advice on removing old dried on case lube?

[Dr Prepper]

So i recently acquired about 1k rounds of LC mixed all sized, trimmed, everything done even primed. All for abiut $50. (These days I couldnt refuse)
The only hitch was the case lube was left on them. And has since dried. Not sure but if I were to venture I guess Id say it rcbs case lube.

Has anyone had to remedy this problem before.
I dont have a dry tumbler. Only a wet tumbler.

Any ideas besides just laying out towels and spending a few hours giving them a footjob while watching newsmax (my new fox .)

Thanks a bunch in advance for any advice.
Stay safe everyone..
And above all FIGHT for the cause!
Please don't take it laying down.

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[Certaindeaf]

So i recently acquired about 1k rounds of LC mixed all sized, trimmed, everything done even primed. All for abiut $50. (These days I couldnt refuse)
The only hitch was the case lube was left on them. And has since dried. Not sure but if I were to venture I guess Id say it rcbs case lube.

Has anyone had to remedy this problem before.
I dont have a dry tumbler. Only a wet tumbler.

Any ideas besides just laying out towels and spending a few hours giving them a footjob while watching newsmax (my new fox .)

Thanks a bunch in advance for any advice.
Stay safe everyone..
And above all FIGHT for the cause!
Please don't take it laying down.

Hot soapy water.
patent pending so don't go stealing it

 

[Dr Prepper]

Its already primed.
If it wasnt id just tumble it. Which is SOP for me.

 

[fstdraw]

Load it, then tumble for 30 minutes. They'll be perfect. Of course borrow a dry tumbler from a friend.

 

[Certaindeaf]

Its already primed.
If it wasnt id just tumble it. Which is SOP for me.

Towel tumble them with some paint thinner on the towel.

 

[Dr Prepper]

Hmm... Good suggestion. Dont think I would have thought of that.
Has anyone done this before? They tips wont ignite the primers violently tumbling around there?

Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[Dr Prepper]

Paint thinner fumes wont contaminate the primer mix? Ive heard primers are pretty sensitive to moisture and other stuff.
I did some testing recently with some primers that kind of suggests that wasnt quite as true.

The ones I left out in the room exposed for weeks were actually the most accurate lowest E.S. and S.D.'s
Go figure. True Testing beats hear say every time.

 

[Snip]

Brake cleaner or rubbing alcohol also works. Or as @fstdraw says, run it though some corn/walnut media in a vibe cleaner.

 

[Camelfilter]

Wouldn't wet

Hmm... Good suggestion. Dont think I would have thought of that.
Has anyone done this before? They tips wont ignite the primers violently tumbling around there?

Thanks for the suggestion.

Lotsa folks vibratory tumble loaded ammunition. Some folks use rice to remove lube, some folks use whatever media in there vibratory, without concern.

Haven't done so, as don't reload rifle (yet). Read a bunch.

Common misconceptions voiced against doing so are some type of breakdown of powder when doing so. Debunked.

Similar concern over primer strike. Never heard of any.

 

[Dr Prepper]

Interesting. Well i guess ill have to ask around my small group of cohorts and see if any have a tumbler. Only a couple reload.

I love the input. Keep it coming if you have any other "voodoo that you do".

 

[Certaindeaf]

Hmm... Good suggestion. Dont think I would have thought of that.
Has anyone done this before? They tips wont ignite the primers violently tumbling around there?

Thanks for the suggestion.

I've done it for decades. Fold the towel double twice and dollop about 2 oz around the corner where the unfolded middle is/will be, unfold, dump brass on towel, grab towel so it's like a hammock then lift one side then the next.

 

[thorborg]

What kind of Wet Tumbler do you have? Seems to me, If you have a "wet" Tumbler, then you just need dry media , and you have a dry tumbler. Starting out, I tumbled both wet and dry using the same tupperware container affixed to my variable speed wood lathe. Crude yes but when you are starting out and little cash, it did the job.

 

[Dr Prepper]

Wood lathe HAHA thats awesome!
I have a Frankford Arsenal platinum i think its called. I guess i could put dry media in it..?
The though of using the pins dry did cross my mind. Or more pass through.

 

[Dr Prepper]

Its a rotating drum if your not familiar with them.

 

[DizzyJ]

Kerosine or rubbing alcohol and a towel.

 

[JuglansRegia]

Try warm water, if that doesn't work, warm water with some rubbing alcohol, if that doesn't work then just straight rubbing alcohol. If that doesn't work maybe mineral spirits. The most common case lubes are lanolin which is sheep sweat or something like that.

 

[American123]

Just give a warm bath, should dissolve off.

 

[gmerkt]

There's a mystery here, how did they get case lube dried on them with the primers already having been seated? You'd have to remove the case lube in order to seat the primers without getting lube on same, wouldn't you? Oh never mind.

Try warm water, if that doesn't work, warm water with some rubbing alcohol, if that doesn't work then just straight rubbing alcohol. If that doesn't work maybe mineral spirits.

RCBS has used two different bases for case lube over the years. First, they used an oil base. Then they switched to water based which is pretty easy to get off. So it would be handy to know which you have dried on your cases. Easy enough to figure out, take a damp paper towel and try to wipe it off. Although I must admit never having had case lube on so long it dried out so I don't know how water soluble it is when dried. If it won't come off without some effort, it may be oil based. So try a rag with some solvent/paint thinner on it and see if that does it. This procedure might suggest to you what you're dealing with.

Once you have the answer to the above, one approach would be to roll them back and forth over a damp rag or paper towel with whichever agent that works. Rolling will keep the agent off the heads and avoid contamination of the primer. Fairly strong solvents like lacquer thinner evaporate too quickly to damage a primer, but these solvents are harmful to the skin and lungs. Ditto MEK and similar things. But they work very well in removing stubborn contaminants. I've been known to use 50/50 paint thinner/lacquer thinner mix. You know it's too strong if it melts nitrile gloves.

Another approach would be the dry tumbler as suggested above. But I wouldn't load them. Simply because you could tumble them unloaded with primers in place with no down side. Making sure you have all the media out of them when you're done, that single grit maybe left in the flash hole will get blown to carbon at the moment of ignition anyway, it won't be a problem. As I said, I've never dealt with dried on case lube so it's anybody's guess as to whether tumbling will actually do the trick. There are lots of things that won't clean off in dry tumbling within any reasonable time. Like sometimes mere combustion carbon on the necks. Dry media polish does help when added to the grit.

And one last thing, are you sure it's dried case lube? It might be clear spray paint or who knows what. Especially seeing as how it apparently was applied after the cases were primed.

 

[DLS]

Why not just load and shoot them as they are? Why are you worried about a film of dried lube, it shouldn't affect anything.

 

[NW Backpacker]

Try some of these links:

how to get dried case lube off of brass ammo cases? - Google Search

www.google.com

Good luck. Don't blow yourself up!