Used drier sheets in the case cleaner ?

Ive been doing this for some time now,, checking the garbage can in the laundry room and throwing the old ones in the case cleaner to soak up the dust. After cleaning, then throw them away. Not going to do that anymore now, at least not with these sheets?
She just switched to Arm and Hammer, Clean scentsations brand and let me tell you about the mess they left behind. After cleaning some 9 mm in walnut I opened the cleaner and found the cases covered in this gray sticky substance. I had a WTF moment and found I could scrape the gook off with my fingernail. I soaked all the cases in mineral spirits to clean them off. The inside of the case cleaner bowl was greasy in feel and had chunks of dust and dirt stuck to the walls. Scraped it all off with a screwdriver and more mineral spirits. Even the media had a greasy feel to it, so I threw it all away.
Be careful out there.

Thanks for the tip. Wife uses Bounce dry sheets which I also dig out of the trash can by the dryer for my tumbler.

CD

I bought a box of the cheap store brand dryer sheets a few years ago. I cut the sheets into thirds or halfs, and then cut one section into strips for the case cleaner. I've been working off the same box for a long time. Keeps the media very clean!

I read somewhere to only use used sheets, so that is all I have ever done. I think my wife gets Bounce drier sheets, and she saved up a bunch of the used sheets for me. They work fine in the dry tumbling media. But I pretty much only wet tumble anymore.

Walmart brand/unscented, new sheet cut in half.

Cheap and keeps the dust down.

Also spray water on your car/truck windshield and scrub with whole sheet. Rinse. Turns out crystal clean.

I tried oxiclean in my wet tumbler. DO NOT USE OXICLEAN!!!!!!!!! lol

Used gain dryer sheets here. Does seem to help.

Im wondering if a piece of and old towel would work just as well ? This way I could just rinse it out,let dry and reuse it. The Wifey likes these drier sheets so there is no chance shes switching up her game for me..

Go to the dollar store and buy your own box. I cut my sheets into quarter sheets and throw those in my tumbler. Spreads them out. Don't think you want to deal with soot/dirt on a used towel.


CD

Surprised people still dry tumble brass at all. Nasty process with lots of lead dust exposure. I wet tumble all my brass now. Dry tumbler is just used for powder coating bullets anymore.

Lager said:

Im wondering if a piece of and old towel would work just as well ? This way I could just rinse it out,let dry and reuse it. The Wifey likes these drier sheets so there is no chance shes switching up her game for me..

Click to expand...

You can use the used dryer sheets, they work well.

AR10ShooterinNC said:

You can use the used dryer sheets, they work well.

Click to expand...

Hi AR 10, thanks for posting.. I just started this post warning folks about that kind of drier sheet that my wife switched to. I never had any problems with using the used drier sheets in the past ? It was only since she switched to Arm and Hammer brand that I had this problem. All of the other drier sheets she used and after use felt dry if you rub them between your fingers but the Arm and Hammer brand has a greasy feel, that I'm assuming transferred onto my brass.

I throw a cut up, used dryer sheet in with every load of brass I tumble. ~50/50 mix walnut shells & corn cob & a splash or 2 of brass polish works great for me.

This is the first I’ve heard of this dust majic.
Is there an unscented dryer sheet?
We don’t use them.

Pink_Vapor said:

This is the first I’ve heard of this dust majic.
Is there an unscented dryer sheet?
We don’t use them.

Click to expand...

I'm sure there are generic unscented dryer sheets. I cut my sheets into 1/4 squares so they get spread out in the tumbler. Depends on how dirty your cases and media are. Those squares will come out black as it catches the dirt and dust.

CD

For years folks have been putting a used dryer sheet and a cap full (or less) of Nu Finish Car Polish in their tumblers with the media and brass. Shines like a gold tooth.

Cocked & Locked said:

For years folks have been putting a used dryer sheet and a cap full (or less) of Nu Finish Car Polish in their tumblers with the media and brass. Shines like a gold tooth.

Click to expand...

I use the NuFinish, I didn't know about the dryer sheet dust control.
I learn something new every day here.

Far from an expert, but try to read and also experiment and seek out folks that should know....locally as well as manufacturers.

