Best Method for Removing Sizing Wax?

[Hanzy4200]

I've always went the simple way of a quick wipe with rag. It takes time, but is effective. However, I have a rather large run of 5.56 NATO brass to work, and I'd really like to skip this step. I use Imperial Sizing Wax. My options are wet rotary tumbling, or vibratory with fine walnut or corncob. My instinct would say wet, but I'm a bit concerned it might eventually lead to a build up of wax in/on my tumbler and pins. With the dry, I would think the media would clog flash holes. What do you guys do?

[Calamity Jake]

Go with the dry media, it will get in FH's, I just grab a hand full all turned the same direction(pocket up) and look for media use a tooth pic to remove

[Hanzy4200]

I guess that is easier than wiping down. You have a point. What's better, walnut or cob?

[mehavey]

Walnut... by far.

[JimB..]

I’ve done both, have settled on walnut. Put a universal decapping die in station one and don’t worry about the flash holes.

[Bazoo]

I run rifle cases through the walnut to remove sizing lube. But, I have used a rag with water if I wasn't going to tumble. Wiping with water is much easier than dry wiping.

[WRideout]

I had a quantity of brass that I needed to de-lube, so I soaked them in a solution of that orange degreaser soap that is sold everywhere. After a half hour or so, hot water rinse, then dry in an aluminum pie plate in a warm place. Easy-Peasy.

Wayne

[porthos]

i think that while you are loading the tumbler; and unloading the tumbler and sifting the brass; i have wiped off 200 brass. i use imperial wax.

[Bazoo]

Loading the tumbler is bout 30 seconds. Unloading and sifting is about 3 minutes. Maybe 5 minutes total if you count having to walk to it and plug it in. Course I leave my tumbler, bucket, and sifter all ready to go. When I'm done with the tumbler I dump the media back in so all I have to do is add the brass and turn it on.

I got some 44 magnum brass that's been in there a week waiting on the sifting that I keep forgetting about, come to think of it.

[tankgunner59]

I use the dry tumbler to remove sizing wax. But I don't use any of the purpose sold walnut media, I use reptile bedding walnut media. It cleans just as well and doesn't get stuck in the primer holes.

[1I-Jack]

How long are you tumbling to remove the wax?

[Bazoo]

I tumble anywhere between a couple hours and over night. Pends on how busy I am.

[M-Tecs]

What's better, walnut or cob?

Like most things in life better is relative.

Both have advantages and disadvantages. Walnut cleans faster and has an advantage on tarnished or really dirty cases. Corn Cob is slower cutting but it gives a higher luster polish. It also can be dustier when used without rouge. With rouge both can have dust issues. With either one a cap full of mineral spirits solves that issue.

I started with walnut and I switched to corn cob and never looked back. That was in the early 90's. At the time Federal Cartridge was using 14/20 corn cob for final polish on their case. I was getting the damage bags from their supplier for almost free. They have now switch to a wet system.

For normal cleaning I use 14/20 grit size corn cob. It cleans fairly fast but it will sometimes get stuck in the flash hole. That normally isn't an issue for me since I am mostly using a progressive with a station dedicated to a universal decapping pin to punch out any corn cob.

For wax removal or relatively clean unprimed cases I corn cob in 20/40. That is fine enough that is does not stick in the flash hole. The down side is it slow cleaning compared to 14/20 corn cob or walnut.

[JM7.7x58]

Dish soap and hot water. All my brass gets washed by hand. I have a big double sink in the basement. No tumblers, no media, no dust, and no pins.

Years ago I read an article about a consistent Palma match winner, who didn’t tumble his brass. Just hand washed. It made sense to me. My loads don’t need to be pretty, they need to function properly. YMMV

[1I-Jack]

I've been wiping like Hanzy. Large lots sure make for sore fingers. Guess I have more options to try now.

[dondiego]

For larger batches I add some brass to an empty 25 pound shot bag and spray the outside with mineral spirits. Knead the brass in the bag with your hands and dump out on a newspaper. It doesn't take long to do a large batch of brass and it doesn't take much mineral spirits either.

[mdi]

Hmmm. Maybe my handloads are different? I use Mink Oil Boot Dressing Cream and I don't have to tumble any brass after sizing. Very little is needed (even use it for my 44 Magnum Lee Loader sizing) and a quick rub in a towel is sufficient (I can dump all the lubed/sized cases on a towel fold the towel over and rub all together removes (?) excess lube). Even without using a towel handling the cases through the next several steps removes what excess lube there might be...

When I first started tumbling my brass I experimented with many different media, from pet litter to wood chips, sawdust, rice, beans, cat litter (Good Mews worked fairly well) corn cob and walnut from the pet store, charcoal briquettes, glass blast media, beach sand, smoker chips and maybe a few more I can't remember right now. I settled on commercial/industrial corn cob blast media 14-20 as the best all around tumbling media. It is better quality then pet litter, better quality control, and will clean fast and if necessary (?) give a shiny finish.

[fcvan]

I use vegetable oil for sizing, Dawn gets it right off. Then a rinse in soapy water with lemon juice, brass goes straight into the tumbler, wet. Walnut media has a tablespoon or two of Turtle Zip wash. Brass is dry, clean, shiny, and pores of the brass are sealed by the thin wax coating from the zip wash in about an hour. I have brass loaded 10 years ago that is shiny like new.

[sierra1911]

I fill a gallon plastic jar half full of brass, add a quart of 91% isopropyl alcohol, screw on the lid, shake vigorously, dump into a wire strainer over a bowl, shake strainer, funnel alcohol back into bottle (labeled ‘brass wash’), and dump brass onto baking sheet to dry. A hair dryer speeds up drying if in a hurry.

[Thin Man]

I use the RCBS sizing lube because it sizes well and comes off brass easily.

[mehavey]

Unless I'm going to a dirty environment, I just leave it on.

Reduces (in some case eliminates) case stretch & eases extraction,
all w/o any significant increase of bolt thrust that even comes
close to mattering

[lightman]

I lay mine on an old towel and give them a shot of brake cleaner. I just ran across a ammo can full of 30-06 brass that I had forgot about. It was resized with that old RCBS lube thats like STP. I put a batch in my wet tumbler and ended up washing my media and the drum. It turned into a sticky mess! The rest of them got the brake cleaner treatment!

[panhed65]

close to the above, I lay mine on a paper towel and give a shot of lighter fluid, less smell that the brake cleaner, and evaporates in a second or so. been doing this since the early 1970's. works for me.
Barry

[Lee S. Forsberg]

About 20 feet of toilet paper and three hours in the tumbler.

[Fireball 57]

Lighter fluid on the tip of a soft rag, does about ten cases per drop of fluid on the rag. NO SMOKING!! Capish?

[David2011]

I just polish for a few minutes in corn cob. Lighter fluid works well for getting wax based lube off of loaded cartridges as posted above.

[gitzitfish]

Walnut in the tumbler. Very little stuck in flash holes