GUNK on tumbled cases

The Cold Lake Kid

The Cold Lake Kid

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I am finding what is best described as black gunk on some of my cases after tumbling in corn cob green dry media.
The media has been used a few times and I add a couple of USED dryer sheets with each batch of .45s I tumble. (The dyers sheets Pick up a lot of dirt from the tumbling media.
Any one have a suggestion about eliminating the gunk?
I found I could soak the affected cases in soapy water and clean the Gunk off with some extra fine steel wool.
Ant suggestions about what I'm doing wrong?
 
Try adding a 3-4 capfuls of Nu Finish car polish to your media, let it tumble for 10-15 minutes, then try tumbling your brass again, and continue using dryer sheets.
 
Throw it in the garbage.

Get yourself some untreated, crushed walnut.

Assume this is what you have

img_2276.jpg
 
The Cold Lake Kid said:
I am finding what is best described as black gunk on some of my cases after tumbling in corn cob green dry media.
The media has been used a few times and I add a couple of USED dryer sheets with each batch of .45s I tumble. (The dyers sheets Pick up a lot of dirt from the tumbling media.
Any one have a suggestion about eliminating the gunk?
I found I could soak the affected cases in soapy water and clean the Gunk off with some extra fine steel wool.
Ant suggestions about what I'm doing wrong?
Click to expand...
I've used the Lyman green media for years and have never had this issue. I use it as a preliminary cleaner for dirty brass. It doesn't do much to polish the brass but does remove the heaviest of the powder residue, etc. However, I also don't add the dryer sheets. While they do collect some dirt and reduce static they are also coated with some sort of chemical that feels a little sticky and that may be contributing to the 'gunk' you describe.

Once I have run my brass through the green media preliminary cleaning I do it again with fine ground corn cob and a little bit of polish like Nu-Finish or Flitz liquid metal polish which really shines it up.

Lately, however, I have mainly switched to wet tumbling. While it is a little more labour intensive (removing the steel pins & drying) the brass always comes out looking like new inside and out and the primer pockets are clean as well.
 
Don't use Flitz, it destroys brass.
Just go to pet store and buy dust free lizard bedding which is crushed walnut shell, use NuFinish with it. Fill tumbler half full with media and throw in 300+ cases, run 2-3 hours.
 
Dryer sheets have a type of grease (fabric softener type) that lubricates fibers to reduce static cling. They will definitely gunk your cases if they are not totally used up of their whatsit grease stuff they contain. May want to wash the used drier sheets in the washing machine to make sure they are gunk-free.

I tried the lizard bedding walnut shell from the pet store. It worked fantastic, with little to none stuck in the primer pockets and flash holes....but the dust escaping from the tumbler was bad. It was supposed to be dust-free, but alas they lied on the labelling I guess.
 
yomomma said:
Throw it in the garbage.

Get yourself some untreated, crushed walnut.
Click to expand...

Go to a pet store and get some Lizard litter, it is untreated crushed walnut shells. And send yomomma a thank you note. PS. you can also sprinkle it on your corn flakes to add more crunch.

yomomma, you must be almost as smart and good looking as I am. :)
 
I use the Princess Auto stuff in a big bag and it works fine. I'll squirt in some mineral spirits if I'm removing lanolin lube, sometimes I use something like Nufinish if I want shiny brass.
 
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