What’s on my brass?

[Michael J. Spangler]

I’ve seen this before and I figured it was some excess lube (from a poor job on my part leaving lube all over the bullet nose) that was either around the neck of the case during firing or maybe blew back on the case with the very low pressure loads.
12 grains of unique in a 45/70 with various bullets.
Or maybe that the new dryer sheets that I was using was leaving some residue on some of the cases.
Either way the old dirty media and dirty brass was leaving it’s fine nasty particles all over my brass. Not every piece though. Maybe 15% of the batch. Which makes me think the lube that was on the outside of the brass during firing.

Then again It also left a coating on the inside of the Lyman tumbler bowl.

I cleaned the cases with some ballistol easy enough and the bowl was scrubbed with some alcohol and a bit of chore boy.
All clean now.
So what do you think caused this? I’m sure if anyone has seen it before it’s going to be a member of this forum.
Needless to say I’m ordering a new 50# bag of media this week. This stuff is shot.
Thanks everyone!

249056

[CastingFool]

I use Nufinish in my vibratory tumbler, and I have to let the tumbler run empty for half to one hour before adding the brass. Otherwise, the Nufinish does not mix properly, and the brass ends up looking like yours.

[Michael J. Spangler]

I use Nufinish in my vibratory tumbler, and I have to let the tumbler run empty for half to one hour before adding the brass. Otherwise, the Nufinish does not mix properly, and the brass ends up looking like yours.

That’s possible. I do use my finish. I tend to mix it really well in a big batch of media before I do any tumbling.

Also this last batch was tumbled in media that hasn’t had any Nu Finish added in 3 or 4 batches.

[Bazoo]

Tumbling dust and polish. It'll come off with a long tumbling session. I've gotten the same thing using cabelas polish. My media was loaded with it.

[Walks]

Those cases look like something that happened to me once.
I had a box of once-fired .44Mag brass, came from an acquaintances estate. Brass was from the early 1960's, Beautiful Remington box. Well anyway.
I dumped the brass into my Thumblers tumbler #10.
The Thumblers tumbler picked that moment to crap all over me. The rubber coating inside of the tub disintegrated. It stuck to the brass cases inside and out. As if it was glued on. I had scrape it off the outside and inside. Most people would have just chucked the brass, being stubborn I scrapped the brass clean. About 3 cases a week.

And the old tub ? I called Thumblers for a new tub. They wanted $75.00 (this was 15yrs ago) plus shipping of $20.00. More then I had paid for the tumbler 8yrs previously.
So I called up Lyman and ordered a 2200 tub.
$25.00 shipped. Stuck it on the Thumblers motor base. And away I went.

[Three44s]

I run something like that on a Lee Zip Trim and some fine steel wool if there are not too many cases like that.

Three44s

[Winger Ed.]

I've had media clog up with oils, wax, etc.

I washed it in gasoline and laid it out on newspaper to dry.
Let the gas settle for a day or two, pour it off the mud, and do it again.

It worked for me.

I'd wash that brass in gasoline or lacquer thinner first also before I got violent with it.
That crud may wash off.

[Dusty Bannister]

It might just be dirty cleaner media and cases that were sized with a case lube that remained a little sticky. Lightly stick the case mouth on a tapered punch in a drill and use solvent and a rag to lightly spin the case to remove the residue. You might consider changing the media, it looks a bit overloaded with rouge.

[Rattlesnake Charlie]

Polishing media or wax just like CastingFool said. I after adding I let machine run over 15 minutes, often more, until those "clumps" are mixed into the media. If the casings won't clean up with soaking in hot soapy water, let them dry and hit with a bit of gasoline.

[trapper9260]

I see it helps to put a dryer sheet that is cut up in the media when you tumble. Help to cut the dust and some of that is in the photo.

[Rattlesnake Charlie]

I see it helps to put a dryer sheet that is cut up in the media when you tumble. Help to cut the dust and some of that is in the photo.

It does wonders to cut the dust. I had read to only use sheets that had already been used in the dryer. Not sure why. I snitch mine out of the trash at the laundromat.

I had not thought it might speed up integrating the polishing media. Will try that.

[Michael J. Spangler]

This batch did have dryer sheets in there but new sheets not used.

I ran the batch for about 3 hours as ai usually do.

The red is some old walnut media that I got in a big reloading tool purchase one time. I think it was lyman and was walnut preloaded with some type of cleaner

[EMC45]

That used to happen when I used Lyman Tuff Nut walnut media. When I switched to corn cob with NuFinish it stopped doing that.

[mdi]

To determine if your media additives are causing this, try some new media, without any additives (auto polish, dryer sheets, etc.). The only reason I use any auto polish/wax is to leave a very light film to combat tarnish...

[waksupi]

Kind of looks like they had vinegar on them, causing the copper to separate.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

I've never seen nuthin like that.
But if that was after tumbling and it cleaned off easy...I agree with your assessment to clean the tumbler and dispose of the old media. I use mineral spirits to clean the tumbler bowl, when needed.

[tazman]

I get residue like that at times with my straight walled pistol cases(38 special and 45ACP) when I used tumble lube on the boolits. I tend to use more lube on them than I should.
Some of it blows back onto the cases with lighter loads. Probably gets on the chamber walls as well.
It can be difficult to take off without a chemical cleaner of some sort.

[DukeInFlorida]

Michael, in my opinion, dryer sheets (new or used) are a waste, total waste, of time, effort, and materials.
I mean, why not throw an old shirt in there, hoping to somehow absorb old crap from the polishing/cleaning process?

