Residue left on cases from treated tumbling media

I've been using lizard litter and car polish for tumbling media. I picked up some treated walnut shell on clearance today. It's the Lyman Tufnut, presumably walnut shell treated with rouge. I tried it for a couple of batches tonight. It cleans much quicker and more thoroughly, but I noticed it leaves a light coating of red dust. I assume it is rouge mixed with walnut dust.

Anyway, what do ya'll do about it? Leave it, clean it off somehow. The only concern I have is that it is a mild abrasive and may harm my dies and, or firearms.

What say you?

Use hot soapy (dish detergent not dishwasher) rinse with distilled water and dry. Use your oven or an old food dehydrator. Best to forget the tumbler and use a good wash. The tumblers make things nice and shinny on the out side but don't do a good job on the inside where it counts. If you reload for accuracy the inside needs to be clean. The outside doesn't matter much so long as it doesn't abrasive stuff on it.

Personally, I wouldn't want any 'rouge residue' in my dies.... I use the lesser aggressive stuff to polish wood grips and it appears to me that there is still abrasive stuff in there. On the other hand, it would surprise me that Lyman would put something that would kill your dies in their media.... I'd call Lyman and see what they say.

Jewelers rouge has been used as an additive for polishing media for decades.
I've used it,,, and just about most other methods out there over the years.

As noted,, a quick tumble in dish detergent & water,, with a bit of lemishine can do wonders. Also, an old food dehydrator is an excellent tool to dry wet brass. I use a Thumblers tumbler, stainless pins, and the mix to clean my brass. Inside & out is very clean. I bought a second dehydrator at Goodwill a few months ago,,, for $5. Figured it wouldn't hurt to have a spare,,,,,!

Washing and drying brass that you just cleaned? I think I would get rid of that media or save it for some really dirty brass. Go back to media with polish and save those extra steps.

I had some of that junk for short time. Turned my brass, tumbler, and everything else red. I threw it away and went back to untreated corn cob media. I've since moved on to wet tumbling using SS pins.

My Dad was an amateur watchmaker and had red jewelers rouge on hand at all times.

I've been using it mixed in with my polishing/cleaning media for around 50 years with no bad effects whatsoever.

Just leave it on and don't worry about it. Here's a snippet that explains what it does.

https://www.reference.com/beauty-fashion/jewelers-rouge-42546e720b263880

Full Answer

The rouge can be applied as a dry powder or as a thick paste. The material used to make the rouge burnishes the surface it is applied to rather than cut into it like some alumina abrasives can do.

Sometimes reloaders go "overboard" with some of their processes. I have never seen any use to add any abrasive to my media. Yep, it may clean faster, but as the OP states, there is a down side. I've worked with metal all my life and even experienced commercial "tumbling". The finish wanted is determined largely by the media. Corn cob pet litter is soft and size isn't controlled, making this prolly the "slowest" media for brass cleaning. Walnut pet litter is harder and more aggressive, cleaning faster but not as shiny as some prefer. Over several years of "playing" with tumbler media I've settled on corn cob blast media, size 14-20 as the best all around media. I tried everything from beach sand to rice, dried beans/peas, cat litter (Good Mews worked pretty well), wood chunks, glass beads and nearly anything I could fit in my tumbler with a bunch of brass. Blast media is quality controlled and corn cob blast media is harder than pet litter (but not as hard as walnut blast media). For my reloading I just use cob blast media, with a bit of auto polish (just about any wax/polish will work, I just use it for the light film of wax left on the case to prevent tarnish). Occasionally I'll add some 3/8" hard plastic/resin pyramids from Harbor Freight when cleaning some really tarnished brass or rusty tools (The HF resin media works great for cases, fast, but leaves a matte finish on the brass.).

Hmmm, just had a thought; I may try some of the HF resin pyramid media in a water solution. Ya never know until you try... 8)

grobin said:

Use hot soapy (dish detergent not dishwasher) rinse with distilled water and dry. Use your oven or an old food dehydrator. Best to forget the tumbler and use a good wash. The tumblers make things nice and shinny on the out side but don't do a good job on the inside where it counts. If you reload for accuracy the inside needs to be clean. The outside doesn't matter much so long as it doesn't abrasive stuff on it.

