Tumbling rifle and pistol brass together

[monkeymt]

I do not know if this has happened to any of you but I was tumbling some 45 colt brass and as I did not have much, only about 15 pieces of brass, I put in about 20 7x57 cases. After tumbling about 2 hours i took them out and every one of the 7mm cases was mated inside the 45 colt cases. Great looking, rims on both ends and about three to four inches long with the slightest mating line. These diameters could not have been much closer. The Colt cases came out very shiny as usual but the 7mm cases were not very bright from the portion that was inside the Colt case.
I use a liquid cleaner in a Thumbler A2 and wondered if any of yo have seen this before. I also have a MidWay vibratory tumbler and have not seen this before.
Take a 7x57 case and a 45 Colt case and put them together and you will see what I mean.
From know on I think I will keep my pistol cases and rifle cases separate while tumbling.
Mark

[BoolitBill]

Yes monkeymt, this has happened to me as well with different cases. I usually separate the cases unless the diameter is so different (like a .223 and .45) that cases won't get stuck together. I love my Thumbler but this is their one drawback. By the way what type of liquid cleaner are you using?

[Sprue]

Yep, a very common thing in deed. In fact, its one of the very first things one learns when new to tumbling brass.

[mooman76]

Yes I agree. You can't tumble brass that is close in size because they will work together such as 9mm, 40 and 45. Also others of coarse. If there is a big differance in size or the same size they will work. Try fitting the brass together before tumbling and it will give you an idea if it will stick togeter or not.

[monkeymt]

Well, you are right, I have just gotten back to cast boolits and tumbling brass. Live and learn. The liquid I am using came from a post I found here that was dated in 2005.
Here is the quote:
Water to cover cases (500 or so .45 acps), one quarter cup (or less) of lemon
juice ($1.39 qt) and a dash (2 drops) of liquid dish soap. This
usually cleans brass sparkling clean in an hour or so.
This is the recipe for a type B Thumbler. I use an A2 with two much smaller tumblers and I use just one drop of liquid dish soap and about 1/8 cup or even a little less of lemon juice. After only an hour the cases are cleaner than I get using either the red rouge or treated corn cob media. It also cleans primer pockets and leaves no red or white residue in primer pockets or between the rims. I dry them by putting them on a tin foil sheet in the oven with the temp at warm for about 15 minutes and then air dry them.
Mark

[BoolitBill]

I will give that mix a try. I usually tumble with liquid dish soap (Dawn works well) then clean out the dirty water, refill with fresh water and place a teaspoon of Cream of Tartar. I tumble this for a few hours and then just air dry. That Cream of Tartar polishes the brass better than anything else I have tried. You can buy it in the spice section of any grocery store but it is a lot cheaper buying it in bulk.

[monkeymt]

Thanks Bill,
I will also try the Cream of Tartar to see if it is an improvement. I have also heard of shooters using Birchwood Casey Case Cleaner mixed with water as a final step after resizing to get rid of the grease and also to further polish the brass. I find that the liquid is much easier and less of a mess than corn or walnut media, but as I said before I am just getting back to this so much is new to me. Great forum.
Mark

[kmag]

Check out using brass baggies. They are tall slim bags made out material that looks like fish net or onion bags. small enough openings so tha brass cannot pass through it. Have been using them for years. You put different size brass in each bag tie a knot in the top and put them in the tumbler. Can buy them at Midsouth 12 bags in a pack for $4.30. I believe they are made by lyman. Works good.

[Recluse]

Now that's interesting! Cream of Tartar, lemon juice and such. . .

I have a Thumler's Tumbler AR12 model with the big drum. In over 20 years of using it almost daily, I've never had liquid in there. I've been pleased as can be with my petstore walnut, mineral spirits and NuFinish concoction, but y'all's liquid concoctions sound downright inspiring.

Will be giving it a try.

Thanks for the tip and experience.

By the way, I tumble like calibers such as .45 and .44 together, .38/.357 and 9mm or .380, all .30 caliber brass, etc. No problems. Only problems I have are when my aging peepers miss a $#@% .40 S&W case that ends up capturing a 9mm or getting stuck in a .45. [smilie=b: I then take my needle-nose pliars and cuss whoever came up with the idea of the 40 S&W while I pry the two cases apart.

:coffee:

[Rick459]

i just tumbled up some .40 s&w and .243 together with none getting stuck together. only had 42 pieces of .243 and after a hour they still weren't clean so i threw in a couple hundred .40 s&w....

[EMC45]

IT happened to me too. Once.

[shotman]

Here is one NOT to do 40 and 45 with black beauty. A few never came apart

[Echo]

I bought some very fine jeweler's rouge and use about 1/4 tsp per half-tumbler full of corncob media. Run it for 20-30 minutes to spread it around, then pour in a couple of tbsp's of mineral spirits to hold down the dust, and run for another 15-20 minutes. Works for me...

[bobthenailer]

i have 2 lorton lapidary[ rock] tumblers that i have used for 30 + years for cleaning brass . my formula is fill with water add about 1 to 2 oz joy dish washing detergent and bb gun bbs , the bb will also clean the inside if the cases in hour or less, seperate the bbs from the brass and use a old toster oven to dry the bbs or they will rust and you can also dry the brass in the toster oven if you need it right away.

[Willbird]

I have about 30lbs of citric acid that was my dads, he bought it to clean brass, it does a decent job.

I agree on nesting cases together just ONCE :-). Once is enough :-).

Bill

[Mr. Tree]

I've had that happen and separate by caliber before tumbling. One other caution is to separate brass such as 38 Spec, 357 Mag and 357 Max. After tumbling I find it too hard to see the difference between the Mag and Max so I always tumble the Mags by themselves and the Specials and Maximums together. 30 Carbs will stick in 38s and 9mm so I tumble them separately.

[Tom Herman]

Keep brass that can nest separate!
I run .45/.455/.44 in one group, 9mm/.380/.38/.357 in another, 40 S&W and 10mm in another...


-Tom