Dave’s Ramblings

Many pet stores carry ground corncob media for small pet bedding. It is usually a little coarser than most normal tumbling media but it should still be perfect for tumbling cases (and not get stuck in flash holes). Prices at my local Petsmart were about 2/3 of the shooting stuff. For ground walnut shells many pet stores sell it in the same grit size as the shooting stuff as “lizard litter” or “bird cage litter.” The local price seems to be about a 30 percent cheaper than the shooting product.

You can also try your phone book’s yellow pages for an industrial abrasives dealer. While you’ll have to buy the corn cob or walnut media in 50 pound bags from them the price is usually about half (or less) of the price from firearms related sources, and it should keep you in clean tumbling media for the next several years. For an extra high polish add a small amount of non-ammonia containing automotive rubbing compound to the corn cob media and run your tumbler for a few minutes before adding the cases.

A word to the wise. If you share your home with furpeople keep your tumbling media covered or you may find some strange “cases” in it. Cats think its a dandy litter box filler.

Another case cleaning method that works well in rotary tumbler, like the 1-gallon Thumblers Tumblers, is to use the following media.

2 lb yellow or white corn meal
1 cup plain table salt
1/4 cup corn starch
5 or 6 pieces of scrap 2 x 2 or smaller wood cut into blocks

Add everything to the tumbler, close up the drum, and turn it on for a couple hours. Remove cases from tumbler, shake out the media from cases. You can blow them clean with an airgun or rinse them off if you like. The wooden blocks seems to knock the brass around and keeps media moving in and out of cases. They also seem to add a little extra friction to help polish and clean. Note that corn meal does not clog the flash holes, it’s dirt cheap, and lasts for hundreds of rounds!

An excellent bore polishing paste that works as well as JB’s can be made from equal parts of BonAmi™, paste wax (like Johnson & Johnson or Butchers), and light oil. The BonAmi is the “doesn’t scratch” product. Regular abrasive cleansers may be too harsh for use in a bore.

Another old standby is to use a hand type automobile rubbing compound and a larger than normal sized bore brush (say, one size larger–.25 in a .22 bore, .33 in a .30, etc.).

For both of these methods you will need a rod that allows the tip to rotate as it passes through the bore.

To use either of these solutions strip the action and clamp horizontally in padded vise jaws. Clean the barrel normally. Then, run the rod through the bore from the breach end, attach the oversized brush and coat with the compound. The pull it back through the bore to the chamber (don’t allow it to clear the chamber, to help keep “stuff” out of the action) and repeat this 25 or 30 times. Then with the brush outside the muzzle remove the brush and then pull the rod out of the barrel. Then attach a proper sized jag and a clean patch to the rod and from the breach work the patch back and forth several times. Repeat this with clean patches until the patch comes out clean.

Thoroughly flush the chamber and action with solvent to remove any grit, and then reclean the bore and chamber with normal bore cleaner. Your bore will be noticeable cleaner and smoother.

I recently tested some MAAS Metal Polishing Creme made by MAAS International. While not designed as a bore paste it did a very nice job on smoothing out several barrels and left them very clean and shiny. First clean the barrel normally with both regular bore cleaner and a copper remover. Then coat a patch with the MAAS and using a tight fitting jag work it through the bore using a series of short strokes. Repeat several times with a new patch and polish and then final clean with bore cleaner to remove any residue. It is not as aggressive as JB or the above homemade stuff so it may not work as well on a really rough bore. The MAAS Polishing Creme is available at some Walmart, Home Depots, Walgreens, ACE, Tru-Serv, others in a 2 ounce size for about $4 and on line at www.maasinc.com in a 4 ounce size for about $12.

Liquid Solution
For really stubborn lead removal try a 50/50 mix of 3% Hydrogen Peroxide (the common drug store variety) and white vinegar. Plug the bore, fill it up using a dropper or syringe and let it stand for 2 to 3 minutes. (Do not let it stand for too long.) You may get some foaming so protect the barrel’s external finish as this solution is not kind to bluing. Drain and wipe out the black muck that used to be lead and then immediately clean well with bore cleaner.

Thanks to Joe Sledge for this recipe.

Note
While most people have used this solution without a problem there have been reports of this solution pitting some mild steel barrels. The factors involved in this seem to be the type of steel, the presence of rust in the barrel, and excessively long soak times leading to chemical changes in the solution. I strongly recommend not letting this solution soak more than 2 to 3 minutes.

