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Best tumble media/method for removing lube

C

Cold_Bore_88

Sergeant
Full Member
Minuteman
Jul 13, 2013
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The Woodlands, TX
I am trying to find a low dust/low residue solution for cleaning off case lube.

I start case prep buy de-priming and wet/SS tumbling. This gets the brass ridiculously clean. I then lube and full length size.

In the past I have tumbled in plain walnut to remove lube residue. I don’t use polish as I don’t really care about “shine”. However, I have a ton of walnut dust on my cases after and have to rinse and dry them off. I have read that using dryer sheets can help the dust issue and I have also read using corncob with a dryer sheet is even better, but not perfect.

Given I do not care about polishing the case, I am looking for the best low dust/low residue option that wont require a rinse. Anyone tried rice? In conjunction with a dryer sheet I have seen good results from the keyboard warriors.

Any advice is appreciated.
 
I just wet tumble again with the frankford arsenal cleaning solution, and dump in the Lyman case dryer. I'm a low effort kind of guy when it comes to cleaning brass, and this is pretty easy for me. Sounds like you don't want to wet tumble and dry again though.
 
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The bore tech case cleaner is amazing. My process was to deprime, tumble for 10 mins, dry in dehydrator, lube, size, trim, any other case prep, then another 5 mins wet tumble to remove lube and trimmings and it was ready to go.
 
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MediumSpeed said:
I deprime then wet tumble with dawn and lemoni shine. Lube with Dillion lanolin or Hornady 1 shot and resize. Then rinse in acetone 30 - 60 seconds, set out to evaporate and then use.

edit - I anneal before lube and resizing
Click to expand...
Roger that. No tarnish on the brass from the acetone?
 
I just put it back in the walnut media tumbler and then spin around in a media/case separator and I just don't see the problem mentioned of walnut dust. Maybe I'm just not that observant or anal (well, I am wound a bit tight, no denying that! haha).

I do use Flitz or similar in the media and perhaps that keeps the dust down???
 
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Cold_Bore_88 said:
Roger that. No tarnish on the brass from the acetone?
Click to expand...
Not really though I don't try to get them that shiny (don't use pins at the moment because of hassle)
20230204_111919.jpg
 
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I dry-tumble in walnut stuff to clean. I use Lanolin/IPA to lube cases.

After sizing, it's 20-40 grit corn cob blast media (which is much finer than the corn cob tumbling shit you've probably used before).

After tumbling, It falls through flash holes like water.

tempImageRDfEbl.png
 
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Baron23 said:
I do use Flitz or similar in the media and perhaps that keeps the dust down???
Click to expand...
It does, in addition to shine
CK1.0 said:
After sizing, it's 20-40 grit corn cob blast media (which is much finer than the corn cob tumbling shit you've probably used before).

After tumbling, It falls through flash holes like water.
Click to expand...
Mine did too until the cob absorbs enough lube and then it’s sticky and cakes inside the pockets on a few, that’s when I know to change it out for new
 
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Cold_Bore_88 said:
I am trying to find a low dust/low residue solution for cleaning off case lube.

I start case prep buy de-priming and wet/SS tumbling. This gets the brass ridiculously clean. I then lube and full length size.

In the past I have tumbled in plain walnut to remove lube residue. I don’t use polish as I don’t really care about “shine”. However, I have a ton of walnut dust on my cases after and have to rinse and dry them off. I have read that using dryer sheets can help the dust issue and I have also read using corncob with a dryer sheet is even better, but not perfect.

Given I do not care about polishing the case, I am looking for the best low dust/low residue option that wont require a rinse. Anyone tried rice? In conjunction with a dryer sheet I have seen good results from the keyboard warriors.

Any advice is appreciated.
Click to expand...
After sizing with Imperial Sizing Die Wax, I dry tumble with rice (medium grain size so the flash holes don't get plugged). The rice does a great job of removing lube and the inside of the case necks are left with a very very slight coating (not the outside) that makes for nice consistent seating. I've been doing this for several years now and it works great.
 
