Tumbler leaving dust on brass.

[Bazoo]

I bought some ground walnut zilla lizard bedding from the pet store and its real dusty. It doesn't appear dusty when pouring but leaves a coats of dust all over the brass inside and out. Using a berrys vibratory tumbler.

I have run 4 or 5 batches changing the drier sheet each time(cut into thirds). I've run two sheets a few times. Anyone else having this problem?

I'm going to run the brass through my cob media to remove the dust on what I've tumbled. I've run dry and with cabelas polish added with the same results. Guess I'll have to buy actual media.

Thoughts appreciated.

[The Dar]

I use walnut media from Harbor Freight (similar to Zilla). My media is also "dusty". I fill the tumbler with new media, add 3-4 tablespoons of Frankford brass polish, run the tumbler for at least 20 minutes to work the polish in. Then I fill the tumbler with brass. Let it run at least three hours. I have no dust--I run the tumbler outdoors without the lid on. The slightest breeze will blow the dust away. Give it a try.

[tashaner1123]

Not much help here I suppose. I wet-tumble with steel pins and water with dawn soap and lemi-shine. Only issue is drying time and that's not a big thing for me.

[BigAlofPa.]

I mix some mothers polish and mineral spirits in. It helps with the dust a lot.

[JBinMN]

Put some Mineral Spirits on a paper towel or maybe a shop towel(paper but thicker) and put that in your tumbler with the brass next time. That will help, or at least it has for me.


I use about a Tablespoon of minerals spirits + a cap full of Nu Finish in my tumbler every time,( no paper towel) but when I first use new media I add the MS soaked paper towel the first couple of times until the mix of the MS & NuFinish get well mixed into the media.

One quick fix for ya right now is to use the hotwater, dish soap with a dash or two of a citrus powder used for canning, with amounts depending on the amount of water & brass you use( I use about a quart I reckon.) & put it all ( brass & mixture)in a tupperware like container with a lid & shake over the sink, let it set 5-10 minutes & shake it again, then pour all into a colander to strain it all & rinse like with pasta. Put into a towel & grab the long ends of the towel with the brass inside like a hammock & rock it back & forth to get most of the water out & then put it on another dry towel ( or T shirt) to fully dry. Then load at your convenience. That should take care of all the media dust.

G'Luck! whatever ya decide to do.

[Bazoo]

I'd like to get into wet tumbling. Bout tired of the problems I've been having.

[Bazoo]

Thanks for the advice JB.

[JBinMN]

Thanks for the advice JB.

You are welcome.


I use that mixture with the hot water soap & citrus before I even tumble & you would be surprised how clean the brass is even without the tumbling. Makes your media last a bit longer as well. At least I think so.


You would be surprised how long all of the ingredients mentioned last & are not all that expensive either.

Check it out.

BTW, if ya go to the water & steel pins, G'Luck! with that as well, but until then, you can get by with what ya have & once ya get it working the way ya like, you always have it as a backup if ya do go to the steel pins deal.

[NyFirefighter357]

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[nun2kute]

Funny you should mention that. I was in my storage shed yesterday and had to move two new and one used bottles of walnut media out of the way to stash some lumber that I scrounged out of a dumpster, now you got me thinking.

I've seen that dust recently too. Not sure that it is really a detriment to reloading. I Loaded up a bunch of 44 mag several weeks ago, dust on the inside some of the cases. Haven't noticed any difference in accuracy though. And it's on the inside of some of the 9mm cases I'm turning into 308 jackets. There shouldn't be very much of that dust kicking around anymore, been so long since I used it last I'd forgot I even had it in storage. Maybe its time to join the S&S crowd.

Good luck with your case cleaning.

[6bg6ga]

Love that Lizard litter. Every tumbling media like the lizard or walnut is going to leave some dust. This is why a lot of us have a air compressor. My solution is to simply use air and blow off the dust or put the brass in the ultrasonic cleaner. Generally in my garage anymore brass cleaning is done in the ultrasonic and once clean the brass is set out on an old beach towel in the sun to dry.

