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| you shouldn't be having residue. i'm guessing that the media is getting worn out and breaking down. just run the batch through some new sutff & it'll clean right up |
| | | Posts: 13460 | Location: faribault mn | Registered: 16 November 2004 | 
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| I just changed my corn cob media this week and still got a lot of "new" dust from it as well. I was having worse residue b4 I changed it, thought the new media would take care of it, but I was wrong.
Ted Kennedy's car has killed more people than my guns
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| I just dump the brass in a bucket of water and shake it up a bit to clean off the dust. Then spread them out on a towel to dry. I guess you could put them in the oven at a low temp. to hurry the process along. I live in Arizona so just letting them dry in the sun is quick enough for me. |
| | | Posts: 116 | Location: Buckeye, AZ | Registered: 19 July 2007 |
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| I saw something on another forum last month about using old dryer sheets to collect/remove tumbler residue. I cut them in quarters or just into strips and drop in the tumbler with the brass. I was supprised at the amount of trash and dust it rermoved. Someone said an unused sheet would work better but the used ones have done so well I haven't tried the new ones. My wife thinks its cool that I have found a use for the used sheets; can't imagine why I would want them but she sets them aside for me. |
| | | Posts: 277 | Location: Newton, MS | Registered: 08 August 2005 |
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|  I guess I don't understand everything I know about this thread!!   In the way of a suggestion, Walnut media only, cut a cotton dryer fabric softener into approx. 1" x 1/2" strips and put them in your vibratory bowel along with your brass or whatever. A large percentage of the dirt and dust will be collected by these strps. Than when you empty the contents into your sive brush the residue from you tumbler. When you finish with the bucket clean it in like manner. If you want to get real clever do as advised with the softener but do it outside with the top off the tumbler. A breeze or a small fan will help. If you want to go all the way to super niffty add a few squirts of Orange 409 and a couple table spoons of Bon Ami ( calcium carbonate I believe).  roger
Old age is a high price to pay for maturity!!! Some never pay and some pay and never reap the reward. Wisdom comes with age! Sometimes age comes alone..
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| | | Posts: 10226 | Location: Temple City CA | Registered: 29 April 2003 |
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| Thanks for the dryer sheet tip - that's a good one. BTW, this is brand new nut shell media (the first use), so I expected a bit of residue but I got more than I bargained for. I'm sure plain corn cob is a lot cleaner. I bet this stuff will be cleaner after I use it a few times. I'll be trying the dryer sheet thing asap!
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"I'd love to be the one to disappoint you when I don't fall down" --Fred Durst
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| | | Posts: 759 | Location: St Cloud, MN | Registered: 17 January 2005 |
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| And the fan idea also works. Several months ago I started using the fan. Set your tumbler outside and leave the lid off. Take an electric fan and set it so that the breeze blows across the top of the tumbler. Turn on the tumbler and as it kicks up the dust the fan blows it away. Works like a dream. I also use the dryer sheets which help as the media gets older. |
| | | Posts: 188 | Location: South Dakota, USA | Registered: 10 January 2005 |
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| I put a dose of Flitz in with the last batch I ran, but a little more than usual. They came out just super shiny-bright-- like little sticks o' gold. That bunch did not need rinsing at all...
When my media gets worn, it does leave a lot of dust on the cases. I just rinse the cases off in warmish water, swirling them around pretty good in a five-quart stainless pot to get any remaining media out. Then I give 'em a good shakin' to get out as much water as possible. Then I put them into a stainless skillet with a thin bottom and fry them on low heat for about ten minutes, until I can hear the water boiling away in them. After all the water has been evaporated away, I just let 'em cool for about fifteen minutes and it's into the resizer they go.
Once they have been resized, I wash them thoroughly with hot, soapy water to remove the case lube (I use cheap Dollar Store cooking spray) which also gets out more of the powder residue. Next, rinse 'em profusely in warm water, then skillet dry them again. Result: clean cases with no greasy feel to them, no sore fingers from wiping off case lube and not as much powder residue in the cases as before they were cleaned. This method has been working for me for about 20 years... |
| | | Posts: 16534 | Location: Between my computer and the head... | Registered: 03 March 2008 |
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| quote: Originally posted by the_captain:
...using rouge-treated nutshell media.