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Kadams1563 said:
Russkoe Pole Buckwheat, 53 oz https://a.co/d/c2yBMwf

View attachment 8066980

This shit right here is awesome. Almost ZERO dust. The only problem I have is they get stuck in primer pockets but I always use a universal decaper before I load.

I have tumbled probably 10k rounds through this shit.
Click to expand...
This is what I used when I was loading...when it was fresh/new I'd get a lot of it stuck in small primer pockets after it was used awhile it would only be a few here and there. but it did get in the cases and some would pack pretty tight I'd just spin the cases in a large rotary media separator problem solved. Cut up a few drier sheets and throw them in every time you tumble and it keeps the media clean and your brass smells fresh.
 
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straightshooter1 said:
After sizing with Imperial Sizing Die Wax, I dry tumble with rice (medium grain size so the flash holes don't get plugged). The rice does a great job of removing lube and the inside of the case necks are left with a very very slight coating (not the outside) that makes for nice consistent seating. I've been doing this for several years now and it works great.
Click to expand...

Do you use any ball powders? I ask because the only reason I even care about a little bit of lube being inside the case is because the ball powder will stick to it inside the case neck and I don't like that. I'm not positive what happens when you seat a bullet and have ball powder stuck to the neck inside but I've had it pop out of the case and it could potentially get stuck in between the bullet and neck. Otherwise, I would kind of like having a little bit of lube inside the case neck.
 
BuildingConceptsllc said:
Do you use any ball powders? I ask because the only reason I even care about a little bit of lube being inside the case is because the ball powder will stick to it inside the case neck and I don't like that. I'm not positive what happens when you seat a bullet and have ball powder stuck to the neck inside but I've had it pop out of the case and it could potentially get stuck in between the bullet and neck. Otherwise, I would kind of like having a little bit of lube inside the case neck.
Click to expand...
Ball powder has not been a problem as there's just a "very very slight" coating left behind, not enough to cause that issue with ball powder. Guess I should better explain my process for better understanding as to how that occurs . . .

When I FL size my brass, they've been decapped, annealed, and cleaned and I don't use an expander ball in my dies and so the Imperial Sizing Die Wax is only applied to the outside of the cases; no need for applying anything on the inside of the necks. After that FL sizing is when I dry tumble with the rice. Then I use a mandrel to expand the neck to my desired neck tension and again, no application of any lube to the inside of the neck is needed for this. A small amount of that lube that's been removed from the outside of the cases by the rice makes its way into the inside of the neck (the rice tends to absorb a lot of the lube). Lastly, I 3-way trim the cases to a uniform length and they're ready for the loading process.
 
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straightshooter1 said:
Ball powder has not been a problem as there's just a "very very slight" coating left behind, not enough to cause that issue with ball powder. Guess I should better explain my process for better understanding as to how that occurs . . .

When I FL size my brass, they've been decapped and I don't use an expander ball in my dies and so the Imperial Sizing Die Wax is only applied to the outside of the cases; no need for applying anything on the inside of the necks. After that FL sizing is when I dry tumble with the rice. Then I use a mandrel to expand the neck to my desired neck tension and again, no application of any lube to the inside of the neck is needed for this. A small amount of that lube that's been removed from the outside of the cases by the rice makes its way into the inside of the neck (the rice tends to absorb a lot of the lube). Lastly, I 3-way trim the cases to a uniform length and they're ready for the loading process.
Click to expand...

Yeah I gotcha. I didn't know if you were using lube on a mandrel and if the rice got it out of the inside or if that was an issue or what. Roger that
 
After resizing the brass I tumble it in walnut media for approx 30 mins. I do put 2 capfuls of NuFinish (just for the dust reducing benefit, not the shine) in the media just to cut down on any dust. Also put in a used dryer sheet. This keeps the dust down for me. Tumble the brass in a towel and you're done.
 
I've resized with Hornady One Shot and never thought about removing the very little residue after my brass prep.
 
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Crushed Walnuts. Find it in very large containers at a pet store near you. Will last you years.
 
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