Lingering granules of media?

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mljdeckard

mljdeckard

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First of all, thank you guys for putting up with me, I don't have a mentor closeby, and if I had tried this without books or internet, I would have blown myself up by now.

So I got my tumbler, and I'm tumbling the heck out of everything, rifle shells, pistol shells, the odd penny or two, etc. So I tumbled a bushel of 22-250s, and I just shake them out, making a point to agitate as I do, to knock out any lingering chunks of media. (By hand, individually, I haven't gotten a spare colander yet to shake them in.) I have been running them in media rich with Lyman Media Recharger, and then again in dry media. So when I tumbled a bunch of .45s, I noticed that sometimes there was a little bit of media clinging to the interior corners of the case. (I had some stubborn granules in some of the flash holes too, but I don't worry about those, they will be dislodged when I de-cap.) But it got me thinking. I only saw the granules in the .45s because they are so wide and shallow. If there were chunks still in the 22-250s, I would have no idea, because I can't see them as easily. With the .45s I just picked them out with a dental pick, but how do I see or remove them from bottle-neck cases?

What are the consequences of charging, loading, and firing a cartridge with a granule or two of media in it?
 
With a granule or two, it won't even be noticeable.


If there's too much in a bottle-neck case, you run the risk of not having enough case volume for your powder charge. That should be obvious though, if it happens. If you notice any of your cases appearing more "full" than the others, check it and make sure it's not got media lodged in the case.


Odds are though, if there's that much in the case, it'll shake itself out while processing. If most of your cases get it clumped in there, and it doesn't just pour out, then perhaps you are not letting any polishing additive thoroughly mix into the media before adding the brass.


Otherwise, once the brass is in a bucket, shake the hell out of it a few times, and you'll get most of it out of the cases.
 
animator said:
With a granule or two, it won't even be noticeable.

With a granule or two, it won't even be noticeable.


If there's too much in a bottle-neck case, you run the risk of not having enough case volume for your powder charge. That should be obvious though, if it happens. If you notice any of your cases appearing more "full" than the others, check it and make sure it's not got media lodged in the case.


Odds are though, if there's that much in the case, it'll shake itself out while processing. If most of your cases get it clumped in there, and it doesn't just pour out, then perhaps you are not letting any polishing additive thoroughly mix into the media before adding the brass.


Otherwise, once the brass is in a bucket, shake the hell out of it a few times, and you'll get most of it out of the cases.
Click to expand...
I used to have the same problem until I got one of those rotary case tumblers for seperating the media from the cases. Works great!

-178S
 
I sometimes tumble brass that I am worried about. Damp media or polish not mixed well, just stuff like that. When this happens to me I will take the really cheap Qtips and just do a couple of quick swabs in each case. I have never really gotten that much out except for once. I had left my tumbler outside with the lid off. Small shower of rain really gooked it up. The qtips cleaned them right out.
Workingman
 
I hit all of my rifle cases with a air sprayer. I usually take 5 or 6 cases in my hand and blow them out from the flash hole. About 60# of air pressure seems to work well. Large chunks of media come out at high speed. Don't do it in front of something you care about.;)
 
I probably go over board with my brass as follows. After tumbling I use the brass colander I bought form my local sportemans warehouse and then I clear the flash holes of media, that's with pistol brass. But for bottle necks cases, after the above step, I clean the primer pockets, trim and then give them a rinse with acetone to remove the media dust that might get caked up in the corner's. Like I said, over board.

I'm fairly certain it isn't at all necessary to worry about a little bit of media dust, it will just blow out during firing.
 
+1 on the Drillspot 20/40 cob media.
Also, I had the sifter pan and always had lots of loose media when I reloaded.
E. Arthur Brown has the Berry's sifter/separator for about $32 delivered. Much easier to use than the sifter and does a MUCH better job of getting ALL the media out.
 
I think your media is too wet and probably not well mixed.
Click to expand...
<This<

If you weren't using too much polish and leaving clumps of it unmixed, the media wouldn't stick inside the cases.

Leave the lid off and let it dry out, then don't add any more liquid polish for a while.

rc
 
Nothing wrong with liquid polish.
You should use it in fact.

You just used too much, and didn't let it run long enough to get the wet clumps broke up before you put the cases in.

One or two caps full in new dry media is all you need to use.
If you dump the tumbler and reload it in the same session, don't keep adding more liquid polish each load.
It will just keep getting wetter & sticker.

And you really need to beg, borry, or make a media seperator.

It ain't that hard to make one.

See this about that:
http://www.thehighroad.org/showpost.php?p=7391500&postcount=10


rc
 
mljd:
What I do is return the brass, just the brass no media, to the tumbler and run it for a few minutes to remove any remaining media.

Tilos
 
I had the exact same problem caused by using too much polish or not letting it thoroughly mix in. I found by re-tumbling in untreated media for a couple hours absorbed the "wet" media inside the cases and all came out dry and clean.
 
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