Inspecting and cleaning range brass

[millisec]

I just thought I would share a few things...

First be wary of advise you get on boards. I ran about 500 9mm cases through a new Hornady M2 and it did a great job. However I would be wary of the advise to use pet shop corn cob media (at least for 9mm). I picked up a $4 bag of Hartz coarse (about the size of cat litter) corn cob media and a bottle of Nu Finish wax free car polish (also commonly recommended). The bowl was about 1/2 full with media and I added about a 1/2 cap of Nu Finish. Worked pretty good and I have nice shiny brass... however

1) The cleaner seems to have somewhat expanded the corn cob media

2) The media is too coarse to fit through the somewhat cheesy Hornady lid sifter.

3) Media got stuck in cases.

I really need to get a case separater but I don't think it would have helped much. Media was tightly packed in quite a few cases that had to be picked out. Granted 9mm is small but not so sure the same thing won't happen when I start on my 45 brass. Maybe I will start using walnut. If the same happens to my 223 brass that would really be a pain in the rear.

As if that was not enough I have about 5000 pieces of 9mm range brass I'm working through. To my surprise at least 4000 pieces are infected with Berdan primers which means I'm going to have to inspect every piece of brass. I did not think anyone used them anymore(not even Wolf). I know its a good idea to sort brass by manufacturer anyway but these are primer pins waiting to be broken. I guess with shortages and prices all kinds of crap is making its way into the US. I had about a 1000 pieces and I also bought 4000 from Gun Broker which came from Arizona. The POF brass is mixed in the Arizona brass which is mostly Federal, Win, Speer, Rem and PMC. Another gotcha is that there is quite a bit of Winchester Nato with crimped primers. The last case of commercial ammo I bought was Win 124g Nato so I guess I'll be dropping ~200 rounds of that this weekend at a IDPA match and screwing up someone elses brass collection. The POF is very poor quality brass that does not shine up (dark and dirty looking) so maybe I'll be able to spot it on a tray.

Headstamp POF = Pakistan Ordnance Factories, Wah Cantt, Pakistan

There is also some Swiss RWS brass mixed in... IMO the stuff is crap as loaded ammo and overpriced. In a pinch I needed ammo and bought a couple boxes from Walmart(all they had). Out of 100 rounds, 3 with full primer strikes failed to fire. Apparantly they use some new enviromentally friendly primer formulation that is not to reliable. The brass seems to be OK but I think I will set it aside for now.

[Alan Adamson]

The POF brass is mixed in the Arizona brass which is mostly Federal, Win, Speer, Rem and PMC. Another gotcha is that there is quite a bit of Winchester Nato with crimped primers. The last case of commercial ammo I bought was Win 124g Nato so I guess I'll be dropping ~200 rounds of that this weekend at a IDPA match and screwing up someone elses brass collection. The POF is very poor quality brass that does not shine up (dark and dirty looking) so maybe I'll be able to spot it on a tray.

Headstamp POF = Pakistan Ordnance Factories, Wah Cantt, Pakistan

There is also some Swiss RWS brass mixed in... IMO the stuff is crap as loaded ammo and overpriced. In a pinch I needed ammo and bought a couple boxes from Walmart(all they had). Out of 100 rounds, 3 with full primer strikes failed to fire. Apparantly they use some new enviromentally friendly primer formulation that is not to reliable. The brass seems to be OK but I think I will set it aside for now.

You can send me the Nato brass with crimped pockets, they go thru my 1050 just fine and with a swaging station built in, the come out just fine as well, perfect for the next guy ..

Oh, and don't forget to run a big magnet over most all your 9mm brass, I'm probably running at about 2-3% of steel cases, that are actually brass colored, these don't go thru presses very well and they don't reload at all... Be advised, mostly S&B headstamp, but a few others as well.

Ps. before I got my 1050, I made a little case adapter and have swaged both 40 and 9mm on the dillon 600 swager (which is primarily used for .223, but works just fine with case adapters).

Alan

Edited April 2, 2010 by Alan Adamson

[njl]

Ps. before I got my 1050, I made a little case adapter and have swaged both 40 and 9mm on the dillon 600 swager (which is primarily used for .223, but works just fine with case adapters).

Alan

The superswage 600 needs an adaptor to swage 9mm?

[Alan Adamson]

Ps. before I got my 1050, I made a little case adapter and have swaged both 40 and 9mm on the dillon 600 swager (which is primarily used for .223, but works just fine with case adapters).

Alan

The superswage 600 needs an adaptor to swage 9mm?

just to take the slack out of it... I just rummaged thru a bunch of brass and found something that I cut off that would fit the shaft on the 600 and adapt it to either 9mm or 40 and take out the play... That's all I did before I got a 1050.

