thoughts On brass cleaning equipment?

[mgread]

I been doing well with selling lead on eBay. So it time to buy the next thing in line for making my own ammo. I need help find the right and best for price brass cleaning tool. Tumblr or vibrator? And what media would be the best. I have watch 100's of video on line and I'm still not 100% of the way I'm going to go. Any help?

[edler7]

Having used both, I prefer the rotary tumbler/SS pin method. Initial set up cost is higher, but I think it does a superior job to the vibrating tumbler/cob-walnut method. Primer pockets are always clean, and brass is clean inside and out. I never saw that with the vibe method.

My 2 vibe tumblers now sit and gather dust.

[mgread]

Having used both, I prefer the rotary tumbler/SS pin method. Initial set up cost is higher, but I think it does a superior job to the vibrating tumbler/cob-walnut method. Primer pockets are always clean, and brass is clean inside and out. I never saw that with the vibe method.

My 2 vibe tumblers now sit and gather dust.

What kind of rotary tumbler do you have or did you made one

[salpal48]

I am a Rotary man Myself. Gave up Vibrators for the same Reason. To Loud, Cheap products, waist of media. gave up Pins also. Just a good wash and Dry then Media. with excessive pin use causes damage by Peening ( small Dents ) in brass surface. I use the same Brass Over and Over until NG. Buy a lortone . 6 or 12 lb capacity.Much better than the Model B. You can get 12 Lb material in the Drum . with a Total weight of 17 lb.s

[aap2]

I use a Lortone 12 for wet tumbling with SS pins plus a little Dawn and a bit of Lemishine to condition the water. It's very quiet in operation and the brass comes out looking like new. Additionally, any lead residue from inside the dirty case goes down the drain with the dirty water when the cases are rinsed. Sometimes I will use my vibratory tumbler with dry media to put a high polish on cases that have been wet tumbled, but not often. Whatever method you pick will work and the cost of the equipment is reasonable when you consider the cost of new brass. It's also interesting to note as mentioned above that you can use a rotary tumbler with just water and detergent without the pins; I forgot to add the pins on a few batches and the brass still came out very nice.

[GRUMPA]

I use the SS pin method for all my cleaning. Used to use the media vibe method, which at the time was all there was. I got so tired of replacing the media, the dust, the polish, having things shipped in, it got to the point it was a major expense.

Then the rotary tumblers and SS pins came in, buy it once, don't lose the pins, everything in the water now isn't floating around in the air, and the pins do a much better job all the way around. All I need to buy is Lemi-Shine and Dawn dish soap, and those I can get at the market.

I went with a home made unit that a person by the name of biggdawg makes, they aren't cheap, but they work very well and last a long time.

Just click on the link in my signature, it'll take you to the VS section of the site. From there just click any of the threads, and just look at the pictures I have of what I do, they look virtually factory fresh when I get done with them..

[John Boy]

* Lotrone QT12 (two 6 lb drums)
* Kramer K-Polish 3mm triangles
* Strat-O-Sheen burnishing solution
* Scrubbing Bubbles
New Cleaning Solution - Sparkling Brass in 15 Minutes! ... http://sassnet.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=229895&hl=bubbles

[Vann]

I also use stainless pins in a STM Rebel 17. I bought it from the link at the top of this page. I used corn cob in a vibratory polisher for years, it'll make it shine but it won't clean the primer pockets or the inside of the case very well. Then I spent a couple hundred bucks on a sonic cleaner, it was a big step up from the corn cob media in the polisher but it doesn't polish the brass at all. It just cleans it, if the primer pockets have a lot of buildup it can take a while to get them really clean. The plus side to the sonic cleaner is that it will make a clean gun really clean. It's unbelievable how mush crud you can get out of a pistol slide or shotgun bolt with a sonic cleaner.

Finally I tried the stainless pins, if your brass is really dirty no other method of cleaning will clean like stainless pins. I run my brass in the tumbler for a while then pull them out, give it a quick rinse and throw them in a polisher full of corn cob just to dry them out. I believe that they are actually shiner than new brass when I'm finished.

