SS pin tumbling with HF tumbler

[Mauser48]

I would look to start tumbling some of my brass with a harbor freight dual drum tumbler. Im looking to use it for my larger caliber brass and my precision rifle brass, or anything that is just really dirty. Im currently using a thumlers tumbler with corncob and walnut media. It works good but I want to be able to clean the inside of the cases well. Some of my brass gets a lot of carbon build up in the case neck making it very hard to size. Im only tumbling about 50 or so 30-06 size cases at a time. What are some of your guys favorite recipes? It looks like dawn and lemishine are some favorites. If you use lemishine, how do you keep the cases from corroding? What is the ratio of water to cases to media? Is the media a standard size? If not, what size do you prefer? Whats the best way to separate the media? Any info is greatly appreciated. Pics are always great too!

[Smoke4320]

I use a Thumbler B put 100 or so 308 cases a squirt of Dawn and a teaspoon of lemonshine fill 3/4 full of water and 2 hours later have like new brass
rise in hot water or in summer cold water and sit in sun to dry
never had lemonshine corrode a case

[gunarea]

Hey Mauser48
Add in a couple capfuls of some cheap automotive wash-n-wax to keep the tarnish slowed down. The ones which state they have carnuba wax do best. Just now I am using the Dollar General brand with good results. Don't mix calibers that can nest into each other. A regular size bath towel folded in half with the sides sewn together makes a great sack for drying brass in. Either hand agitation or tying the top closed and thrown into the dryer with a load of clothes.
Roy

[ncbearman]

I did a beginner thread on this once but can't find it. Smoke is spot on. Only thing I do different is lay out my brass on a towel with a hair dryer at the end. I open it up a couple times and rotate brass front to back and in 3 minutes or less the brass is too hot to pick up and it's dry. The other thing is I now buy citric acid in bulk from here http://www.dudadiesel.com/search.php?query=citric instead of Lemishine. Much cheaper. I also modified my HF tumbler to use one tub rather than two. Not my original idea, (got it from a member here). Oh yeah and go here http://www.stainlesstumblingmedia.com/reloading-products/media.html for media. The 2# refresh kit is enough to fill HF tumbler. A vendor sponsor on the first page.

[Walter Laich]

Instead of Dawn I use Armor-All Wash and Wax. After a year by 38 Sp brass has darkened slightly but still is shiny. Everything else is the same

[OS OK]

Keep a small magnet around to pick up those 'pesky' pins…my fat paws have a hard time of it with short fingernails. There are brass tumblers that separate media from cases over a small 3 gallon bucket, Frankfort Arsenal is one…Fill the bucket with water and empty your tumbler into the rotating basket and as the brass flips over in the tub water they get all the pins washed out easy. A few pins always splash out on pavement with the water but that is what the magnet is for.
Roll the wet brass in a towel and agitate back and forth to get the majority of the water off…sun dry or oven dry at lowest setting to make darn sure there is no water left in the cases. Daddah…beautiful new looking cases with primer pockets, flash holes and inside cases looking like the outside!

OS OK

[Bayou52]

I also use auto wash and wax (Blue Coral or Armor-All work equally well). I'm using a Thumlers Model B high-speed. The recipe is 1 ounce of wash and wax and 1/4 TSP of Lemi-Shine. Tumbling times vary between 2 and 4 hours depending on the severity of the tarnish on the brasses.

Pic of typical results:

http://i1244.photobucket.com/albums/gg578/Bayou413/KINDLE_CAMERA_1394110436000_zpsjt709idc.jpg (http://s1244.photobucket.com/user/Bayou413/media/KINDLE_CAMERA_1394110436000_zpsjt709idc.jpg.html)

Happy Tumbling -

Bayou52

[Mauser48]

Do you guys take a lee universal decapping die to the brass first? Im going to dry the brass off in the toaster at 200 for about 15 minutes to get them dry. I have done that with the ultrasonic and it works fine. The ultrasonic has proven to be great for gun parts but I haven't had good results with it for brass.

[Bayou52]

Do you guys take a lee universal decapping die to the brass first?

Yes, decap before wet tumbling as the SS pins will clean the primer pockets.

