not otherwise.
It's ok Don..but you first have to admit you have a problem. We're here to help-
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Well, now that you mention it....I may have a bigger problem than I think?

A while back I did see my wife had washed a few gallon ZipLoc bags and had them hanging in a dish drainer to drip dry.

It may have been all my fault being so Frugal/Cheap ???
Maybe I'm a BAD influence ?

<sniff..sniff..sniff> :banghead:

Is there a "Cheap A$$ Reloader Syndrome" Shrink I can see??

Tater, I need help..!!!!
( At least I wash my socks and not throw them away when dirty!)

TxDon

 

[Arkansas Paul]

Call me cheap, but it works and allows spend more $ on powder and other components, instead of media.

I don't wash media. This allows me to spend more time loading ammo instead of washing it.

Wow.
fallout mike is the cheapest son of a gun I know and even he doesn't wash dirty tumbling media.

Hey man. Whatever works for you, go for it. My wife looks at me weird when we're the only ones at the range and I'm digging in the pistol berm filling coffee cans full of lead bullets. Hey, its free lead.