Case prep!!!!

[Mark Daiute]

Call me slow but I searched the forums twice through and did not find a forum heading dedicated to case prep so I'm posting my questions here.

1. Do any of you use Lyman's shell based polishing media with the rouge? I got the jug home started reading it and it says right on the jug that Lyman recommends their corn-cob media for polishing shells! Huh? so why did you sell me this media?

2. Is the rouge of concern to any of you? I see it mixing with the bullet lube that goes down the bore with each shot and wearing down the bore...

3. I polished my brass, several hundred Krag shells, prior to re-sizing and de-capping and they looked beautiful. I use Lee's sizing goop for re-sizing my shells and of course those nice clean shells ended up with goop on them and not so pretty anymore. Rather than put them back in the vibrators here's what I did: I washed them in the kitchen sink and rinsed them well then put them in the oven with the oven set to about 150°.

3A: Am I nuts?

3B: Anyone else do this?

3C:How hot does the brass need to be before it is annealed?

Let me know if I am on the wrong track or if I'm missing some obvious evil here because I like the results. I like the way it has worked out and am eager to get the dried shells primed.

Thanks,

Mark
Maine

[madsenshooter]

Hi Mark, annealing temp is over 700 degrees, you ought to be ok on your low oven. I just use the walnut media, pretty doesn't matter to me, some of mine may even (gasp), be dirty on the neck! I don't mess with the rouge, can't comment. Form doesn't always come before function, I'll take functional brass, skip the pretty. Imperial sizing die wax is what I've used for lubing, dries to a nice shine, little can has lasted me years, like Brylcreem, a little dab will do you.

[101VooDoo]

Mark,

I use the Lyman walnut w/rouge, no issues with residue as far as loading/shooting. I used to follow a tumble with rouge with a tumble in corn cob to clean off the residue, but don't bother anymore.

As the walnut breaks down, you get more and more residue; you can toss in a used dryer sheet in to pick up some of it. I just replace the media at that stage. Its cheap and the fresh media does a quicker, 'shinier' job.

[mooman76]

I don't care for it myself but still use it. I just put the brass in a rag and swish it around to get the rouge off. I mixed some regular walnut with it and not sure it it made it worse but it was no better. If you want purty either switch to corncob or use the walnut first to get the heavy cleaning done and then switch to corncob for a while for the final polish. I don't care for puty either. Don't make the gun shoot better.

[Hip's Ax]

In my opinion (I am a match shooter and deal with 100 to 1000 cases at a time, this is just to explain my point of view)

Walnut and rouge (or polish) is for cleaning

Corn and polish is for polishing

I always run my brass through plain corn to remove polish residue before resizing and once again before loading. I don't like the idea of abrasive in my dies or rifles

I tumble my brass several times during the reloading process, once in walnut and polish to remove grunge (IF the brass is grungy, if its pretty clean I use corn and polish) then in plain corn for a while then I resize, back in the tumbler with a special lot of corn to remove the spray lube, then I trim and chamfer, clean the primer pockets etc, then into corn and polish until shiny (up to a few hours, makes them easier to find in the grass at the range) then into plain corn to finish. Then I load them.

I have been using ceramic media for my black powder cases and I am now seriously considering buying the stainless steel pins to do all my cases.

Be careful using the oven, mine had a bad thermostat and I ruined 277 30-338 Win Mag cases once. I'm still mad at myself for that one and its been 4 years.

I use the Hornady Annealing kit, I just think its more uniform case to case rather than going by a dull red in the semi darkness. I only paint up 5 cases then get a "Mississippi" count for the rest of them then drop them in the water. It was after this that I decided to use the oven to dry them. :(

[Mk42gunner]

I usually decap my brass first, then tumble it in walnut to clean it (this also gives the primer pockets a shot at getting clean). After resizing, I run it through the tumbler again to get rid of any excess case lube (I am currently using STP).

I have to check flashholes before priming, but I am not in a hurry anyway. I try to get cases to this stage then store them in GI ammo cans, it makes it easy to start load developement.

Robert

[Bad Water Bill]

You can get LIZZARD BEDDING at your pet store for a lot less than what Lyman sells theirs for. A cap full of TURTLE WAX SCRATCH & SHINE REMOVER added to the bedding and you are good to go.

[G__Fred]

I use 3 parts Walnut, 1 part Lyman Red.

The 1st tumble is w/o brass and a lot of cut-up dryer sheet pieces (pull-off the dust).

When I tumble, it is 1.5 cups in a coffee can (home-made tumbler), with a few dryer sheet pieces, and 6 hours.

This produces a mirror finish.

[Sonnypie]

Be careful using the oven, mine had a bad thermostat and I ruined 277 30-338 Win Mag cases once. I'm still mad at myself for that one and its been 4 years.