[C. Latch]

I just finished off a jug of Armor All Wash N Wax and will grab another jug next time I'm at walmart. It works great. Maybe a teaspoon per drum (I also have a HF dual drum tumbler) plus 1/4 teaspoon of citric acid, one pound of pins, fill the drum 2/3 full of brass then add HOT water. If you can tumble outside on a sunny day to keep the water hot, that's even better.

Rinse COLD to 'set' the wax on the brass, then dry using air, warm air, a towel, or some combination of the three. I usually start by towel-drying then let a fan blow over the brass, still on the towel.

I strongly suggest decapping and/or resizing before tumbling, so you can have clean primer pockets. Also, it is possible for the primers to corrode into the pockets if you don't decap soon after tumbling. I've picked up older range brass before that had been wet for a while and the primer base popped off leaving the outside of the primer in the brass, rendering it useless. I'm not sure exactly how/why this happens but because of that I do not like tumbling brass that hasn't been deprimed.

I've found that an hour will get brass clean enough to use, four hours will make primer pockets very clean.

[dbmet]

Do you have any more information on the tub you use ?

D


I did a beginner thread on this once but can't find it. Smoke is spot on. Only thing I do different is lay out my brass on a towel with a hair dryer at the end. I open it up a couple times and rotate brass front to back and in 3 minutes or less the brass is too hot to pick up and it's dry. The other thing is I now buy citric acid in bulk from here http://www.dudadiesel.com/search.php?query=citric instead of Lemishine. Much cheaper. I also modified my HF tumbler to use one tub rather than two. Not my original idea, (got it from a member here). Oh yeah and go here http://www.stainlesstumblingmedia.com/reloading-products/media.html for media. The 2# refresh kit is enough to fill HF tumbler. A vendor sponsor on the first page.

[ncbearman]

All materials from a box store Lowes or Home Depot...........

4" PVC cut to 9" long
164897

Cap glued to bottom
Stair tread tape wrapped around the bottom to help turn in tumbler
164898


Oatey 4" gripper cap
164899

[dbmet]

Awesome. Thanks!!

[MrWolf]

Use the dual HF tumbler also. Deprime with Harvey Deprimer, same basic recipe, use a magnet, and dry with an old food dehydrator. Put it on about 100 degrees and forget it. Next morning nice dry brass.

[Mauser48]

174612

I have been putting off getting this because of other projects. I realized yesterday that I could really use one. Today I printed out a 20% off coupon and headed to harbor freight. I got the dual drum one so I could tumble about 50 30-06 at once no problem. Now I need a lee universal decapping die and some pins. Anyone know where I can get 2 pounds of pins for cheap? I saw a place online had 1 pound packs for 6.50 but they wanted $13 for shipping!

[Rebel Dave]

Mauser
I just got the HF dual drum also Used it once, as stock. I got 5lbs of SS pins from E-Bay from guntap.com@eBay $32.99 shipped, from Texas. Google stainles pin tumbling media, and you should be able to find it. I have used it once, and it did areal nice job on 100 rds of .357 brass.
I'm going to convert the two drums to a single PVC pipe unit also.

Rebel Dave

[ncbearman]

174612

I have been putting off getting this because of other projects. I realized yesterday that I could really use one. Today I printed out a 20% off coupon and headed to harbor freight. I got the dual drum one so I could tumble about 50 30-06 at once no problem. Now I need a lee universal decapping die and some pins. Anyone know where I can get 2 pounds of pins for cheap? I saw a place online had 1 pound packs for 6.50 but they wanted $13 for shipping!

See post #4 and#12 of this thread.

[mold maker]

It's a one-time investment until ya wind up with buckets of brass and several big tumblers. I know it's hard to pay silver spot price for cut-offs of SS wire but bite the bullet. Whan Ya realize the time savings and see the like new brass it's addictive. I now have 2 Thumblers and a Rebel 17.
I went back and redid all my brass inventory.
Be sire to have one of those quick release magnets to pick up the stray pins.

