HA2 11.2 – Tumbling

After Shizuka and Takeo annealed the cartridges perfectly, Hide started the cleaning step using the first batch of cartridge that was already cooling down.

“Now, let’s clean the cartridges,” Hide calmly said. “To do it, we will need citric acid, stainless steel pins, laundry detergent, and car wax. Put everything into rotary tumbler along with hot water, and set it at medium speed for two hours.

After that, rinse the cartridges using warm water, pat it dry using clean towel to avoid water mark on the outside, put it into dehydrator for two hours to dry the inside, and bingo you have nice and shiny ready to use cartridge.”

“Is there any old school method for this step?” Shizuka curiously asked.

“It’s not old school trick, but I know an Americ dude who developed a cheap but effective means for this step.” As he recalled his best friends from his previous life Hide continued, “He will use office stainless clips instead of stainless steel pins. As for the citric acid, he will replace the 25 Dillar Lemi Shine with his 2 Dillar vitamin C tablet.

And because he doesn’t have rotary tumbler, he will just use biscuit box made of food grade melamine, and shake it manually using his hands, take a rest every four minutes, and then shake it again until the water cold.

To get the maximum result he repeat the tumbling two times, but this method is cheap as dirt so it won’t trigger his wife’s wrath because he spent too much money on his hobby.”

“Is it safe to replace citric acid with vitamin C tablet?” Shizuka curiously asked.

Hide took a bottle of Lemi Shine, one of the most popular dishwasher boosters in the market, and then explained, “This thing and vitamin C, both are containing citric acid without toxic residue. The only different is the concentration level and some additional compound that make Lemi Shine inedible.

So, as long as we adjust the water’s temperature correctly, the vitamin C tablet will deliver pretty much similar result.”

“I see,” Shizuka replied as she nodded her head a few times.

Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

“Other question?”

Takeo immediately raised his hand. “Who is the dude who developed the cheap tumbling method?”

“Carlson Martinelli, a former Delta dude. He is a funny guy who loved to re-branding Navy Seal as Meal Time Six because their bulky body. Carlson had to take early retirement because of a spine injury.” After a pause Hide added, “If I remember it correctly, right now he works as a clerk in a public library, in his wife hometown.”

“How do you know him?” Takeo asked another question.

“I don’t know him.”

A lie smoothly slipped through Hide’s teeth, but it was clearly visible that Takeo didn’t buy it.

“But you mentioned him as if you knew him well.”

“Did I?”

Takeo firmly nodded. “You did.”

‘What a sharp kid,’ Hide muttered before saying, “People who train me are the ones who know him.”

Takeo nodded and said, “I see.”

“Well, we don’t have lot of time so let’s get it done,” Hide calmly said, “and because we have the correct material and equipment, we will do it the proper way and avoid any improvisation until you master the basic.”

““Okay,”” Takeo and Shizuka replied at the same time.

Wasting no time the three started the work. Hide had wrote the ratio for the cartridge, hot water, stainless pin, nitric acid, and other material so Shizuka and Takeo only had to follow it. After putting 100 pieces of cartridge and everything else into rotary tumbler, Hide taught Takeo and Shizuka how to set it. A few moments later, the drum on the rotary tumbler started rotating and tumbling around the cartridges and other material.

“Hide, why is this tumbler very similar to laundry machine?” Shizuka asked.

“The two are descendant from the great cement mixer. That’s why they have some similarities,” Hide calmly replied.

“I see,” Shizuka nodded before turning her gaze to a piece of equipment that had a shape like a bird cage, but had a stack of racks inside it. “What about that food dehydrator?”

“We call it brass dehydrator, but actually it’s just a re-label and re-branding from famous food dehydrator.”

“I see.” Takeo nodded his head before asking another question, “In case we want to carry a tumbling in big batch, can we use cement mixer?”

“We can. When doing a large batch tumbling, lot of gunsmith will use cement mixer actually.” After pausing for a moment Hide continued, “Well, it will take some time before the tumbler finish its job, so let’s use our time to recycle the projectile.”

““Okay,”” Takeo and Shizuka replied at the same time.

“First, we will clean it.”

As soon as he finished his words, Hide immediately took a bucket full of projectile’s remains, put it into the sink and rinsed it using hot water and stainless steel spatula. Unlike projectile’s remains from open range where the bullet trap usually was made of soil or sand, projectile’s remains from indoor range were pretty clean. It also had no contact with water or humid air, so it was free of corrosion. Therefore, Hide could rinse it clean with ease.

After that, he dropped two table spoons laundry detergent and a tea spoon Lemi Shine to the bucket, followed by adding warm water and stirred everything through fully.

“Now, let it rest for 20 minutes before you rinse it clean using warm water. Then, it’s ready for the next processing step,” Hide said before turning his eyes to Shizuka and Takeo in turn, “Can you do it?”

““We can,”” Takeo and Shizuka replied almost at the same time.

“Good, and be careful because a deform projectile’s jackets is very sharp. Always use the spatula when you rinse or stir it.”

After nodding their head, Takeo and Shizuka started the work while Hide calmly observed them. However, it was easy to tell that Takeo and Shizuka could carry their work without his supervising. So, after the two finished processing their first bucket, Hide immediately went to prepare the equipment to melt the projectile’s remains.

It was not complicated preparation so Hide finished it in matter of minutes. Then, his smartphone rang.

‘Why does she call me?’ Hide muttered after he found that it was Hanna who called him.

He then told Takeo and Shizuka that he had to take a call, and left the workshop.

*****