Stainless steel media for cleaning

[Kevin]

I started thinking about a new cleaner, one of those tumblers, like Thumblers Tumblers. They can use these stainless steel pins for cleaning media.

I'm considering one because it could double as a rock tumbler to polish and clean some rocks, which is something I've been interested in for a while.

I'm not sure if the stainless pins would work for rocks or. It, but how do they clean brass? The reviews are pretty good, but does anyone here have direct experience?

 

[Rick Courtright]

Hi,

Kevin, I have no experience with the stainless "pins" other than to look at the really pretty pictures on the Interwebs. However, I have friends who have a "rock business" which involves a lot of tumbling. Some of their stuff can take from a week to several weeks before it's ready to go. I could be wrong, but kinda thought the first part of the process involved just rocks and water, no media, then as they shaped up and smoothed out a bit, some kind of media was added. What kind I haven't a clue.

His birthday's tomorrow, and I've gotta send him a happy b-day note in a while, so I'll try to remember to ask and report back if I learn anything.

Rick C

 

[Chuck 100 yd]

I use a Thumblers mod. B with stainless pins. Used brass comes out looking better than any factory new brass. It will hold several hundred rifle cases,up to seven or eight hundred pistol brass. Deprime first,add brass,5# SS pins, a dash of Dawn dish soap and a tsp. Of Lemi-shine, fill with water to 3/4 full and Run for 3-4 hours and open to find the prettiest brass ever,inside and out.
I just finished reloading 6K of 9mm loads. They are nicer than factory loads.

 

[Kevin]

Ah ha! I'm glad I asked. See I was wondering how the steel line cleaned, but it's the water and lemi shine. Then just dump out the dirty water. Now it all makes sense.

Might have to get one for my wife for Valentine's Day. Think she would like it?

 

[Jimbo357mag]

Ah ha! I'm glad I asked. See I was wondering how the steel line cleaned, but it's the water and lemi shine. Then just dump out the dirty water. Now it all makes sense.

Might have to get one for my wife for Valentine's Day. Think she would like it?

I think women like shiny gold and small stones. :mrgreen:

 

[bayou5252]

I've been wet tumbling with a Thumlers model B for nearly 4 years. The recipe is 1 ounce of auto wash and wax, 1/4 TSP of Lemi-Shine, enough water to cover the pins and cases and over by an inch or so.

Tumbling times vary depending on how much shine you want and how tarnished the cases were to begin with. I seek brass that has a jewelry finish from my tumbles, but that is solely my personal preference and is not needed for proper case cycling.

Some recent tumbling results:







One time, I did put a rock in the tumbler with the SS pins just to see what would result. The pins are apparently much too dense for rock polishing and the rock was left with a matte-like surface. I believe increasingly fine grit is used for rock polishing.

Bayou

 

[Kevin]

Thanks for the pictures. Now I definitely have to get one. From my own personal experience, clean, like new cases just simply load easier. i always clean them, but sometimes they still have a blackened patina.

 

[bayou5252]

One additional tip for you, Kevin:

If you do purchase SS pins for wet tumbling, get the ones with a diameter of 0.047".

There are smaller pins, having a diameter of 0.041", but in my experience, about 5% of those tumbled cases had 2 pins stuck side by side in flash holes.

Good luck -

Bayou

 

[dougader]

I just throw deprimed cases into a 1/2 gallon jug of hot water and some citric acid (the main working agent in Lemishine) for about 5 minutes. I save the CA water for later, rinse the cases in hot water, towel dry then lay in the sun or dedicated toaster oven for 5 minutes. Not needed, really, but then I tumble the cases in media treated with liquid car wax for about 15 minutes... and DONE.

I just don't see the need for cash outlay for pins and a new tumbler so I can wait hours for my cases. The CA method I use takes maybe 45 minutes; could be less if I streamlined the process.

 

[Rook]

I've been using my Thumler's Tumbler AR-6 model since 2002 and it's never had any problems. They're pretty expensive new but I lucked up and found a used one on E-bay for $55.

I use corncob media with Brasso or mineral spirits in mine. Stainless steel pins will make cases shiner but after using them for a while I went back to just using the corncob media so as to not have to mess with rinsing and drying cases. I can be finished cleaning in an hour and a half to two hours according to how dirty the brass is with the corncob media.

 

[dougader]

Make sure your Brasso does not contain ammonia. That stuff ruined a lot of my stocked away 5.56/223 Rem and 30-06 brass. Made it brittle and cases split at the neck upon firing, even with lower pressure loads. These were once fired brass.

I have taken some of those cases and cleaned them again in CA, then annealed the cases, loaded with a medium pressure load and they survived. Have not yet tested in any full power loads or reloaded again to check on future life expectations.

I switched to Berrys case polish and I also have used liquid car polish... the stuff in the orange bottle; can't remember the brand name, but some guys on Glock Talk recommended it to me and it works great.

 

[Clovishound]

Make sure your Brasso does not contain ammonia. That stuff ruined a lot of my stocked away 5.56/223 Rem and 30-06 brass. Made it brittle and cases split at the neck upon firing, even with lower pressure loads. These were once fired brass.

I have taken some of those cases and cleaned them again in CA, then annealed the cases, loaded with a medium pressure load and they survived. Have not yet tested in any full power loads or reloaded again to check on future life expectations.