[John Boy]

What are some of your guys favorite recipes?
Any of the 3 rotaries: 2mm Kramer K-Polish media - Strat-O-Sheen burnishing solution (3oz powder in 1 gallon distilled water and 1oz of Scrubbing Bubbles!
http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd220/Meadowmucker/Casting/Bubbles/IMG_0540_zps9ae2ca52.jpg (http://s222.photobucket.com/user/Meadowmucker/media/Casting/Bubbles/IMG_0540_zps9ae2ca52.jpg.html)

Also use the formula for derusting, in this case nuts & bolt parts that were in Super Storm Sandy
http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd220/Meadowmucker/Casting/Bubbles/DeRusting_zps4xairjc1.jpg (http://s222.photobucket.com/user/Meadowmucker/media/Casting/Bubbles/DeRusting_zps4xairjc1.jpg.html)

[Bayou52]

"Anyone know where I can get 2 pounds of pins for cheap? "

Here you go:

​http://www.bullseye-reloading.com/Pellet-Pins-Tumbling-Media.html

[dale2242]

I use the HF dual drum tumbler.
I use 1# SS pins, 1/4 tsp. citric acid and a few drops of Dawn per drum.
Almost all my brass is pickup brass so I only SS tumble it once before the first time I load it.
I will then FL size it, hand wipe the lube from it, and tumble it in a vibratory tumbler with walnut media to remove all the lube...dale

[6622729]

I would look to start tumbling some of my brass with a harbor freight dual drum tumbler. Im looking to use it for my larger caliber brass and my precision rifle brass, or anything that is just really dirty. Im currently using a thumlers tumbler with corncob and walnut media. It works good but I want to be able to clean the inside of the cases well. Some of my brass gets a lot of carbon build up in the case neck making it very hard to size. Im only tumbling about 50 or so 30-06 size cases at a time. What are some of your guys favorite recipes? It looks like dawn and lemishine are some favorites. If you use lemishine, how do you keep the cases from corroding? What is the ratio of water to cases to media? Is the media a standard size? If not, what size do you prefer? Whats the best way to separate the media? Any info is greatly appreciated. Pics are always great too!

I too was walnut shell/corn cob tumbling using a Lyman tumbler and adding mineral spirits and NuFinish. The brass came out fantastic on the outside but that doesn't clean the inside at all and if the media was too wet it would clog up inside each case. I bought the HF 2 drum tumbler and then the SS pins from eBay and am astonished at the difference. With the SS pins the brass is clean inside and out. I use a few drops of Dawn and a pinch of Lemishine. You don't even need the Lemishine. In regards to corrosion, you might be overthinking this. Dry the brass and get on with it. I just air dry my brass and sometimes take it out into the sun on a towel if it's a warm sunny day.

In regards to all the other questions, 1lb of SS pins per drum. The instructions are right on the bag and even comes with a sample of Lemishine. 5# bag is $33 on eBay. .047" diameter to keep the pins from sticking in the primer holes. I clean the brass with primer still installed so non issue. Throw in the brass, a few drops of Dawn and a pinch of Lemishine and fill with water. As for separating the media, you pop the lid off the drum, pour out some of the water and refill and dump several times under running water. Dump it all into a tupperware container and rinse a couple more times before you stick yous hands in the water then reach in, dump the pins out of the brass and throw them on a towel. When you have all the brass dump the pins back into the drum. It's crazy simple. I can't even call it a process.

One thing to keep in mind, where you might dry tumble walnut/corn cob for hours or even overnight, the stainless pins are done in a couple hours. Go too long and you'll start to get this wierd bronze color to your brass. I had a load of brass on a timer and forgot about it. It did three 3 hour cycles and the brass turned color.

As someone else mentioned, be careful what calibers you try to mix in the same drum, not only CAN the nest, they WILL nest and can be a real bear to get apart and rewash because the inner case won't get clean while nested.

[Mauser48]

Thanks for the tips. Pins are ordered and I'm going to walmart today for lemishine and while I'm at the range today I will stop at the reloading store for a lee universal decapping die. Can't wait to try it! I will post some before and after pics.

[Mauser48]

I now have all the items I need. Pins will be here Monday l, can't wait. How much lemishine do you guys use in each drum? I see people who have the thumblers tumbler say they only use a 45 acp case full. Should I only use a 22lr case?

[ncbearman]

Just a pinch.... The .45 case full will work fine for all. Don't forget the Dawn dish soap.