Alan

[High Lord Gomer]

If I get too much NuFinish in the clump together in a few of the cases that already had very dirty insides.

My procedure:

1. Rough sort user sorter trays.

*Pictures*

*Buy it here*

2. 8-12 hours in vibrating cleaner with 3:1 corn cobb media and rice plus NuFinish

3. Separate media using Dillon media separator. Never had any issues with media clogging slots.

4. Run 9mm/.380 back through .380 separator plate placed in .45 yellow tray:

*Here*

5. Visually inspect all brass while pretending to watch TV. I grab 6 or 8 at a time and align them in the crease between my middle 2 fingers of my right hand. I then look down from the top of them to see if there is anything stuck in the case, any berdan primers, or any deformation of the case mouths. I then look at the sides and roll them across my hand so I get to see all the way around the cases looking for cracks, splits, or serious dents. This is the time when I also catch any of the .357Sig and 10mm that is in with the .40S&W. I still get a few .380s in the 9mm brass because some of it still doesn't fall through the .380 separator plate.

[CocoBolo]

Buy lots of decapping pins. I've broken a few and even the stem looked like a Z after I hit a berdan primed case. The RCBS media seperator rocks. When putting polish in the tumbler let the tumbler run for an hour so it gets all mixed up then it won't clump up in the brass.

I just bought 3000 9 mm, if have your problems its going back. Never bought 9 mm before, but then never shot 9 major before.

[GForceLizard]

Remember to run the tumber after you add polish or mineral spirits to distribute in the media before you add brass. After 10-15 minutes all the clumps should be gone and you can add brass.

[millisec]

Thanks for the info folks...

As for clumping thats not happening. Grains are just getting packed in cases and then getting stuck when the grains expand. I'll try again next week after I get a separator.

As for NATO brass keep dreaming lol. I'm setting it aside for later along with some military 223. Good info on the swager though... I had gotten the impression it only worked with rifle brass. I'll have to double check on the S&B brass and steel though. I did see some in the first batch I went through. They did look brass but had red primer sealer so they are pretty easy to spot.

[Sarge]

I'll have to double check on the S&B brass and steel though. I did see some in the first batch I went through. They did look brass but had red primer sealer so they are pretty easy to spot.

I used to say openly on here that I had no problems with S&B brass once I started using a magnet to get the steel crap sorted out but now I have finally taken the advice of others and I just pitch it all now. In particular the brass with lots of red sealant on the primers seem to have very tight pockets and I could not get it to take primers at all. Some S&B is good while enough is bad to make it too much of a PITA to fool with.

I used to use corn cob from walmart but ran into the same problems you're having. It even gets stuck in the separator and clogs it up. I switched to the grainger corn cob. It is very fine like crushed walnut. If it gets packed into cases it all falls out when I run it through the separator. Works very well!

[njl]

It'll cost you a bit more, but if you have Harbor Freight or Grainger local, pick up ground walnut or ground corncob from them. Either is much finer grain than pet bedding corn cob, won't get jammed in 9mm cases, and is small enough to get into and easily pour out of .223 brass.

[CocoBolo]

I use the Lyman treated media 8# jug from MidwayUSA or Grafs. I do about 30K pieces of brass a year and change it out once a year. So at $10 a year why bother with inferior cheap stuff. I also save those dryer sheets and use them. Dirt clumps up on the bottom and the sides and you scrape it out from time to time, the dryer sheets are black as a coal miners hankie. The best brass polish I have tried is ISSO or flitz. The polish is what causes the dirt to clump up and stick to the tub so it keeps the media a little cleaner.

[millisec]

Good info... theres a harbor freight close by and they have fine (and coarse walnut) for $25 for 25#. Can't beat that.

[Sarge]

Good info... theres a harbor freight close by and they have fine (and coarse walnut) for $25 for 25#. Can't beat that.

Yes you can! Grainger has crushed walnut $20 for 40 lbs! Drillspot.com has corn cob for $22 for 40 lbs but with shipping its $33. Check them periodically as they frequently offer free shipping!

Edited April 6, 2010 by Sarge

[millisec]

Good info... theres a harbor freight close by and they have fine (and coarse walnut) for $25 for 25#. Can't beat that.

Yes you can! Drillspot.com has crushed walnut fo $20 for 40 lbs! Should still have free shipping.

Not anymore... $71.97 for 50 pounds shipping included.

[njl]

Good info... theres a harbor freight close by and they have fine (and coarse walnut) for $25 for 25#. Can't beat that.

Yes you can! Grainger has crushed walnut $20 for 40 lbs! Drillspot.com has corn cob for $22 for 40 lbs but with shipping its $33. Check them periodically as they frequently offer free shipping!

Do you have a link for the Grainger walnut? I can't find it using their web site.

