Case cleaning

[slo5oh]

Found it (google, what would I do without you?) Stainlesssteelmedia.com. Great prices on media, good price on a tumbler. Their tumbler is a lot bigger than the HF one, probably much better quality too, but it's also quite a bit more $.

[slo5oh]

Corrected: Stainlesssteeltumblingmedia.com

[lpspinner]

re-corrected: http://www.stainlesstumblingmedia.com/

[stilly]

I don't want to do a poll, but would like to hear the opinions, success and/or failure of various brass-cleaning methods and systems.

Walnut, corn cob, stainless or chemical/ultrasonic? Tumbler, vibrating or tanks?

Most of my reloading is bottle-neck rifle, which has its own issues, but general information for any brass cleaning would be welcome.

Thanks for your time.

I use a Thumler Tumbler 15 gallon HIGH SPEED rotary tumbler. I get out the postal scale and plop it on, tare it out and then fill it with 2 lbs of ss pins, about 3-8 LBS of brass (600+ 44 mag, maybe 1k or so 9mm, 500+ .223, you get the picture...) and then put 3 macho sized cups of water. Macho from Del Taco. I think they are 32 oz so about 32x3 oz of water. That usually puts me at about 15 lbs or so, then about a tablespoon of concentrated dawn dish soap and then about a half teaspoon (too much though I think) of lemishine that I bought at Target for about 3.xx for a small container. Then I put it on the spinner and let it run for 2 hours. I have a timer on the outlet since the unit does not have a timer on it. After that it gets a bath/rinse in warm water and then put into a media seperator and then dropped onto a towel with an oscillating fan to talk to it for 5+ hours. Works great.

I am VERY happy with it. I can change the brass out and drop another batch in 10 minutes of it finishing. I was so happy with the thumbler and Lyman media seperator that I wrote a review of them at amazon and took some nice photos. They are easy to look at.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-media/product-gallery/B005I0K5CA/ref=cm_ciu_pdp_images_3?ie=UTF8&index=3

http://www.amazon.com/Thumler-Lapidary-Rock-Tumbler-Tool/dp/B000RAWG50/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1334217917&sr=8-3

[stilly]

Completely unexperienced here, but I bought the dual rock tumbler from harbor freight and 2 lbs of jewelers cut SS rods from Amazon. But I did see a better deal linked on this site a couple days ago, haven't been able to find it since thought. If I do I'll post it here.

A friend of mine did the harbor freight and he has had happy results. He does not clean a lot of brass like me but he was very happy with his decision.

We also got our ss media from pellets.llc or something back in new york or new jersey. We got 5 lbs for $35 shipped. We figured that they were the supplier for the stm website. Now you need to buy a few more lbs per order.

There is a small banner ad for the stainlesstumblingmedia.com site at the top of this page sometimes, just hit refresh until it pops up.

[stilly]

What would you more experienced guys recommend for a reasonably priced SS cleaning? My cursory search on the Internet turned up real expensive products.

I got my Thumbler from Ebay for $124 + $25 to ship. I then bought new rollers and a new motor for it, sand blasted and then repainted it with a textured coating so the rollers will grip when wet. The new parts and motor cost me approx $80 after shipping. It rolls great. STRONG too. Rumor has it that Harbor Freight sells smaller kits for $25 or so. They work but in small amounts of 3 lbs in each drum. You get a dual drum setup.

On ebay there is a guy that sells rolling tumblers for about the same price of the thumbler but MAYBE a tad cheaper. They are advertised as being better but it could just be that guy trying to sell his product. You can also get a lot of ss media on ebay but beware. I guess the pins are the best, but I was thinking of ordering some "ss tumbling media" and mixing in with the pins to see if there is a difference.

ONE thing is certain, there is no lead clouds and dust with ss media BUT, you REALLY need to get the media seperator. I have a Dillon CM-2000 on the way. My lyman saved me about 20+ minutes per load just separating stuff.


Else, if you want cheap try a coffee can on a treadmill.

[Sac-AR15]

I just got into reloading. I ended up buying a SS tumbler. I bought mine from Cabelas because I had a $50 gift card and my shipping was $.01 so it was cheaper than getting it from www.stainlesstumblingmedia.com. I bought my media on Ebay for $40/5lbs with free shipping. I've heard so many good things about SS that's why I decided to go this route. So far i received everything except my tumbler and media seperator which arrives today. Can't wait to try it out.

[Gowking]

Found it (google, what would I do without you?) Stainlesssteelmedia.com. Great prices on media, good price on a tumbler. Their tumbler is a lot bigger than the HF one, probably much better quality too, but it's also quite a bit more $.

Do not buy your SS media from these guys or Brownells. They charge twice as much as if you order the SS media from Pellets, LLC direct:

http://www.pelletsllc.com/

Last time I bought some it was $25 for 5 Lbs. I ordered 10 Lbs as I have 2 drums for my Thumbler's Tumbler. Call Pellets, LLC and tell the lady who takes orders what you are going to do with the SS pins and she will get you the right stuff. I started using SS media over a year ago and now that is all I use. Might take longer for rifle brass as I use it to remove the lube too but the brass is so much cleaner. My wife likes that the tumbler is a lot quieter compared to the vibratory polisher I used to use.

-MRA

[Sac-AR15]

Received my SS tumbler today and tried it out. Man the brass was sooo clean. Also glad that i bought the media seperator. I am very happy with the SS tumbler. i've never tried the walnut/cob tumblers but i can definitely say the SS does the job. I only ran it for 2hrs. Plus I'm not sure if I need Lemishine since I already have a water softener. Maybe someone can answer that question. Either way, money well spent. Wife doesnt know how much I spent tho. Gonna run it again tomorrow to clean the LP brass and will be reloading about 700rnds of 45ACP for sunday.

[Sunwolf]

Sorry,I am going to stick to tried and true methods.I don`t like having wet brass and as far as shiny brass mine comes out looking like jewelry,good enough for me.

[Gowking]

-MRA

[gatesbox]

for something a bit different, I get nearly perfect brass from ultrasonic cleaning. (after many experiments I am now simply using clean water). Followed by drying then overnight in the tumbler with walnut. They come out factory fresh every time inside and out.

[rconnerley]

Corncob media in el cheapo Cabella's tumbler has been working well for me. Hornady non-toxic brass cleaner gets the job done in about 30 min and is easy on the brain cells.

[johnjohn301]

New to reloading but these are .223 that I picked up off the ground at the range. Tumbled in my El-cheap-O Franklin with Lyman (bulk) corncob media with a table spoon of Brasso. Put it in, turned it on and went away for about an hour.

Honestly have no more than $60 invested in the whole set up - seems to work... LoL

https://

[mjmagee67]

I just use half corn cob/half walnut with a little polish. I just don't care to have jewelry like shinny cases. I want the brass clean enough to not mess up my dies.