If you just want clean brass you can try the citrus acid method, it works pretty good as far as cleaning and removing build up. I use it often when I'm in a hurry, but I prefer the stainless pins if I want to clean it and polish it at the same time.

[pertnear]

I have 3 - a Wet Tumbler w/SS pins, vibrator & Ultrasonic. If I had to have only 1 it would be the SS-pin tumbler. I bought the Frankford Arsenal tumbler kit from Midway & I think it is a very good value. I see them on sale frequently for $160. The Ultra sonic cleans brass but does not polish, if that is important to you. I hate the wet mess but love the results of the tumbler. Sometimes I'll use the vibrator on a small batches to degrease after sizing or to put that final brilliant shine after wet tumbling, if that is needed. Not surprising, with the popularity of the SS tumbling, prices on vibratory units is dropping. I saw one on sale recently for $39.95. I'd say in the long run, you are going to want a wet-tumbler & a vibrator.

FWIW

[douglasskid]

Wet Wet Wet, very good results. Can not go wrong.

[Springfield]

I have found vibratory tumbling works fine for me. I have a rotary wet cleaner that I use for brass that I find that has tarnished horribly but other than that, I find a few hours in the tumbler works great. I don't remove my primers before cleaning as I have found I can reload my 45 colt and 44-40 at least 10 times without it becoming a problem, so that doesn't interest me much. And separating brass from dry media is sooo much easier than getting all those pins out of the cases, and then I still have to dry the brass. So, as far as time and expense, I find a tumbler is best for me.

[dragon813gt]

Vibratory tumbler w/ walnut shell media. If I have to clean a large batch I use the cement mixer. I don't need my brass looking brand new. I don't care about the primer pockets being squeaky clean. A few hours in the tumbler and they're ready to load. Don't have to worry about drying the brass or separating the pins.

[country gent]

I still use a dillon vibratory with corn cobs and iosso brass polish, have also steared adding 1/2 cap of nufinish occasionally. rejuvinate at start of cleaning with 2 ounces of alchlol lightly poured around running bowl let run for 5-6 mins then add brass. DOes a great job for me. One thing to do is makes sure what you want to do as this equipment tends to run forever ( my dillon is 20 years old ) mine has been thru ispc bowling pin competition, NRA High power rifle stint and now BPCR sillouette. Its still running great only maintence I ve done is occasionally empty and put a drop of oil on motor bearings.

[edler7]

What kind of rotary tumbler do you have or did you made one

Mine is a Highland Park rock tumbler bought at a yard sale years ago. It had a large and small tumbler with it. The large will easily hold 100 30-06 cases and 5 pounds of pins. The small will probably hold 1/3 that amount.

Loking them up on the web, they were the go to tumblers in their day, and many lapidary tumblers copy their design.

[retread]

I have two vibratory tumblers (one Dillon and a FA) plus a rotary tumbler for SS pins, dawn and lemishine. Rotary drive is homemade with an RCBS sidewinder drum I bought used. I only run the wet tumbler for 90 minutes and they come out like new. You will definitely peen cases is you run then too long. I have not seen any detrimental effect running them for the 90 minute cycle. No dust! If I have a large amount that are really dirty (range pickups and the like) I run them in the Dillon first then a quick run through the wet system.

[salpal48]

I had a Double Drum 15Lb each Highland Park. . This was and is The Cadillac of Tumblers. sold it Because too Big. Now I run several 12 lb Lortone' filled to Capacity Is total 17lb's . These machines are not Cheap but almost Indestructible. . These were made to Run for Days On end.Also use a Star-Diamond. Even though Vibrators will do a decent Job. Come back in 25 years Or so. and see where they are. . I.m still Running my first lortone Purchased 1974
Mine is a Highland Park rock tumbler bought at a yard sale years ago. It had a large and small tumbler with it. The large will easily hold 100 30-06 cases and 5 pounds of pins. The small will probably hold 1/3 that amount.

