Olguy,

It won't do as well as the SS or ceramic media but try walnut media with about 3 caps full of Stoddard's solution (mineral spirits) and a tablespoon of Bon-Ami cleanser with your vibrator. Add the mineral spirits to the media while the vibrator is running till it is evenly distributed and then add the brass. It works very well with my black powder brass and range pickups.

Jerry Liles

Thanks for the input Jerry. Not all of my brass is tarnished. But next time I do some tarnished brass will give your mix a try.

I tried some Lemi Shine, very hot water, and some dishwashing liquid in my ultrasonic cleaner the other night and I couldn't believe how fast it worked (15-20 min) and how clean the cases came out. I really don't see how anything else can be quicker or better but I'm alwys open to new ideas if they show up.

Only downside is that the cases will tend to discolor since they are so clean i.e. no protective coating of wax or other coating. I may need to briefly tumble them in some media with a bit of hard wax added to maintain the shine.

Just for grins I put the cylinder out of my 629 in the solution for a few minutes. It stripped it down to bright metal and removed all traces of fouling that I could see.

Good news to all from Europe.
They can now deliver a 220/240V version for a added price of $10!!!

Just go here: STM

I wanted to bring this back to the top.

This all seems nice and dandy, but it seems like a big pain the rump!!! Lots of rinsing and handling of water, it is really worth it?

I have been using the STM setup for 6 months.
I found it gets the brass just as clean as everybody says.
I found some pins get stuck in large rifle primer pockets they just push out.One per batch, whatever.
I would like a bigger tumbler. Only doing about 1 pound of brass each batch takes time.
I noticed when I pulled the rubber liner out of the drum the other day that the thumblers drum had heaps of rust inside it hidden by the rubber liner. I would suggest that it is worth rust proofing the inside and base of the drum prior to starting using the machine would be a good idea. The way it is manufactured appears to create lots of places for water to collect. I could not tell because of the thick rust but I do not think it was painted.
Does anybody know where you can buy Lemishine downunder? I have been using a 9mm Luger case full for each batch.
The SS media I have has no signs of rust yet.
For me the cleaner brass seems easier to work with.

Cleaning brass, regardless of how you do it, is a personal thing. I like reloads that don't look like reloads, so for me it's worth it. It also makes it much easier to see the condition of the brass, by making it much easier to spot cracks, rings at the base of rifle brass that can and do lead to head seperation, split necks, ect. I also have found that really clean brass offers fewer feeding issues. So if you clean your brass or not, along with what method you employ to do it, is up to the reloader, along with what he is trying to achieve.

The final word on brass cleaning. WHY ?.

quote:

Originally posted by hawkins:
The final word on brass cleaning. WHY NOT ?.

Fixed it for ya.

I just ordered a Thumbler and SS media. So I need to know what you guys think of cleaning before or after sizing/decapping.

If I size first I get the primer pockets clean and the brass should dry faster on the interior with the primer out. Does the case mouth dent at all when cleaning? I would rather not size twice.

If I clean first, the primer pocket is not cleaned but It might be easier to size a cleaner case. Thanks.

Ranb

Just use a deprime die. I tried some without depriming and found that the pins seem to stick in them more than deprimed brass (and of course primer pockets won't be clean).

Thanks. I guess I can get a Lee universal decapper. It only works up to .550" wide, but I can adjust my 510 whisper and 50 bmg dies to decap without sizing.

Ranb

quote:

Originally posted by 350 Remington Magnum:
Good news to all from Europe.
They can now deliver a 220/240V version for a added price of $10!!!

Just go here: STM

It is nice to know, but the shipping price of >$150 puts you in the $500 total price range for the small tumbler kit, not counting customs and V.A.T. which will be applied, at least in France. Makes it an expensive option.

My thumbler is on order. I will be cleaning brass that ranges from 17 cal to 50 bmg. In case the tumbler does not come with exact instrutions on cleaning brass, how high should I fill the tumbler with brass before adding the water/soap/lemi-shine? Thanks.

Ranb

Instructions come with it. Mine says you can add up to 2 pounds of brass after you add the media and water..

quote:

Originally posted by ranb40:
My thumbler is on order. I will be cleaning brass that ranges from 17 cal to 50 bmg. In case the tumbler does not come with exact instrutions on cleaning brass, how high should I fill the tumbler with brass before adding the water/soap/lemi-shine? Thanks.

Ranb

quote:

Originally posted by Wink:


It is nice to know, but the shipping price of >$150 puts you in the $500 total price range for the small tumbler kit, not counting customs and V.A.T. which will be applied, at least in France. Makes it an expensive option.

That's one reason why I enjoy my "business" trips to the US two or three times a year, plus Delta allows two suitcases for Medallion members......

I got my Thumbler tumbler a few days ago. I had to use a couple of washers to align the motor correctly, but it was easy to do. I bought Lemi-shine from Walmart and use dish washing soap. The kit came with stainless steel media and instructions for polishing rocks and drying polishing brass and other metals, nothing on washing the brass with soap, lemi-shine and SS media.

