quote:

Originally posted by RSY:
I love it when things we take for granted as simple, absolute little procedures really get put under the microscope. ...

Agree 100%. Challenging the System is always good for "the System". The System either stands up to the challenge well, or a good System adjusts itself and improves.

You just never know when you might acidentally learn a new trick. As long as the mind is open to the possibility.

Meanwhile, I'll just keep tumbling my cases too.

Hey folks check out this web sight for another insight to af case cleaning and etc.

http://home.spynet.com/~frfrog2/homemade.htm#solutions

quote:

Originally posted by tiggertate: P.S. This post has nothing to do with lawnmower racing!!

T/F Lawnmower Racing, Now that sounds like fun.

Had an interesting discussion with my friend's little brother. He is in the Marines in a scout recon capacity. Most of thier ammo is hand loaded and "fit" for the individual rifles. I asked him if the loaders tumble the cases or not, and he said that he thinks they do, but then wash the cases.

When he gets off of leave he said he would ask.

Good topic, pretty thought provoking. I don't shoot enough to probably wear out a barrel that fast, but it does make you think.

anyone who is ready to get rid of their tumbler can just send the dirty filthy barrel wrecking pieces of equipment over to me and I will see to it that they are disposed of properly.

quote:

Originally posted by jb:
anyone who is ready to get rid of their tumbler can just send the dirty filthy barrel wrecking pieces of equipment over to me and I will see to it that they are disposed of properly.

address?

I have certianlly enjoyed reading through this all. I recently signed on here after reading some of the forums for quite a while now.

AS for me, well I generally load up and shoot new brass which I try to get in bulk of 500 for my rifles. this may or may not be a lot but it is sufficient to keep me in ammo for a while. Once I get through the first loading, I generally run them through my tumbler using walnut followed by a combined mix of walnut then corncob and finially plain corncob. Just depends on how long it might be before I get through the whole batch, or what sort of condition they might be in from the field.

In any case I buy my media in bulk of 50# each so it isn't hard at all to swap it out every time I use it. At 15 or 18 bucks a bag it ain't that much. After they are cleaned, they are wiped off and inspected sized trimmed and loaded. Most if now all of my rifles are plain brown wrapper hunting arms. The loads I worked up for each rifle is very capable of under an inch at 100 yds. It took me a LONG time to finde the sweetspots on all of them but once done, it is simply a matter of load and shoot.

I do however follow almost all of the cleaning proceedured that were recommended. However I use two rods, one nylon coated, and one SS. I guess I am just doomed either way.

I want to thank all of you who have posted into this topic pro or con. It is what makes life objective. If there were no debate, there would be no resolution, and as such no progression.

Seems to me the easiest way to get excess (however you define it) abrasives out of the case would be with DRY compressed air through a tube small and long enough to reach the web. I'm thinking small air tank with an inline filter. Even a small garden sprayer might work with the tip cut off and a small tube added.

That should chase any loose grit out. Should blow off the outsides nicely too.

"Doc, W/ all this info on the Media Destroying your barrel, if you size after tubmbling, you are really going to kill your dies w/ all of the abrasives ."

Actually, this is one reason why I think the "don't use a tumbler!" business is a bit of snake oil, no insult intended. I know that if I don't clean my cases before running them through the sizing die, the result is a scratched die that will forever afterwards mark up cases. Properly cleaned cases -- tumbled, washed, or touched with steel wool -- leave the dies pristine. I have proven this to myself repeatedly, and will not let an uncleaned cases touch a die. (BTW, the idea that an uncleaned case is easier to size that a cleaned one is absolutely false, in my experience. Which loading books reccomended it?)

As for the whole barrel business, I guess I've been suppressing a giggle for the whole thread. We blast a bore with 40 or 60 or a 100 grains of burning, white hot, Mach 2 abrasive every time we pull the trigger, and now we're supposed to worry about trace amounts of walnut residue ruining the barrel?

Well, everyone needs a hobby, I guess.

The more I think about the opinions of all these famous barrel makers, though, the more I'd like to ask Finn Aagaard's classic question, "How do you know this to be true?"

Have they run exhaustive double-blind studies with a statistically valid number of barrels while carefully holding variables to a minimum?

The label on my Flitz bottle says," metal polish, safely cleans, polishes, protects. WORKS FAST, CONTAINS NO AMMONIA OR ABRASIVES! In another panel it says " recommended for use on ALL METALS". So whatever it uses to polish metal is not considered abrasive.??

The word abrasive brings images of a grinding wheel to most minds. Or the stuff we used to use to sharpen the old push mower or valve grinding paste. All those were meant to be hard enough to cut steel.

Of course no body's dumb enough to suject a rifle barrel to that kind of abusive treatment. I say again HOW HARD ARE THE "ABRASIVES IN THE TUMBLER MEDIA ADDITIVES? How about a test? I'll try to polish a stainless steel butter knife with both the additives I use, midway polish and flitz. Hopefully I can take a good enough picture of the results?!

Well I got around to doing my little test. I mounted a felt bob on a dremmel type high rpm tool. I then tryed both flitz and the midway,(frankford arsenal), polish additives for tumblers.

Fitz was first, it gave the already shiny surface of the stainless steel butter knife a little smoother shine. So under a lot of rpm and some pressure it would act like a smoother of steel.

The FA tumbler additive did absouloutly nothing to the knife. I wondered if it had all been slung off the felt bob, so I touched it to one side of a brass 40 s&w case. It shined it right up real nice! Yes I did use a new bob for the second trial.

Conclusion; flitz may have SOME effect on a barrel, assuming it would get thrown out with the powder residue, then be ridden by the bullet against the rifling. The FA additive would have NO effect on the barrel.

As I said before, much to do about nothing!

No pics, there's just not enough of a difference between the surrounding knife surface to be seen, unless I had a very expensive close up camera.

I suspect the jewlers rouge that's charged on the gound walnut hulls marketed by Lyman, is a similar mild,(read soft), abrasive not capable of cutting steel.