Cleaning LLA off loaded rounds

[Cloudpeak]

When loading with a progressive press when all of the loaded rounds drop into the bin, Lee Liquid Alox has a tendency to get all over the brass making the loaded rounds sticky. I first tried laying around 10 loaded rounds out in a row on a towel, primers facing me. I'd roll them back and forth to check for lead buildup on the case mouth, primer's for flush and for cracks in the case mouth and then wrap an old wash cloth around a block of wood, wet with low odor mineral spirits and roll it over the loaded rounds.

I no longer use a mineral spirits. I follow the same procedure but now use a "micro fiber" towel to roll the rounds back and forth just using my hand. These cloths seem to work really well at removing the stickiness on the brass and it takes quite a bit LLA off the bullets, as well (9mm and 45 ACP rounds) and is very fast.

The micro fiber towels work great for taking bugs off windshields and bumpers, too!

Cloudpeak

[looseprojectile]

tumble lube, why not tumble clean?
Lay a hand towell, micro fiber works too, flat on the bench and wet down the middle, with your choice of thinner, I use barbeque lighter fluid, an ounce? Maybe two, pour the cartridges on the towell and gather the ends, much like a hammock and roll them back and forth. About thirty seconds.
Works for me. Hard to get the towell too wet as it wicks away from the middle.
Is flammable, your mileage may vary, etc. Oh! and use the damp towell to wipe your press down with. The alox along with the thinner makes a good preservative.
Won't be sticky, trust me!

Life is good

[Cloudpeak]

tumble lube, why not tumble clean?

I wanted to get rid of the extra hassle, smell, cost and combustibility. The fumes interfere with the enjoyment of my morning and afternoon cigar. My 1 1/2 car garage is not only my reloading and casting room, it's also my indoor plate range, part time office, music source, worktable, books and, most importantly, the Lazy Boy and reading light so I don't like stinking it up with anything other than cigar smoke:mrgreen:

Cloudpeak

[looseprojectile]

:-D :drinks:

Life is good

[Hang Fire]

If flamability is a problem, why not just use a non-flamable solvent?

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ei=ao2jSZPMNom4sAPAg9SlAg&sa=X&oi=spell&resnum=0&ct=result&cd=1&q=non-flammable+solvents&spell=1

[garandsrus]

Cloudpeak,

You can dust the LLA lubed boolits with powdered Mica before loading. It gets rid of the stickiness of the LLA.

John

[looseprojectile]

If the fumes of LLA don't bother you what's a little barbeque lighter fluid gonna hurt?:roll:
I like a cigar once in a while also. Seems some of the most expensive cigars stink the worst. Eight bucks apiece is my limit.
The method I described can be used outside --- in the rain, hundreds at a time. Hang the rag on a bush.
Just trying to help[smilie=1:

Life is good

[Shiloh]

If one thins the LLA and doesn't put it on too thick, it dries a lot harder. Less suceptable to the stickyness on the rounds in the bins. Good idea to also clean off the build up in the seating and crimp die stations every once in a while.

Shiloh

[Cloudpeak]

If the fumes of LLA don't bother you what's a little barbeque lighter fluid gonna hurt?:roll:
I like a cigar once in a while also. Seems some of the most expensive cigars stink the worst. Eight bucks apiece is my limit.
The method I described can be used outside --- in the rain, hundreds at a time. Hang the rag on a bush.
Just trying to help[smilie=1:

Life is good

Ha. Hang the rag on a bush??? What's that? What's rain?

I've got two, 120 quart coolers full of cigars and my average price is around $2.25 bought online, shopping deals. The most I've ever spent on a cigar was $5.00. I have to save my money to spend on casting and reloading and---- my first grand kids born last Monday. Twin boys. Can't wait to take them fishing and shooting.

Cloudpeak

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v620/WyoBob/cigars/DSCN1494.jpg

[DanOH]

What a nice collection of fancy bullet boxes!

[spur0701]

I've been using the mica treatment on ML miniballs and REALs lubed with LLA and it works great.......but for the other boolits I've been casting and loading, mostly .45 and .40S&W, I switched to Johnson Past Wax, it dries hard with no mess.

[exile]

Indoor plate range. Wow. How does that work? Sounds great.

exile

[Cloudpeak]

Indoor plate range. Wow. How does that work? Sounds great.

exile

Well, it's not a real plate range.

Our local club shoots involve shooting five, 6" plates on a rack at 7 yards. So, to have something to play with through the winter, I bought a 1911 T.M. airsoft and cut a bunch of circles out of high density foam. The hinges are duct tape. The sheet catches many of the bb's and funnels them into the box below. I'm using 5" diameter foam discs at 21 feet.

It's probably not as good as regular range practice but it's fun, low cost and seems to be doing me some good. My timer works with the airsoft, too, which is helpful.

Two shoots ago, I came in second (and I was sicker than the dickens with a bad cold or flu at the time) and I came in first the last shoot. We generally have 10-15 people at our shoots. Great bunch of guys and a lot of fun.

I'm almost 62, have arthritic hands and joints and have worn bi-focals since age 11. I think some shooters are naturals. I have to work at it. And, like I said, it's fun!