This is the corn I bought recently:

http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/items/2MVR4?Pid=search

$25 + tax for 40# which just fit in 2 5 Gal buckets.

[Sarge]

Good info... theres a harbor freight close by and they have fine (and coarse walnut) for $25 for 25#. Can't beat that.

Yes you can! Grainger has crushed walnut $20 for 40 lbs! Drillspot.com has corn cob for $22 for 40 lbs but with shipping its $33. Check them periodically as they frequently offer free shipping!

Do you have a link for the Grainger walnut? I can't find it using their web site.

This is the corn I bought recently:

http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/items/2MVR4?Pid=search

$25 + tax for 40# which just fit in 2 5 Gal buckets.

OK. I went back and checked my records. I confused even myself at first. I went to a grainger store. When I went they did not have corn cob in the system. I ordered the corn cob from drill spot(the same item you got from grainger)for only $20 and free shipping. Here is the funny thing. Even though I ordered the corn from Drillspot it was drop shipped from a grainger warehouse.

I can't find walnut on graingers website now either. I actually got my walnut from a sandblasting outfit for $24 for 40 lbs.

[millisec]

Heres the Harbor freight link

Walnut

[calishootr]

after pouring in the nu-finish, run the tumbler empty for at least a half an hour and that 'should' prevent any clumping of media, last bag of crushed walnut hulls cost me 14 bucks for a 50lb bag from a local pet store, works fine for me, tho i use brasso in a pinch when i run out of dillon blue stuff

[BigBore56]

I keep the crushed walnut in 50# bags for my buddies and myself, and add the Flitz polish to a new batch about 10 minutes before inserting cases. I have the Lyman Pro Magnum 2500, so I run 1000 9mm per batch (3 hours), then put them thru the BIG Cabelas crank separator. It works great.

I just bought 4000 rounds, and hand sorted it all. Found quite a few .380's, but most was PMI, WW,FC & RP. I scrapped the S&B, which was only 50 or so pcs. Cleaned it all and it's ready to load.

Crushed walnut seems to last quite a while for me, and comes right out of the cases with a separator.

Edited April 8, 2010 by BigBore56

[SLM]

A bit OT but will Granger sell to individuals without an account now? I never had any major problem because I had an uncle who owned a business and had an account with them but they always gave me a hard time because I wanted to pay for my items right then and not put it on the account. When I asked why it mattered if I paid for it or put it on the account they told me because they do not sell to individuals, only businesses.

[njl]

A bit OT but will Granger sell to individuals without an account now? I never had any major problem because I had an uncle who owned a business and had an account with them but they always gave me a hard time because I wanted to pay for my items right then and not put it on the account. When I asked why it mattered if I paid for it or put it on the account they told me because they do not sell to individuals, only businesses.

They will let you pay personally...I wasn't sure about the answer, and didn't want to find out, so I mentioned my employer (which has an account) but asked if I could pay with my own credit card.

[Loosenut]

Most of the Graingers will let you buy right out of the store. if need to order it to ship to your house just have to set up an account. Not a big deal though.

[millisec]

Argghhh... I called the 2 Harbor Freights local today. They are about useless and don't carry it in store. They also have a great 5' steel/formica table for a reloading bench... not in stores. I did physically go to one and they have an interesting Chicago tools tumbler. $140 and big enough I could use it for a hot tub. They also sell a few ultrasonic cleaners in the 40-80 range that looked a little iffy although the 80 version was about the size of the Hornady and holds 2 liters. I'll have to see what the local box pet shops have in the way of walnut tomorrow.

[millisec]

I found fine crushed walnut 25# for 21.99 at pet smart (bird litter). I've been running brass all weekend and it works so much better than corn cob. Better polish, does not clump and even with just the Hornady sifter lid it pours right out. Mostly its been 9 but I ran a batch of really nasty, tarnished outdoor range 223 all night and it came out looking new. The Nu Finish and Walnut just works really well.

[njl]

Argghhh... I called the 2 Harbor Freights local today. They are about useless and don't carry it in store. They also have a great 5' steel/formica table for a reloading bench... not in stores. I did physically go to one and they have an interesting Chicago tools tumbler. $140 and big enough I could use it for a hot tub. They also sell a few ultrasonic cleaners in the 40-80 range that looked a little iffy although the 80 version was about the size of the Hornady and holds 2 liters. I'll have to see what the local box pet shops have in the way of walnut tomorrow.

Which ones did you go to? I bought my crushed walnut at the one at 1442 Sr 436, Casselberry, FL, but it was probably close to 1 year ago. I haven't been in there recently. Walnut is a much more aggressive cleaner than corn cob...so it does clean the brass faster. People say it doesn't give the shine you can get from corn cob.