Longshot338
CGN Regular
- Location
- Southern Ontario
Hello fellow GunNutz,
I have been tumbling with Stainless Steel pins for over as year now. I have tumbled thousands of casings; rifle and pistol. I thought I had it all figured out. I was getting incredibly good results; the shiniest brass possible.
The last 2 batches have really got me scratching my head. The casings have come out with a sticky black residue. It was the same grey/black colour of the water; it is as if the carbon coming off the cases had formed a sticky paste. The brass went in the tumbler looking like dirty brass. It came out blacker than the laquered steel casings on Russian milsurp.
I am well aware of the importance of consistency when it comes to reloading. This consistency in my work transfers itself to everything; including tumbling. I can assure you I did nothing differently.
The problem came on suddenly. My batches have not been getting progressively dirtier. I rinse my pins after every batch, as well as the barrel of my tumbler.
I prepped the brass. I sprayed the cases with Hornady One-Shot lube. They were sized, trimmed, chamfered, deburred, and I reamed the crimp off the primer pocket of the 5.56x45mm PPU brass and deepened the primer pockets. I placed all 100 pieces of brass in my Thumblers Tumblers Model B. I filled 2 45ACP casings with Dawn dishsoap, and 1 45ACP casing with Lemishine crystallized citric acid. I dropped these in with the brass. I then added warm water till it covered the brass and tumbled for 4 hours.
This is a smaller batch than I usually do. As such there wasn't as much water. My measurements for the soap and Lemishine were the same as a big batch. the result was mostly stiff suds with little water, and the black casings. I initially thought there wasn't enough water to dissolve the crud; thus the black paste. I spent the rest of the evening hand-wiping the crud off the casings.
I did another batch today. I was using Norinco brass picked up off a muddy range. I had already tumbled the casings just to get them clean so they wouldn't scratch my sizing die. They were sprayed with One-Shot and sized, but no further prep work (these were destined for CQB ammo; thus plinker quality not match quality reloads. I don't like to spend time to prep brass that I wont get back again, and is getting burned at 35yds or less.) 200 casings total. I placed them in the tumbler with more water, and the same measurements of the soap and acid.
Same result. I am now hand-wiping another 200 casings...
I have cleaned and reloaded thousands of rounds in the last year. I have used the same procedure for all of it. I don't get it...
The scum appears to be the outside of the case only. Where the lube would be. Almost would make me suspect that the lube isn't coming off the case, and the carbon is sticking to it. But I have used this lube before. This is my third aerosol can of One-Shot I am on now. For anybody who has used it you know that means a lot of reloading. Never an issue before.
I had a 243Win casing stick in the die not too long ago. I narrowed the cause down to one of two things; either I didn't use enough lube or I didn't let it dry before sizing it. since then, I have become a bit more liberal with the lube, and definitely more careful in letting the casings dry before sizing them. As such, my brass does have a thicker coat of lube on it when it gets tumbled. However, I have tumbled several batches of these heavier-lubed casings without an incident before the last two batches.
Has anyone ever encountered a similar problem before?
Even if you haven't had this issue, but have some ideas for me to try, please chime in.
Thanks guys!
Alec
I have been tumbling with Stainless Steel pins for over as year now. I have tumbled thousands of casings; rifle and pistol. I thought I had it all figured out. I was getting incredibly good results; the shiniest brass possible.
The last 2 batches have really got me scratching my head. The casings have come out with a sticky black residue. It was the same grey/black colour of the water; it is as if the carbon coming off the cases had formed a sticky paste. The brass went in the tumbler looking like dirty brass. It came out blacker than the laquered steel casings on Russian milsurp.
I am well aware of the importance of consistency when it comes to reloading. This consistency in my work transfers itself to everything; including tumbling. I can assure you I did nothing differently.
The problem came on suddenly. My batches have not been getting progressively dirtier. I rinse my pins after every batch, as well as the barrel of my tumbler.
I prepped the brass. I sprayed the cases with Hornady One-Shot lube. They were sized, trimmed, chamfered, deburred, and I reamed the crimp off the primer pocket of the 5.56x45mm PPU brass and deepened the primer pockets. I placed all 100 pieces of brass in my Thumblers Tumblers Model B. I filled 2 45ACP casings with Dawn dishsoap, and 1 45ACP casing with Lemishine crystallized citric acid. I dropped these in with the brass. I then added warm water till it covered the brass and tumbled for 4 hours.
This is a smaller batch than I usually do. As such there wasn't as much water. My measurements for the soap and Lemishine were the same as a big batch. the result was mostly stiff suds with little water, and the black casings. I initially thought there wasn't enough water to dissolve the crud; thus the black paste. I spent the rest of the evening hand-wiping the crud off the casings.
I did another batch today. I was using Norinco brass picked up off a muddy range. I had already tumbled the casings just to get them clean so they wouldn't scratch my sizing die. They were sprayed with One-Shot and sized, but no further prep work (these were destined for CQB ammo; thus plinker quality not match quality reloads. I don't like to spend time to prep brass that I wont get back again, and is getting burned at 35yds or less.) 200 casings total. I placed them in the tumbler with more water, and the same measurements of the soap and acid.
Same result. I am now hand-wiping another 200 casings...
I have cleaned and reloaded thousands of rounds in the last year. I have used the same procedure for all of it. I don't get it...
The scum appears to be the outside of the case only. Where the lube would be. Almost would make me suspect that the lube isn't coming off the case, and the carbon is sticking to it. But I have used this lube before. This is my third aerosol can of One-Shot I am on now. For anybody who has used it you know that means a lot of reloading. Never an issue before.
I had a 243Win casing stick in the die not too long ago. I narrowed the cause down to one of two things; either I didn't use enough lube or I didn't let it dry before sizing it. since then, I have become a bit more liberal with the lube, and definitely more careful in letting the casings dry before sizing them. As such, my brass does have a thicker coat of lube on it when it gets tumbled. However, I have tumbled several batches of these heavier-lubed casings without an incident before the last two batches.
Has anyone ever encountered a similar problem before?
Even if you haven't had this issue, but have some ideas for me to try, please chime in.
Thanks guys!
Alec