For Progressive presses, a very experienced Dillon support tech offered this. He is an avid shooter and worked his way up and has been in development.

He recommended only dry tumbling or vib cleaning without any additives. He said that a few 1-2” paper towel squares was the best. That absorbed the dirt and grease and such and keeps Media cleaner. He said to limit the time in the device to around 30 minutes.

He also said that wet processing or wet with SS pins or other media was actually detrimental to the Dillon presses.

The expander or belling die in the powder measure depends on a nitride or “fired” residue. If you remove that, then expect higher operating lever pressure or needed force. The longer you process, the more the rims will abrade the inside of the case mouth. Obviously wet cleans the interior much better, but cleanliness is not next to Godliness in reloading.

For more consistent loads, you need the lowest handle pressure possible. He also only recommends “lubing” virgin brass and not mixing virgin and once fired....unless you lube the Virgin. With mixed cases, you have to exert more force on the Virgin. I actually demonstrated and convinced myself after seeing the amount of brass dust after say 100 virgin Starline. Used the cotton ball method (4 or 5 sprayed lightly with the Frankford Alcohol/Lanolin spray. Belling dropped in force by 60 to 70 %. Dust went away.

Probably not as critical for single stage presses....except it is more tiring.

No offense or disbelief what has been posted....only passing along the advice of the setup tech for my new XL750.

This works great for me...

TomGCherry said:

Far from an expert, but try to read and also experiment and seek out folks that should know....locally as well as manufacturers.

For Progressive presses, a very experienced Dillon support tech offered this. He is an avid shooter and worked his way up and has been in development.

He recommended only dry tumbling or vib cleaning without any additives. He said that a few 1-2” paper towel squares was the best. That absorbed the dirt and grease and such and keeps Media cleaner. He said to limit the time in the device to around 30 minutes.

He also said that wet processing or wet with SS pins or other media was actually detrimental to the Dillon presses.

The expander or belling die in the powder measure depends on a nitride or “fired” residue. If you remove that, then expect higher operating lever pressure or needed force. The longer you process, the more the rims will abrade the inside of the case mouth. Obviously wet cleans the interior much better, but cleanliness is not next to Godliness in reloading.

For more consistent loads, you need the lowest handle pressure possible. He also only recommends “lubing” virgin brass and not mixing virgin and once fired....unless you lube the Virgin. With mixed cases, you have to exert more force on the Virgin. I actually demonstrated and convinced myself after seeing the amount of brass dust after say 100 virgin Starline. Used the cotton ball method (4 or 5 sprayed lightly with the Frankford Alcohol/Lanolin spray. Belling dropped in force by 60 to 70 %. Dust went away.

Probably not as critical for single stage presses....except it is more tiring.

No offense or disbelief what has been posted....only passing along the advice of the setup tech for my new XL750.

This works great for me...

Click to expand...

This was very interesting,,Thanks for posting...

TomGCherry said:

Far from an expert, but try to read and also experiment and seek out folks that should know....locally as well as manufacturers.

For Progressive presses, a very experienced Dillon support tech offered this. He is an avid shooter and worked his way up and has been in development.

He recommended only dry tumbling or vib cleaning without any additives. He said that a few 1-2” paper towel squares was the best. That absorbed the dirt and grease and such and keeps Media cleaner. He said to limit the time in the device to around 30 minutes.

He also said that wet processing or wet with SS pins or other media was actually detrimental to the Dillon presses.

The expander or belling die in the powder measure depends on a nitride or “fired” residue. If you remove that, then expect higher operating lever pressure or needed force. The longer you process, the more the rims will abrade the inside of the case mouth. Obviously wet cleans the interior much better, but cleanliness is not next to Godliness in reloading.

For more consistent loads, you need the lowest handle pressure possible. He also only recommends “lubing” virgin brass and not mixing virgin and once fired....unless you lube the Virgin. With mixed cases, you have to exert more force on the Virgin. I actually demonstrated and convinced myself after seeing the amount of brass dust after say 100 virgin Starline. Used the cotton ball method (4 or 5 sprayed lightly with the Frankford Alcohol/Lanolin spray. Belling dropped in force by 60 to 70 %. Dust went away.

