25WSM
Well-Known Member
I use a nylon brush just to knock the loose powder scale out. I do anneal.
Shep
Shep
Stainless Pin Tumbling "too clean"?
- Thread starter archer441
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I de prime, then wet tumble with pins on my revolvers, semi's and AR rounds. Leave them in there for about 45min. Rinse thoroughly then with one of my wifes blow dryers I dry them. Works good. Pretty brass isn't important to me, so with some old range scrap they're not perfect, and there is some carbon inside the shell. Doesn't seam to make any difference. For my bolt guns I just wipe them clean.
SteelBanger
Well-Known Member
Ten times more time consuming??
Yes I deburr flash holes, but I only have to do that the first time a particular piece of brass is ran through the case prep cycle, then it's good to go until it gets thrown out. It takes me 15 minutes to de-burr 100 pieces of brass a single time but that is far less than the added minutes of wet tumbling after every firing. Heck, even if I only wet tumbled every third firing it would still add up to more than that 15 minutes I spent de-burring the flash holes.
I'm in no hurry in my reloading as I fully enjoy the process, wet tumbling for me just isn't worth the extra time and effort compared to dry tumbling considering it accomplishes the same task equally well. If you like shiny brass though you can't beat wet tumbling, cases look brand new right out of the wash!
Do you use any type of mandrel or ball to expand the neck? Curious how that affects your mandrel/expander?
This makes a lot of sense to me. Where does mass enter the equation? Can a steel pin that weighs a grain or maybe two beat up a case neck in a wet tumbler, more than the head of a case smacking the mouth of another one in a dry tumbler? That doesn't make sense to me. But if you fill a case with steel pins and THEN smack the mouth of another case, I get it now.
338LAPUA
Well-Known Member
I stopped using pins for the most part, I just use hot water, dawn soap and a bit of lemishine for about a hour. The outsides look great and then I just hit the primer pockets after I pull them from the dehydrator. This way I still have the carbon I want in the necks.
Chuck32571
Well-Known Member
I clean my brass in a Thumlers Tumbler filled with Walnut Media and a capful of brass polish. Comes out shiny as the day I brought them.
Amen.
25WSM
Well-Known Member
I don't run any expander balls or mandrels in my necks. They are all neck turned to the same thickness so I just pick the bushing that gives me the neck tension I need. If your brass is neck turned they will be concentric just doing this.
The carbon got burned into the neck with way more heat than annealing does. I haven't found annealed brass has less carbon.
Cases do not build up enough carbon to change your capacity. If a rocket scientist measured the before and after he may conclude there is a difference. But that difference is so tiny you won't see any difference in your loads.
As far as telling federal to put carbon in their necks to make their ammo better. I would and they know it would make it better but how on an industrial scale do you get carbon in new unfired brass. As far as it being so accurate that is why not one person at our range competes with factory ammo of any type.
The stainless pins cause one other problem. Necks on your brass are going to get thicker. We found that neck turned brass with proper fit start to get to tight in the chamber. There are lots of discussion about this.
Shep
The carbon got burned into the neck with way more heat than annealing does. I haven't found annealed brass has less carbon.
Cases do not build up enough carbon to change your capacity. If a rocket scientist measured the before and after he may conclude there is a difference. But that difference is so tiny you won't see any difference in your loads.
As far as telling federal to put carbon in their necks to make their ammo better. I would and they know it would make it better but how on an industrial scale do you get carbon in new unfired brass. As far as it being so accurate that is why not one person at our range competes with factory ammo of any type.
The stainless pins cause one other problem. Necks on your brass are going to get thicker. We found that neck turned brass with proper fit start to get to tight in the chamber. There are lots of discussion about this.
Shep
I'd never heard of the peening. I wasn't aware that there's a "too long" to tumble. Usually I operate on "more is better". I'll have to reconsider that.
I've never tried BMG cases, but now I can see there that could be a problem with the weight when filled with pins.
I do know I learned a couple things from my last use of it.
First, don't leave the brass in the water and tumble only when the generator is on (I live off-grid). It causes wicked tarnishing on the brass to be left sitting in the water. Probably using my tap water doesn't help, either. I think I will use distilled water from now on, even though initial directions said not needed. Maybe not needed for some water, but my iron-heavy water especially probably would be improved by using distilled.
