Johnch
08-16-2016, 02:27 AM
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 $$
John
Lots of loaded stuff to plink with
But I needed to load some more hunting loads .....a 160 gr GC powder coated bullet cast out a soft alloy
So I grab the box that has the extra fire formed 303 brass and my heart sank
A can of something ( label missing, might be 1/2 of a 2 part epoxy paint ) had dumped onto 1/4 of the brass
OK I empty the box and put 100 clean cases in the tumbler to load in the morning
But I am looking at the rest of the cases and I wanted to see if I could salvage them
As finding more 20 year old fire formed 303 brass of the same lot and just neck sized for my rifle isn't going to happen
So I try 2 solvents .....Oh not good
The nasty stuff is semi dry , but not all the way dry
So I figured what the heck
I would try a trick a "Old" Timer told me about 30+ years back , I figured the worst that could happen was I would have to scrap the brass
So got out the other tumbler and old corn cob media and went out to the shop
I picked up about 1 cup of fine steel chips from under the bench grinder
So I added the fine steel chips to the corn cob media and 50 cases and turned it on
OK I will admit I watched how the nasty cases were doing a BUNCH
But in about 30 min , all but 1 of the cases were clean and that one had the stuff inside the case ....IMO it might be best to junk that case :sad:
I just started the rest of the nasty cases , but I put a timer on the power cord to turn the tumbler off after 20 min , so I can look them over and pull out any clean cases
Not saying that this is a great way to clean cases , as I plan on triple checking the cases to be sure I don't hurt the dies
But if it works
It will save me a bunch of time and $$
John