Used primers added to tumbling media?

[MikeS]

Hi All.

I can't recall where I heard or saw mention of adding used primers into the tumbling media (either corn cob or walnut) to help with the cleaning of brass. Has anyone tried this? It would seem to me that the anvils would help clean brass, but I don't know about the cups, if they would do anything to help or hinder the cleaning process. I'm certainly not going to start separating the parts of the used primers, so I'm either going to use them as is, or not at all.

I really wish I could remember where I either heard this, or read it, as it halfway makes sense, the little pieces of brass added to the existing media would help clean really dirty brass, while still allowing the other media to shine up the cases being tumbled. So if anyone has either heard of this, or done it, I would really appreciate hearing about it. I have one of the Lee red round containers full of used primers, and it would be nice to be able to use them for something, rather than just discarding them.

-Mike

[Oreo]

Tumbling media gets dirty & dusty with toxic stuff enough as it is. Primers are a primary source of this toxic residue so adding them to the media sounds like it would make an undesirable situation worse. Besides that, I've never had a problem just using walnut media with some brass polishing compound. Does a great job. If you need better then that then you really need to be looking at ultrasonic or wet rotary with stainless media.

[shotman]

that would be adding more {dirt} to the mix

[thx997303]

JTknives uses spent primers as tumbling media.

His method is to put the brass and the used primers as well as some soapy water in a 2l mountain dew bottle, and chuck it up on the lathe, let it spin for 30 minutes or so.

He gets some shiney brass out of the deal. But since it's wet, there's dry time involved.

Hope this helps.

[geargnasher]

Yet another reason I need a lathe.

Gear

[Willee]

The brass shells by themselves seem to work as a cleaning agent.

I have noticed that a large batch of brass in the tumbler cleans and polishes quicker than just a handful. I suppose the shells hitting one another is what causes this.

[John Boy]

But since it's wet, there's dry time involved.

Drying wet primers is easy and quick ... How to Dry Wet Primers in Under 2 Minutes

[MikeS]

Lathe! I wish I still had one! We had a large one (I believe it had a 14" swing, it was huge, I think the bed was about 18' long!), and an old Atlas lathe that was originally in my father's shop in our basement up north. It wasn't really a commercial quality lathe (I think it had a 3" or 4" swing, and a 3' bed), but for small jobs it worked pretty good. It's a toss up, if I could only have one machine, would it be a lathe, or a Bridgeport mill.

The only machines we did keep from the machine shop was a fairly nice drill press, with it's own metal stand, an industrial strength bandsaw also mounted on it's own metal stand, and another saw of some kind, that unlike the other machines, that are setup, and ready to go, it's stuffed in a corner of the garage (which is why I can't say more about it, I haven't seen it in years, and don't remember much about it, other than my father had some kind of attachment to it, so it was brought home along with the other ones when we sold the business.

[ku4hx]

I tried BBs once, did nothing special for the cleaning process and my son wondered what happened to his stash.

But I tell you those were some of the brightest, shiniest BBs I'd ever seen.

[Gtek]

Yes, more brass in tumbler does work a lot better. I believe it is due to the increased mass in media,
which in turn increases the pressure against brass. Buddy just picked up Thumbler (red rock roller)
with stainless pins-WOW, it is amazing how well that set up works. Gtek

[David Bachelder]

Just my thoughts.

Adding spent primers to a tumbler is a really bad idea. Why? The lead contaminates from the primers will become airborne due to the action of the tumbler. Breathing this lead dust can not be good for you and I believe it would expose you to serious amounts of lead.

Play it safe .... avoid the spent primers and follow good hygene after handling them. Walnut or Corn or both together is all that is needed to clean the spent casings.

[runfiverun]

just wash the brass in the citric acid.
then tumble it with the walnut media.
if you want a slick golden sheen a titch of nufinish will do that.
the nufinish makes it harder for the case to grip the chamber walls however.

i like clean brass colored brass it does it's intended job.

[MikeS]

I added some automotive wax/polish (not polishing compound) into my current mix of corn cob & walnut media, and along with making the cases really shine, it makes that nice shiny finish last longer than cases run thru the tumbler without the added wax. It could be my imagination, but it seems like the cases that were tumbled in media treated with auto wax also seems to size easier, and primers seem to go in with less pressure needed.

