Dusty brass after tumbling

[au_prospector]

I have tumbled about 6 loads of brass with my current walnut media. Dusty brass post an 8 hour tumble has not yet happened to me, until now.

I had a used dryer sheet with it, yet my clean brass has an ultra fine powder coating inside and out. All other times, it came out shiny and slick.

Makes me want to do a quick water rinse, that shouldnt do any harm right?
I dont think I want to run it through my deprimer/sizer die dusty.

 

[Walkalong]

Sprinkle a little water in the corncob and run it a minute or two to mix it in. The corncob is too dry.

 

[NeuseRvrRat]

rinsing in water won't hurt anything, but i'd hit them with compressed air instead if possible.

 

[Rule3]

What kind of Walnut Media?
If it just straight with no polish, add a few squirts if Nu Finish or similar auto polish along with the USED dry sheet. If no dryer sheets use a cut up damp blue shop paper towel or even a cotton rag.

Rinsing is a pain as you need to dry it. No problem here I put it on the driveway for 30 minutes and you can not touch it it;s so hot!

 

[rugerman]

I use a old beach towel, after I get thru running them thru the vibrator I sift out the media, put the cases on the beach towel grab the 4 corners (2 in each hand and roll the cases back and forth by lifting and lowering my hands. This rubs off the dust on the outside without having to wet the cases

 

[moxie]

Eight hours? Wow. They must glisten.

 

[Rule3]

Eight hours? Wow. They must glisten.

Or ground down to nothing

Not directed to the OP

On another forum there are guys that are proud of "I never change my media)"been using it for years. It;s so full of toxins and no longer works like new stuff.Tumble for 24 hours or something.

2 hours is usually enough, but I spend the .29 cents to change it occasionally

 

[beatledog7]

In addition to the used dryer sheets, a lot of us add some sort of polish (one without ammonia) to the tumbler from time to time, and that helps in a host of ways.

A polish helps control dust, it imparts a nice shine, it tends to make brass slippery (aiding in sizing), and it tends to make the shine last a while.

Nu-Finish (readily available in any car care section) is probably the most popular. A teaspoon or so, drizzled in while the tumbler is running every 4th or 5th load, keeps things neat for me.

 

[moxie]

What I like is the guy who has the stainless steel pins and the ultrasonic machine which, together, are run for about a day, creating brass like gold. Flash holes are trued up and primer cups made perfect. Magnificent looking ammo.

Then he runs it through his super Glock or Wilson combat special for 1000 rounds without cleaning the gun.

 

[Rule3]

What I like is the guy who has the stainless steel pins and the ultrasonic machine which, together, are run for about a day, creating brass like gold. Flash holes are trued up and primer cups made perfect. Magnificent looking ammo.

Then he runs it through his super Glock or Wilson combat special for 1000 rounds without cleaning the gun.

I actually read a thread (not making this up) of a guy who takes is old nasty lead filled media puts it in a bag and washes it in the family washing machine!

I have washed range brass outside in 5 gal buckets and dried on the driveway, takes about 30 minutes down here!

The SS pin wash a-matic system seems like a lot of work to me,

 

[au_prospector]

Well this is odd, I have found some dead beetles in the media. As I was returning my used media to the bag, I noticed in the bag some dead potato bug looking beetles. Maybe I pulverized some and this is my dust problem. This media is used, probably 6 times now. I have run brass anywhere from 5 to 8 hours each run. I used a half cap of Nu Finish and a cut up used dryer sheet in my dusty batch.

I think I will rinse it and lay it in the sun as suggested before I deprime and size it.

Oh yeah, other than the light coating of dust, it is purty.

 

[greyling22]

walnut is dusty. I have a separate tumbler bowl from a deceased tumbler that I keep with corn cob lizard bedding in it that I use on the brass after it comes out of the walnut. cleans it up pretty well, but if you use it on anything smaller than about 35 cal it clogs up cases.

 

[Otto]

Some walnut media is dustier than others. I'm done with the stuff from pet stores.
Harbor Freight media in the 20lb boxes is all I use now.

 

[Dentite]

I would ultimately like to try wet tubling with SS.

In the meantime I am using walnut media with a fresh thick papertowel in it to catch some dust. Also a small amount of polish added.

But yes, there will be some dust. So after I sift out the walnut media, I dump the brass into a 5 gallon bucket and wash it with soap and hot water. Takes about 3-4 minutes and I also end up washing out some walnut media (a good thing because it won't end up in my reloading room).

I dump the brass out on a towel and here in the desert the brass will be completely dry within a few hours.

Some will say they don't want to wait for brass to dry but I don't wait for it. I get it cleaned up and dried and then store it for when I'm ready to use it.

 

[Rule3]

Well this is odd, I have found some dead beetles in the media. As I was returning my used media to the bag, I noticed in the bag some dead potato bug looking beetles. Maybe I pulverized some and this is my dust problem. This media is used, probably 6 times now. I have run brass anywhere from 5 to 8 hours each run. I used a half cap of Nu Finish and a cut up used dryer sheet in my dusty batch.

I think I will rinse it and lay it in the sun as suggested before I deprime and size it.

Oh yeah, other than the light coating of dust, it is purty.

The beetles are a form of "stored product pest" (weevils, moths, beetles)found in any grain or items like rice, flour, bird seed dog food whatever. The eggs are in the product and hatch out. We get them all the time in wild bird seed. (Indian meal Moths) Store your media in a air tight container like a 5 gal paint bucket and put some moth balls in it. You can not stop them from hatching but will kill the ones that emerge. The larva eating inside the corn will make it more dusty than normal..

 

[herrwalther]

Throwing in a dryer sheet will cut down the dust quiet a bit. Most brass polishes have enough water in them to moisten the media enough to cut down on dust as well.

 

[RealGun]

Try finishing with near virgin corn cob. I use walnut first instead of last and only on really dirty brass. I have containers for treated corn cob to impart polish, untreated walnut for removing range grub, and virgin corn cob for polishing. Being selective with media allows one hour with each to be very effective. "Like new" would require more time.

Lately I liquid clean and then skip the walnut. The brass still looks too used for me, so I still tumble but can skip the cleaning phase, going right to treated corncob, which isn't particularly clean and may be jazzed with some polish additive. The brass doesn't have to be completely dry, but it helps.

I gave up on depriming first and have had no issues as a result. It lets my progressive press do its job.