tumbling brass in stainless steel media

[William Yanda]

I keep my ss magnets right next to the aluminum magnets, on the shelf under the lube grooves.
Another item I find handy on the reloading bench is right hand monkey wrenches for left hand widgets.

[DLCTEX]

I keep my ss magnets right next to the aluminum magnets, on the shelf under the lube grooves.
Another item I find handy on the reloading bench is right hand monkey wrenches for left hand widgets.

Actually most of the SS media being sold is magnetic which is a great selling point as it is much easier to pick up spilled media that way.

[prs]

Well, I gotta say I have not yet found a reason to add the stainless steel rods to my set-up. I have wet tumbled for years in a Thumblers Model B. I started out using Spic-N-Span (trisodium phosphate) and water and it worked well without any "media", but the brass was not shiny; but rather just a dull brass color and pockets were not always totally clean. Then I noticed the ceramic rods with the Spic-N-Span and tried that once or twice and it got them fairly bright and very clean, but sort of a matt finish. The killer was getting the dag-gone media out of the cases and keeping it out of the drain. The ceramic is now in a bucket on the shelf.

Then you guys started palaver'n about citric acid. I tried that and the citric acid plus water and no "media" get them totally clean and fairly shiny. Even old cases that have been out for months and full of mud and blackened. So why the need for the steel? I fill the tumbler abut 3/4 full and add a teaspoon full of citric acid powder plus a tablespoon of dish liquid and just enough hot water to almost cover the brass. I let it tumble for a 3 hours or so and rinse all filth away.

prs

[willie_pete]

The magnetism of SS depends on the amount of nickel in the SS. Ferritic SS is magnetic; austenitic SS in not magnetic.

WP

[BigBlack]

SS for me all day every day. Even put my ultra sonic to rest once I ponied up the $50 for the SS media.

[Moonman]

The magnetic stainless AIDS IN THE MEDIA REMOVAL from the drum.

[Cadillo]

I keep my ss magnets right next to the aluminum magnets, on the shelf under the lube grooves.
Another item I find handy on the reloading bench is right hand monkey wrenches for left hand widgets.

Sure sounds like you have some interesting tools. I've yet to see a magnet made of stainless steel or aluminum as you describe, but those I have made of iron and ceramic work quite well at picking up stray stainless steel pins, which are indeed stainless steel and actually remain always submerged in water.

All stainless steel, with the exception of the austenitic group strongly attract a magnet.

I guess I live a sheltered life, as I have yet to encounter any of the type that will not attract a magnet. I have ten lbs. of the stainless media, and it not only attracts a magnet, but over time has become somewhat magnetized due to having been gathered up through use of a magnet.

I didn't just dream this stuff up. Any naysayers might do a little reading. Here's a good place to start:

http://www.azom.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=1140

[Cadillo]

Well, I gotta say I have not yet found a reason to add the stainless steel rods to my set-up. I have wet tumbled for years in a Thumblers Model B. I started out using Spic-N-Span (trisodium phosphate) and water and it worked well without any "media", but the brass was not shiny; but rather just a dull brass color and pockets were not always totally clean. Then I noticed the ceramic rods with the Spic-N-Span and tried that once or twice and it got them fairly bright and very clean, but sort of a matt finish. The killer was getting the dag-gone media out of the cases and keeping it out of the drain. The ceramic is now in a bucket on the shelf.

Then you guys started palaver'n about citric acid. I tried that and the citric acid plus water and no "media" get them totally clean and fairly shiny. Even old cases that have been out for months and full of mud and blackened. So why the need for the steel? I fill the tumbler abut 3/4 full and add a teaspoon full of citric acid powder plus a tablespoon of dish liquid and just enough hot water to almost cover the brass. I let it tumble for a 3 hours or so and rinse all filth away.

prs

If you are happy with the results you are getting, there's no need to do anything different. I use stainless pins to tumble after first decapping my cases. Using the pins, I am able to clean both the case interiors and primer pockets to the point that they look like gold jewelry in less time than it took me to do a much lesser cleanup using corn cob in a vibratory cleaner, something I did for several decades. Many might say that this new method is overkill, but it works for me.