Any chance the media you used was something like Lyman Tufnut?? http://www.cabelas.com/prod-1/0003078210576a.shtmlI got hold of some of this media a while ago, and after tumbling, my cases were red, my hands were red, everything was RED from the wretched media! I dumped the Tufnut after my second attempt of using it (with the same, predictably RED results...), and have stayed well clear of this stuff ever since... - mike
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The rifle is a noble weapon... It entices its bearer into primeval forests, into mountains and deserts untenanted by man. - Horace Kephart
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| | | Posts: 6653 | Location: Switzerland | Registered: 11 March 2002 |
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| I went to PetSmart and got ten pounds of clean walnut hulls for about eleven bucks. Brand name is Zilla. Website is www.zilla-rules.com. People who like such lovable pets as bearded dragons, monitors, skinks, uromastyx, chameleons, desert geckos, frogs, green anoles, iguanas, land tortoises, rainforest geckos, salamanders, newts, snakes, swifts, toads and other such warm, fuzzy pets use it for bedding in the cages. What pet lover wouldn't want his loyal bearded dragon to lay in his lap and help watch a movie on a Sunday night? Sounds like fun, don't it? |
| | | Posts: 16534 | Location: Between my computer and the head... | Registered: 03 March 2008 |
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| Instead of dryer sheets, I've used strips of paper towel for the past several years and they work great too. (I read about it on this forum!) A couple pieces 3/4" X 4" or so, size isn't critical.
for every hour in front of the computer you should have 3 hours outside
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| | | Posts: 7774 | Location: Between 2 rivers, Middle USA | Registered: 19 August 2000 |
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| quote: Originally posted by Mark:
Instead of dryer sheets, I've used strips of paper towel for the past several years and they work great too. (I read about it on this forum!) A couple pieces 3/4" X 4" or so, size isn't critical.
use to use the paper towels also but found the softener sheets to be much more affective.  roger
Old age is a high price to pay for maturity!!! Some never pay and some pay and never reap the reward. Wisdom comes with age! Sometimes age comes alone..
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| | | Posts: 10226 | Location: Temple City CA | Registered: 29 April 2003 |
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| I set my tumbler next to the door and set a small fan up so that it blows across the open top of the tumbler and I point the whole thing out the back door. I do this everytime I tumble and it keeps the dust to a minimun. |
| | | Posts: 1361 | Location: congress, az us | Registered: 27 February 2001 |
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| Am I doing something wrong? I have to pick up each case and dump it out and look for the little pieces of media that are sometimes lodged in the flash hole. I use that as an oportunity to wipe down the cartridge with a soft cloth (aka cloth baby diaper, boy, they're the greatest). Any "dust" that's on the inside of the case is on it's own.
Are we sometimes being too anal or is it just me? |
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| Clean, then resize, stillbeeman. The primer still being in the pocket keeps media from lodging in the flash hole. Pushing media out of the flash hole after cleaning is an annoying, frustrating, time-consuming process. |
| | | Posts: 16534 | Location: Between my computer and the head... | Registered: 03 March 2008 |
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| quote: Originally posted by mho:
[QUOTE]Originally posted by the_captain:
...using rouge-treated nutshell media.
Any chance the media you used was something like Lyman Tufnut?? That's exactly what it is. I was hoping to get a good polish on these cases using walnut instead of cob media, as they were pretty ugly range pickups. I know what you mean with the red coating... The dryer sheet strips didn't help much. It's not so much dust as it is the polish treatment rubbing off. I tried to find some plain ground walnut, but didn't see any. I'll have to try the stuff mentioned by homebrewer. Plainer is better. Maybe I'll go back to plain corncob if the pillowcase trick 33806whelen fails as well. Overall, the cases look really nice, but it's just too messy. I think plain cob and flitz would do just as good a job and be much neater.
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"I'd love to be the one to disappoint you when I don't fall down" --Fred Durst
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| | | Posts: 759 | Location: St Cloud, MN | Registered: 17 January 2005 |
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| If I clean and then resize, what do I do about the resizing lube that's on the case???????? |
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| quote: Originally posted by butchloc:
you shouldn't be having residue. i'm guessing that the media is getting worn out and breaking down. just run the batch through some new sutff & it'll clean right up
Actually, pretty common w/ rouge infused media. After spearation, I just pour them into an old bath towel & then shake them back & forth. You can spray alittle mist of water on the towel first & that pretty easily takes off the rouge dust. Then switch to non treatd media w/ a tbs of Nu-Finish, Fitz or sim. polish.