Loking them up on the web, they were the go to tumblers in their day, and many lapidary tumblers copy their design.

[dragonrider]

I have a vibratory Thumblers Ultra-Vibe 18, and a rotary Lortone R40. Both are good machines and do a great job of cleaning brass. The rotary does do a significantly better job, I use corncob in both with Dillon rapid shine. I checked Lortone on line and found that they are not cheap but judging by the model I have they appear to be high quality, I got lucky at a yard sale.

[Pee Wee]

Here is a consideration that may influence your decision. I have used all methods described above. I settled on a rebel 17 SS pin tumbler. The reason is I like the results of the wet SS pin washing. The reason I like the rebel is I can rinse the brass out still in the drum in my utility sink dump in seprater then dry. I use to have a homemade pin tumbler it took up much more room, was way noisier (wife hated it because of the noise) and had to have a tool to get the rubber cap of with, struggle to hold it up to get the cap off, get the hose out in the drive way to rinse out the PVC pipe then pore in a separator full of water to rinse the rest of the soap out. The rebel has cut down the steps and is much less time consuming and more convenient to use and you can hardly hear it running.(wife really likes that.)
I chose the rebel 17 because of the roller bearing on the drive unit versus bushing on the thumblrer unit. I have tumbled 100s of thousands of brass and not one problem.

[mdi]

Depends on how much you want to invest, how much is involved, and what you expect. If you want virgin looking brass, use wet tumbling w/SS pins. But a good rotary can be $$$ and you mess with mixing a solution, tumbling in a sealed container, rinsing and drying. Most good rotary tumblers are a "buy once" situation as they'll last nearly forever. If you want shiny brass a rotary is good with corn cob media. But a good rotary can be $$$, and many have a "formula" for additives to the media. If you just want clean, somewhat shiny brass a vibrator (wobbler) with cob or crushed walnut shells is good. Most can be low cost and most will last many, many years. But some can be noisy and can take a good while to get good results. Dry media is easy to find and most is cheap. I saw SS pins for sale for $40+ per lb., and 25 lbs of corn cob blast media for $35.00.

There's a lot more pros and cons to both type and if I had an unlimited budget I'd prolly go with the Thumblers' best kit. But I'm on a fixed income and have a wobbler (lyman 1200) and a rotary (HF double drum with home made 5 lb drum). I tried wet tumbling, but for me and my needs it was a bit too involved. So, if I want shiny brass (for my 30-06 and 45 ACP, to find the ejected cases in the dirt), I'll dry tumble in my rotary with cob w/auto polish and if I'm just cleaning brass I'll dump them in my wobbler with my Mystery Media and run it for an hour unattended...

[rodsvet]

mdi, you did mean $40 for 5 lbs. of pins, right? Don't want to scare the guy off, lol. Rod

[anotherred]

Wet tumble, stainless pins for me!

http://www.hunt101.com/data/500/medium/IMAG1120.jpg

[labradigger1]

I have been using a Dillon fl 2000 for years and it works great. I recently began using a thumlers model a r12 with Lemishine and ss pins.
Fwiw, vibratory is sufficient and you don't need to wait for the brass to dry.
Ss wet tumbling will clean the brass inside and out including the primer pockets and make horrible brass look better than new.
You should also consider a media separator with both types of media. I use both types about 50/50. If I am running large batches I will use the Dillon as it is massive and will hold substantial amounts of brass.
Lab

[bangerjim]

A large ZipLok container, some hot water, and a few teaspoons of citric acid! That's all I need. Forget the tumblers and vibrators. And a light spray of Armor-All + tumble before laying out to dry on a big towel in the sun. Dirty brass shoots just as accurately as shiny brass. I prefer to spend more time casting, loading and shooting than fussing around tumbling brass for just a shine. Citric acid is shiny enough for me. I don't sell brass, so I don't care what it looks like.....only how it shoots.

banger

[mdi]

