Clean Brass 071309

Dick Dastardly · July 14, 2009, 10:04:21 AM

I got a PM from a good pard over on the SASS wire last night. He was havin' trouble with his CP media. I said I was running a batch and would post a photo of it this morning. Since I don't know how to post a photo on the SASS wire, I'm putting it up here. Thanks Marshall and Cuts.

Here then is the 200 rounds of .38 Special that sat around unwashed since "Hang 'Um High" last month. I hadn't taken a before photo because I wasn't intending to use these for display. Anyway, this is typical of what my brass looks like after tumbling Three hours in DD Ceramic Porcelain media. Nothing special was done. This is just what I get. Over and over. The stuff never wears out.

DD-DLoS

Cohagen · July 14, 2009, 04:49:35 PM

Hey DD,

Not to pee in flowerbed but I have had trouble getting the ceramic media out of .45 cases. It tends to want to jam in the bottom and I have to pick it out. Lov ethe way the DD Media Ceramic cleans and. shines up some pretty awful looking brass after my shoots. e missed you at Homan this month..........Last stage 25 targets you use any gun you want......Wounded Kneed shot the entire stage with a double barrel and single shotgun. Neat and a tonne of style points..

Cohagen

john boy · July 14, 2009, 09:26:55 PM

Dick sells 1/8" 30degree angle cut ceramic porcelain rod 11/32" long.
Cohagen, if the cylinders are too big, yes they will nest up inside some of the cases and create a log jam. And in bottle neck cases ... A real PITA! I have some cylinder media that is 3/32" (4mm) and they jam up in a good percentage of the cases too. IMHO, 4mm triangles are the way to go. They won't nest in the primer pockets either

Mako · July 14, 2009, 10:30:10 PM

Quote from: john boy on July 14, 2009, 09:26:55 PM
Dick sells 1/8" 30degree angle cut ceramic porcelain rod 11/32" long.
Cohagen, if the cylinders are too big, yes they will nest up inside some of the cases and create a log jam. And in bottle neck cases ... A real PITA! I have some cylinder media that is 3/32" (4mm) and they jam up in a good percentage of the cases too. IMHO, 4mm triangles are the way to go. They won't nest in the primer pockets either

John Boy,
Triangles, or tetrahedrons? They are different. I have 4- 4.5mm tetrahedrons and they jam at times. There isn't any such thing as jam free media, even balls or shot can jam. In the finishing industry Media is sized based on the removal rate requirement, the mass needed to affect the parts, finish requirements and then the entrapment problem. A lot of parts are actually temporarily sealed or the openings blocked because it is difficult to match removal rate, finish and entrapment potential. I have 4 or 5 kinds of ceramic or plastic media and a bunch of different shot types ranging from spherical to "flying saucer" shapes. I tend to use either the smaller tetrahedrons or a cylindrical media just a bit larger than Dick's.

The diagonal end cylinders Dick sells is probably the best choice for larger calibers. Anything sub .38-40 works better with 4-5mm tetrahedrons if you want to clean the inside of the case or small primer pockets, otherwise the cylinders work great on those too. Nothing short of abrasive grit blasting will fully clean a primer pocket. But the flash hole area will be hit with any of the media types we have been discussing. Usually that is sufficient.

I have used Ø1/8 and Ø3/32 cylinders on .38 spl and .38 Super with good results.

Later,
Mako

Dick Dastardly · July 15, 2009, 08:30:41 AM

The folks at Wisconsin Porcelain, right here in Sun Prairie, were consulted about the best media for spent brass tumbling. Given cleaning rate, stuck media questions, cost and availability the answer was the DD Ceramic Porcelain media. They had been selling it to several very well recognized sporting goods and reloading outlets for years. They also have media all the way down to 4mm and up to fist size in a plethora of grits, colors and materials. Their parent company is Washington Mills. These people are major players in the industrial finishing market. They KNOW tumbling media.

Thanks to the experimental nature of the many pards that are using CP media I've learned a method that removes 99.9% of the stuck media from my brass. I tumble brass as small as the .32 S&W short up to 45-70 and have found this method very helpful. After separating the clean brass from the DD CP media after tumbling, I put it in an old Lyman shaker with old corncob media to dry it. I use only enough media to dry the brass and not enough to "drown" it. I want it to rattle a little. The shaker is plugged into a Graylab timer and set for one hour. After a one hour shake and rattle the brass is very dry and any stuck CP media has rattled out. I dump the load thru the same french fry basket I used to separate it from the CP media earlier and you've seen the photo. That batch of .38 Special had only one or two odd pieces with jammed CP media inside. Since I inspect all my brass for cracks, caliber and imperfections before reloading, it's a no brainer to dislodge the odd piece of stuck media with a dental pick. About once a year I sift my corncob media thru a fry basket that passes the corncob media and holds the CP media. I may reclaim a cup of CP media.

So, yes, I could sell a smaller or larger or different color or different material tumbling media. They're all available to me at the factory dock. Simply put, the one we chose is the best compromise of all the conditions mentioned above. Also, since it's made right here in Sun Prairie, there's no shipping costs. Much of the other media, especially the smaller sizes, comes from China. I prefer to patronize Americans. When you buy Dick Dastardly Big Lube® products you are buying American.

DD-DLoS

Lone Oak · July 15, 2009, 09:09:58 AM

DD-

What type of tumbler do you use, vibrating or rotating?

L.O.

Dick Dastardly · July 15, 2009, 09:48:38 AM

Howdy Oak,

Most of my tumbling is now done on a Thumler's Tumbler model AR-12. The TT model B is bigger but slower to load and unload. The only time I use the old Lyman shaker, I think it's a model 1200, is to dry the wet brass after tumbling in the Thumler. I also have a RCBS Sidewinder tumbler that can do the work. It's noisy, expensive, doesn't hold as much and gets stuck now and then. I don't like to let run unattended.

The Thumler is a rotary with a hard rubber barrel. Myself and a number of other pards have found that the first couple of loads in a NEW Thumler barrel can end up looking gray and dingy. That's because the barrel needs to get broken in. After a couple of batches the problem goes away and doesn't come back again. Must be some stuff left over from the manufacturing process.

Vibratory shakers with vertical shafts are mostly made to run a dry load. Some of the literature specifically states this and voids the warranty if wet loads are run. But. . . . I do know that some enterprising reloaders have "waterproofed" their shakers and are running wet loads. No, I won't name names. There are vibratory units, mostly industrial, that do run wet loads. DD CP media does perform well in vibratory units but it's up to the individual to judge appropriateness and take responsibility for their decisions. A rare thing today.

That's the long answer. The short one is "rotary".

DD-DLoS

Cohagen · July 15, 2009, 12:27:56 PM

Thanks for the help DD. As usual the man more good ideas than I can use in one day. I'm gonna try that shaky thing. Buy American.......You Betcha.....

Cohagen

Lone Oak · July 15, 2009, 12:29:37 PM

DD,
Thanks. I have been thinking about getting a Thumlers for a while now. I currently use an old Midway vibrating one for both dry corn cob media for smokeless fired brass and also for ceramic wet loads to clean my 40-70, 44 Colt and 44WCF brass after shooting bp. But, the old vibratory thing can only handle a small batch at a time when run with the ceramic media. Time to find a better, safer way to do it.
L.O.