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Posted: 2/20/2007 10:26:03 AM EDT
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How do people do this? Will tumbling remove it, or does it have to be removed with a solvent? If solvent, do you soak them? If you soak them, does it ruin tracer or incendiary compositions? |
I think he's talking about bullets, not the inside of case necks. Here is my experience-- you can tumble them for several hours, and this will remove most, but not all of the sealant. What I do is pour them in a plastic bucket, add hot water and dish detergent, and let them soak for 20 minutes. Then with a rag, wipe the sealant off each as you remove them from the bucket. The sealant should be soft and easy to wipe away. Give them a final rinse to remove any sope residue, and then dry them off with a towel. If you don't like the water spots on them, tumble them and they'll look pretty again. It's tedious, but the easiest way I've found to remove it. I haven't done this with tracers, but if the tracer pocket is the kind completely sealed by the copper jacket, it shouldn't be a problem. |
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I tumble them in walnut media with some lacquer thinner mixed in, gets all but the thickest stuff off. The real thick stuff is best removed by scraping. Home depot has brushes for cleaning the outside of 1/2" pipe, similar to battery terminal brushes, they are too big. But if you cut open the plastic housing, cut about 1/8" off the strip of bristles and glue it inside an appropriate size of pvc pipe it should shrink down to about the right size. I don't know what size of pipe, I haven't got that far yet, but sticking bristles inside a roll of electrical tape gets you close and will work in a pinch. When I get around to upgrading from the tape roll I will take some pictures. Acetone evaporates too fast in the media and are too volatile for me to consider using if it was any warmer in my garage. Mineral spirits are not aggressive enough, makes bullets look nice though. "Dykem" remover is primarily acetone (the sealer is the same composition as "Dykem Layout Fluid") |
Lets say I have a bunch of bullets I want to process at once. You can buy acetone by the gallon, and soak the bullets to remove the sealer. But I'm concerned about acetone seeping in between the lead and copper of API and spot tracer rounds, ruining the pyrotechnic composition, and later contaminating the powder after the bullet has been loaded. |
I assumed the sealant was water proof. Does the hot water simply soften it enough for it to wipe off? |
The hot soapy water does soften the sealant, and it wipes off fairly easy with a wet rag. |
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I put mine in a 5 gallon bucket and fill until they are covered with lacquer thinner and leave over night. Next day, IN A VERY OPEN AND VENTILATED area, I clean them off with a paper towel and the sealant is gone. A side benefits is that the black tip identification paint is also removed so I do not get strange stares at the range. I would not do this with anthing otherthan Ball and AP as I am concerned that this would foul the tracer compound or the incendiary compound. |
| I use PVC cleaner (MEK and acetone), the swab is great for applying the solvent, then I wipe them off with a paper towel. It only adds a few seconds to the reloading process to them as you load them. (BTW, this works with the sealant on .30 cal projos., I would expect similar results and easier handling on .50s) |
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