A large ZipLok container, some hot water, and a few teaspoons of citric acid! That's all I need. Forget the tumblers and vibrators. And a light spray of Armor-All + tumble before laying out to dry on a big towel in the sun. Dirty brass shoots just as accurately as shiny brass. I prefer to spend more time casting, loading and shooting than fussing around tumbling brass for just a shine. Citric acid is shiny enough for me. I don't sell brass, so I don't care what it looks like.....only how it shoots.

banger
Yep! Tumbling, polishing brass is the most talked about and least important part of reloading...:bigsmyl2:

[mdi]

mdi, you did mean $40 for 5 lbs. of pins, right? Don't want to scare the guy off, lol. RodOOPS! Yer right...

[Char-Gar]

The whole purpose in cleaning brass is to remove any grit or foreign matter that might scratch or otherwise damage the dies in the reloading process. Anything past that is just for cosmetic purposes. So, in my book, it really doesn't matter which system you use as long as the original purpose in accomplished.

I have been reloading since the late 50's, and brass cleaning involved wiping the cases off with a rag with some solvent on it. The brass itself just keep getting darker and darker. I had reloaded for almost 35 years before I bought my first vibrating case cleaner. It wore out and I replaced with with another just like it. I use walnut bird bedding laced with Mother's Mag polish.

[bangerjim]

If you want to really "wake up" your dry tumbling media and speed up the process, add a tablespoon or so of Bon Ami cleaner to it! Very mild abrasive....NO chlorine....amazing time reducer. You do have to rinse in water after. Do not use any other cleaner due to chlorine and other things in them!!!!!!!

[goryshaw]

Vibratory cleaner with walnut shells for initial cleaning after I get home from the range. Most of my shooting is AR-15 which leaves the cases with some carbon, so I clean them before resize/deprime step. After resizing they go in the ultrasonic with hot water, dawn and citric acid for 3-4 8 minute cycles then air dry on a dish mat. I've tried car wax in the ultrasonic, but it just clumps up on the surface. Only gets the wax on the cases when emptying the cleaner, then I have to wipe the wax off with a rag. Looks nice and keeps them from tarnishing, but not worth the effort.

Having said that, none of it is really necessary. When I started reloading I just used a solvent soaked rag to clean case lube off after resizing and didn't worry about the cases otherwise. Now it's mostly for peace of mind, I don't want any hiccups during rapid fire at a match.

[Vann]

While clean brass looks pretty, the only reason I clean my bass is to remove dirt and case lube, but more importantly it's to clean the primer pockets. I believe most primer problems are not caused by the primer it's self, but either in the way it was installed or by carbon build up in the primer pocket. I've seen a lot of rounds racked out on the line and in most cases the first thing the shooter says is "it must be a hard primer". While I know that hard primers do exist, I think that in most cases it's either a dirty pocket or improperly seated primer.

Just my .002
Vann

[zuke]

Here's 4000 word's worth of pic's. Posted many time's but still explanatory

http://i807.photobucket.com/albums/yy356/zuke_bucket/DSCF1256.jpg

http://i807.photobucket.com/albums/yy356/zuke_bucket/DSCF1257.jpg

http://i807.photobucket.com/albums/yy356/zuke_bucket/DSCF1258.jpg

http://i807.photobucket.com/albums/yy356/zuke_bucket/DSCF1259.jpg

[sparky45]

Strange, my brass looks just like Zuke's before and after examples, and I use SS, Armour All car wash/wax with a dash of Lemi-Shine.
Good pics Zuke.

[dudel]

Check out the Citric acid method sticky on the Cast Boolit section. I was leaning towards pins; but the Citric acid made me a believer. Fast, good and cheap. Not often you get all three.

[dudel]

The whole purpose in cleaning brass is to remove any grit or foreign matter that might scratch or otherwise damage the dies in the reloading process. Anything past that is just for cosmetic purposes.

