Wet tumbling with 1mm ceramic media (now with 223 results)

Has anyone tried the media they advertise that is a cylinder with diagonally cut ends?

Do the 1mm beads clean the corners of the primer pockets? Just wondering if the pointy ends of the cylinders might do it better.
 
The diagnal cut stuff will jam up really badly in bottleneck cases. Severals guys I spoke with before trying this ended up tossing a bunch of cases because they couldn't get the stuff out without damaging them.

Theres a bit left in the corners, but its a pretty tiny amount. A primer pocket brush won't get it, you need to take the uniformer to it if you want to get it out. I don't bother since it isn't hurting anything.
 
John Y Cannuck said:
In theory, a dirty case, has slightly less case volume than a clean one, and depending on how dirty, the case volume could vary.
I suppose you could argue case pressure, pressure wave harmonics and all sorts of other stuff too.
I just wonder if the manufacturing tolerances of the cases themselves are close enough for any of it to be valid.
Click to expand...

When you find brass that is exactly the same weight , piece to piece, then I think case volume due to residue left inside might become an issue. I doubt you could even detect any difference whatsoever in your average gun with average handloads. I would think the only important place to have clean is the neck, and that can be accomplished with a neck brush.

There is nothing wrong with wanting perfectly clean brass. But I would bet good money that in most instances, any performance gain would be undetectable if any actually existed.

I am quite willing to eat crow should the need arise......:)
 
Ok, let me start off by saying that I don't have anything in 233 Rem., so this was total charity work. But, A few people were asking me about this media with 223.

I gathered up a bunch of brass while at the range on Saturday and tossed it in my Thumler's rotary with my 308 brass. It was a mix of military and commercial brass.

P1040465.jpg

This is what it looked like going in.

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This is what it looked like after 6 hours or tumbling.

P1040475.jpg

It got the inside of the necks pretty clean.

P1040478.jpg

The primer pockets still had a bit of carbon in them. It wasn't much, but more than is left in 308 pockets.

P1040467.jpg

In a lot of the military brass that still had the crimp, the media accumulated like this. Didn't see it in any commercial brass. It was very easy to get out with any pointed object (paper clip, pencil, etc...)

Nothing got jammed inside any of the case, except for a 223 case that got stuck in a 308 case (shouldn't mix them...).
 
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I am going to try it out since I already have the HD equipment necessary. However, the store you mentioned for the 1 mm ceramic media no longer lists it.

Do you have another source? and roughly what was the cost per lb. I have tried looking for it locally with limited success. ( I really don't need 50 or 100 lb of it)
 
No problem.

On more thing I should probably point out since I had to figure this out through experimentation and its frustrated some of the others using this stuff. Here is the trick I use to get the "right" amount of water (can't just measure since its different if the media is dry or if its already wet).

I add water to the media without any cases in the media. I know its the right amount of water when the mixture JUST becomes "slushy" when I rock the tumbler around. If the media is still clumping, there isn't enough water. With excess water, the results aren't as good.
 
Oh yes and separation: I dump everything into a Dillon squirrel cage separator, run it and then pour a bucket of water over the cage to get what ever is left over off. Anything that is left over after that just falls out/off when the cases dry.

This stuff clings to the cases when its wet. But when it dries, it just falls of like regular media.
 
Nice before and after pics. You should be selling this technology. With results like that, who could resist. I had never thought of wet media tumbling, now I have to. Thanks a lot.:mad:
 
I'm not selling anything. I posted my results because when I tried to find info on wet tumbling with ceramic media with bottleneck cases, I couldn't find any. Its very popular in black powder long range, and I was very impressed with the results. But, those cases are all staright wall, or only have a very slight bottleneck.

http://www.bpcr.net/site_docs-results_schedules/documents/ceramic-bead_polishing.htm

There were a few guys over on the Hide using the 3mm stuff for 308 Win., but they complained that it didn't clean the primer pockets and got jamed in 223 cases. I was familiar with wet tumbling in manufacturing (I believe the brass manufacturer actually do it this way), so I did a bit of research and came to the conclusion that 1mm ceramic media should solve those issues. This stuff is actually made by Raytech, a division of Lyman.

I discussed my research with some of the guys on the Hide (those guys also love experimentation) and a few of use bought the stuff and tried it. It took some trial-and-error to get it right, but I'm really pleased with the results. Overall, it speeds up my reloading process, keeps things a lot cleaner and does away with a bunch of tedious hand operation I really hate doing. I've been loading a lot more rounds since I got the technique perfected. It makes it less of a chore.
 
Before reading this thread, I bought some of the cylindrical stuff. It works wonders on 45 ACP and there are no primer pockets to clean when you're done. Yes I tried it on some .223,,bad friggin idea!

Any advice on storing this stuff when you won't be using it for a few months? I'm thinking if its left damp it'll mildew.
 
Just spread it out and let it dry.

Yes, the cylindrical stuff alone will clog up in bottleneck cases. Its a lot easier to get out than most people realize though. Just put the stuck cases in an empty vibratory tumbler for a couple minutes and it all shakes loose. Vibration shakes just about anything loose... that's usually a bad thing.

I've gone far beyond what is posted here and now I am using a mix of the 1mm balls and the cylindrical media you mention. I'm also using in a Thumler's UV-18 Industrial tumbler (best tumbler I have ever used, better than Dillon's) instead of the rotary tumbler. I mix the 1mm balls to cylinders about 3.5-to-1. The 1mm balls buffer the cylinders and keep them from jamming up. The cylinders do most of the work and they make the 1mm balls agitate much better.

The cases come out with the primer pockets and insides completely clean. The insides of the necks shine now. Also, the case mouths don't roll with the vibratory tumbler the way they do in the rotary. The rotary is going up for sale very soon. Vibratory is the way to go. I'll post some updated results after the weekend. Unfortunately, all of my brass is loaded at the moment.
 
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This is my latest and greatest setup:

P1040628.jpg


Haven't tried it with any 223 yet.


Edit:

This was working great in small batches. The media came out by tipping the cases upside down easy enough. However, in large batches, the media would not separate with my Dillon separator. So, I've sifted out the cylinders and am back to only the 1mm balls in the vibratory tumbler.
 
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