Here's how I do it:

1) As was mentioned by someone else, put new media in your bowl.
2) NO BRASS YET. . .
3) Add a couple of capfuls of NuFinish car polish. It's a polymer polish, no micro abrasives and no alkaline additives. This add-in provides polished brass with a clear plastic coating, which will keep the brass shiny for months (even here in th humid weather of Florida.)
4) Add a few splashes of mineral spirits (paint thinner). This add-in helps dissolve the soot and powder residue.
5) Run the media (no brass) for about 1/2 hour to allow the additives to get absorbed into the media (btw, I prefer crushed walnut shell)
6) Empty the bowl of all media
7) Fill the bowl 1/2 full of brass. The volume of brass is very important. Most people underfill the brass into the bowl. It's not the weight of the media pressing against the brass that does the job. It's the weight of the brass, pressing the media into the brass, that makes it go faster and better. If you don't have enough brass to polish to get to 1/2 full (doesn't matter what size bowl you have, fill it 1/2 full!), then re-polish some brass that's already done.
8) Add in the media, covering to full bowl. Remember that the brass is hollow, and will fill with media.

IF you over use media, it will eventually get crushed into dust. That's as big an issue as the media getting dirty with sand, grit, soot, and chemicals from polishing. That looks (to my eye) like what happened to your media. Turned into dust, and you added something that caused the dust to stick to your brass. The crushed walnut shell seems to last longer than the corn cob media. I buy crushed walnut shell at the pet supply store. Look for the bags of it that are used for lizards/snakes for terrariums. I'v seen it on Amazon also. Harbor Freight also sells it in the area where they sell the sand blasting stuff. 25 pound box for about a buck a pound. Get the smaller of the two sizes that they sell. The pet shop version only comes in one granule size.


This batch did have dryer sheets in there but new sheets not used.

I ran the batch for about 3 hours as ai usually do.

The red is some old walnut media that I got in a big reloading tool purchase one time. I think it was lyman and was walnut preloaded with some type of cleaner

[gwpercle]

Your tumbling media is loaded up and needs to be replaced...looks like you add a bunch of "additives" like car wax and such....this will eventually gunk up the media , it leaves all that crud on the cases and no longer polishes... throw it out and replace it with Midway's Frankford Arsenal Brass Cleaning and Polishing Treated Walnut Hull Media ..... you don't need to add anything untill the polishing slows down then add some Frankford Arsenal Liquid Brass Polish for tumblers...as directed.
Adding all that liquid car wax gunks up the polishing media so it can't work.
Use the products made for polishing brass not waxing cars .
Gary

[maxreloader]

I have seen this on "new" old stock Starline brass a few times from different sources. I obtained it like that. Never any other brand of brass. Not saying anything about Starline, I like and use their brass and none of the stuff I have bought from them looked like that. However it makes me want to check the odd calibers I bought a few years back and have stored just to see...

[kevin c]

I got something like that crud in the picture when I used old walnut hull media overcharged with Midway USA Frankford Arsenal polish. It would also cake up on the interior of the bowl of my Dillon tumbler. Hard to get off for both the brass and the tumbler. Using new media and cutting back on the polish helped prevent the problem, as did swapping out the walnut sooner, and using used dryer clothes to cut the dust in the new walnut and as it rounded off during use.

I solved the problem permanently by switching to wet tumbling.

[mdi]

K.I.S.S... Tumbling with walnut, corn cob, rice, beans etc. is extremely simple. Someone a while back tried an auto polish and now it has become a necessity. People have "invented" complex formula for adding to a specific media to "improve" the cleaning/polishing, unnecessarily. Try this; get some corn cob blast media, size 14-20. Put some in your tumbler,a and add your brass. Leave enough room for good tumbling or wobbling action. Turn the machine on and let the media and brass act together. Nothing else. I'll bet you will find clean brass and depending on how long you leave the machine running you can easily achieve a good shiny bunch of cases. When I do use a wax/polish I use less than half of the "recommended" 2 cap fulls...

For a tarnish resistance "coating" use a little auto wax/polish. Nuttin' else. No abrasive pumice or rouge necessary. If your brass is tarnished badly, use a more aggressive media (for rusty tools and/or black brass, I use a mix of Harbor Freight resin tumbling media and my cob blast media, at the most 50/50...

I remember when if anyone wanted BBQ ammo, they would polish the cases individually, and the only time you saw bright shiny brass is when you opened a box of new factory ammo...

[Taterhead]

Yes, I've seen cases like that from my cleaner. Gets stuck on there pretty stubbornly. Since I tumble off case lube, I attribute it to a critical mass of buildup of lube in the media that causes the rouge and dust to adhere to the cases. That is when I know it is time to refresh the media.

[Michael J. Spangler]

Sounds like just a build up of nu finish in the media which I'm sure like any other media is now "loaded" and won't polish well or hold the finish anymore.
Makes total sense. I used to "stone wash" some knives I made and after a while the media needed a good rinsing to clean out the fines that clogged up the porous surface. Without that it wouldn't cut worth a snot.

[Bazoo]

I've run walnut media dry before, and it does work okay provided you let it run over night or even a couple days.

[high standard 40]

If you would be willing to switch to wet tumbling, this problem would be solved. Since I tried wet tumbling I will never go back to dry media. My cases come out cleaner than was ever possible with dry media and it never takes longer than 90 minutes.