case cleaning

[J E Custom]

Normal cleaning time with 2 tbl spoons of Dawn dish soap and 1/4 teaspoon of Lemishine for me is 4 hours. Excessively dirty tarnished brass maybe 5 hrs. I went with the kit from STM and do not regret it. Load the brass, add water to 1" from top, add dawn and Lemishine and prepare to be impressed.

Take a look, lots of good videos here too. This system works exactly as advertised.

Stainless Steel Reloading Supplies | Tumblers, Separators, Media, Brass & More!

Jeff


.

One question Jeff.

What size media would you recommend ? (They offer 2 sizes and I load everything from 22 hornet
to 50 BMG).

Thanks

J E CUSTOM

 

[Broz]

One question Jeff.

What size media would you recommend ? (They offer 2 sizes and I load everything from 22 hornet
to 50 BMG).

Thanks

J E CUSTOM

My pins are .041" and I have not had any issues with them getting stuck in flash holes. But I mostly clean large primer cases. They recommend the .047" pins to lessen the sticking in flash hole problem if you mostly clean .223. They say the ,041" separates from brass easier. Since I have not had issues even on my 6br brass, and since I have cleaned a ton of larger cases up to 338 Lapua AI. I would recommend you get what I have which was 5 lbs of .041"

Jeff

 

[birddog67]

Wet tumbling is what I went to , clean brass , way easier ! IMOHP

 

[J E Custom]

My pins are .041" and I have not had any issues with them getting stuck in flash holes. But I mostly clean large primer cases. They recommend the .047" pins to lessen the sticking in flash hole problem if you mostly clean .223. They say the ,041" separates from brass easier. Since I have not had issues even on my 6br brass, and since I have cleaned a ton of larger cases up to 338 Lapua AI. I would recommend you get what I have which was 5 lbs of .041"

Jeff

Thanks Jeff !!!

It's a done deal.

J E CUSTOM

 

[cdherman]

I have a Lyman vibratory tumbler -- works OK, but the media craps out pretty fast and start creating all manner of dust . The cases seem dirty and need a blast of compressed air at the end of the cleaning. And I am not really sold on the inside of the cases being clean -- so it does not get my vote.

On a whim recently I pulled out my old Thumbler's tumbler that I bought in 1983. This has a more coarse media that is laden with true jewlers rouge polish. For those of you that are not aware, the Thumbler is basically a rock tumbler. That all we had in the 80's.

Wow -- the cases really shine. Unfortunately, before anyone wants to try this approach -- the cases always filled up with media so it never cleaned the insides. And usually a piece of media sticks in about 20% of the flash holes. Paperclip fixes that, but tedious if working with large volumes of cases.

I'd like to try the stainless media in my tumbler, but I am afraid the 30 plus year old drum is no longer water tight....

 

[Broz]

Let me know what you think. Hope you like it as much as I do.
Jeff

Thanks Jeff !!!

It's a done deal.

J E CUSTOM

 

[Broz]

I'd like to try the stainless media in my tumbler, but I am afraid the 30 plus year old drum is no longer water tight....

The drum on the STM Thumbler is rubber lined with a full rubber seal on the lid. I bet these can be purchased from Thumblers or maybe STM too.

The other point of interest is the unit STM used is what they call the high speed one. I will guess it is geared a bit faster than the rock tumblers were. But that is only a guess.

Jeff

 

[RustyRick]

I was given some very old tarnished brass. So I bought on of the ULTRASONIC cleaners we all see on the market. Couldn't see and vibration except little waves around the edge. The brass didn't even know it having a bath in a fancy machine.

So out came a wooden spoon, ice cream bucket and a old rag. A little elbow grease and my before are after pictures prove that works better that a plug in machine for cleaning.

Now I'm not talking polishing. And yes a south facing window sill and day in the sun and it was all dry.

I think the important issue is the solution. That too was dish soap and some lemon juice? Experiment.

 

[Slaysesh]

What are you guy using to trim your cases? i was thinking on buying the sinclair/wilson case trimmer with the micrometer? is this one the cats meow??
SINCLAIR STAINLESS ULTIMATE TRIMMER | Sinclair Intl

 

[Newbee]

Biggdawg,
I'm interested in making a tumbler like yours. Where did you buy your motor? What size pulleys did you use to obtain proper tumbling speed?

 

[biggdawg]

Biggdawg,
I'm interested in making a tumbler like yours. Where did you buy your motor? What size pulleys did you use to obtain proper tumbling speed?

the first one i built with parts from my local farm and fleet store. If you check out this thread on ar15 it has everything you need to know about building one and then some. How i built my own rotary tumbler - AR15.COM

and if you don't want to build one pm me.

if you use 1/2 shafts like me and a 1725-1750 rpm motor like i did you run a 1.5 on the motor and 4.5-5" on the drive shaft. you shoot for 50-70 rpms drum speed which depends on the size of drum you are going to use, i use 6" for economy adn 8" for more capacity and they are more efficient -- clean faster

 

[Creedmoor shooter]

i use a RCBS vibratory with corn cob media and with in a couple of hours the cases are extremely clean and polished. I put in case polish along with the media and the cases come out looking brand new.