Muzza's low/no buck tumbler...

[Murray in N.Z.]

OK, Whats the ol mad kiwi been up to since last posting about tumbling media.

I headed off to the beach to get some of our real fine black sand, washed it several times to get ridda the salt an then dried it in the big white hot thing the missus just loves & keeps to herself. Dont know what its called but sometimes really yummy smells come outa it, and apparently if'n y'all leave your cases in it too long too hot it y'all get in trouble from the other blokes on this forum for touchin it !! In my defense no one actually told me not to use sand, coz we dont have that walnut shell politician poop catcher stuff.

Well I finally got my A into G and built up a tumbler. If'n y'all remember the budget was hit pretty severly by Mrs Muzza so I had to cancel the flash one on order for her birthday present & work on plan B.
The boys skateboard was left unmollestered when I junked some office furniture & found these wheel underneath. First off I made the setup with a big hole in the lid so as I could see what was goin on inside... with all the cases slipping around in the sand I could see the idea had potential but needed a bit of horsepower... so I riveted a couple of small paddles down the side of the coffee can & that really got the whole shebang going great, there was plenty of case movement & things looked good. I couldnt figga out for the life of me how I could hold the trigger just on for ages, tried tape, wire, bitsa wood, G clamps but notin quite worked... I needed a screw type adjustment so finally scrounged a jubilee hose clip from the junk pile (most of the garage some say) n It worked a treat. I was even able to adjust it as it was going. Next I cut up some heavy duty foam stuff to hold the drill in then held it all together with a coupla tiedown straps.
I just put the battry in the drill n walk away... it runs for about 30 mins then next time I'ze goin past it gets dropped in the charger n so on n so on..

 

[Murray in N.Z.]

Next I went back into the area where no bloke should go and got tha perfect priced shell cleaner media seperator and did that part of the job. Now I got about 60 cases all cleaned. I know they aint shiney, they will never win a shiney brass competition at the range. I call it millspec glare reduction!!! Then I gave them a tumble in the drier with a magnet to pick up the last bits of sand (its just about pure iron ore, its mined & melted down here.) coz she's OK with most blokes stuff in there but gets her drawers all bent outa shape about sand n stuff being in the next load of drying. Lastly a wash in hot water then leavem in the sun to dry.

These arnt going to be range dollys, theys being taken for a walk in the bush at night & might not make it back.

Thats as far as I can go for a bit till I clean up a bit more garage/workshop valuables.... I have to set myself goals & rewards or else nothing gets done.

Next is clean all that stuff offa the bench & bolt on the Lee Kit & pop out the resta the primers & resize. Hopefully next week if'n the smokerBBQ doesnt distract me this weekend.... hmm pork butts are on special.. oh lordy give me strength.. focus Muzza focus...

 

[JimKirk]

Holy Mackerel !! Murry has got sand in his drawers!! And in his brass... better make sure you got it all off... cause you'll have sand in your dies and in your chamber!! And they'll both take a reaming!!! Surely you blokes grow some corn to have cobs ...right? I'd look fro more suitable media before you ream those chambers and dies!

Jimmy K

 

[Walkalong]

Yep, might as well use the sand for bore cleaner too. Corn cob is cheap cheap.

 

[Murray in N.Z.]

OK.. I get the hint. But so far I aint found a place that sells corn cob or walnut shell. I checked with our local blasting bloke & he said it was going to be all the go a few years back but it was just too danged expensive importing that & now everyone gone back to garnit & sand... The car restoration blokes are using either soda or CO2 dry ice chips.
Thats why I gave em a good washing... may even do it a few more times just to make sure... hate to stuff up my reloading dies coz theys not cheap here, nearest Cabelas is 20hrs flying time.

 

[rcmodel]

I would also vote for getting the silica sand out of the reloading/firearms environment.

Check your pet shops for "Lizard Litter" or similar bedding products.

Here in the U.SA., pet shops sell bags of ground walnut & corncob media for reptile cage bedding material quite reasonably.

I have heard of people using White Rice for tumbler media too. Just add a couple of capfuls of liquid polish to it.

I have not tried it, but it seems reasonable that it would work, while presenting no danger of scratched dies, or firearms chambers & bores.

rc

 

[Walkalong]

Cheap media

http://www.thehighroad.org/showpost.php?p=6362785&postcount=4

 

[dc.fireman]

But as long as you're headed down this road, couldn't you just add a few capfuls of polish to the sand while they're tumbling?

 

[Jesse Heywood]

Surely you blokes grow some corn to have cobs ...right?

I'm sure they do. But they save the cobs for when the Sears catalog ain't up to the job!

 

[mcdonl]

I'm sure they do. But they save the cobs for when the Sears catalog ain't up to the job!

I am taking a class right now, and I often hear terms that I am glad I do not know what they mean. I suspect that this is one of those references where I will sleep better NOT knowing what it means.

 

[JimKirk]

Sears uses the kaolin clay on it's paper so it is slick...powdered clay... would work as well as sand for tumbling brass... much finer grained than sand.

Corn cobs are used as a hemorrhoid preventive.

 

[rsrocket1]

I've heard of folks using bird seed or rice. You have that in NZ? Just don't eat the stuff or try to feed things with it after you use it unless you want to "fill 'em full of lead" from the inside!

 

[Tilos]

Murry in N.Z.:

Nice tumbler.

I'm sure you have rice there, buy a bag and try it.
Add a tiny bit of car polish for an abrasive.

If it doesn't work, boil up what's left of the rice...and eat it.

 

[Hondo 60]

Just not the rice you tried to tumble with

 

[Murray in N.Z.]

OK.. will try rice on my next load... but I wont be eating it.. too much makes yer eyes go all slitty & y'all start having car crashers. The thing is the sand is real quick. Its fine black sand, just about pure iron ore.. we got pure white/clear silica sand on the other coast that squeeks when y'all walks on it but I aint puttin that near my cases coz the grains will clog up the primer holes.

Didnt get the bench cleared in the weekend to mount the press.... but I shot & butchered 3 sheep for the freezer & that danged Smoked BBQ pork sure was great!!!! so will not be able to do anything for 2 weeks due to being away on work.

 

[JimKirk]

Murray... all joking aside ...

Sand is just too abrasive too use... I have a feeling that brass would not last very long tumbled any amount of time in any form of sand, even the fine sand you have. The idea is to burnish the outside of the brass... keeping it smooth, while cleaning any dirt and powder residue off. In all honesty ... just wiping the exterior of the case with a cloth is sufficient to clean brass, no it won't be pretty and shiny, but it is all it takes to "work", any extra is just for show.

Jimmy K