I do the decapping and tumbling outside , so all the primer dust, dirt, corrosion, etc. never comes into the house where my presses are mounted. Because my cases are sparkling clean, my loading area stays very clean and clear of carbon, primer dust etc., and my primers seat SO MUCH easier without the carbon buildup in the pockets. Simply removing the decapping process from the loading press helps a lot in keeping the loading area clean, but brass that is clean both outside and inside is the end all in that regard.

SS media will not appeal to everyone.

[Sonnypie]

300 series Stainless Steel is Non-Magnetic.
400 series Stainless Steel is Magnetically attracted.

But there are some folks in New York who don't know that.







Separating the brass and SS media in water makes it really easy. With a tumbling type separator it gets ridiculously easy. And it rinses out the SS media bright and shiny clean as well. (As you can see)

First there was no cleaning.
Then solvent dampened rags.
Then vibratory tumblers and corn and nut media's.
Now there is Stainless Steel.

Does the media EVER wear out? Nobody knows yet. So far it appears it doesn't. And it is self cleaning in a water rinse.
It does give the best results known to reloading, to date.
I keep a small rare-earth magnet on my tumblers lid. If I see any of the shiny sliver pins on the driveway or in the expansion slot, I simply slide the magnet towards the edge of the lid and gather them up.
Then put them back in the tumbler.
You can also do the same with an extending pocket magnet. But the rare earth type doesn't appear to rust at all from the wetting and drying.

You can keep the lead and aluminum magnets.
I'm looking for one that picks up gold.

[Lizard333]

Your looking for a magnet to pick up gold, heck I would be quite apply for one that picks up brass and lead!!!

[foxtrapper]

I always use the dry method even when I used a tumbler. I now use the Dillon vibrator with great results . A couple of question about the wet SS . SS is harder then the brass any wear problems? How do you dry the cases?

[Moonman]

Sonnypie,

Nice Photos and post, maybe we should just let people have dirt and dust. There are people who never learn, can't be trained, won't listen to facts, and travel there own merry road. Those folks probably should just be left to their own assinine intellect. Progress is wonderful if you choose and can afford it.

[Lizard333]

I always use the dry method even when I used a tumbler. I now use the Dillon vibrator with great results . A couple of question about the wet SS . SS is harder then the brass any wear problems? How do you dry the cases?

First question. No wear problems at all. I have accidentally left the brass to tumble overnight and it still looks great with no noticeable wear.

Question two. When I separate the cases from the media I use a Dillon case separator. This rotates and allows the media to separate. From there I take the cleaned brass and rinse it under hot tap water. I then toss it in a colander to get the majority of the water out of the cases. I then take the brass and roll it over a clean bath towel to get the outsides dry. If I'm going to reloading it immediately I will toss it in the oven at 200 for 15-20 min and then let them cool. Otherwise I just leave them out and they dry over a day or to on their own.

Seems like a lot of work but it really isn't to bad. You get a routine and it goes pretty quick. The results you get are more than worth the effort!!!!!!

[blikseme300]

I typically use the generous Texas sun and wind to dry my wet cleaned brass but in our short "winter" these are absent. I looked around my man-cave to see what I could come up with. A heat gun came to mind but an "Ah-Ha!" moment struck.

I have a stainless steel dehydrator unit that is used for making biltong (similar to jerky) that has a heater and fan unit. A deep fry basket and presto! Dry brass in 2 hours.

I am not concerned about contaminating the unit as all traces of primer material are gone from the brass after a cleaning using STM and LemiShine.

Bliksem

[foxtrapper]

First question. No wear problems at all. I have accidentally left the brass to tumble overnight and it still looks great with no noticeable wear.