Probably not as critical for single stage presses....except it is more tiring.

No offense or disbelief what has been posted....only passing along the advice of the setup tech for my new XL750.

This works great for me...

Click to expand...

Interesting, I’ve had 550 since 2000 and recently started loading 9mm. The brass was sticking in the powder funnels belling die, never had that happen with 7 other calibers. It was bad enough to spill some powder when it released. I called Dillon, they asked if it was using virgin brass, it was, and instructed me to tumble the new brass for a fix.
Now that makes sense.

Pink_Vapor said:

This is the first I’ve heard of this dust majic.
Is there an unscented dryer sheet?
We don’t use them.

Click to expand...

Go for the scented kind. It makes your ammo smell purdy.

TomGCherry said:

Far from an expert, but try to read and also experiment and seek out folks that should know....locally as well as manufacturers.

For Progressive presses, a very experienced Dillon support tech offered this. He is an avid shooter and worked his way up and has been in development.

He recommended only dry tumbling or vib cleaning without any additives. He said that a few 1-2” paper towel squares was the best. That absorbed the dirt and grease and such and keeps Media cleaner. He said to limit the time in the device to around 30 minutes.

He also said that wet processing or wet with SS pins or other media was actually detrimental to the Dillon presses.

The expander or belling die in the powder measure depends on a nitride or “fired” residue. If you remove that, then expect higher operating lever pressure or needed force. The longer you process, the more the rims will abrade the inside of the case mouth. Obviously wet cleans the interior much better, but cleanliness is not next to Godliness in reloading.

For more consistent loads, you need the lowest handle pressure possible. He also only recommends “lubing” virgin brass and not mixing virgin and once fired....unless you lube the Virgin. With mixed cases, you have to exert more force on the Virgin. I actually demonstrated and convinced myself after seeing the amount of brass dust after say 100 virgin Starline. Used the cotton ball method (4 or 5 sprayed lightly with the Frankford Alcohol/Lanolin spray. Belling dropped in force by 60 to 70 %. Dust went away.

Probably not as critical for single stage presses....except it is more tiring.

No offense or disbelief what has been posted....only passing along the advice of the setup tech for my new XL750.

This works great for me...

Click to expand...

Thanks for posting that.

While I don't disagree with what he said (pretty much has been my experience) I feel that, for me, there are enough advantages with wet tumbling that I will continue to do so. So far, tumbling with the Wash-n-Wax has helped to mitigate the powder funnel sticking problem somewhat. I know some people will dry tumble after they wet tumble, and this may be a good reason for them to do so.

I did wonder about the possibility of getting a powder funnel coated with titanium nitride to see if that would help with the sticking. Does anyone here have any experience with that?

Toprudder said:

Thanks for posting that.

While I don't disagree with what he said (pretty much has been my experience) I feel that, for me, there are enough advantages with wet tumbling that I will continue to do so. So far, tumbling with the Wash-n-Wax has helped to mitigate the powder funnel sticking problem somewhat. I know some people will dry tumble after they wet tumble, and this may be a good reason for them to do so.

I did wonder about the possibility of getting a powder funnel coated with titanium nitride to see if that would help with the sticking. Does anyone here have any experience with that?

Click to expand...

No offense, but someone that would take DILLON funnels or expanders and TiN coat them has created a solution for a problem that should not exist.

The history, as the Dillon tech related it, was that Mr. Dillon (assisted by Chester? ) designed and perfected the Dillon process for reloading....as in reloading FIRED cases.

As to Pink_Vapor’s advice from Dillon and also the tech that I talked to....as well as spending 38 years in metal fabrication as a Manufacturing Engineer and consultant, I would offer the following.

Tumbling is more aggressive and will remove more burrs than vibratory deburing....even with media. Tumbling with a caustic liquid and or SS pins totally defeats the purpose of using the Dillon “concept”. You do not want to remove the nitride coating. That is why the tech recommended vib cleaning with media like crushed walnut shells for a minimum time. You knock off the powder residue on the exterior which improves sizing and do not remove or only minimally removed the interior case mouth coating.