Cloudpeak


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v620/WyoBob/Guns/DSCN1838.jpg

[kamikaze1a]

Cludpeak, nice bunch of cheroots...well not actually cheroots but lots of smokers use stogies and cheroot incorrectly anyway. What is that white contraption? A humidity checker? I live in constant 70% humidity so I don't even need a humidor. Last time I was in LV, my stogies all started to dry out after a couple of days... I see a lot of Maduros in there...not my cup of tea.

[Jumping Frog]

I no longer use a mineral spirits. I follow the same procedure but now use a "micro fiber" towel to roll the rounds back and forth just using my hand. These cloths seem to work really well at removing the stickiness on the brass and it takes quite a bit LLA off the bullets, as well (9mm and 45 ACP rounds) and is very fast.
Why not just tumble the finished rounds in your case tumbler?

[Cloudpeak]

Just to summarize:

I've never tried the mica. Sounds like a good idea but it's just something else to buy, store and mess with but I might give it a try one of these days. I suppose I'll have to wait until I get to the big city to be able to find some.

JPW: I've used it. I have better luck with LLA. I've coated the LLA coated bullets with JPW and it works well but I'd just as soon not spend the time doing it.

Chemicals: Don't like the cost, don't like the smell, don't want to wear gloves, don't want to stink up the shop.

Tumbling loaded rounds: Tried it. The dust from the media makes a real mess on the LLA coated bullets. Perhaps if the loaded rounds are tumbled much longer than I tumbled them when I tried it, it would work but I'm not wild about tumbling live rounds, the walnut media would get contaminated quicker and I need my tumbler to clean brass.

So, in case there was someone else out there like me, I posted about the micro fiber towels. Use them, or not, I'll be OK either way:???:

Cloudpeak

[watkibe]

Why not just tumble the finished rounds in your case tumbler?

Seems like tumbling loaded rounds will decrease the amount of deterrent coating on the kernels of powder and make it burn faster; that is, if one of the rounds didn't go off in the tumbler when a bullet from one round hits the primer of another. I wouldn't do it.

[Echo]

+1 for looseprojectile. Been tumbling my finished pistol rounds that way for decades. Takes maybe 2 minutes, and they turn out clean and neat.

[geargnasher]

The thought of tumbling live ammo in my vibratory tumbler gives me the heebee-jeebees and I won't do it personally, but how do you think the commercial ammo manufacturers get their stuff to have such a uniform finish appearance? You guessed it, it's tumbled after it's made. Probably not done in an actual vibratory tumbler, though, maybe in a big drum. Wish I knew what they used for media, might be blasting sand or something.

Btw, if you're worried about the all-important burn-control coatings on the powder kernals being worn away or damaged, just think how much vibration ammo and powder goes through when being transported hundreds or thousands of miles by plane, ship, truck, forklift, stockboy, ad infinitum, and they do just fine. It's built to handle those kinds of stresses.

Gear

[Crash_Corrigan]

When I get around to making up a couple of thousand .45 ACP's in my Dillon 550B I use Lee'sAlox thinned out with mineral spirits for a lube. Nothing faster.

I end up with a dozen of two of sheets of alum foil on the deck of the garage drying overnight. Before I put them away for reloading I throw a couple of hundred into a large plastic pickle container with a heaping tablespoonful or two of cheap corn starch.

Give 'em a shake for a minute or two and decant into your favorite container. They will end up coated with a thin layer of CS which will keep them non sticky and this will not foul up your loading dies.

I have thousands of loaded .45's in ammo cans with that kind of loading and CS and they do not get gummy or sticky at all. Yes the alox does smoke a bit but I do not get leading and I usually do not have to clean the 1911 until I have fired a thousand rounds or so. When the action slows down it is time to either add more oil or break it down and clean the gun.

Even with rounds run through the SAECO lubricizer and lubed with Lar's 45's Carnuba Red get the CS treatment. It makes handling the rounds a pleasure and leaves not a bit of sticky residue anywhere.

The stuff is cheap and I leave it in a two gallon plastic pickle jar I have had for years. You only have to add CS once in a while as it goes a long way.

[watkibe]

The thought of tumbling live ammo in my vibratory tumbler gives me the heebee-jeebees and I won't do it personally, but how do you think the commercial ammo manufacturers get their stuff to have such a uniform finish appearance? You guessed it, it's tumbled after it's made. Probably not done in an actual vibratory tumbler, though, maybe in a big drum. Wish I knew what they used for media, might be blasting sand or something.

Btw, if you're worried about the all-important burn-control coatings on the powder kernals being worn away or damaged, just think how much vibration ammo and powder goes through when being transported hundreds or thousands of miles by plane, ship, truck, forklift, stockboy, ad infinitum, and they do just fine. It's built to handle those kinds of stresses.

Gear
Your point is well taken. It does occur to me that factories load as close 100% density as they can, for a number of reasons like efficiency and uniform powder positioning and burn rates.
Another reason might be that the powder in a compressed or 100% density load isn't going to move around much when it is shipped, handled, and vibrated. On the other hand, reloaders, cast bullet reloaders in particular, often use low density loads. Tumbling a large bottleneck rifle case with a few grains of a fast pistol powder inside is a whole different story. I can well imagine what might happen to deterrent coatings in that case. Just a thought...