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Posted: 3/25/2011 7:08:29 AM EDT
| Can someone tell me how you get the top half of a .223 case shinny ? I have the Dillon case cleaner the big one and I use the Dillon case polish and corn cob. I bought walnut shells but haven't tried it yet. the cases just don't seem to get shinny I run them for 2-3 hrs. is there something I'm missing or doing wrong? thanks for any help. |
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Walnut for cleaning, corn cob for polishing. I use a very fine walnut shell to remove the lube after sizing, the walnut shell is excellent at getting the lube off, and the very fine size doesn't get lodged in the primer pockets or flash holes. I had significant problems with corn cob getting stuck in primer pockets and flash holes, but if you got a fine enough cut it wouldn't do that, but about the only way to get it that fine is to buy it from a place that sells very fine blasting media in large quantities. |
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The dillon polish I found to be not that great. I like the Flitz polish made for tumblers. Also 2-3 hours is not long enough. I use one of those plug in electric timers so it will shut off the tumbler if I'm not around to pull the plug. I also gave up on walnut media, it's far too dusty, and the results with treated corn cob are just as good IMO. |
| Since you are having problem with the top half of a 223 case, I am guessing that you are trying to polish a new piece of brass that has been annealed. Those tend to be tough cookies and the best way to deal with them is to first boil them for 20-30 min in Lemishine, rinse well, then dry them overnight with a fan (best deprimed, and I am assuming here that they don’t have a primer in them, because the brass dries much faster). After they dry, then tumble for 3-4 hours in walnut shell media – you should be GTG. |
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some cases are annealed....and are slightly in color at the necks...its a heat treatment process to make the cases reloader friendly (for a generalization).
(see forum on annealing ) if your cases were annealed, you cant shine them up. Ok...yeah they can shine up....(should have added "as quickly as un-annealed)...but it takes a lot longer and its really not necessary unless we're totally OCD, I leave the discoloration to aid in brass separation. |
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Like others have said... more time. 2 hours in corn cob gets my brass clean and nice. But 6 hours gets it BRIGHT and SHINY.
Quoted:
if your cases were annealed, you cant shine them up. Completely untrue. Not only will they shine up, you won't be able to see the annealing marks any more. Keep in mind that ALL cases were annealed when manufactured, the only difference is that with military rounds, they didn't tumble the cases long enough to take off the annealing marks. Not only is "pretty" not as important to the military, they WANT to see the marks, to know POSITIVELY that it was annealed. The above-stated 6 hours in corncob and polish makes my Lake City brass just as clean, shiny, and annealing-mark-free as my R-P brass after it gets 6 hours. Here's some Lake City, see if you can find annealing marks: 
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Brass cleaning
I like my brass clean and shiny. Here’s what I do. I have a one hour timer with two vibrating tumblers. 1.Put dirty brass in media separator, spin to remove dirt, grass un-burnt powder etc… 2.Place brass in walnut, polish, fabric sheet and mineral spirits for one hour. 3.Remove from walnut and place in Corn cob, fabric sheet and polish for one hour. It’s that simple. My brass is clean and shiny. |
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Quoted:
Like others have said... more time. 2 hours in corn cob gets my brass clean and nice. But 6 hours gets it BRIGHT and SHINY. Quoted:
if your cases were annealed, you cant shine them up. Completely untrue. Not only will they shine up, you won't be able to see the annealing marks any more. Keep in mind that ALL cases were annealed when manufactured, the only difference is that with military rounds, they didn't tumble the cases long enough to take off the annealing marks. Not only is "pretty" not as important to the military, they WANT to see the marks, to know POSITIVELY that it was annealed. The above-stated 6 hours in corncob and polish makes my Lake City brass just as clean, shiny, and annealing-mark-free as my R-P brass after it gets 6 hours. Here's some Lake City, see if you can find annealing marks:
http://oi52.tinypic.com/bjcu9k.jpg wow, that's what I'm trying to achieve |
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