The virgin brass tumbling would knock off the stamping burrs on the case mouths. Since I don’t own a tumbler, then my solution of using a light lubing and using the cotton balls as a “wick or internal” case mouth lubricant pad worked well. On my RCBS, the dusting and the reduction in handle effort proved that. They will be once fired so when I start up my Dillon, I should not have issues.

This is unsolicited advice, but you might want to spend $10 or so and use crushed walnut shells in your tumbler and paper towel squares and do minimum processing. Get off the powder residue, but don’t try to get that “buffed and polished” sheen or shine on the exterior. That was the tech’s comment....shiny brass is fine, but you will have issues as the Case Mouths will be an issue.

He also pointed out that you could compensate for lack of good or “overcleaned” case mouths.... SLOW DOWN on the handle and produce fewer reloads per minute or per hour....which sort of defeats the purpose of a nice smooth high volume progressive.

Rhythm and smoothness and minimal handle effort (like with a roller handle) was the key to consistent powder charging...

Again, my thoughts and such....as well as my experience and also my analysis after setting us and running about 15 or so different vibratory or tumbling processes and playing with more media types that Carter had pills.

Let the commenting continue....spirited debate is what America is all about....

TomGCherry said:

No offense, but someone that would take DILLON funnels or expanders and TiN coat them has created a solution for a problem that should not exist.

Click to expand...

I'm sure someone said the same thing when carbide sizing dies first came out.

Toprudder said:

I'm sure someone said the same thing when carbide sizing dies first came out.

Click to expand...

Good comeback. Carbide dies were made to address two “concerns”.

Steel dies, given enough use and not cleaning shells (which has been refined and used a lot more as folks became more affluent and had extra $$ and wanted to reduce reloading handle effort) would eventually wear out and also become scored. If you read the history and comments on other sites, properly lubricating shells and periodic cleaning of the interior walls ....steel dies would last, and have, a lifetime.

So...carbide does not score or scratch...so you don’t have to lube.....but if you clean you will have less effort. Not an issue on straight walled pistol cases, but an issue on rifles and custom forming of cases.

Cleaned cases in carbide dies greatly reduce the handle effort without the need for a lubricant.

With the Dillon, the powder funnel was designed for lubrication via the fired powder residue.

IF you are a match shooter and only use virgin brass or a custom reloader that has many 1050 or maybe lower setup and have powered them or have low paid operators, then....YES....MAYBE a TiN coated powder funnel would be desirable.

I will let my metallurgist buddy comment...if he chimes in...on the fact that TiN coating is not, relatively speaking, equivalent to switching from steel to carbide on the sizing die.

My suspicion is that the TiN coating would quickly (in a reloading environment) wear off and be ineffective as it wears off a drill bit point.

Therefore, the base process or assumptions that fired cases will be reloaded and will have nitride residue and that wet tumbling is not recommended and that virgin brass needs to be tumbled or lubricated negates the need for a special coating on the powder/expander funnel.

Now...if you have one custom coated, then it probably would help with virgin cases....as long as it was only used for them and not for all other fired case work. We used special drills and tooling for problems holes and machining on harder materials. But for normal production, we used normal tooling...that was disposable or could be resharpened.

My thoughts....call DILLON and see what they say. It might enlighten us all...

TomGCherry said:

I will let my metallurgist buddy comment...if he chimes in...on the fact that TiN coating is not, relatively speaking, equivalent to switching from steel to carbide on the sizing die.

My suspicion is that the TiN coating would quickly (in a reloading environment) wear off and be ineffective as it wears off a drill bit point.

Click to expand...

It must work, Hornady pistol sizing dies are TiN coated, and Redding has optional TiN coated neck sizing bushings (which I prefer). I also have TiN coated mandrel expanders and neck turning mandrels. I would not equate the forming of brass with the cutting of steel.

Now...if you have one custom coated, then it probably would help with virgin cases....as long as it was only used for them and not for all other fired case work.

Click to expand...

Why would it not work for fired cases? If anything, it seems the fired cases would cause less wear.

if I did that, the sheet would be wet.