LIFE IS NOT A SPECTATOR'S SPORT!
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| | | Posts: 7752 | Location: kalif.,usa | Registered: 08 March 2001 |
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| quote: Originally posted by homebrewer:
I put a dose of Flitz in with the last batch I ran, but a little more than usual. They came out just super shiny-bright-- like little sticks o' gold. That bunch did not need rinsing at all...
When my media gets worn, it does leave a lot of dust on the cases. I just rinse the cases off in warmish water, swirling them around pretty good in a five-quart stainless pot to get any remaining media out. Then I give 'em a good shakin' to get out as much water as possible. Then I put them into a stainless skillet with a thin bottom and fry them on low heat for about ten minutes, until I can hear the water boiling away in them. After all the water has been evaporated away, I just let 'em cool for about fifteen minutes and it's into the resizer they go.
Once they have been resized, I wash them thoroughly with hot, soapy water to remove the case lube (I use cheap Dollar Store cooking spray) which also gets out more of the powder residue. Next, rinse 'em profusely in warm water, then skillet dry them again. Result: clean cases with no greasy feel to them, no sore fingers from wiping off case lube and not as much powder residue in the cases as before they were cleaned. This method has been working for me for about 20 years...
Wow, way too much work. 
LIFE IS NOT A SPECTATOR'S SPORT!
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| | | Posts: 7752 | Location: kalif.,usa | Registered: 08 March 2001 |
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| homebrewer----it may be a pain cleaning the flash hole but somebody's got to do it or it will eventually cause a hang fire. |
| | | Posts: 1096 | Location: UNITED STATES of AMERTCA | Registered: 29 June 2007 |
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| | | Posts: 157610 | Location: Ukraine, Europe. | Registered: 12 October 2002 |
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| It might be a lot of work to some, fredj338, but I do it in lots of 200-300 .223Rem cases. I can get about 150 in my skillet so when I'm done, I have enough clean, shiny, resized cases to keep me busy for quite a while. I use lots of old rags in the wash water and a good squeeze of Dawn dishawahing soap to get all the cooking spray off. I swish and swirl and mix the rags and cases all around for about five minutes. The water will turn almost full black, it's getting so much powder residue out of the cases. Then I rinse 'em really good. Then into the skillet they go. Is it a lot of work? Maybe, but I take satisfsaction in knowing my cases are as clean as I can get them-- inside and out...
ztreh, I resize after I clean, which means the decapping pin will push out any media that might get stuck in the flash hole. I also uniform the flash holes with the nifty RCBS flash hole tool. It puts a nice chamfer on the inside of the hole to create a better "funnel" of flash into the powder. You can adjust it to just chamfer the lip or to cut a quite visible chamfer. Cheap at just ten bucks or so... |
| | | Posts: 16534 | Location: Between my computer and the head... | Registered: 03 March 2008 |
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| I started out handloading..... without using a tumbler, just cleaned cases in the sink. In the 80s after reading in many gun rags on why I needed a fancy tumbler to clean cases. I got me a fancy tumbler in the shanty. After about 5 years I got real tired of wasting my time money dealing with media in general. Digging it out of cases & primer pockets inspecting primer flash holes a couple times for chunks of media on and on ect.
These days I run my brass thru a Lee universal primer decapper. Throw it all in a stainless steel kitchen sink. Throw in some Joy dish washing soap with hot water swish it around some let it soak 30 minutes. Than rinse a couple times with hot water. Than I put the wet cases in loading blocks neck down. After a few days to a week. They are dry and clean enough with no media residue or plugged flash holes. Ready to resize.
After resizing I repeat the sink cleaning and drying process to remove any traces of case lube. I got no use for fancy tumblers these days. |
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| If you use enough polish in your media there will be alot less dust....but I blow mine all off with my air compressor hose inside and out just seconds per case.
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| | | Posts: 7361 | Location: South East Missouri | Registered: 23 November 2005 |
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| Took a tip from the forum and bough walnut media from Walmart. I think it is 8 pounds and about 5.50. Added a cap full of Meguires polish wax to a tumbler full and it does a great job, with no residue. Cheap too! |
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