I started off by cleaning my 50 bmg brass. I went with 96 ounces (6 pounds) of water, 5 pounds of SS media, 1 tbsp of soap, 1 tsp of lemi-shine and 4 pounds (30 pieces) of brass to to make a total of 15 pounds. The slightest bit of moisture on the drum causes it to slip and not turn at all. It is a bit noisy with 30 pieces of 50 bmg brass banging around, but not as much as my vibrating tumbler.

So far it seems that 2 hours is enough to clean the outside and the primer pocket. The interior of the neck also cleans up a fair amount but the inside of the body stays fairly dirty. I did see a rather pristine piece of 50 bmg brass cleaned by another guy using his Thumbler, but I guess it took a few more hours than I bothered to do.



The water really comes out black after 2 hours of tumbling. It is very clear now why my walnut media just did not do the job after a while, it is like washing clothes in a washing machine and never changing the water. After a while the mud that is left does not clean anything now matter how much soap or how long it is washed.

The motor runs a bit hot with a 15 pound load, so I positioned a little space heater on the fan setting to blow air across it to make it run much cooler. Stacking the brass in front of the heater also dries it off quickly. I still need to find a good way to dry off the smaller stuff.

Edited to add; Use the powder Lemi-shine not the liquid. The liquid does a poor job os shining the brass, the powder shines the inside also.

Ranb

I've only done .40S&W but after I get it out of the wet tumbler I dump it in the vibratory tumbler by itself and hit it with a hair dryer for a couple of minutes. Dry as a bone and no water marks.

quote:

Originally posted by ranb40:
I got my Thumbler tumbler a few days ago.... I still need to find a good way to dry off the smaller stuff.

Edited to add; Use the powder Lemi-shine not the liquid. The liquid does a poor job os shining the brass, the powder shines the inside also.

Ranb

I found that pulling out the rubber insert and rustproofing the seams of the Thumblers tumbler body made the process a bit more long term.
The water seems to collect in the unpainted seams and rust pretty fast.

I don't think they need to be that clean either. I also believe that the highest risk for lead getting into your body is at your tumblers. The lead in the primers gets into the case and breating this dust from the tumbler is how you can get lead poisoning.
I use Lee case lube to full length resize cases, I then use a solution of water, dish soap and a bit of vineger. I get the solution boiling then pour it in to the container of brass. Agitate it for a few minutes by stirring with a wooden spoon. Pour off the solution then rinse with hot water from the faucet untill no soap suds or smell is left on the brass. The dish soap removes the lube, the vineger is a mild acid that removes tarnish from the brass.
I then set it up in the reloading blocks to dry. It don't take long with the brass warm from the wash and rinse
Leo

Took the plunge. Ready to rock and roll now.

Perhaps the major question is what difference does gettting cases surgically clean accomplish, what's the point? I've never seen even one person say their accuracy was improved so the end results have to be statistically nonexistant. That leaves all the costs, time and aggrivation of dealing with the wet steel pins mess for nothing.

Actually, I found the dust from the walnut or corn cobb media to be more of a mess than the wet brass or ss pins.

I am a convert to the SS pin and rotary tumbler method and couldn't be happier.
After picking the brass from the pins and rinsing them, I just put them in a wire basket in the oven at 200deg and they dry right out. No problem.
As for any benefit regarding accuracy, there probably isn't any. But, IMO, cases are easier to evaluate for thinning etc. when they are clean and I figure there must be some benefit to having the interior of the case clean for the expander button or bullet seating.
I posted my experience in the DIY threads.

I've been using the SS pin method for about 18 months.

After wearing out the motors of two expensive big Dillon vibratory tumblers over the years I decided to try something else.

I run well water that is pretty hard and use Lemi-shine. If the brass is in pretty good shape I size before. If crappy I decap with a decapping die and clean.

I use a multi-layer food dehydrator to dry the cases when the pins have been separated. Works beautifully!

No dust and like new brass.

Highly recommendd.

I like clean brass. I wash it and rinse it in hot water. If I want it dry in a hurry I rinse it in isopropyl alcohol.
Cleaning it does not mean it has to be polished.
If I get some crappy range pick up brass I will clean it with acid case cleaner and tumble it a little to remove the corrosion. After that I keep it clean and it is never tumbled again.

The stainless media will not work in a vibratory tumbler. The pins just settle to the bottom below the brass.

A big benefit of this method is the INSIDE of the case is also clean. This allows me to easily eyeball the amount of powder in the case. Really nice on a progressive loader. When case interior is dirty, it is slower to check powder level.

Glenn

As others have said and I have found, s.s. pins yield amazing results. Although I have not tested it, I seriously doubt it will abraid the brass.

I have hard water but when I air dry, no water stains. If you're worried about spotting, shake them off and then rinse with distilled water, then save and reuse the water.