How will the grit hurt the dies? You have brass, grit and carbide dies. The brass or grit are the softer of the three. I clean my brass, not to protect the dies; but to protect the brass. Plus clean brass sized easier.

[kryogen]

I have both, plus an ultrasonic cleaner. I don't use the US cleaner for brass. I just use it for parts.

I made a ss tumbler with parts myself, and with a 1/3 hp motor and large bearings, I could probably tumble 200 pounds on it.... My fully loaded drum probably weights around 50 pounds and it's no problem.

If I need to clean a minimum of 1000 or so really dirty cases, I might just toss them into the ss tumbler. Does a good job quickly. But then you need to rinse, dry, etc. Not convenient for me during winter so I just process large batches of brass during the summer.
Also, I strongly suggest that you deprime all brass that you want to clean in the SS tumbler. Otherwise, your water will get terribly black, you wont clean the pockets, and the brass will never dry.
I speed things up, I dry brass at 200F in the oven for an hour.

If I just need to get fired casings ready for another loading, I will just use the vib cleaner. It works ok, will get the brass clean enough to reload, and that's it. I can let it run all night, with corncob, and casings are good to reload.

I just find the corncob more convenient.
Shoot 200 9mm an evening, toss in the corncob, next day toss into the press, reload, done.

[mold maker]

How will the grit hurt the dies? You have brass, grit and carbide dies. The brass or grit are the softer of the three. I clean my brass, not to protect the dies; but to protect the brass. Plus clean brass sized easier.

Few rifle and not near all hand gun dies are carbide. Grit will definitely wear or scratch your dies, brass, and also your chambers.
With me clean, shiny brass, is a matter of pride. I clean my guns "shiny clean" as well.
While it's true that perfect shiny brass isn't a necessity, it shows your attitude, and protects your investment.

[country gent]

lapping is a simple process of a lead or soft brass rod or form with grit applied to it. ( sometimes forced into the lead or brass by rolling between 2 hardened steel plates) The proces does remove material from the harder material due to the grit impregnating into the softer material. SO a soft brass case with grit impregnates and is forced under pressure ito and out of a hard steel or carbide die. A sharp spec of carbon or grit can scratch the dies surface giving lines scratches on cases there after. Sometimes 1 or twice these can be polished out before the die becomes to big. Polishing a die is time consuming to do it right. I simply perfer to clean brass before so this dosnt happen. I clean in a vibratory with corn cobs and iosso polish maybe a little nufinish added. Brass looks good is clean and easier to work with. Another plus is when handling brass ( single stage press for rifle) my hands dont get black and grungy as quick. Lube pads and towels stay clean longer, I think less lube is needed on clean brass also.

[gunoil]

I made one like this:

http://youtu.be/3_FpiTzVYP8

Then my neighbor runs it in lizard litter, smooth and looks like gold. l can fill it in the dies. Really smooth.

[dudel]

Few rifle and not near all hand gun dies are carbide. Grit will definitely wear or scratch your dies, brass, and also your chambers.
With me clean, shiny brass, is a matter of pride. I clean my guns "shiny clean" as well.
While it's true that perfect shiny brass isn't a necessity, it shows your attitude, and protects your investment.

Not suggesting that one not clean brass. My post above talks about how I switched to Citric acid (after 30 years of corncob/walnut vibratory cleaning). Clean cases are good.

I just have my doubts about the dies taking the hit vs the brass. I know there are some old pistol dies that are not carbide, but try and buy new steel die today. You'll find many more carbide pistol dies than steel ones.

[kryogen]

I don't see a need anymore for ultra bright bling brass. It doesnt shoot any better than "regular clean brass".
I don't have enough free time.

[mdi]

How will the grit hurt the dies? You have brass, grit and carbide dies. The brass or grit are the softer of the three. I clean my brass, not to protect the dies; but to protect the brass. Plus clean brass sized easier.
I have one sizing die that has a bit of grit embedded in the ID. Every case run through it got a gouge in the length of the case. If the grit had been transferred to a case i think the grit may have become embedded in the chamber so now you have two screwed up components because of gritty brass.

