Brass Polish

[Devereaux]

?Anyone have really good luck with any product.

I have in the past used the Dillon product, and that seemed to work relatively well. Didn't seem to get the media too dirty, yet allowed the brass to come out looking good. I have just used a new product (to me) - Lyman polish. I am not at all pleased. It seems to gunk up the media quickly, and leaves the brass to be hand polished, as it looks like it's dried cleaner on the cases.

Recommendations, please.

[SteveZ]

I use corncob and some NuFinish automotive polish to get my cases nice and shiny.

[SuperDuty]

For media, I use "Lizard Litter" which is reptile bedding product, available at pet stores as in the link below.  It's ground up english walnut shells, and is about 1/3rd the cost of the name brand tumbler media.  To that, I add about two tablespoons of Nu Finish liquid car polish.  To keep the media clean longer, in each batch, I take a used dryer sheet and cut it into fourths, and throw that into the tumbler.  Make sure it's a used one.  The dirt that is scrubbed off by the media sticks to the dryer sheet and helps it last longer.


http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2752164
http://nufinish.com/

[Devereaux]

I probably have some NuFinish hanging out in the garage. I would hazard I may have one of everything automotive out there as sometime either I or one of my kids has bought pretty much the spectrum. Will give that NuFinish a try.

For the moment I have plenty of corn cob media, so don't need any of that.

Seeing as we don't use the dryer softener sheets, ?what's the used part about. ?Will new not work right.

[SteveZ]

my cleaning process is 1) wash the brass in a bucket with soap and water 2) dry the brass 3) tumble the brass in walnut for a few hours 4) tumble the brass in corncob (with some NuFinish) for a few hours.

For what its worth...we (Powerfactor Show) just filmed a 3 episode series on handloading that covers everything from why/what/how to testing.  I think its going to start this weekend.

[Devereaux]

Man, Steve - you WORK! I am basically lazy, at least about things like cleaning brass. So I toss them in the tumbler, let them turn 4-5 hours, then reload them. It's kind of like a "launch and leave".

[SteveZ]

I like my brass clean, just like my gun. It's become somewhat of a running joke on the program. Rick is the exact opposite in terms of brass and cleaning his guns. :-)

[SuperDuty]

I probably have some NuFinish hanging out in the garage. I would hazard I may have one of everything automotive out there as sometime either I or one of my kids has bought pretty much the spectrum. Will give that NuFinish a try.

For the moment I have plenty of corn cob media, so don't need any of that.

Seeing as we don't use the dryer softener sheets, ?what's the used part about. ?Will new not work right.

I have friends save the sheets for me since we got a fancy-schmancy new dryer last winter.  Once they are used, whatever the softener is that's in them is worn off.  They are much more pliable then and the dirt really sticks to them.  Once they have been through the dryer, they get pitched anyway, so getting another use out of them is a plus.  (I guess if you have problems with static cling in your brass, you could use new ones.) 

[Devereaux]

"Static cling"  Very good 

[Jim Fleming]

Dev, is it possible or even likely you added too much of the Lyman additive to your tumbling media...? I did the same thing... I played hell getting the media to loosen up until I hit on the idea of adding more dry media to the too wet walnut hulls... (Can you say, Jim was thinking, "If a little bit is good, a double dose will be twice as good...!" Duh.... not.

@SuperDuty, good idea, sir... I got wind of the same idea, from a video on YouTube, IraqVeteran8888 posted a video that clued me on on the fact that I've been spending far too much on media...

Dev my recommendation: add more dry clean media to the clogged uo stuff... about a MEASURED 1/2 cup at a time until it starts working properly... Yes, you're going to have too much media in the tumbler... After you get the media working correctly, just remove the excess and set it aside for later on. Re-add the excess to the tumbler when your current batch gets too dirty. Then a bit more dry clean stuff, and you're back in business.

Second Recommendation: Measure out the correct amount of Lyman Polish, like I had to learn the hard way to do.

J.

[jmstevens2]

You could sit around the barraks for hours with Brasso, or NeverDull.

[Jim Fleming]

Jack, we'll let Dev do that sort of silly stuff... It'd remind him of the Good Old Days at either MCRD or Parris Island, I never learned which one he went to... Probably P.I.

You could sit around the barraks for hours with Brasso, or NeverDull.

[jmstevens2]

We had a couple of guys swipe some 50 BMG rounds and sit around doing that. We expected them to eventually go off, but they never did. they "hid" them in the Brasso can. I think it got to the powder.

I don't know, but I think I disliked the spit shines more than the brass cleaning before an inspection. At least it was only uniforms and not rails and such like the squids.

[Devereaux]

Spit shine - oooph! That's why corfam was invented. Spray on some Pledge and you were good to go.

Didn't mind the buckle much. But wasn't big on MNU. Indeed, I had the EBA on my cover and I used a pencil eraser to shine up the continents and rope. Looked really cook, and made the majors nuts. When inspection came I would sub in a properly blacked emblem, then 2 hours later I'd have the good one back on the PC.

