Tips For Case Tumbling Please

[Hawkeye75]

Last night I went to Sportsman's and bought my first Frankfurt Arsenal Case Tumbler and some of that Lyman green corn cob media.

I took all of my dirty .308 brass: a few Lake City cases, but mostly Rem and Win cases and dumped them in over the pile of the green cleaning media I had poured in.

Ran it for a couple of hours and then plucked them out.

Heres my questions:

1. Did I get a good tumbler and cleaning media? Do I want a different media in stead of what I have or in conjunction with what I bought, meaning do I need two kinds of media?

2. The cases are now clean but seem to have a greenish residue look to them. Does this matter can I start loading them? or should I do more?

3. The owners manual told me to deprime and cut to length the cases before putting them in the tumbler is this what you all do? It seems annoying to have to pick the media kernals out of the primer pockets.

4. Can you all tell me what things you do? products and techniques? and in what order you do your case tumbling?

Thank you for your time and knowledge.

Tony in Boise

 

[JDGray]

I use the same media as you, the green will go away, and won't hurt anything. I tumble all my same caliber cases at one time, if you mix, you'll be picking your 9mm cases out of your 40S&W brass, after they lock together. After the media gets to where it dosen't clean as fast, add some nufinish car polish, it will give it new life. I tumble before sizing, after lubing, and after loaded (no hollow points) A decapping pin works great for getting media out of primer pockets

 

[Hawkeye75]

You can tumble loaded? wow

I've got this Brasso stuff I was thinking of using with my Lee Case trimmer kit and power drill. Put the stuff on a rag and spin the cases on the power drill in the rag with the Brasso.

Do this to clean the green residue off.

 

[tbtrout]

No brasso, the ammonia in it can weaken your case. If you cut up a used dryer sheet and put in in during tumbling it will collect the dust and leave your cases clean. If you want your cases shiney add a case polish to the mix.

 

[evan price]

I use the cheap walnut you buy at PetSmart for lizard bedding. Zilla, comes in a 10-qt plastic bag which is about 11 pounds iirc.

For shining the brass I use NuFinish auto polish, add a couple small dollops while the tumbler is running. After you've used up a whole bottle of NuFinish (takes a while) you can jst rejuvenate it with a little mineral spirits (just a thimblefull per load is all).
I always tumble every case because the grit can scratch the brass.
I've left it run for days with no other result but really really clean brass.

 

[The Bushmaster]

1. Inspect and tumble for 15 to 20 minutes

2. Resize/decap. Inspect.

3. Measure and trim if needed. Inspect.

4. Tumble for 1 to 2 hours. Remove and inspect.

5. Either reload or store for future use.

To aid in removal of the dust (green stuff) add a couple of 2" X 2" drier sheets (used) or paper towel. Some say that Nu-Finish helps too. I wouldn't know as I use a very finely ground media that leaves no powder or gets stuck in primer flash holes.

 

[ranger335v]

A few tips. Yeah.

First, understand it ain't rocket science. Lots of people seem to agonise on which media, which polish, how long to tumble, etc. Actully, there is very little difference between cob and nut, any metal polish works as well as any other and the time can be anything from when it is as clean as you want it to be or a couple of days.

Most folks seem to add to much polish, far to often. Doesn't hurt anything I guess but the dry polish sure makes a lot of dust.

You can clean some of the dust from your media with any loose weave fabric or paper, the stuff gets caught in the open fibers and you can toss it. Cut used dryier sheets, paper towels, tee shirt, etc, into squares a coule of inche wide and put two-three of them in the media when you do a batch, toss them afterwards.

If you shoot cast ammo the lube tends to get on the cases. Adding a couple of ounces of paint thinner ("oderless mineral spirits) to a load to help clean the brass a little faster. You may have to add more to each batch because the stuff evaporates in a day or two.

Don't let liquid ammonia get on your brass, it attacks the alloy. Brasso and some other polishes include ammonia as a cleaner. Actually, the ammonia evaporates in a few days too so you can use the polish IF you run the tumbler dry to mix it well and then let it dry until the oder is gone. Then it's safe to tumble in.

