Did Not Polish the Brass Today

Ganderite

Ganderite

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For the first 50 years of my reloading I never owned or used a tumbler.

Then I got one and have made a point of polishing brass before sizing, and if any lube is used, I polish for an hour to take the lube off.

I was running some 357mag tests today and did not have time to polish the brass, so I loaded the brass dirty.

When I load hot loads in a revolver, I note when extraction becomes an issue. That is a functional limit.

I found that the dirty brass had some extraction issues at the Start load.

So polished brass matters.
 
I used to use a vibrating media cleaner to clean my brass.

I was surprised how much burnt powder I could get out of the clean brass using a drill and a bronze bore brush.

The less space in the case the higher the pressure and this is also the case with excessively deep seated bullets.

I now use a water and stainless steel pin tumbler and the cases come out looking like new brass as I de-prime and size them first
 
I use the big yellow vibrating pumpkin with walnut shells and Dillon polishing cream. Once in a while I will put in a small squirt of Brasso which really brings out the shine. I am still working out a regular routine but currently polish just before loading, depending on the age and hue of brass, anywhere from an hour to overnight if they are badly oxidized, and as I am using a Dillon 550B, I wipe off the case lube after they exit the press and are loaded. I haven't tried removing the primers and resizing before polishing yet, it may yield better results but I like my current process.

Ganderite, I wonder if the powder residue from your unpolished brass could be causing the sticky extraction? Is the revolver cylinder in need of cleaning?

Cheers
 
Ganderite said:
For the first 50 years of my reloading I never owned or used a tumbler.

Then I got one and have made a point of polishing brass before sizing, and if any lube is used, I polish for an hour to take the lube off.

I was running some 357mag tests today and did not have time to polish the brass, so I loaded the brass dirty.

When I load hot loads in a revolver, I note when extraction becomes an issue. That is a functional limit.

I found that the dirty brass had some extraction issues at the Start load.

So polished brass matters.
Click to expand...

Do you need an hour? I did some 223 today and tumbled for about 20min to get the lube off. It seemed ok but maybe I should polish longer, I am using diy lanolin/alcohol for lube.
 
The "dirty" brass was polished brass that had been fired once, so had some shooting gunge on it. It was not dirty range pick up brass. Just slightly dirty.

My chambers are all brushed a few stroked after each shooting session, so are reasonably clean.

I shot some hot loaded ammo with polished brass in the same session, and it popped right out.

Just the dirty brass caused a problem.

I came home and put the dirty ammo in the tumbler for an hour. That should now be shootable.
 
I always deprime before polishing (tumbler), force of habit...
kilohertz said:
I use the big yellow vibrating pumpkin with walnut shells and Dillon polishing cream. Once in a while I will put in a small squirt of Brasso which really brings out the shine. I am still working out a regular routine but currently polish just before loading, depending on the age and hue of brass, anywhere from an hour to overnight if they are badly oxidized, and as I am using a Dillon 550B, I wipe off the case lube after they exit the press and are loaded. I haven't tried removing the primers and resizing before polishing yet, it may yield better results but I like my current process.

Ganderite, I wonder if the powder residue from your unpolished brass could be causing the sticky extraction? Is the revolver cylinder in need of cleaning?

Cheers
Click to expand...
 
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