Cleaning The Nasty off some cases

[Johnch]

OK I flipped a coin and the 303 Brit won as the small bore deer rifle this fall ....I ALWAYS take the Marlin 45/70 also

Lots of loaded stuff to plink with
But I needed to load some more hunting loads .....a 160 gr GC powder coated bullet cast out a soft alloy

So I grab the box that has the extra fire formed 303 brass and my heart sank
A can of something ( label missing, might be 1/2 of a 2 part epoxy paint ) had dumped onto 1/4 of the brass

OK I empty the box and put 100 clean cases in the tumbler to load in the morning

But I am looking at the rest of the cases and I wanted to see if I could salvage them
As finding more 20 year old fire formed 303 brass of the same lot and just neck sized for my rifle isn't going to happen

So I try 2 solvents .....Oh not good
The nasty stuff is semi dry , but not all the way dry

So I figured what the heck
I would try a trick a "Old" Timer told me about 30+ years back , I figured the worst that could happen was I would have to scrap the brass

So got out the other tumbler and old corn cob media and went out to the shop
I picked up about 1 cup of fine steel chips from under the bench grinder

So I added the fine steel chips to the corn cob media and 50 cases and turned it on

OK I will admit I watched how the nasty cases were doing a BUNCH

But in about 30 min , all but 1 of the cases were clean and that one had the stuff inside the case ....IMO it might be best to junk that case :sad:

I just started the rest of the nasty cases , but I put a timer on the power cord to turn the tumbler off after 20 min , so I can look them over and pull out any clean cases

Not saying that this is a great way to clean cases , as I plan on triple checking the cases to be sure I don't hurt the dies

But if it works
It will save me a bunch of time and $$

John

[Greg S]

The only solvents I would try on epoxy is Methyl Ethel Keytone, Xylene or possibly lacqer thinner. Few thinner are hot enough to liquify/thin that stuff.

[runfiverun]

steel chips and especially stainless steel chips are used by a bunch of guy's in their wet tumblers in place of the little pins.
they do the same thing you would have with your pocket knife.

[country gent]

Coming from "under the bench grinder" they were not only steel grindings but broken down grinding wheel ash also. A known lapping compound. You should be okay but I would clean them a second time wash or clean corn cobs to remove residue. Ive found for removing epoxies a heat cycle from freezing cold to a couple hundred degrees breaks the bond also. The problem with solvents even soaking is they have to work thru the joints to the center this can take time.