Your tumbler is as good as any. BUT they all need good ventalation to cool the motor. They can be annoying so some people have learned they can put the tumbler on a piece of carpet and that helps the machine run quiter. Then they learn that the carpet can retard the air flow and their motor over heats and then seizies up and stops. Moral - make sure the vent holes are kept clear for air flow.

Most tumblers don't have a switch, they just expect you to unplug the thing to turn it off. I find a simple power cord "line switch" is easy to install and is much more convient to contol the tumbler.

You will learn not to use mixed brass that can jam together. Cases such as the 9mm or .38 special will jam nicely into .44 or .45. No harm but a pain to deal with. Best to do such cases seperately.

You will need to seperate the brass and media. Simplist is to go to a "Dollar Store" and get a cheap, epanded metal mesh type office trash container. Put it in a cean plastic bucket, I use a 5 gal paint bucket, and pour the bowl into it. A few turns of the basket gets the media out.

Enjoy your new machine.

 

[Hawkeye75]

Good stuff please keep it coming!

 

[RustyFN]

The owners manual told me to deprime and cut to length the cases before putting them in the tumbler is this what you all do? It seems annoying to have to pick the media kernals out of the primer pockets.

You want the cases clean first so you don't scratch the sizing die. Pistol brass doesn't need to be trimmed and rifle brass should only be trimmed after it has been sized and needs to be trimmed.

Can you all tell me what things you do? products and techniques? and in what order you do your case tumbling?

The first thing I do is tumble the brass to clean it. I use crushed walnut from the pet store. I add 1/2 to 3/4 cap full of Nu Finish car polish and let run for a couple of minutes to get rid of the clumps. Then I add the brass and a used dryer sheet or paper towel cut into around ten pieces and let it run for 1.5 to 2 hours. They come out looking like new, no dust or garbage to mess with. The Nu Finish will help clean it faster, get rid of the dust and IMO make pistol brass a little easier to size. The used dryer sheet or paper towel will help keep the media clean. Then I load them up. If I am loading rifle I lube and size the cases and then tumble them for five minutes to remove the lube. I'm thinking of loading them and tumbling them after they are loaded to remove the lube to keep from having to check the flash holes for walnut granules. I use a media separator and it is much faster and also helps knock the media out of the flash holes I think with all of the banging around while spinning.

I've got this Brasso stuff I was thinking of using with my Lee Case trimmer kit and power drill.

Don't use Brasso or anything else with ammonia. I also use the Lee case trimmer. I chuck the lockstud in a cordless drill and it works great.
Rusty

 

[The Bushmaster]

Some revolver cases need to be trimmed to insure an even crimp. Magnum cases come to mind...

 

[Hawkeye75]

Is sizing and triming the same thing? I have a Lee Case sizer the shell holder and the little pin thing with the blades for shaving the brass.

 

[pbearperry]

Personally, I clean my brass before I deprime.That way none of the media gets lodged in the flash hole.I usually tumble the cases for 1-2 hours and then pull them out.As far as the tumbling media is concerned,buying crushed walnut shells is much cheaper at pet supply stores.Sorry Midway.

 

[.38 Special]

I tumble before decapping. I think most people do it this way.

And yes, trimming should be done after sizing.

 

[The Bushmaster]

Sizing (resizing) is done with a die used to decap and resize the case. Triming is done to return the case to its proper length.

Hawkeye75...I have a question for you...Do you have a loading manual? Like Lyman 48th or 49th Edition?

 

[lgbloader]

Hawkeye75...I have a question for you...Do you have a loading manual? Like Lyman 48th or 49th Edition?

I was kinda thinking the same thing. Although maybe you have read your reloading manual, you may want to read the reloading steps over again and the Lyman 48th or Lyman 49th is one of the better ones, IMO.

Try reading this over and over till you can pretty much qoute the sequences. follow the sequences over and over for the first 3 months or till you have complete understanding of what you are doing and then your style will have you doing business the right way, your way, your style.


Sorry to ramble, now I will answer your question.

I tumble my brass first.

Media recipe:
I mix 60 % corn cob with 40 % Crushed walnut and 2 capfuls of Nu Finish (1 new capful every 2K of brass) and cut up a dryer sheet into 6 pcs (every time I put dirty brass). I get really shiny brass.
* I put in a capful of Mineral Spirits in last time and my brass was total BLING !!!

I tumble for about 3 hours.