Hip's Ax,
What happened there?
Could you elaborate? (If it isn't too painful, that is.)

[HeavyMetal]

case prep can b a chore!
+1 on the Imperial sizing die wax I much prefer it to any of the wet goops on the market for sizing rifle brass.
for regular cleaning walnut shell with rubing compound followed by corn cob plain works best.

I like my finished ammo to have some shine to it if for no othe reason than to show I care how my stuff goes together!

I run everything through a "universal" de priming die and then clean I also leave the de capping pin in my sizer die so it will clean the flash hole as I load.

really bad scrounged brass will get a bath in BC case cleaner before hitting the wanlut shell this will help break bad tarnish and light corrision.

[Hip's Ax]

Be careful using the oven, mine had a bad thermostat and I ruined 277 30-338 Win Mag cases once. I'm still mad at myself for that one and its been 4 years.

Hip's Ax,
What happened there?
Could you elaborate? (If it isn't too painful, that is.)

Sure Sonny, here is the account from back when it happened. I still have the rifle but am not currently using it as I had a few customs built for myself since.

Funny you should bring this up now, my 30-338 is waiting for me to pick her up at the gunsmith. I had a new butt pad put on as the one from the 1980's was hard and slick and the gunsmith gave it a health check up for me plus inspected and ok'ed a crack in the stock. I wanted to start shooting her again, my 260, 6.5-284, 6XC and my Palma are lovely but this ol' girl has old school charm and she was my first real centerfire prone rifle.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=12017

[Hip's Ax]

Here is the picture now missing from the 2007 post.

[montana_charlie]

I use the Hornady Annealing kit, I just think its more uniform case to case rather than going by a dull red in the semi darkness.
Any shade of red is too hot. Blue is what to look for.

Never having heard of the Hornady kit, I looked it up on the Midway site.
Is it true that the Tempilaq supplied in the kit is only rated for 475 degrees?

CM

[Hip's Ax]

Any shade of red is too hot. Blue is what to look for.

Never having heard of the Hornady kit, I looked it up on the Midway site.
Is it true that the Tempilaq supplied in the kit is only rated for 475 degrees?

CM

MC yes, but you paint below the shoulder.

[zomby woof]

Here's how I clean my brass. Every time I get my brass wet, I regret it.

Brass cleaning
I like my brass clean and shiny. Here’s what I do. I have a one hour timer with two vibrating tumblers.

1. Put dirty brass in media separator, spin to remove dirt, grass un-burnt powder etc…
2. Place brass in walnut, polish, fabric sheet and mineral spirits for one hour.
3. Remove from walnut and place in Corn cob, fabric sheet and polish for one hour.

It’s that simple. My brass is clean and shiny.


Here's how I anneal my brass
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgD5D0Wzu-c&feature=related

[lts70]

I am now using stainless steel media in water with a cap of dawn dish soap and a 9mm case full of lemon shine. 1-1/2 hours later it looks like never shot brass inside and out including the primer pocket. I will never go back to walnut or corn.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

I think the Lyman "Tuff nut" (their walnut media with red rouge) is too agressive.
I use to use it with real baddly tarnished cases.
I now use a hot citric acid bath, search in the Kit room for more info.
Citric acid does an awesome job of tarnish, and it also passivates the brass.

Different cases get treated differently in my gunroom.

scrouged range pistol brass gets the citric acid bath, then tumbling in corn cob media with my own blend of liquid car wax and chrome polish.

scrouged rifle brass gets only the citric acid bath.
to be sorted and dealt with later.

Pistol brass that I shot cast boolits with, gets a dish soap bath,
then tumbled in corn cob media with my own blend of liquid car wax and chrome polish.

small lots of Rifle brass that I've shot, gets the inner neck brushed out, then hand cleaned with shop rag (usually they have lube on them and clean up easily.
then sized (usually neck sized only) and deprimed. if FL sized, I use hornady's "one shot lube. either way they are tumbled in clean dry corncob media (no wax or polished added). then inspected, triimmed if necessary, then stored til it get reloaded.

large lots of rifle brass gets treated like scrouged brass...that really never happens...maybe someday I'll go on a P.Dog shoot :)

you may ask, WHY I use wax with pistol brass and not rifle brass.
I load pistol with carbide sizer dies and the wax aids in the ease of sizing.
and I don't think it's undesirable in pistols, in fact I think it aids in extraction
in semi-autos. ON THE OTHER HAND, I do think it is undesirable in rifle, expecially high pressure loads. I believe a clean unpolished, unwaxed brass case grips the chamber better during the firing process and aids in sealing the chamber.
Jon