Question two. When I separate the cases from the media I use a Dillon case separator. This rotates and allows the media to separate. From there I take the cleaned brass and rinse it under hot tap water. I then toss it in a colander to get the majority of the water out of the cases. I then take the brass and roll it over a clean bath towel to get the outsides dry. If I'm going to reloading it immediately I will toss it in the oven at 200 for 15-20 min and then let them cool. Otherwise I just leave them out and they dry over a day or to on their own.

Seems like a lot of work but it really isn't to bad. You get a routine and it goes pretty quick. The results you get are more than worth the effort!!!!!!

I do like how those SS cleaned cases look ,primer pockets and all!

[Lizard333]

I do like how those SS cleaned cases look ,primer pockets and all!

I couldn't agree more!!!!

[Cadillo]

I always use the dry method even when I used a tumbler. I now use the Dillon vibrator with great results . A couple of question about the wet SS . SS is harder then the brass any wear problems? How do you dry the cases?

The only small issue I have found is that after several hours of run time, cases will show a very slight peening of the case mouths. On my pistol ammo I consider this inconsequential, but as my rifle ammo is loaded with maximum accuracy in mind, I lightly chamfer the cases prior to loading so as to not affect bullet pull.

Drying is very easy. I first give them a good rinse in clear water, and then a final rinse in a mixture of water with a slight amount of Lemishine, which greatly enhances the brightness of the brass when done. I put the cases in a small coarse mesh bag that I bought at Walmart(It's marketed as a bag for drying tennis shoes in a clothes dryer). I then place the bag over the exterior A/C unit at the house. They are thoroughly dry pretty quickly with no energy expenditure.

[Cadillo]

The belief by some to the effect that "Most Stainless Steel is non-magnetic" seems to be unsupported. Until this thread got started, it was my belief that all SS was magnetic, as all I had ever worked with was. It was only through research that I've learned that there are some types that are indeed non-magnetic, but I have yet to see any that falls into that category. I know from reading that it exists, but have yet to see it.

In further effort to learn about this subject, I assembled eveything I own that is made of SS and tested it against a magnet to see whether I could identify any SS object that was non-magnetic.

I tried SS S&W revolvers: all magnetic
Sig Pistols with SS slides: all magnetic
Sig pistols with SS frames: all frames magnetic
Remington 700 SS rifle: bbl, receiver, and bolt magnetic
Two Randall Made knives with SS blades: all magnetic
Buck Pocketknife with SS blade: magnetic
Puma pocketknife with SS blade: magnetic
SS flatwear(2 sets): all magnetic
SS media: magnetic
SS dial caliper: magnetic

This is all the SS that I own, and it is all magnetic. It may well be that are large heavy objects made of non-magnetic SS, which when their total production weight is compared to that of the magnetic variety, makes the statement 'Most SS is non-magnetic" true, but among the many and various items one might normally find around the house or workshop, it's just not the case.

I would be curious to learn of any specific objects that are indeed made of a non-magnetic variety of SS.

[Cadillo]

I've got one of those rock tumblers from harbor freight. It won't hold much and takes about 6 hours or more with corncob. would this stuff work with it?

If it has a waterproof liner and sealed lid for containing wet media, it should work as long as you don't overload it weight wise. The Thumler's Model B High Speed models that I use are rated at 15 lbs. capacity, which is reached pretty quickly with 5 lbs. of media, a gallon or so of water, and enough brass to bring it up to weight. I always run two that I always overload, but I keep the motors and the shafts well oiled, and have had no problems with overheating or unusual wear.

I typically run my brass for four(4) hours, which cleans it thoroughly inside and out, including the primer pockets. I used to run my brass in a vibratory cleaner with corncob for forty-eight hours straight and the inside and primer pockets were still nasty.

There is no comparison between the two methods.

[willie_pete]

I would be curious to learn of any specific objects that are indeed made of a non-magnetic variety of SS.

I worked engineering in the chemical industry for many years. All of the corrosion resistant piping was specified for either 304 or 316 grades of SS. They contain about 14% nickel and were indeed non-magnetic.

My wife's SS jewelry is also non-magnetic.

WP