I switched to Berrys case polish and I also have used liquid car polish... the stuff in the orange bottle; can't remember the brand name, but some guys on Glock Talk recommended it to me and it works great.

I don't think I would have bothered with the .223 cases. There are always hundreds of them on the floor of the range for the taking. Now, 30-06 is like finding a couple of $20 laying on the floor.

Nu Finish is probably the car finish. It is the one everybody recommends. I use it with my untreated walnut media.

 

[Chuck 100 yd]

NuFinish does work good in a dry tumbler.
I wet tumble with the SS pins in batches and store them away for the day when they are needed. It takes some time to do it this way but if the tumbler is running while I do another project no time is wasted and in the summer the cases can dry in the sun.
Us retired guys are not in a hurry.

 

[dougader]

I looked into the stainless pins, but balk at the price of them and a new tumbler...

 

[Chuck 100 yd]

The cost is high,that is true. Once you get everything you think you need and have been reloading for a few years, you will want to try things to improve your final product. Reloading is a hobby in itself. Some guys shoot just to empty some cases so they can reload them. If you don't loose them,the pins will last forever.
$45.00 worth of dry media lasts me about 2 years and works slower and slower with results getting poorer with each use.

 

[Rook]

Make sure your Brasso does not contain ammonia. That stuff ruined a lot of my stocked away 5.56/223 Rem and 30-06 brass. Made it brittle and cases split at the neck upon firing, even with lower pressure loads. These were once fired brass.

I knew somebody would say something about Brasso. I've been loading since 1962 and I've never had any brass ruined by Brasso. I even did a test one time and put a bunch of different calibers of brass in a container with Brasso and was going to leave them in it for 6 months but I forgot about it and didn't find them until over 2 years later when I was moving. It didn't do anything to those cases either. I've reloaded them at least 3 times since then. Evidently you guys are mistaking case mouth splitting being done by crimping or just regular firing of the brass or something cause it sure as hell ain't Brasso messing up the brass.

 

[Kevin]

I just ordered the Extreme Rebel 17 tumbler with the .047 pins. It's on Amazon so I should have it Sunday! I haven't bought any new reloading equipment in probably 4 years so the price is justifiable.

I'm going shooting this weekend and I'll have some dirty cases to clean. I'll post a review here after I've tried it out.

Thanks to all the enablers, and everyone else for their opinions.

 

[Chuck 100 yd]

Enjoy ,
I am thinking of looking at the thrift stores for a used food dehydrator to use to dry my cases after wet tumbling. I think that would be just the thing to top off my equipment list without going totaly automated. I load everything on single stage equipment and I am in no rush to " get er done ".

 

[Kevin]

Chuck, I'm the same way. Single stage press and no hurry at all. I have washed cases before with me I shine and after a day or so spread out on an old cookie sheet they eventually dry out. I think the solution is to just buy more brass cases and then have them at different stages of being clean wet and clean dry.

 

[dougader]

Make sure your Brasso does not contain ammonia. That stuff ruined a lot of my stocked away 5.56/223 Rem and 30-06 brass. Made it brittle and cases split at the neck upon firing, even with lower pressure loads. These were once fired brass.

I knew somebody would say something about Brasso. I've been loading since 1962 and I've never had any brass ruined by Brasso. I even did a test one time and put a bunch of different calibers of brass in a container with Brasso and was going to leave them in it for 6 months but I forgot about it and didn't find them until over 2 years later when I was moving. It didn't do anything to those cases either. I've reloaded them at least 3 times since then. Evidently you guys are mistaking case mouth splitting being done by crimping or just regular firing of the brass or something cause it sure as hell ain't Brasso messing up the brass.

I knew someone would come along and sing the praises of Brasso and their wonder ammonia recipe.

Once fired Rifle brass just doesn't split all on its own, especially when those loads are well under max loads. You can keep the ammonia, and I'll keep my brass.

My brass was socked away for 10 years or more. Funny how my untreated cases don't have this problem.

 

[Ka6otm]

It always amazes me what people will go through to get their cases looking like new.

I do it the old fashioned way, ½ corn cob and ½ walnut and a capful of NuFinish plus two old dryer sheets.

They're clean but by no means do they look new.

 

[Kevin]

The Extreme Reble 17 tumbled came in this morning. Amazon works with USPS and yes, they do deliver on Sunday!

It is made in China but looks to be well built. I put it together and just added some 38's and 9mm. All previously cleaned by my vibrating cleaner and walnut shells with liquid car wax. Which by the way I've never gotten clean primer pockets with the walnut media.

So brass, stainless steel pins together with lemi-shine and dish soap.

It's running right now, and I'm immediately impressed. It's much quieter than a vibrating cleaner. About by half as quiet.

I'll know in 3 to 4 hours if it works or not. I'm optimistic...

 

[Kevin]

Tumbled for 3 1/2 hours....Color me very happy! Wow is that brass clean. Inside as well and the primer pockets...spotless! Well worth it.

 

[Chuck 100 yd]

Yup . Some folks dont care if their brass is dingy as long as it shoots but not me.
I have always enjoyed when I could load some new brass and with wet tumbling that look is everytime now. Enjoy your new tumbling system !

 

[cleardatum]

i love my pin tumbler. inside and out, including primer pockets- spotless. all i use is dish soap. a couple of drops. i don't add any sort of acid (that may be due to the water where i live- low in temporary hardness. perfect for brewing beer, and cleaning cases, apparently).