I bought some walnut media from the seller on eBay that also sells the mould lube that's similar to BullPlate, and it came with a packet a (2oz) of red rouge. I also bought a larger packet (4oz) of a white powdered media additive he calls Alumina which is supposed to clean better than the rouge, but not polish as much, but when I use either of those powders in the tumbler they created a lot of dust! When I use the car polish rather than those powdered additives I get lots less dust during the tumbling operation (I have the Lyman vibratory tumbler that comes with the separator top, rather than a closed top, and while it's working you can actually see the dust coming out of the top of the tumbler! When I tried the white powder it turned the media black in a single use, the red powder turned the media bright red before use, and a darker red after a single use, but nothing like the white powder, after use the walnut was BLACK! I suppose that means that it cleaned the casings better (I'm assuming the black color is from the dirt that came off the cases).

I guess I should mention that the corncob media I have is the Lyman stuff that's pre-treated with a green abrasive, I bought it with the tumbler, and still had some left, so after playing with the walnut media by itself with the 2 powdered additives I went to using the remaining corncob and added the walnut to it. First I tried using the mixture without adding anything to it, and it worked pretty good, but when I added the car wax it really made the brass shine, with a shine that seems to last longer than without the wax. It also seems that when I shoot ammo with cases that were tumbled with the auto wax added it seems that they don't get as dirty, and cleanup quicker too.

I took the used primers that I have (about 2.5lbs), and I rinsed them out, and lots of dirt and stuff came off of them, and I'm tempted to try adding them into the tumbler, worst case, they don't work, so I loose a couple of pounds of tumbling media. If they do work out helping the tumbling process, then I have found a use for my old primers, rather than just throwing them away. I still need to give this some more thought before I try them.

[Tim357]

I've used mineral spirits mixed in the corn cob media. Makes brass nice n shiny, tho it does tend to collect on the underside of the lid.

[runfiverun]

primers are usually brass too, i throw them in the recycle bucket.
i avoid the rouge stuff it might go on down the bbl [and imo it does] and i doubt it's polishing that.

[nanuk]

I was gonna try to reload some used primers, but can't find them....

I need to find some other reloaders and get some!

[beagle]

I once forgot a bunch of 9mm brass in the tumbler and dropped a load of .308 brass in and ran it. It seemed to polish a lot quicker with the 9mm in it./beagle

[RoGrrr]

I have a South Bend lathe but it only has a 10 inch swing. However, it does have a pilot hole in the headstock.
The comment about the lathe made me think that I can take a 1/2 or 3/4 inch rod about 18 inches long and thread it on one end.
Then take a 2-1/2 gallon bucket and punch a hole in the bottom. Take a couple pieces of plate that will fit inside the bucket and drill holes in them so they act as gussets for the inside and outside of the bottom of the bucket.
Put a nut on the rod, push it thru those 3 layers of "plate, bucket, plate" and put the second nut on it, kinda like a lollipop, large size.
Fill with cases and media and put the lid on the bucket. Then put the rod in the pilot hole from the left side and clamp it in the chuck.
Run the lathe at a slow speed and you have your tumbler for large quantities of brass.
It's amazing the ideas one can find on forum boards like this.
Thanks, guys.

[Shiloh]

Don't do it.

THe anvil will probably fall out and there is a risk of it getting by the decapping process in bottle necked rifle brass. The other thing is you will be adding lead styphnate residue as well as ground glass to the mix. More bad can come from it than good.

SHiloh

[Longwood]

I figured a little additional weight would cause the polishing media to rub against the brass with a little bit more force.
After reading about the stainless steel pins, and how well they work, I decided to try BB's and I honestly believe it helped with how long it takes.
I got about five pounds for $10 at walmart and added about half of them to the media in my small vibrator cleaner.

I am not exactly sure what works best, but after reading through everything here, I know that it sure goes fast compared to all night that it used to take.
About 20 to 30 minutes in a sonic cleaner then another 45 minutes to an hour in the vibrator cleaner and they shine better than new.
I only have big mouth brass now and don't advise using BB's if you are doing 223 or other very small mouth brass.