I switched to Steel pin tumbling

[crowsnest2002]

OK all, I don't know why I didn't do this eons ago but I switched to stainless media. Easy to use especially if you have a powerful magnet and all I did was what everyone else did, go figure. I did it on the cheap though. Split the 2 lb bag in half, one for each drum. 40pcs of 308 brass. About 9mm casing of lemishine. 2 squirts of dish soap. The below pictures were of it running only 1.5 hrs.
Harbor freight dual tumbler $43.99 %20 coupon
Stainless media 2 lb $20.00 cause I really didn't need the extra, media lasts forever
Lemishine $3.00 this stuff might last me the rest of my life lol
Dish soap $0.00 we always have this on hand, well I guess I pay for this from grocery bill
Water $0.00 , well I pay for the electric
Results and pictures of equipment, don't mind the craft project, the kid has been sick and home. She wanted to participate in the photo op.

 

[bigedp51]

Pay attention to your case mouth, the amount of time you tumble and case mouth peening.

Below on the left is a .243 case that tumbled for over 5 hours because I fell asleep. And on the right is a brand new case fresh from the Winchester bag and tumbled at the factory.

I now trim and deburr my cases after wet tumbling to square up the case mouth to remove any peening.

So check your case mouth with a magnifying glass for any peening. The case above on the left had been trimmed and deburred, fired and then wet tumbled. And the case mouth is no longer square and beveled, so again watch your time and how you load the drums.

 

[TexSavage]

Been using brass pins for almost 10 years. Started using cream of tarter, and dawn. Switched to lemishine, then I'm back to cream of tarter. Big jug at Sam's only way to go. I de-prime all my cases for pistol (45 acp) and rifle (300WSM brass and nickel plated), tumble, anneal rifle cases, then resize and prepare case mouth. Have over 10 reloads on the WSM nickel. No issues, love the wet method.

 

[Dosh]

2002, no pic of the primer pockets? Did the pockets get clean after 1 1/2 hr tumble. I had a smidge of mouth peening on a batch in a 3 hr tumble. Now tumble 2 hrs and seems to leave the mouths unharmed and still gets the primer pockets clean. Use compressed air to dry brass which seems to do away with the spots. Previously air dried in the hot Az sun.

 

[jasonco]

I also just moved to tumbling with stainless pins, amazing results! I use the Lyman Cyclone, Lyman Media Separator and I have always used my old jerky food dehydrator for drying.
Using stainless media, hot water, food grade citric acid (get in bulk from Amazon) and Sams Club Heavy Duty degreaser.

If I want to do it fast with 50 or less, I'l stick with heated sonic cleaner and Sams Club Heavy Duty degreaser, citric acid and Kosher salt, compressed air for drying.

 

[crowsnest2002]

Pay attention to your case mouth, the amount of time you tumble and case mouth peening.

Below on the left is a .243 case that tumbled for over 5 hours because I fell asleep. And on the right is a brand new case fresh from the Winchester bag and tumbled at the factory.

I now trim and deburr my cases after wet tumbling to square up the case mouth to remove any peening.

So check your case mouth with a magnifying glass for any peening. The case above on the left had been trimmed and deburred, fired and then wet tumbled. And the case mouth is no longer square and beveled, so again watch your time and how you load the drums.

I did some reading before my first trial to learn from others and am doing the same. Trim and demur is next. I did do another batch for 2 hrs and the primer pockets were a little better. I can at least do 80 pcs at a time. Sure beats picking cornmeal out of primer pockets.

 

[crowsnest2002]

I also just moved to tumbling with stainless pins, amazing results! I use the Lyman Cyclone, Lyman Media Separator and I have always used my old jerky food dehydrator for drying.
Using stainless media, hot water, food grade citric acid (get in bulk from Amazon) and Sams Club Heavy Duty degreaser.

If I want to do it fast with 50 or less, I'l stick with heated sonic cleaner and Sams Club Heavy Duty degreaser, citric acid and Kosher salt, compressed air for drying.

I also used the old jerky dehydrator as well. The racks worked like a charm. I will have to go over the primer pockets after 2 hrs still, I'm sure they would be fine but I like to Try to make it perfect.

 

[jasonco]

I also used the old jerky dehydrator as well. The racks worked like a charm. I will have to go over the primer pockets after 2 hrs still, I'm sure they would be fine but I like to Try to make it perfect.

RIGHT, I see the "New" brass dryers and laff my *** off, at what the price on them is! It's a **** dehydrator, the end.

 

[Boozer]

I went with the HF tumbler as well. I super glued some rubber baffles in to force the cases to tumble, rather than just roll around. I also used the lemishine and dishsoap method for years until hearing about the mouth peening issue and getting tired of long run times. I had heard good things about Bore-Techs Case Cleaning solution, and decided to give it a shot in my tumbler even though I think it's intended to be used in a sonic cleaner. WOW. After only 15 mins cases were clean inside and out, with just a little residue in the primer pockets. After 35 minutes, cases were perfect. I'm sold. anyone want some lemishine, cause I don't need it anymore!

 

[Richard N Heglund Jr]

I've been sitting on the fence contemplating this for a while. Does this process work with a vibrating cleaner? Or just rotary ones. Or either one? Where did you get the Bore Tech from Boozer? Brownells, Midway or some place else. Sorry for all the questions guys. Had a family emergency & well you know how things get pushed to the side.

 

[osprey176]

I've been sitting on the fence contemplating this for a while. Does this process work with a vibrating cleaner? Or just rotary ones. Or either one? Where did you get the Bore Tech from Boozer? Brownells, Midway or some place else. Sorry for all the questions guys. Had a family emergency & well you know how things get pushed to the side.

The process doesn't work with vibratory tumblers. The media is heavier than brass,so it settles to the bottom.

 

[okie man]

What advantage do you gain by cleaning brass to like new condition vs media tumbling

 

[Boozer]

I've been sitting on the fence contemplating this for a while. Does this process work with a vibrating cleaner? Or just rotary ones. Or either one? Where did you get the Bore Tech from Boozer? Brownells, Midway or some place else. Sorry for all the questions guys. Had a family emergency & well you know how things get pushed to the side.

Ive heard that stainless pins do NOT work in vibrating tumblers. Apparently all the pins all go to the bottom and cases all ride on top. The case cleaner I bought direct from bore-tech. I think hornady makes a case cleaning solution too. Probably works about the same, but is found a little more easily.

 

[Richard N Heglund Jr]

Thanks for the help Boozer. And all the rest of you guys. I really appreciate it.