Let's Talk About Brass Tumbling

[anonymouscuban]

Tumbling pistol brass in a vibrating tumbler. How many cases do you run at once and for how long?



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[Featureless]

1) As many as will fit and still allow the media to circulate.

2) Until they are clean.

And if you add strips of dryer sheets the media will stay cleaner longer.

[anonymouscuban]

1) As many as will fit and still allow the media to circulate.

2) Until they are clean.

And if you add strips of dryer sheets the media will stay cleaner longer.

How long typically does it take you to get them clean?

Curious. I need to run mine for about 3-4 hours to get them clean. Just wondering if that's about usual.

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[ar15barrels]

How long typically does it take you to get them clean?

Curious. I need to run mine for about 3-4 hours to get them clean. Just wondering if that's about usual.

Depends on how big the tumbler is, how used the media is and how loaded the tumbler is as well as HOW clean you want them.

3-4 hours is pretty normal for me with fresh walnut and some nu-finish.

[Featureless]

3-4 hours sounds about right. What media? I like walnut shells. Sometimes if the brass is really dirty, I'll spray it with a 3% citric acid bathroom cleaner before tumbling.

[anonymouscuban]

Walnut shells. Do you put the cases in wet with the citrus cleaner?

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[Featureless]

Yes but it doesn't take much.

[the_t0ny]

I fill my tumbler up and run it with nufinish and ground walnut from the pet store. I’ll run it for about 5 hours. Any longer than that it doesn’t really get it that much brighter.

[sofbak]

Here's a tip and a PSA for all you vibratory tumbler users:

When I was using a vibrating tumbler, I found that I got better agitation and shorter total time if I left the lid off the tumbler tub. Cut the time down to about 2 hours.

Unfortunately, if you leave the lid off, that tumbler emits a continuous cloud of walnut or corncob dust that is very heavily laden with lead styphnate. So if you leave the lid off, do it outdoors-far from your habitable areas, and do not stand over the tumbler watching your cases go round and round..... Your blood won't be happy!

[bohoki]

i got one of them mechanical coundown timers i set it for like 4 hours they dont get shiny in my media but are good enough for me

[ar15barrels]

they dont get shiny in my media but are good enough for me

Time to change out your media.
It's probably worn out.

[jmpgnr24k]

For me in walnut media Dillon’s case polish works way better than Nu-finish.

[bruce381]

1) As many as will fit and still allow the media to circulate.

2) Until they are clean.

And if you add strips of dryer sheets the media will stay cleaner longer.

yeah me too exactamundo

[jyc]

Nein! Despite the extra work of drying the brass (~2 hours in a food dehydrator), wet tumbling is the way to go. Here are 600-700 .45 cases I cleaned today and about 1,000 9mm cases a couple months ago. Both wet tumbled for 2 hours with another 2 hours in the dehydrator.

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[ar15barrels]

Nein! Despite the extra work of drying the brass (~2 hours in a food dehydrator), wet tumbling is the way to go.

Then tumble them in walnut or corn for 15 minutes to get the dust on them to protect against galling...