I didn't tumble for the first 12 years I reloaded, I just wiped every case with a solvent dampened rag as I inspected it. No scratched dies, and I could spot any defects easily...

[destrux]

I don't like the SS pins based on what I've seen. I haven't used them myself, but the commercial processed stuff I buy that's pin tumbled always has rounded edges and I don't like that on 5.56 brass because it can cause extractors to slip off the case rim when the pins round the edges of the rim. Maybe they're over-tumbling the brass or using the wrong pins though, I really don't know much about it.

I dry tumble in polish treated corn cob media for 20 minutes or so to remove mud and junk and then wet tumble in lemishine for a half hour and then rinse, shake dry in my media separator, and dry tumble in polish treated corn cob media for a half hour. I let the media in an open bucket to dry out for reuse. I use the lemishine solution over and over and just top off as needed. I tumble with the primers in now. I never had problems caused by dirty primer pockets but I have had misfires from media stuck in primer holes even though I always tried to carefully check them (how a piece of corn cob can stick in there despite a primer explosion is just beyond me but I've pulled down duds and found media clogging the flash hole).

I used to just dry tumble but since I got my suppressors the carbon on the cases has increased dramatically and the wet tumble with the lemishine took care of that very well. Cases come out like new, even the ones that were literally dug up out of the mud at the range.

[durango]

I started out with a rotary and then went to vibrators with walnut for cleaning and corn cob/polish for shine. I also have a HF ultrasonic which works well but is too small and short time cycle. I've thought about the SS pins as I like the results on the interiors and primer pockets.

However, I don't like the 'shot peening' on the brass--I've noticed that some of the more pricy pins have the ends rounded off as in polished--others have square ends as in clipped or cut. Does anybody have any experience with the different pins and the finish on the brass? Also, other than pistol, I only shoot (and reload) small calibers--17, 20, 22 and 243. Do the pins tend to hang up in these small necked cases?

[kryogen]

They are harder to tumble out of the 223 cases.

[mongoose33]

I have never had any trouble using stainless steel pins. No "peening," no "rounding of edges;" just incredibly clean brass both inside and out.

The biggest reason I like it, as if the above isn't enough :), is that there is no dust. I decided breathing in dust possibly laced with lead residue wasn't the best thing to do.

[aap2]

I have been wet tumbling with SS pins, Dawn and Lemishine with great results but would like to substitute a product like Auto Wash and Wax for the Dawn to add some tarnishing resistance to the final product. After tumbling and rinsing I shake the clean brass in a towel to remove excess water then spread on a baking sheet to dry in the kitchen oven at low heat. My question: if I substitute Auto Wash and Wax (or the Armour All product) for the Dawn, does drying the cases in the kitchen oven produce any fumes or odor? I don't want to stink up the wife's oven...thanks.

[pretzelxx]

I'm another SS pin and lemishine user. I found better results without dish soap added to the lemishine. Someone said they counter each other and take longer to clean... It tends to tarnish ever so slightly with soap after a long while.

Lemishine + hot water will get you like new brass!

[kryogen]

My pins are nicely cut so they dont damage the brass.
you need to use dish detergent.
if you add too much lemishine your brass will tarnish. Add a littlw only like 2.5 ml
oven dry 200f

[mgread]

Home made or buy one? Best place to order SS, Tumbler from?

[Dcb39]

wet is the way to go have the double drum harbor freight. an a home built that will do about 3000 pistol cases at a time. you can build one. lots of plans around.

[chambers]

I purchased the thumbler, s.s. pins from a cast member, use dish soap and lemi shine. Doubt if anything cleans as well inside and out! No more media to dig out of primer pockets.

[HeavyMetal]

OK time for my 2 cents:

Bought a Frankford rotary tumbler for Two reasons: best looking brass that has ever come out of any brass cleaner and, big bonus, no lead dust hazard from the dry media in a vibrating case cleaner!

