Hey guys, I am new to this forum. Wanted to say hi. With the huge popularity of using stainless steel media. Just was wondering how many of the guys here us it? I do sell it so naturally I think it is the greatest stuff ever. I know it a big hit with the guys that use it. Sorry not on my home computer or else I would post some before & after pictures. They are truly amazing. Love to hear what you have to say.

I've never heard of this. Please tell me more.

George

quote:

Originally posted by GeorgeS:
I've never heard of this. Please tell me more.

George

There was an entire thread about it a few weeks back. The stuff works like a dream, but requires the type of tumbler you use for shining up rocks. For my money, I'll keep using my ultra-sonic cleaner. Cleans out the primer pockets shiny-clean in five or six cycles, but I run the hell out of it. I'll clean through a dozen cycles-- or more. I don't have to sit there and babysit it, so why not overclean? You don't have to babysit the rock tumbler, but I'm just saying "Buy an ultra-sonic from Harbor Freight and save a few hundred bucks." This is America (so far). You can choose to do whatever you like regarding how you want to clean your brass.

SS media VS Brass which one do you believe will wear from either tumbling or vibratory cleaning !.

I'll save my Brass as it's kind of costly now days !!!

I'll trade time for material savings ; If ones in a hurry purchase additional brass and have it waiting

too go !.

Sorry, I have been out of town. Stainless steel media is used in a rotatory type tumbler to clean your brass. It does not work in a vibratory type tumbler. Yes the initial cost may be higher, but I think it pays for itself. No you will never have to replace the media, as long as you don't lose it. Deprime your brass, dump it in with some dish soap and water, and a few hours later. Nice and clean. Inside and out, as well as the primer pockets. Here are a few pictures.

I have an older tumbler with the low speed (standard) motor. I had tried tumbling with various dry medias and nothing worked. Didn't even bother with the ceramics though the BP guys liked it. I bought this ss media, a bottle of dishwashing soap, and a bottle of Lemishine. (About $60 all told). This system is INCREDIBLE. Last night I ran about 45 6BR and 55 30-06 and 57 .223 for 4 hours. They came out perfect. Like new. Inside and out. Primer pockets clean.
Only changes to the instructions on the site is:
1. Media into drum.
2. Brass into Drum
3. 1 tbl spoon Ajax Lemon dishwashing soap
4. 1 tbl spoon Lemi-Shine.
5. 'ADD WATER TILL DRUM WEIGHS 15 POUNDS'

I use the water to bring the drum to weight. I build a batch one time that stalled my motor on the tumbler. I put it on the bathroom scale and the drum weighed 22+ pounds. I poured out the water till the drum weight was 15 pounds. All went perfectly after that.

This media and drum really works. rc

Have you tried running a batch for 2 weeks straight to see how much it wears/erodes the brass? It wouldnt surprise me to see some wear over extended periods.

I currently use ceramic media in a tumbler and it works great except the size causes it to become jammed in primer pockets occasionally which is a bit of an irritation. It does not wear the brass at all though which is nice.

Can anyone report on how much wear this puts on the brass? Sure, shiney is nice, but not at the cost of reduced brass life. Getting them that clean means you are removing brass... anyone care to report?

Those 7wsm brass have 6 reloads on them as of now. I don't do any annealing on them as of yet. I have taken a new 7wsm case, weighted it before, and have tumbled it now, with over 100 tumbles on it with no measurable difference in weight. My brass wears out from shooting and resizing long before tumbling has an effect. This is my latest video of me shooting the 6th load on that brass.
http://www.youtube.com/user/St...lingmed?feature=mhum

Without the lemishine, I don't get the "big shine" but I get clean primer pockets etc. The water with just detergent doesn't turn black. Especially with my 6 BR and 308 LAPUA brass, I am concerned about brass damage (wear). I have closely inspected these "cleans". I am looking for scratching or buffing/bead blasting of the finish. I don't see anything that concerns me. My scales are not fine enough to pick up any weight changes. Unlike the ceramics, I am not having to dig media out of spaces. I have had about 2 pins per load caught in primer pockets. I keep throwing these pins out when it happens hoping it is a length thing. Only time will tell, but, I have clean brass after 45 years and it is just fun because of the zero effort and consistant results. rc

I will have to look into it then. I spend more time poking media out of the flash hole than any other operation in reloading.

Any suggestions on where to buy this stuff?

thanks guys

Also you dont need the large size tumbler to do brass. I currently do 50 308 sized cases at a time in a 3lb drum and it works fine. They only hold about 30 7mm rem or similar brass at once tho.

So if you got a smaller tumbler and just a lb or two of the media it would be enough for many people.

My tumbler can handle Wet, so I was thinking I was going to order 5lb of the stainless media, and try roughly the same amount of media and brass to see how it worked.

Once I get a higher demand for brass, then I think I will get one of the thumler's.

quote:

Originally posted by RCHOUSER:

I have clean brass after 45 years and it is just fun because of the zero effort and consistent results.

I feel the same way about my ultra-sonic cleaner. It cleans them darned primer pockets with zero effort on my part. I also like how I do not have to wash the dust off the cases after they have been cleaned. I just rinse in water with a goodly amount of baking soda in it, rinse again with lots of warm water and dry in my food dehydrator. My brass waits on me-- not the other way around.

quote:

Originally posted by Fal Grunt:
My tumbler can handle Wet, so I was thinking I was going to order 5lb of the stainless media, and try roughly the same amount of media and brass to see how it worked.

Once I get a higher demand for brass, then I think I will get one of the thumler's.

Yes if you have a smaller rotatory style tumbler. You don't need to put all 5Lbs of media in. Just play around with what works for your tumbler.