Brass cleaning issue

[Jammer65]

Welcome to the 21 first century. Stainless media is the only way to tumble brass. Give it a try and you'll never look back..

This. Nothing else even comes close and I have literally tried them all.

 

[Zach Davis]

Your picture looks like something acidic is on your brass

 

[JSHKS]

Walnut or corncob, I use both and will continue to do so only because I have a lifetime supply of both.

If you are 100% sure your media is not contaminated with anything, try this.
Add about 1-2 table spoons of mineral spirits. Best to sprinkle in while brass and media are moving to keep from clumping depends on what kind of tumbler you have. The mineral spirits will wake up the polish the polish if there was already some in it. This will also remove carbon. FYI more MS is not better, don't use so much that it looks even close to damp.
Now to those that may say the MS will kill primers, I and lots of others have been doing this for a long time. The MS will flash off fairly quick when exposed to atmosphere. Run the tumbler with the lid off or pour it out so it can flash off and dry. I have also used denatured alcohol but it doesn't cut the carbon as well.
Then we will have some one bring up it will flash from combustion. Ya may want to check your trash can with damp wet cleaning patches if you are worried about such.

I was loaned a wet media setup with SS pins. They work good and if one were to be starting out I would say go with. I have to many other gadgets I buy before I swap this part of my reloading procedure off.

Another thing as many out doors folks around here. Don't throw the old media in the trash. Garage sale or wife's short candle nubs. Melt the whole works down and add the cob or walnut media and stir. Spray some old ice cube trays with Pam and add some candle wicks and you have a good fire starter.
Buddy of mine saves cedar chips from his saw and adds those for his fireplace starters.
His wife makes and sells the things now. Uses an ice cream scoop and makes ball of them when it is still soft.

 

[MT257]

So I did have an extra batch of new media sitting on the shelf downstairs. Changed media the old stuff looked black compared to the new stuff. I did add the polisihing agent to the new stuff. I will use dryer sheets in the future. I am guessing the dryer sheets are used sheets instead of straight out of the box? Also, for those soaking the brass with water and lemishine, what line of lemishine do you use?

 

[JohnMill]

Something is reacting to the brass. Possibly from the media itself. Try to put some dryers sheets in when you tumble. Hopefully it will help.

I used them and everything else listed here. I now just tumble for pistol. My rifle is 90% target and I went to ultra sonic. Time consuming but really ( REALLY) good.
Thanks to all
JonMill

 

[bayou shooter]

The media you are using is dirty. I solved my brass problem when I went to wet tumbling with steel media. It takes a quarter of the time if that to get brass looking like it is brand new. I still have my old walnut media tumbler but rarely use it after getting a wet tumbler.

 

[Reloder28]

I had the same problem. After switching to stainless wet media all my problems went away.

Absolutely.

Price too high? Buy once, cry once. Good tools beat cheap tools every time.

 

[5gauss]

Dirty media is usually the culprit. I have changed to stainless steel pins and a rock tumbler...never go back. Brass like new every time and only 1 hour or less most of the time. My entire set up was $65 from Harbor Freight (pins from Midway)

 

[skipglo]

I recently threw some 30-06 cases into the tumbler this brass was shot one time before sizing/depriming. I have had it in the tumbler for 8 hours and I have noticed areas on the cases appear black or darkened. What causes this and how can it be prevented?

Try Lymans Green Corncob media....it works great. It has a Polish impregnated into the Corncob and only takes about 2 hours to clean average brass.

 

[mshaner]

My formula:

Decap brass
Put in tumbler with 1:2 ratio of citric acid to salt
Add 2 oz of dawn
Fill tumbler with H2O & tumble for 3 hours (I use 5# of SS media)
Rinse & place in dehydrator until I remember that I forgot & done; pretty and bright

Shane

 

[Danny Butler]

I use walnut media with Flitz tumbling media additive. Walnut is expensive so I go to the A/1 machine rental place and ask for walnut blasting media. Same as the tumbling media except it's about $25 for 50 lbs. also.. if you put some liquid car wax in with your media it helps the brass stay shiny longer.

 

[Zymurgist]

Welcome to the 21 first century. Stainless media is the only way to tumble brass. Give it a try and you'll never look back..

Can you share the brand name and manufacturer of what you are using with us? Thank you.

 

[Zymurgist]

Static Guard aerosol spray works great for keeping static electricity at bay in the loading space.

I use an ionizing air blower fan (aka. anti-electrostatic ion blower). You can pick one up on Amazon for under $100. Simply set it to the side of your bench opposite your powder scale, plug it into the power stip and you're golden.

 

[Legionnaire]

I have switched to wet tumbling with stainless media. My sequence with fired rifle brass:

Deprime with Lee Universal depriming die
Wet tumble with stainless, Dawn and Lemishine
Air dry
Anneal
Lube and size
Dry tumble briefly with corncob media to remove any remaining lube; since the brass is already clean, the media never gets dirty
Trim if necessary
Prime
Load