Toprudder said:

It must work, Hornady pistol sizing dies are TiN coated, and Redding has optional TiN coated neck sizing bushings (which I prefer). I also have TiN coated mandrel expanders and neck turning mandrels. I would not equate the forming of brass with the cutting of steel.


Why would it not work for fired cases? If anything, it seems the fired cases would cause less wear.

Click to expand...

Read some of the blogs and comments on the TiN coated dies. Not an expert of the various product offerings, but generally folks that purchase Tungsten Carbide dies never worry about case prep and feed the dies anything.

RCBS does not make any TiN coated dies nor does Hornaday make TC dies. I got curious and did some FOLLOWUP reading. Generally, folks that try to use TiN coated sizing dies without any case prep report scratches and wear. NOW...that is all over the map. Seems like the process is improving. The TiCN process is recommended for longer life.

My comment about using a specially coated powder funnel for only Virgin cases was, ASSUMING it works better on virgin cases, is that it is a thin angstrom coating. So it will wear away. You don’t need it on fired cases. YES the powder residue will help lubricate. But the TiN IS a coating and will wear off. You ain’t wearing anything off, save a very minute amount of steel on the stock OEM Dillon funnel. So, as the funnel MIGHT wear, you can compensate by changing the adjustment to get the correct flaring or belling.

TC dies have become the norm....if you are willing to pay the extra $25 bucks or so. Odds are the Charley the Banger will also add case cleaning process. So, with cleaned cases, you have less friction and a better surface finish when resizing or “sizing” on TC dies. The popularity of TC dies has reduced the manufacturing cost. I got rid of my original RCBS 44 and really old Redding 357 for way more than I paid on eBay. RCBS was doing a rebate so by buying the replacements, my net in them and catching them on a good day on Amazon, it was a wash. I got new TC dies for maybe $10 out of pocket.

Yes...cutting steel and zinc and brass and aluminum and copper and zinc is not quite related to reloading, but all the stamping and crimping and forming that I was involved with IS similar to belling and flaring of a case mouth.... does give me some insight into the processes and we experimented with a plethora of coatings and materials and such to reduce wear and also setup adjustements.

Bottom line. DILLON says:

Don’t wet process for better results and more consistent loads.
Don’t over process or over clean the cases as you loose the nitride (lubricant) in the mouth
Best practice is vib cleaning with crushed walnut (or equivalent) media for <30 minutes
Don’t use case lube....even though they sell it, on once fired...except in special situations
Virgin cases will stick in the powder funnel unless you tumble. OR
Virgin cases will stick in the powder funnel unless you lubricate the case mouths(you or someone used Q-tips)
Don’t mix Virgin (unless you process as above) and Fired in the same lot...powder charge inconsistencies.

I think that sums up the 1 - 2 hour conversation with the DILLON tech.

https://forums.brianenos.com/topic/265993-cases-sticking-on-powder-funnel-new-problem/

Do some googling about TiN coated reloading components and read the reviews or the issues.

As long as you do a super clean and shine job on your cases, if I understand, then your life expectancy for your TiN coated items will be great.

My only point was to provide the information that I received from DILLON and also summarized the 15 or so hours of reading up on how to run Virgin cases, in the future, in my XL750.

I also did a controlled experiment and proved to my own satisfaction that the cotton ball method, rather than a Q-Tip, would reduce brass dusting and reduce the handle force on Virgin Starline cases.

That’s it....

BUT, if you decide to pursue a TiN coated powder funnel, I would suggest looking at this one first....sure cheaper than getting one custom coated

http://www.uniquetek.com/product/T1582

Armanov does not offer a replacement or upgraded funnel.

I guess I could add replacing the powder funnel with the UniqueTek if you encounter the issues and don’t follow the DILLON guidance....

IF I upgraded to a Mr. Bullet Feeder, I will be a big spender and get the UniqueTek funnels for 9mm & 45.

Learned something by doing more research and I thank you for challenging me. We Engineers need to stay mentally challenged....don’t get me started on doing statistical process control on cartridges using weight as the criteria....that was an interesting 24 hour project....

But for NOW....That’s what I know....or understand....

Thanks again and happy reloading.....

BTW...a wise buddy says less time evaluating and more time burning powder is the intent of reloading....