[Mauser48]

Ok great. I saw that some people clean cases by just putting them in a bucket with citric acid and they get totally clean. What's the point of even using stainless media then?

[ncbearman]

To me there are different levels of "clean". Some are ok with the bath some ok with walnut media and some want like new shine to their brass and primer pockets. The pins will clean the best and with the citric acid or Lemishine will hold that shine longer in storage. I deprime my brass prior to tumbling.

[Mauser48]

I got a bunch of brass deccapped yesterday and today to try out in the tumbler. I had an idea to slow down the tarnishing of the lemishine. After the brass is tumbled and dry, throw it in a bag and spray them with hornady one shot case lube. That would probably work because it is a silicone type substance it seems like. It dries too so that's a plus. I will experiment with that.

[sirgknight]

To me there are different levels of "clean". Some are ok with the bath some ok with walnut media and some want like new shine to their brass and primer pockets. The pins will clean the best and with the citric acid or Lemishine will hold that shine longer in storage. I deprime my brass prior to tumbling.

I would like to build the PVC tube for my HF. You mention that you sealed the 4" on the end. It appears that you sealed the 4" pipe from the inside. If so, what do you call that part? The only thing I can find is the end cap that fits over the pipe at the end and this would appear to make the tube too big on the end. Thanks.

[ncbearman]

I would like to build the PVC tube for my HF. You mention that you sealed the 4" on the end. It appears that you sealed the 4" pipe from the inside. If so, what do you call that part? The only thing I can find is the end cap that fits over the pipe at the end and this would appear to make the tube too big on the end. Thanks.

Look some more at the big box stores. There is a "cap" that is inverted if you will and glued so that it is on the inside of the pipe not the exterior. It looks like this. It may be called a test cap.

174955

[sirgknight]

Thanks Bearman....I will look for it.

UPDATE: I found it....at Lowes it is called a "Charlotte Pipe Cap Fitting". Again, thanks.

[Mauser48]

Received the pins a little while ago and got them clean. I have 25 pieces of 30-06 in each drum right now. We will see how they look in an hour. Thanks for everyone's help!

[Mauser48]

The 30-06 brass was in for 2 hours and the primer pockets were still dirty. I had a pound of pins in each drum and 25 pieces of brass in each. I have another half pound of pins, should I throw a quarter pound of pins in each drum? Did I just not let them go long enough?

[ncbearman]

The 30-06 brass was in for 2 hours and the primer pockets were still dirty. I had a pound of pins in each drum and 25 pieces of brass in each. I have another half pound of pins, should I throw a quarter pound of pins in each drum? Did I just not let them go long enough?

I leave mine in overnight. Dawn dish soap and citric acid or lemishine.

[Bayou52]

Adding more pins will not hurt and will likely help.

As for tumbling times, for me, it depends on the degree of tarnish. If the brass is once fired so that there is only some slight tarnish and carbon, then 2 hours of wet tumbling ganerally gives good results.

On the other hand, for heavily tarnished or weathered brass, as much as 4 hours of tumbling time is needed to produce very clean and shiny brass.

Bayou52

[dterninko]

Sorry I know this post is a few months old, but was wondering what advantage do you get by making the single drum? Is it lighter so you can increase capacity or just easier to use? I like it and plan to build one. It looks like it will be great, just curios the benefits you see. I may try to use foam core abs pipe.. I forget the exact specs but I know it is significantly lighter than schedule 40 pvc.

I just got the dual tumbler for Christmas and man I am impressed with the stainless wet method. Followed the great advice on this board using car wash/wax and lemi-shine. I cannot believe how easy this method is compared to the others I tried and the results are the best!!
Stating the obvious I know, this has been covered a bunch..but WOW!! Seeing it is believing.

[Walter Laich]

I use the Rebel 17 rather than two smaller ones so I don't have to open and close the drums twice for the same amount of brass

[Bayou52]

^^^^Walter -

Are the Rebel 17 axle bearings perma-sealed or do they have flittings?

Thanks -

Bayou

[runfiverun]

sealed

[Jal5]

I really like the SS pin wash. After depriming brass already cleaned once in the dry method I have been wet cleaning them. 1 hour or so and they are good enough.