I now run my case's throught a Lee pro 1000 with the universal decaping die then into the wet SS media with a table spoon of Dawn and a tea spoon of Lemi shine. this is mixed in a cup then added to the hot as I can get from the tap water in the tumbler drum.

2 hours then drain and rinse with just hot water for 15 minutes then drain again and into the RCBS media separator for a spin or two.

This seperate's 99.9 % of the SS pins and allows an air dry in about 15 Minutes sitting on a dry bath towel.

Again for those not listening: no lead dust! I've read several articles that have found high concentrations of lead in and around the area where the dry vibrating machines sat and were used, almost none in the casting area!

My Dillon CV 2001 was collecting dust so I sold it that's how "sold" I am on the wet tumbling system with SS pins.

HM

[Target Assault]

I would have to agree with Heavy metal in his response above. I was using a Dillon vibratory bowl type tumbler for a lot of years. I read up on the CED brass tornado and just had to try one. Does a spotless job on brass, inside and out. Even primer pockets are spotless if deprimed first. I would never go back. Uses stainless pins in a wet system, dawn and lemishine. Not cheap though, about $300. Well worth it.

[Don Fischer]

There is no best, only what you like best. I think a lot of people are obsessed with shiner that new brass. The trouble or maybe sets they take to get there floor me. First thing I do with rifle case's, never let a case hit the ground, never! With my revolver's same rule. My auto's screw me up. But I run all my brass through my tumbler anyway. Couple hour's in the tumbler with corn cob and they are clean. Clean is all that's necessary for me. The tumbler I have right now is the only one I've ever had, it's a Midway. It just work's and has never given me a reason to change.

[mgread]

what the best way separate the SS pins from the cases. Also is anyone using a food dryer to dry out the brass after.

[mgread]

Strange, my brass looks just like Zuke's before and after examples, and I use SS, Armour All car wash/wax with a dash of Lemi-Shine.
Good pics Zuke.

How much armor all was/war do u put in?

[mgread]

Wet tumble, stainless pins for me!

http://www.hunt101.com/data/500/medium/IMAG1120.jpg

W do you get then to stay so shiny

[mgread]

So I bought a Frankford wet Tumblr. Look good then I rinsed and now they are tarnished? Any help?
http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/16/01/08/8afb777188c0758b9b952ce9d300f1ff.jpg

[mgread]

Just did the second batch. without rinsing off. Here the side by side.
http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/16/01/08/d26e97118c633839cd935e0adaaa95fd.jpg
I think it my water.

[Retumbo]

shiny is overated.

Built my own vib cleaner, walnut media from the pet store(cheapest place), and a little Nufinish

[edler7]

Look good then I rinsed and now they are tarnished? Any help?

After rinsing, let them soak for a few minutes with a pinch of LemiShine in the water. Don't rinse the LemiShine off them, just dry as you normally would.

[CASTING MACHINE]

Stainless steel pins clean your brass. For long term storage it is the only way to go. Im not going to process and anneal thousands of rounds of brass and load it in cases filled with powder/primer residue and god knows how much polish residue. Good to go for decades. When im gone my son will have safe reliable ammo for sometime. Makes me sleep better knowing this as is well. Just an opinion.

[geargnasher]

After rinsing, let them soak for a few minutes with a pinch of LemiShine in the water. Don't rinse the LemiShine off them, just dry as you normally would.

Correct. The citric acid residue will only help passivate the surface and will hurt nothing. I prefer rain water (or distilled for those of you who live where it's illegal to cache rainwater) for both the cleaning and the rinse.

To the fellow who asked about pin separation: I use a crank type media separator like is used for normal cob media. Fill the separator container with water/Lemishine, dump in brass and pins, crank the brass through the water slowly for about 30 seconds, pull the basket out, let excess rinse water drain back into the container, then pour out brass on a big fluffy towel and saw back and forth (hammock style) to dry the outsides and prevent spots. Dump it out on a second, dry towel and let naturally dry. Sunshine speeds the process but 48 hrs indoors is good to get the primer pockets dry as long as you spread them one layer deep. Suck the pins out of the bottom of the separator container with a speaker magnet inside a jumbo ziplock bag, the bag keeps the magnet dry and the pins separate so you can just peel the bag off the magnet and dump the pins back into the tumbler. Or you can spend $15 plus freight on a pick-up magnet.

