Tumbling large quantities of brass

[mjkonopka]

I don't blame you one bit, I want to get out of this liberal state in the worst way.

[Lloyd Smale]

big jobs get walnut with a bit of mineral spirits and a bit of nu finish car polish in my big Dillon tumbler (vibrating) It holds a pile of brass. Probably 3 times as much as my lyman or Frankfort arsenal. Ive heard of guy even buying those fairly inexpensive cement mixers off of harbor freight and using them for really large tumbling jobs.

[Netherwolf]

... I would have to dry it all afterwards. But the ss pins never go bad. If I dry tumble, how long does the walnut or concob media last for?

If you've dedicated a cement mixer solely for the purpose of washing brass, drill a small hole (small enough to prevent the brass from falling through) somewhere in the bottom section & plug it with a cone-type rubber stopper (like the kind used in powder coating operations) from the inside. Once the brass is washed to your satisfaction pull the plug, turn the cement mixer back on & run it until the water stops coming out. Now throw in a bunch of old terry bath towels & run until the brass is dry. Remove the towels. Put the plug back in, add your media & polish & run until you get the shine you want. Separate media from polished brass with a traditional media separator (I'd suggest the large Dillion media separator for your application).

[rondog]

If you are selling it, sell it dirty.

This! That much brass, trying to clean & polish it all will make you insane. And the money you make from it wouldn't be worth it. If you just have to, I'd only run it with walnut lizard litter just to clean it up some.

I use a 1.5c.f. mixer from Harbor Freight, and wet polishing large quantities of brass is a lot of work, and a lot of time. Not to mention, you'd need a LOT of SS pins, and they ain't cheap. I bought 25lbs of them for around $180, several years ago. I'm sure they're higher now. For the size mixer you have and the amount of brass, you'd probably need 50lbs of them. Or more.

Then you'd need a large, flat concrete surface in good shape with no cracks, because those little pins get away and go EVERYWHERE! The little suckers bounce pretty good. You'll need a big bar magnet with a handle on it to pick 'em up, $10 at Home Depot. Well worth it.

Oh, and the decapping - you decap one 5 gallon bucket of brass in a row and you'll swear off guns, shooting, reloading, everything, and take up knitting.

[rondog]

Here's a way to separate brass:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpkUnUqMo8U

It's how I'd do it if someone gave me a lot of brass...even if I paid the shipping

That's pretty slick! Need to remember that!

[Kenstone]

That's pretty slick! Need to remember that!

Thanks for reading and responding to my post...sometimes I think I'm on everyone's ignore list

[jmorris]

I built 3 of these for a local manufacturer, they use them wet with no pins, 15 gallons of brass per drum. Drums are slotted and tub is full of solution.

[jmorris]

This his is my personal brass sorter I built. It sorts a 5 gallon bucket in 15 min.

[TexasGrunt]

Oh man! I want a forklift in my shop!

[sukivel]

Oh yah, and damn it is such a pain in the *** to separate 9mm from 380 and 38 super. 10mm and 40 isn't nearly as bad as those, but it still sucks.

I think you should start a side business of selling that excess brass on this site!


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[sukivel]

I think for tumbling, I am going to order 50lbs of ss pins online and use the cement mixer to wet tumble it. If I keep getting this much brass on a weekly basis, the pins will pay for itself in no time, as opposed to walnut or corn cob media. Is that theory sound, or am I under estimating dry media?

I would definitely wet tumble, but maybe try without the pins first and look at it.


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[mjkonopka]

Y'all have some really good ideas. I have 50 lbs of .062 x .25 ss pins on the way right now, so there's no turning back now with wet tumbling. Holy **** jmorris, that tumbler and sorter are insane. Would you mind if I pmed you? I've got a few ideas for a sorter and was wondering if I could pick your brain.

[Ickisrulz]

Y'all have some really good ideas. I have 50 lbs of .062 x .25 ss pins on the way right now, so there's no turning back now with wet tumbling. Holy **** jmorris, that tumbler and sorter are insane. Would you mind if I pmed you? I've got a few ideas for a sorter and was wondering if I could pick your brain.

Are you planning on cleaning and selling or just cleaning for your own use?

I can't even imagine decapping all that brass before tumbling it! If I do 100-200 cases with a Harvey deprimer all at once I about go crazy. It's best to do it as I shoot.

You can probably divide up those pins and sell them here along with your uncleaned brass--when you get tired of cleaning it that is.

[Drew P]

Oh man! I want a forklift in my shop!

I want jmorris in my shop!

[mjkonopka]

Honestly, I think I'm just gonna clean and keep all the brass for now. At least until I have enough brass to where I feel comfortable I'll never need anymore. I would hate to sell a bunch and then 10 years from now not have anymore.

[No Blue]

Thanks for reading and responding to my post...sometimes I think I'm on everyone's ignore list

I saw that a couple of years ago and it works! Best part is getting rid of the berdan primed, finding the nested brass, odd ball brass, and other junk when you have a full tray of say 9mm brass.

Even the .380 and Makarov stick out because they are shorter than the regular 9mm. I kept a lot of those plastic ammo trays, didn't know why, but glad I did....

[mjkonopka]

Here is a picture of most of the brass I have. Not pictured is 2 full buckets of each 9mm, 223 and 45ACP. Those are at my house for reloading.

[308Jeff]

I used to think I had a lot of brass.

[bbogue1]

That is a huge lot of brass!!!!!!!

[Plate plinker]

I once thought I had a lot of brass. You sir have a brass horde. You are certainly getting close to a lifetime supply for most anybody.