case cleaning

[MtGun44]

Vibrator, use corncob from Graingers, add a capful of NuFinish car wax and you will have brass that is at
LEAST as shiny as new. I can't see that the mess and cost of wet SS pins can possibly be shinier, you could
polish with Simichrome for 5 minutes per piece by hand and not be shinier. Shiny is shiny. The slight bit of
wax also makes the brass resist tarnish for a long time.

Bill

[TreeKiller]

Check out the magnets from a dead hard drive. I do not know if they will work but they are very strong for the size.
Dan

[gunoil]

No mess with ss pins and rcbs seperator. And ya dont have to pick corn out of lil' holes. Lemi-shine, dawn, & water makes everything slick'er than whatever. With rcbs seperator your clean brass is seperated and already in rcbs basket for rinsing. I decap first!

Just thro out on a towel in front of floor fan from walmart/k-mart.������

[willy3]

Advice from a fellow Buckeye. Go with the vibe. But buying a tumbler is like buying a car.. How much for how much is the question. My first choice is my Vibrashine Vortex. Quiet, fast and efficient. A little pricey. A few months ago I needed a second machine for back-up/overflow use. I bought a Frankfort Arsenal unit. Noisier, a little slower and has a tendency to spit media if you don't use the lid. But it does what it is intended to do. Cleans brass. I went through Amazon and got a great price and fast delivery. And don't spend a fortune on media. Harbor Freight has #24 grit crushed walnut shells for about a dollar a pound. Works great.. Hope this helps..

[MtGun44]

"Pick cob out of little holes" - never have, use the right cob size available
very cheaply from Graingers. Does not happen.

IMO, wet is by definition messy, we will have to agree to disagree on this.
Same with water dropping cast boolits, can't imagine how having to dry
wet brass and wet boolits is so often touted as "easier" than dealing with
clean, dry brass and dry boolits. To each his own.

Bill

[200swc]

Someone suggested rice. I tried that ONCE - never again! A grain of rice in every flash hole. That was a pain to remove (not so much a pain but painfully time consuming).

I used to use walnut but too dusty.

The correct size CC and be on your way.

[Sonnypie]

How much more shiny than CC media? How long does it take?

Like anything, it depends.

In one hour:

This:


To This:


And does this look shiny to you? 4 hours...



Or maybe you like .45 ACP's? 4 hours...



See, Grandpa done good. Best he could.
Daddy done better. And it was better than Grandpa's ways.
But Sonny is doing best with today's ways.
Things progress. That's why we aren't pouring black powder in a muzzle, and pounding a ball down on it.
Things change.

And admittedly STM isn't for everybody. It is a big hit in the budget.
But think in decades of use, and decades of not changing media, and decades of clean anything you run in it.

[200swc]

Like anything, it depends.

In one hour:

This:


To This:


And does this look shiny to you? 4 hours...



Or maybe you like .45 ACP's? 4 hours...



See, Grandpa done good. Best he could.
Daddy done better. And it was better than Grandpa's ways.
But Sonny is doing best with today's ways.
Things progress. That's why we aren't pouring black powder in a muzzle, and pounding a ball down on it.
Things change.

And admittedly STM isn't for everybody. It is a big hit in the budget.
But think in decades of use, and decades of not changing media, and decades of clean anything you run in it.

Wow... Mine never looks that clean..

Is this with a tumbler and SS Media? It might be time to upgrade!

[Sonnypie]

My Lyman 3200 was going.
After decades and decades of cleaning brass, the tired motor began thermaling out on temperature.
So I started shopping. STM was what I decided on.
I've not looked back.
I do still have a tiny vibratory tumbler, but it just sits waiting.

[200swc]

My Lyman 3200 was going.
After decades and decades of cleaning brass, the tired motor began thermaling out on temperature.
So I started shopping. STM was what I decided on.
I've not looked back.
I do still have a tiny vibratory tumbler, but it just sits waiting.

Is this tumbler namebrand; if not, what?

[wtfooptimax200]

200SWC,

Most likely Sonnypie is referring to the Thumlers Tumbler sold by STM with stainless tumbling media.

[LabGuy]

I currently have Lyman vibrating, an old industrial sonic and a stainless steel tumbler. The SS tumbling gets the most use. The Lyman vibrator has been mostly relegated to removing case lube and the sonic retired. But to answerer your original question, vibrating or sonic, I’d get the vibrator, it’s just more versatile and I do like a shine. If you’re going to the trouble to use a wet method and deal with drying, forget the sonic and go with stainless tumbling.

[barrybrice]

I cannot speak for Sonnypie but his looks just like mine. I use the STM with a Thumblers Tumbler. BTW, if your belt ever goes bad on the tumbler, you can get replacement belts from a water softener system. Their rubber O-rings are the same size.

[David2011]

+1 for corn cob and NuFinish in a vibratory polisher. It's all I use. Drillspot.com, a Grainger company, has a 40 lb bag of corn cob for $33.85 delivered to your door and they ship very fast.

http://www.drillspot.com/products/49...bs_blast_media

My last order arrived either overnight or in 2 days; I don't remember which. I ordered it 2-3 years ago and 40 lb lasts a while. The 14/20 grit is too small to stick in flash holes,another great benefit.

David

[o6Patient]

I can't justify going to a sonic, but they are surely tempting: I remember when the biggest decision
was trying to find media small enough not to get stuck in the flash hole.( where did I set down that brandy..I mean eggnog)