Epiphany with media in flash hole.

[jr_roosa]

I'm prepping a tub of 30-06 brass for a match next week and deer season.

My usual prep is:
Tumble in walnut
Lube
Size/decap
Trim
Tumble in corncob
Spend an hour picking the stupid corncob out of the flash holes
Feed to the Dillon

Station one on my Dillon is empty, and I just prime there.

As the dread began today, it occurred to me that a decap die in station one would get rid of my most tedious step in brass prep.

Hallelujah! A quick trip to cabelas and $20 later I will never pick corncob again.

I am betting most of you figured this out years ago.

J.

 

[Arkansas Paul]

Definitely sounds like an easy solution.
I tumble once before decapping/sizing and again for only about 15-20 minutes after the rounds are finished to remove lube.

 

[Hardtarget]

I know a good idea when I see it!
Now, if I just had a progressive reloader!

Mark

 

[ColtPythonElite]

Just tumble in corncob first, then decap. Skip walnut altogether.

 

[jr_roosa]

Just tumble in corncob first, then decap. Skip walnut altogether.

I tumble again to get the RCBS resizing lube off the cases. If I leave it on, they tarnish badly within a few weeks.

I could resize, tumble the lube off, and then decap on the press, but that would be the same workflow.

I know a good idea when I see it!
Now, if I just had a progressive reloader!

It doesn't help much for rifle. It basically lets me prime/charge/seat all at once. I still load my long range ammo single stage, and it isn't too much slower.

I still have to pick out the corncob when loading single stage, but I may just run them through the progressive to just use the decap stage to punch out the junk.

-J.

 

[ColtPythonElite]

I use Hornady One Shot lube. It doesn't cause premature tarnish.

 

[jcwit]

Use the 20/40 grit media and you will never have a need to dig out media from primer pockets or flash holes anyway.

 

[jeepmor]

I use Redding Die wax and it stays on my primed cases for years on end in storage. No effect as I just checked. Good point to come out of this for me, Thank you. I tumble with walnut, decap, resize, reprime, and store for future loading in used costco nut/bulk food jars. Squarish vessel with good sealing large lid. Good use of space in wall cabinets.

I did some 10mm unprimed once, 500 or so. That was my lesson in that.

 

[Airman Basic]

http://www.harborfreight.com/25-lbs-fine-grade-walnut-shell-blast-media-92155.html

As he said, get this stuff and no more stopped up flasholes

 

[FROGO207]

When I did use walnut to clean my unprimed brass the Lee universal depriming die was the ticket. But before I bought it I used my 45 70 decapping die for the same reason. It worked on most brass. Now I wet tumble with SS media.

 

[moxie]

I don't see a need for a second tumble. I use 50/50 corn cob and walnut for the single tumble.

I also use One Shot for lube. Quick wipe with a rag and you're done. No tarnish. Some people don't even bother wiping it off and have no problems. You use so little it's barely there.

 

[J.R.W.]

I just leave it in there and let the primer handle business. If you search hard enough, its been tested a few times to have no bearing on performance.

 

[bainter1212]

I use Hornady One Shot lube. It doesn't cause premature tarnish.

Plus one.

I leave that Hornady One Shot on the casings. Seems to actually protect the brass instead of damaging it.

Doesn't make much sense to me to use a lube that would mess up your brass if you left it on.

 

[345 DeSoto]

I de-cap, wet tumble with ss pins, etc., size, expand, load, THEN polish in walnut to clean everything up. The wet tumble cleans the brass like BRAND new...especially the primer pockets. Wet tumbling is the best thing I ever picked up to pre clean my brass. It's saved me HOURS, and my brass is cleaner than I ever could get it before...WAY cleaner. And no more cleaning out primer flash holes...

 

[Potatohead]

My media is really fine, doesnt hang up in the flash holes. Its walnut, maybe corn cob is bigger?

 

[jr_roosa]

I get media from dillon. The walnut is plenty fine, but the corncob has some flakes and chunks that get stuck.

I have polished after loading, but in rifle I get hang fires. After disassembling, I found some with powder grains packed in the flash hole, maybe acting like a fuse.

It puts a spectacular shine on the brass though.

J.

 

[Sunray]

"...Tumble in corncob..." Waste of time.
"...for a match next week and deer season..." Two different bullets, of course.

 

[jr_roosa]

Deleted.

I responded to an unhelpful post with an unhelpful post.

-J.

 

[tcoz]

The corncob media from Frankford Arsenal is really fine and I never had a piece stick in a flashole. When I replaced it with Lyman media which is much coarser, about 50% of cases have media stuck in them. The other side of the coin is that the coarser media seems to work better although that may be because it's newer.

 

[jcwit]

I normally let my tumbler run overnight, guess what, I'm still able to pay my electric bill.

 

[GLOOB]

Lube is easily removed by rolling the cases around in a cake pan with a couple of paper towels lining the bottom. Pour a little alcohol until the paper towels are steeped. Takes about 5-10 seconds of rolling around per load, covering the bottom of the pan with about 1 layer of cases, and they come out looking great. The solvent dissolves the lube, and the paper towel give the residue a place to stick to other than the brass. I can run through a couple or a few hundred cases in short order. Well, outside lube, anyway. I use an M die for expanding my rifle cases, so I don't need any inside neck lube, at all.

The more popular and slower version of this is to put the solvent on a towel or large rag, and put the cases on/in it. I can't find a cleanish rag that large in my shop, 99 days out of 100. With the pan, you easily feed in a couple handfuls at a time, shake around, dump 'em out. The wet paper towel sticks to the bottom even when you turn the pan over to dump the cases out.

 

[twofifty]

We have a winner.

I'll hazard a guess that many guys overlube their cases prior to sizing.
So long as none goes on the shoulder all seems fine except having to clean the mess off.

I lube lightly with big Green's liquid lube and pad. The lube builds up in the die, so it really doesn't take mutch even for resizing mid-sized rifle brass.
All the cartridges need at the end is a quick wipe with a shop towel.

But I'll try Gloob's alcohol in a pan trick.

 

[Potatohead]

Ive had really bad flash hole luck with the "reloading media" at gander. Not sure if its frankford or lyman but its back to the Lizard stuff for me.

 

[Artofgolf]

........its back to the Lizard stuff for me.

Good call, Tater I think it's the best, IMO.

 

[Toprudder]

I just leave it in there and let the primer handle business. If you search hard enough, its been tested a few times to have no bearing on performance.

That was my question as I was reading this. Thanks.