[dudel]

Ok great. I saw that some people clean cases by just putting them in a bucket with citric acid and they get totally clean. What's the point of even using stainless media then?

You can wet tumble without the pins. Brass will come out clean; but pins speed the process along. FART includes instructions for cleaning without pins. Tried it, it works. Certainly easier not to have to separate the pins out; but pins do shorten the time to clean. 90 minutes is the max I use with pins. Without pins, double the time.

[lightman]

I have mixed feelings about wet tumbling. To me, it has both advantages and disadvantages. Wet tumbling will clean cases faster than dry tumbling, even given the time to dry the cases. It seems like 2 hrs wet tumbling gets the same or better results as 10-12 hrs of dry tumbling, even if you add polish to the corncob. Wet tumbling will even clean cases that are so bad that dry tumbling will never get clean. The disavantages are mostly in separating the cases and drying the cases. There are many good ways to dry the cases but I have not found a method for separating the cases and media that I like. I just took some cases out of the tumbler that were very dark and grubby looking and they shine like new, after 2 hours in the wet media.

[stranded1980]

The disavantages are mostly in separating the cases and drying the cases. There are many good ways to dry the cases but I have not found a method for separating the cases and media that I like.

How are you separating the media from the brass? It takes me only a few minutes. I use the Cabela's Rotary Media Separator (it's the same as the Lyman and RCBS). I only use the lid portion, and fill it halfway with water in the tub. I place half of the squirrel cage in the lid with the water. Then I pour the whole tumbler full media, brass, and dirty water into the squirrel cage which is in the lid. I use a Frankford Arsenal tumbler, so the addition of the dirty water fills up the rest of the lid. Then I attach the other half of the squirrel cage and rotate it, in the dirty water, without any cover, for about 20 revolutions. All of the media usually falls to the bottom of the bowl (which is actually the lid). I then lift the squirrel cage out of the dirty water and wash it off under the spigot. Then for kicks, I dump the brass contents of the squirrel cage into a plastic bowl and fill it with water to make sure all the soap suds are off it. I twirl it around, dump the clean water and then dump the brass on a towel to dry.

I use the lid of the rotary separator, because you don't need that much space below the squirrel cage for the media.

The whole process takes less than 4 minutes. I can make a video if you like.

[LittleLebowski]

The food dehydrator is the way to go on drying cases.

[lightman]

I have the larger Dillon separator but have not thought about using it with water. Thanks for the ideas. Just for kicks, the old "Snipers Hide" forum had a very long on going thread on wet tumbling. It was in the reloading part of the forum. Its worth finding and reading. On of the guys made a drying box out of an ammo can, a coaxial fan and a light bulb.

[stranded1980]

I have the larger Dillon separator but have not thought about using it with water. Thanks for the ideas. Just for kicks, the old "Snipers Hide" forum had a very long on going thread on wet tumbling. It was in the reloading part of the forum. Its worth finding and reading. On of the guys made a drying box out of an ammo can, a coaxial fan and a light bulb.

Trying to separate SSM without water is going to be a major hassle because the SSM will stick to the inside of the cases until it dries. Then you’ll probably want to use a magnet to clean it up. Separating in a container full of water allows the SSM to easily slide out. Just make sure that at least half the squirrel cage is submerged in the water as you rotate.

I have both the larger and smaller Dillon separators (got the large one in a used package deal). I wouldn’t think to use either of them for separating SSM in water because they are both so big, which would require a lot of water, and because their squirrel cage has metal running through it that might possibly rust from repeated water exposure. I still use them both because once my brass dries, I also tumble in corn cob, mineral spirits, and Nufinish so the cases don’t tarnish, and to make them a little slicker.

I like the Cabelas/Lyman/RCBS separator for SSM because the squirrel cage is pure plastic, and the lid doesn’t need as much water to top it off. But if the Dillon separator is all you got, give it a whirl. Even with 223, there’s no SSM left after 20 revolutions so long as the squirrel cage is submerged while spinning.

For drying, I just leave it on a towel on a table and come back to it the next day. After 24 hours, the few drops of water are evaporated, but I live in the desert.

Best of luck!