Pure turpentine has reportedly also been used as a lead remover.

Lead Removal Cloth
Lead deposits on the face of revolver cylinders and similar places can be removed with a lead wiping cloth prepared as follows.

Mix the following ingredients

500 gr - 400 grit or finer aluminum oxide powder
450 gr - kerosene or #2 fuel oil
4 gr - lemon oil (for a more pleasant smell)
5 gr - ammonium chloride

Evenly saturate a soft thick cotton cloth or flannel with the solution and allow to dry. (There is no reason it won’t work wet though.)

Carefully remove any very heavy lead deposits with a scraper and then wipe the remainder with the cloth to remove.

Notes: The active ingredient in commercial liquid lead remover products is Ammonium Oleate (CAS 544-60-5). It is however difficult to get. Most of the formulas are basically ammonium oleate, ethanol, and some petroleum distillates as a carrier.

Keep in mind that no matter what lubricant you use, you should use
the minimum amount of lube possible. You want it lubricated and not an oil field.

Synthetic Automotive Oils
Synthetic automotive oils (such as Quaker State High Performance Synthetic) work well as general lubricants and because of their detergent capabilities they will help to remove “crud.” (Synthetic oils handle low temperatures better than regular oils.) Just remember, as with any lubricant, not to over lube things. Valvoline Semi-Synthetic Power Steering Fluid has also been used with great success by many folks as their normal lubricant.

Air Conditioning Refrigerant Oil
Air conditioning refrigerant oil, available at most auto dealers and auto stores, is highly penetrative and makes an excellent lube and a rust preventative. It works at high temperatures and very low ones (won’t freeze even when mixed with Freon) and should be just the ticket for Alaskan use.

Slick Stuff
This very “oily”, (i.e. slick, greasy) lubricant appears to adhere very well to metal, with little or no creep. Thus it does not appear to drain from slides and parts during extended storage. From the formula it appears that it might not be suitable at very low temperatures.

2 parts Dexron II or III automatic transmission fluid
1 Part Mobil-1 Synthetic Oil, 30 weight, or 10W-30
1 Part STP Oil Treatment (the stuff for “old” cars w/ over 30,000 mi.)

Thanks to John Nichols for this tip

Amsoil
Another excellent home brew lube is Amsoil Synthetic ATF with some lanolin added to make it even slicker. A synthetic grease from MS Moly called Arctic Grade 67 also makes a great lube especially for cold weather. It is a totally synthetic moly grease with the consistency of chocolate mousse. It does not run, weep or smell (very important for the SAF (spousal acceptance factor)). It is reported to work fine at -30 degrees.

Thanks to Roger Rothschild for this tip.

Slippery Stuff
Try 80 percent Marvel Mystery Oil mixed with 20 percent Slick 50 .

Soaking Method

Those of you who used surplus pulled M118 / M72 173 gr Match or other pulled GI bullets have probably been baffled about how to removed the asphaltic sealant from the bullets. The safest way is to get a bottle of Orange Clean Concentrate http://www.greatcleaners.com/ogi_retail/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=ogi&product%5Fid=17101 and mix it 1/100 with water. Drop bullets in a salsa jar, mayonnaise jar etc and allow to sit for 24 hours. The following day agitate the jar and the mouth lacquer will literally fall off in flakes leaving the bullets not only clean but nice smelling. Unlike lacquer thinner which actually doesn’t work very well, this method is not flammable nor a breathing hazard.

Tumbling Method

You will need: a carton of BBs. (costs about five bucks from Walmart), a rock tumbler (flea markets, ebay, and commercial vendors), and a bottle of Ultra Ivory dishwashing detergent.

With a small rubber drum ( 1 1/2 lb size) tumbler add maybe 200 BBs, 100 pulled 173s, fill with hot water to just above bullet/BB level. Add about a tablespoon of ivory liquid and seal the drum with the screw lid on and put on tumbler and let it tumble for about an 45 minutes and check. (Mine come out looking better than new Sierra Matchkings) Take the bullets out with you fingers and dump in rinse water. Add another hundred bullets and tumble the next batch. Solution good for a number of cycles. When you finish dump the solution in a big jar and save it for washing your tires or something real greasy down the road. When you are not tumbling remove the BBs and dry them. If you have a bigger tumbler you can tumble more bullets.

Making up a Pre Tumble Dip with Ivory and letting the bullets soak a bit before putting them in tumbler might cut down the operation to less than thirty minutes.