Mostly, I've used it on straight wall pistol cases, so no issues there. Last time I used it, I also found other problems. Mixing cases caused problems, too – like .223 mixed with 45-70. Doing multiple case sizes where one case will fit inside another, like 223 with 45-70, causes small cases to get jammed inside large cases, requiring much hand work to separate them. The 223 small bottlenecks also cause the pins to get jammed into the cases and require effort to get them out, even when doing 223 by itself.
It's a good process and really gets them clean, especially nasty old stuff that got left out in the weather, but it isn't perfect.
For drying, I just spread the cases out on a cookie sheet and either put them in the oven at 150 for an hour or two, or I put the tray on the wood stove in the winter, usually with a spacer between the stove and the tray, so they don't get too hot.
I've never tried BMG cases, but now I can see there that could be a problem with the weight when filled with pins.
I do know I learned a couple things from my last use of it.
First, don't leave the brass in the water and tumble only when the generator is on (I live off-grid). It causes wicked tarnishing on the brass to be left sitting in the water. Probably using my tap water doesn't help, either. I think I will use distilled water from now on, even though initial directions said not needed. Maybe not needed for some water, but my iron-heavy water especially probably would be improved by using distilled.
Mostly, I've used it on straight wall pistol cases, so no issues there. Last time I used it, I also found other problems. Mixing cases caused problems, too – like .223 mixed with 45-70. Doing multiple case sizes where one case will fit inside another, like 223 with 45-70, causes small cases to get jammed inside large cases, requiring much hand work to separate them. The 223 small bottlenecks also cause the pins to get jammed into the cases and require effort to get them out, even when doing 223 by itself.
It's a good process and really gets them clean, especially nasty old stuff that got left out in the weather, but it isn't perfect.
For drying, I just spread the cases out on a cookie sheet and either put them in the oven at 150 for an hour or two, or I put the tray on the wood stove in the winter, usually with a spacer between the stove and the tray, so they don't get too hot.
Svashtar
Well-Known Member
This is what I do as well. I dry tumbled for years in first walnut for heavily tarnished brass, then corn cob for a final polish. Then Ultrasonic cleaning came along which worked pretty well generally, and I needed to make sure the brass was dry afterwards. I only use that for cleaning gun or auto parts now. Then the tumbler and SS pins. There's always a new technology. Like you, I don't wet tumble with SS pins each time. I got the longer pins (no primer pocket issues), and only run them through occasionally, and the wet tumbler is just the thing if you have a lot of grungy range brass, which I have a lot of for pistol.
The trouble for me with regular vibratory tumbling is that I got tired of buying new media. I treat it with Dillon Rapid Polish, with a couple of old dryer sheets thrown in, but after a while the media gets really filthy and contaminated and has to be changed, plus I have to run each piece of brass through a decapper again to get the media out of the primer pockets. No need to do that with wet tumbling. I use a bit of lemishine and some wash/wax car polish in my wet tumbler, and the brass comes out looking great and loads fine.
I have a $40 food dehydrator with trays that dries the brass in no time, but before that I just put it in the oven on low heat for a while which worked just as well. But, I agree, a quick run with corn cob media in a vibratory tumbler cleans them up pretty well, and is also just the thing to get the lube off resized cases.
After looking at this thread though, I'm going to have to follow-up on something Parshal wrote in post #16, using rice instead of SS pins. (But in that case a standard vibratory cleaner should also work, so we're back to the first technology in that case!)
Oh the rice - I meant to mention that. I read about that while ago, so I tried it. I was NOT impressed with it. I used it in a vibrator, not a tumbler, but it didn't seem to clean worth a darn. I think there was some other problem with it, but I can't remember exactly what it was. Maybe that it just plugged up 223 cases. I tried it once, then took it out and gave it to the chickens.
Dr. Vette
Well-Known Member
I have one rifle that will shoot factory at absolutely incredible accuracy.
Neither the previous owner nor myself have been able to match it.
Unfortunately it really hurts because the factory ammo is very expensive.