[lightman]

I'm another that puts a cap full of mineral spirits and a cap full of NuFinish in my dry tumbler. If you don't want to go that route you could roll your brass around on a damp towel.

[Burnt Fingers]

That walnut dust is bad for your lungs, really bad.

I've got two batches of Harbor Freight walnut media, couldn't find the original batch after we moved, bought another batch, found the original batch a couple days later. Anyway, one batch is VERY dusty. What I did was to put a bunch of the media in a paint strainer bag then use my air compressor to blow the dust out.

IF YOU DO THIS MAKE SURE YOU'RE WEARING PPE!

[1hole]

You have dust? That's from the media, not the tumbler. I doubt any of the media sellers make up what they sell; the sellers likely get raw media from where ever, then bag it and sell it to retailers. That means what we buy will vary from batch to batch.

Cob or walnut media dust is soft and harmless to to barrels, think of it as baby powder. You'll likely find it disappears from the case exteriors during the loading process with no effort.

I've used dry rollers and vibrators, wet rollers and ultrasonics and find no material advantage to any of them. So, as a matter of worth and simplicity, I always go back to dry viberators and what ever media, without polish; that's simple and quick. My cases come out dry and ready to use and they are as "clean" as need be.

Some guys find tumbling with cob best, some find nut best, some guys use a mix of both; I suppose that's just to make sure they're using the best one (?). I've proven to myself there isn't enough difference between dry medias to make a meaningful difference.

Legal liability being what it is, IF there was any health risk to dry media dust (or pet bedding) there would be hazard warnings all over the containers; there isn't. (But I wouldn't suggest anyone stick their nose into a tumbler bowl and breathe the dust for hours at a time. )

[RED BEAR]

I clean brass with citric acid or vinager and salt then size and deprime then tumble in walnut with a cap full of nufinish that has run for 15 minutes or so then tumble for hour or so then polish in corn cobs with nufinish. A small amount o dust coming out of the walnut goes away in the corn cobs.

[Tom W.]

I just ended up buying corn cob media from Midway and add some NuFinish every so often. Prior to that, like a fool I tried almost everything that was suggested and it was all just a failure for me.
YMMV

[salpal48]

the reason why you have dust is the Pet walnut and HF media is all dust . Basicly the leftovers of good Blast media. . The pet product will work but Breaks down to fast and turns to dust . HF media is all Dust . The bottom of the barrel. If you sift it you will find it's mostly Dust. If you want Good media. Go and get blast media . Or go to Kramer industries.
Cheap you buy Cheap you get.. just plain and simple Cheap junk

[Messy bear]

Maybe you would like to try my simple recipe? This for vibratory cleaner.
Corn cob bird or animal bedding in big bag for cheap. Wet it with mineral spirits to keep dust down.
Pros-
Safer because it keeps priming dust under control
Cuts boolit lube
Doesn't leave rouge on cases that causes hard sizing with carbide dies
Simple and cheap
Leaves a lube type residue on cases probably from dissolved boolit lube so sizing in carbide is easier than sweeky clean brass

Cons-
Gets stuck in small necks
Doesn't shine real well

[JBinMN]

Let us know what ya decide to do & how it works for ya, please.


Maybe it will help someone else down the road.

[Pete44mag]

I don't know if I'm to OCD, but I tumble about an hour in walnut media to clean. Lube with home made one shot case lube. Decap and size. Tumble wet with SS pins about 2 hours using dawn and lemi-shine. Then rinse in fresh water and blow dry with my wife's old hair dryer. My brass comes out looking brand new. I have reloaded and shot brass without cleaning it and there was no difference in accuracy(pistol ammo) but my OCD says the brass has to be shiny. Probably was not much help on this string but had to add my 2¢.