For Bottleneck / Rifle & Magnum Pistol Calibers:

Then I Size/deprime and inspect.

Check case dims with calipers

Trim if needed and inspect.

refill - shoot - repeat

For Straight Pistol calibers:

I tumble for about 3 hours.

Inspect

Run the brass through the progressive presses - resize,flair,charge,seat bullet, crimp.

shoot & repeat


Have fun.

LGB

 

[Hawkeye75]

I don't have a manual. I always thought why do I need one of those manuals that 90% of the book tells me how to load bullets I will never load.

I guess I now understand why I need one, and now thanks to your imput I know which one to get.

It's a good idea to have at least one manual you are right.

I have just been reloading the way friends have shown me.

I think I need a better foundation to build on in reloading then what friends have shown me.

Thanks for the great tip lgbloader.

It's nice to be able to jump on the internet and find such great fellow Americans to lend out good information.

I hope you have the same expirences.

 

[lgbloader]

Thanks

Anytime, Mate.

LGB

 

[buck460XVR]

I don't have a manual. I always thought why do I need one of those manuals that 90% of the book tells me how to load bullets I will never load.

......an all too common, but errant assumption. l

 

[Win52D]

I always deprime before tumbling...I don't resize until the brass is clean. I use Lee's universal deprimer first. If you deprime and size before tumbling then you are forcing a dirty case into the die...over time this could ruin the die.

I like to use walnut media...it seems to generate less dust

 

[Coltdriver]

Remember too that once you have used your media to clean a fair amount of brass that the dust associated with the media will contain a lot of things that you do not want to breath!

I use a unit from Harbor Freight that has held up well to my relatively low demands. When I am ready to remove the brass I usually take it outside and I pay a bit of attention to not breathing the dust.

That tip about the clothes softener is a good one that I will have to try.

I too use the walnut media from pet smart. The corn cob stuff was just the right size to clog a lot of my .223 cases so that is gone! I still have a hundred cases clogged with corn cob.

Rouge is supposed to be good to drop in the media as well. No chemical leaching of zinc from your brass which any amonia based polish will do. Just pure polish from the rouge itself. If someone knows of a source for the stuff let us know!

 

[Win52D]

I used to use the rouge until someone pointed out that it is still in the dust that clings to the inside/outside of the case and that it can contribute to die wear. I have fond that using a non ammonia polisher in the media works just as well. Been using Dillion's Rapid Polish..will try Frankford Arsenal's next.

 

[ranger335v]

"I used to use the rouge until someone pointed out that it is still in the dust that clings to the inside/outside of the case and that it can contribute to die wear."

Rouge works okay. I suspect you would only polish your dies to a higher shine if it did anything at all, it certainly won't change the dimensions of a die. Maybe after a few hunded thousand rounds you might actully be able to see an added shine on a steel sizer. But it won't affect a carbide sizer at all, that takes diamond.

I once got some red rouge from Lowe's home supply stores. It was in the tool department's grinding and polishing supplies section. What I got was in a plastic tube, maybe an inch diameter and four inches long for about $4. The rouge was in a cake, much like a bar of soap. To get the fine powder I needed for the tumbler required that I scrap it with a sharp knife and let the rouge dust fall directly into the tumber and media. A little rouge goes along way, an amount equal to perhaps a butter bean in my cob media was plenty. White rouge worked too but it was much slower.

The polishing agent in liquid auto polishes seem to work best to me, Nu-Finish is fine but so are the others. On those rare occasions I need to get some more polish, I pour a saucer full, set it on a shelf and cover it to keep dust out. In a week or so the liquid is gone and I have a soft, silt like layer of pure polish in the saucer. I scrape that into a plastic pill bottle and put a pinch of the powder in my media as needed. (And that's not very often, I think most people use far more polish than they should or need to use.)

Using powdered rouge or polish means I can add it at any time without fear of it clogging the media into a mess in my cases. I used to add liquid polish and then wait until it was well mixed before putting in the brass. Now I can add the powdered polish even if the tumbler is already working.

I won't eat used media or deliberately inhale the dust but I believe the hazard of "lead" in the dust is vastly overrated. Come to think of it, I won't eat new media either but not from a fear of the hazard, dry cob would just remind me too much of military chow.