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Great idea, except it won't remove this stuff. It has stuck to the carbon on the inside of the cases and won't come off without aggressively wiping the inside of the case.

I haven't tried using the plain lizard litter. The cases are drying now from the hot soapy water bath.

I hate to suggest it but an ultrasonic cleaner or your dishwasher may be the solution. Thanks for the heads up on get another bad way to clean brass.

I've used corn cob media (I think.... bought a 50 lb bag about 40 years ago and am almost down to the bottom ..... sometimes I put a little liquid Brasso in there just for the heck of it.... (never really checked what's in brasso).... I guess I'll do a little more research when this 50 lb bag goes empty... BTW, some great creativity above....thanks,
J.

Some people overthink

Johnnu2 said:

I've used corn cob media (I think.... bought a 50 lb bag about 40 years ago and am almost down to the bottom ..... sometimes I put a little liquid Brasso in there just for the heck of it.... (never really checked what's in brasso).... I guess I'll do a little more research when this 50 lb bag goes empty... BTW, some great creativity above....thanks,
J.

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Word on the street is that Brasso contains ammonia, which is supposed to embrittle brass cases.

Well, I ran one of the two batches through the tumbler with the plain lizard bedding. It cleaned off the red residue nicely. I've heard that if you mix the treated with the untreated, it cleans much better than the untreated, but doesn't leave the residue. I may try that. I ended up with a big container of the treated at a good price, and I hate to waste it. Especially since it cleans so much better than the plain stuff. Some of my .45 cases are getting a some carbon buildup. I guess if nothing else, I could use the treated stuff every now and then when the cases need a little extra.

Are you using something to reduce the "static cling"?
This can/will cause the dust to hang onto the brass. IMHO washing clean brass is a no-no.

I'm thinking, after a few years on online forums; case cleaning/tumbling is the most talked about, but least important part of reloading... :wink:

mikld said:

I'm thinking, after a few years on online forums; case cleaning/tumbling is the most talked about, but least important part of reloading... :wink:

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I'm not sure I could disagree with that.

I like clean cases, but in the overall scheme of things it makes no real difference in how they shoot.

People obsess about how their cars look, but the car drives just as well with a dented hood as one that is perfect.

My main concern here was whether the residue would be likely to harm my dies or my firearms.

Abrasive residue can damage dies. This can be dirt & such left on cases,,, or exterior stuff,, not cleaned off before loading. Does that affect shootability? No. But damaged dies can affect the brass, and as such the round might not chamber, or you could get a split case due to a weakened case if improper cleaning is used.
Brasso can affect the brass,, so most knowledgeable folks avoid it's use.

Clean brass feeds better, especially in semi-auto's. I know that many serious Grandmaster shooters in USPSA often wipe their ammo with a silicone cloth before loading them into their magazines. Why? To add a TINY bit of extra insurance to make sure the ammo feeds w/o jams.

And internally clean brass insures a proper, uniform burn. If by chance you didn't clean brass at all,,, there is always a possibility of unburnt powder left behind, and it can affect the load. Also if you load a case near max capacity,, residue can change the volume of a case some.

One of the biggest things serious shooters strive for is consistency. It most often directly relates to accuracy. Accuracy is what most of us strive for,, so I'll clean my brass,, and take care of my equipment. Internally clean cases,,,, well,,, it's just another one of those small items that may help get a wee bit more consistency in my ammo. But,,, to each his or her own,,, !!!!!!!!

Well, I've been working with metal for nearly 60 years and just in my experience/estimation I'd say you'd have to reload several tens of thousands of rounds with sooty case necks to wear any noticeable amount on a sizing die. In theory, maybe carbon (soot) on case necks can wear a sizing die, but in real life, I seriously doubt it...

mikld said:

Well, I've been working with metal for nearly 60 years and just in my experience/estimation I'd say you'd have to reload several tens of thousands of rounds with sooty case necks to wear any noticeable amount on a sizing die. In theory, maybe carbon (soot) on case necks can wear a sizing die, but in real life, I seriously doubt it...

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Well, the issue here is not carbon residue. It's the residue of rouge dust from the treated tumbling media.