Most dark brass is caused by contaminants in water (probably chlorine and flouride as much as the minerals), but sometimes case or bullet lube on the brass will make it all dark if you don't use enough liquid detergent. Use just enough detergent to produce a good foamy "head" of suds when you open the tumbler back up, but no more than necessary (I use 1 TBS per gallon of water, and 1 Tsp lemi-shine.)

Gear

[mold maker]

The STM system advertised at the top of the page is better built than Thumbers. The kit includes the correct pins.
I like shiny brass just because I can, and haven't had a problem with peening or rounding edges. I pick out any really tarnished pieces before hand to keeps the time as short as possible.
I c cob tumble with NuFinish for a while to finish drying, which tarnish proofs the shiny brass.

For those of you using car polish in the citric and ss pin tumble, how much and what brand?

[Swede44mag]

I use a Rebel 17 rotary tumbler with the SS pins dawn and Lemshine.
It works great for factory brass but if you throw in some foreign military brass they will all get a nasty green film that will have to be removed with a vibratory tumbler.
After looking on the web for the reason of the green film on the brass and not finding an answer I tried with some Winchester, Remington, and Federal brass no green film.
Just thought someone out there might have been scratching there head trying to find out what caused the green film.

[mgread]

Just did a other run of 1800 cases. Turn out good. Time to dry and start reloading tonight night for Saturday.

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On average how many 9mm are in a pound. I get 112-118. Is it save to say 115.

[W.R.Buchanan]

If I was serious about selling brass I would be buying one of the nice Plastic Drum Cement Mixers from Lowes. It would get a mixture of pins and very fine Pea Gravel for media and be ran wet.

Working out a viable process that minimizes handling for cleaning cases is key to a successful endeavor. The more you have to touch the cases the less you make.

If you could get Morris to build you a machine that would collate the cases with the mouths down and then blow a jet of hot air thru them to dry them I think you'd have it beat.

Randy

[eli]

I simply soak/wash my deprimed brass in hot water with Dawn dish detergent. It works in large and relatively small plastic jars with lids, depending on brass size and volume. For just a few handfuls of straight walled handgun brass, I'll use a harbor freight ultrasonic cleaner with dish detergent. Because I use Lee classic loaders for handgun reloading, it's not a big deal to run each case through a piece of green scouring pad, with each piecho mounted on an electric screwdriver.
It adds a bit of time to reloading prep. but I enjoy it and I can catch-out any defective brass that slipped through my initial inspection.

[toallmy]

About the nu finish added to dry media , do you use the paste in the can ,or the squirt contaner ? I was going to pick some up from Wal-Mart .

[jimofaz]

re: "About the nu finish added to dry media, do you use the paste in the can ,or the squirt container?"

The squirt container is easier to use. Less media clumping that happens with most of the liquid polishing agents. I run my Dillon vibratory CC unit for about 30 mins. after the Nu Finish adder, to make sure it has fully dispersed.

BTW - I also have & use a 30 lb. capacity rotary wet tumbler (Rockford?). Got it from Amazon. I also like the .060 dia. pins sold by orisolo here on our site. They don't get stuck in the flash holes as easily as the smaller ones that come with the kit.

YMMV,
Jim

[jimofaz]

re: "the commercial processed stuff I buy that's pin tumbled always has rounded edges".

The barrels have to have the correct ratio of pins/cases/water, whatever that might be for the tumbler in use. If the commercial brass supplier has too high a ratio of brass in the barrel, I can see where case-to-case impingement would become a problem. Not enough buffering/cushioning to protect the case mouths.

Jim

[toallmy]

Thanks on the nu Finnish advice.