Jim, I expect initially the media was just dirty. But then I changed it, and the stuff still came out like I said, so I ditched that and tried the NuFinish. Working so far. Maybe I DID have too much. I didn't really measure out the weight of the media, and that was the direction - per lb. So perhaps I got too much stuff in it. But I DO tend to see "if enough is good, more is better." as how this would work.

Going to have to remember that snake stuff for when I need more stuff.

[Jim Fleming]

Dev, you're simply a bit of a cracked pot.

LMBO!

Anyway, seems to me it might be possible a PDF file might be floating around on the 'Net somewhere for recommendations of how much media, additives and so on go in our tumblers. I know, personally, I lost my directions for my tumbler years ago. At the time I'd assumed I would and made it a point to figure out how much 100 rounds of .30-06 brass weighs. 2.75 lbs. and I make certain I NEVER add more than that much brass. I just weigh it out, etc.

I wrote 2.75 lbs. on the underside of the lid. Never lose that tidbit.

Same thing for all brass. Just start another batch.

[Jim Fleming]

Media weight, same thing 2.75 lbs. Additives are measured against 2.75 lbs.

[Devereaux]

Wow! You actually weigh that stuff?!?! I just toss in what looks like "enough", screw down the lid, and we're off to the races. Usually if there is mostly brass on top of the media, I'm good. When you turn on the tumbler, it gets quiet within about 15 seconds - or you have too much brass. Weigh it. ?WHERE the heck do you have a scale that measures 2.75 lbs.

[Jim Fleming]

I'm honestly not sure if you're serious or seriously pulling my leg with that last comment...?

[Jim Fleming]

Dev, when I first got my Lyman 1200 tumbler, I made up my mind I didn't want to replace it anytime too soon... (this was over 20 some years ago.) So I figured out how much media (3 lbs.) I am supposed to add and the maximum amount the brass would weigh. 2 3/4 lbs. or 2.75 lbs either way, same weight. Total weight would be 5.75 pounds of media and brass, this is what the machine is DESIGNED to handle. To give myself and my tumbler a bit of a safety margin, so I don't abuse the machine I subtracted .25 lbs. of media. Yes, sir, I do literally to this day weigh out the media, and I do weigh every batch of brass that goes into my tumbler... never more than 2.75 lbs, no matter what caliber I'm tumbling!

When I tumble the brass it usually runs 24 hours straight.

I also don't piddle with counting out brass or bullets unless I'm putting the finished ammo back into factory boxes. In my barn/reloading room I have four sets of scales. A set of 25 lb. kitchen scales, (for measuring up lead/wheelweight ingots) these things are about as sensitive as bathroom scales, but good enough to count up 10-25 lbs. of lead at a time.

A set of 0-8 lbs. kitchen scales not too bad... Still a bit springy...

Then I have a set of 0-5 lb. Toledo Scales that literally used to be used for weighing candy. (darn things are as accurate as all get out! no springs either!) I use this scale for weighing brass and bullets... Note, I said I don't piddle with counting up to a certain number, I figure up how much my brass or bullets or even loaded rounds will weigh, then add an ounce or two. I have yet to ever run short!

It's not an arcane matter at all, it's more on the order of following the same recipe I created years ago. After all, if I used too much salt in my bread instead of sugar, that'd ruin the home made bread wouldn't it?

[Devereaux]

Hmmm. You, sir, take this stuff way more seriously than I do, quite obviously. ?Might be a friend of Steve Z's 

In truth, we have bathroom scales in the house, and one little springy thing in the kitchen that only gets used rarely. I have a Lyman electronic scale for powder measurement, and another Redding scale that links to a powder drop machine, but I've kind of retired that as I use a Harrel drop for measuring my rifle powder loads. So honestly, I really wouldn't have a clue where to be able to weigh out all your stuff.

One thing - you appear to be lucky enough to have a pretty large area (?in a barn, I believe you said) that you can set up all this. Plus your bullet swaging gear. I am severely cramped for space. I have this on top of that, on top of the other. And my wife uses some of the space in the room for other stuff, about which she is constantly complaining that MY stuff is bothering HER stuff. Never mind that the rest of the house is hers to mess with, pretty much. THIS room has to have her "imprint" too.

My tumbler is probably smaller than yours. I have the smaller of the two that Dillon offers (again, a space issue) that I got way back in about '92, when I first started reloading. It still runs, but it gets hot when I run it a long time. However, I have discovered that if I run a fan towards it, the heat issue dissapates, and I believe that's the biggest enemy of longevity. So from that point on, I run a fan at the tumbler, and it ends up being cool for however long I run it. I tend to run about 4-5 hours, and that seems (usually) to be enough - unless the brass is really dirty.

That NuFinish trick is working really well! I have done about 5 loads of .45 ACP so far, and the brass is coming out really nice and shiny!