Stainless steel media is the best!

G

Geoff B

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Victoria BC
I read about using SS media for tumbling brass on this site a few months ago, and recently bought a set-up from the guy in Utah. The results are just as his website shows!
I followed the directions at first, then made some allowances for local conditions in Victoria. He suggests using 2 tablespoons of dish soap and I found one was plenty for the water here. Also, he says to remove the primers, but I use a progressive press and don't want to go backward. I found that the inside of the cases were shiny golden, whether I decapped the brass or not, so I have omitted that step.
So far, I have cleaned only 9mm and .40 cal pistol brass, so rifle brass may require decapping. (If someone wants to give me some once-fired .223, I'll do a test on that. LOL!)
Two of us ordered the tumblers, media and separators to save on shipping, and the total cost to my door was $340. A week later, the supplier introduced a special for the whole set-up, including the Lemishine for $20 less. Anyway, I'm very happy with this purchase.
Geoff
 
Hi there Geoff..

Welcome to the world of SS pins.. LOL... Yes you do have to decap the rifle brass.. i think it would take too long to dry if you did not... In addition for rifle brass you want those primer pockets cleaned if you are doing any kind of precision shooting.. I have used these SS pins on 9mm, .40 S&W, and .45 ACP as well as .223 and .308 win.. works great with them all.. You will hear.. "here comes the guy with the shiny brass" when you go to the range.. LOL

RDG
 
Geoff B said:
I read about using SS media for tumbling brass on this site a few months ago, and recently bought a set-up from the guy in Utah. The results are just as his website shows!
I followed the directions at first, then made some allowances for local conditions in Victoria. He suggests using 2 tablespoons of dish soap and I found one was plenty for the water here. Also, he says to remove the primers, but I use a progressive press and don't want to go backward. I found that the inside of the cases were shiny golden, whether I decapped the brass or not, so I have omitted that step.
So far, I have cleaned only 9mm and .40 cal pistol brass, so rifle brass may require decapping. (If someone wants to give me some once-fired .223, I'll do a test on that. LOL!)
Two of us ordered the tumblers, media and separators to save on shipping, and the total cost to my door was $340. A week later, the supplier introduced a special for the whole set-up, including the Lemishine for $20 less. Anyway, I'm very happy with this purchase.
Geoff
Click to expand...

I don't like the idea of getting brass wet all the time and then having to dry it. I use the Frankford Arsenal walnut media. It is finer than traditional walnut media and thus does not plug up your flash holes.
 
Geoff B said:
I read about using SS media for tumbling brass on this site a few months ago, and recently bought a set-up from the guy in Utah. The results are just as his website shows!
I followed the directions at first, then made some allowances for local conditions in Victoria. He suggests using 2 tablespoons of dish soap and I found one was plenty for the water here. Also, he says to remove the primers, but I use a progressive press and don't want to go backward. I found that the inside of the cases were shiny golden, whether I decapped the brass or not, so I have omitted that step.
So far, I have cleaned only 9mm and .40 cal pistol brass, so rifle brass may require decapping. (If someone wants to give me some once-fired .223, I'll do a test on that. LOL!)
Two of us ordered the tumblers, media and separators to save on shipping, and the total cost to my door was $340. A week later, the supplier introduced a special for the whole set-up, including the Lemishine for $20 less. Anyway, I'm very happy with this purchase.
Geoff
Click to expand...
If you're only using them on straight walled cases I would have gone with ceramic media (angle cut cylinders) instead of the stainless steel pins.

The reason being is that the stainless steel pins peen the cases slightly while the ceramic doesn't.

For bottlenecked cases there are round ceramic balls which don't get hung up on the necks like the cylinders do..

Stainless steel meda is great for cleaning out flash holes but the finish is just one notch below that of ceramic.
 
thump_rrr said:
If you're only using them on straight walled cases I would have gone with ceramic media (angle cut cylinders) instead of the stainless steel pins.

The reason being is that the stainless steel pins peen the cases slightly while the ceramic doesn't.

For bottlenecked cases there are round ceramic balls which don't get hung up on the necks like the cylinders do..

Stainless steel meda is great for cleaning out flash holes but the finish is just one notch below that of ceramic.
Click to expand...

So the ceramic media is used in a liquid solution as well? Where can you buy it?
 
thump_rrr said:
If you're only using them on straight walled cases I would have gone with ceramic media (angle cut cylinders) instead of the stainless steel pins.

The reason being is that the stainless steel pins peen the cases slightly while the ceramic doesn't.

For bottlenecked cases there are round ceramic balls which don't get hung up on the necks like the cylinders do..

Stainless steel meda is great for cleaning out flash holes but the finish is just one notch below that of ceramic.
Click to expand...

So the ceramic media is used in a liquid solution as well? Where can you buy it? How would it work in a dry setup?
 
Stainless steel media is more effective than ceramic. Also, I highly recommend that you decap your brass before cleaning. If not, then a peice of media can get stuck inside the primer and it will break your decaping pin
 
Decapping pins

Antoine22 said:
Stainless steel media is more effective than ceramic. Also, I highly recommend that you decap your brass before cleaning. If not, then a peice of media can get stuck inside the primer and it will break your decaping pin
Click to expand...

I have had problems only with one batch of very coarse walnut media. Some of the large chunks lodged in the primer pockets and bent 4 pins during the course of loading about 1000 9mm. I haven't had a problem with corn cob because it is softer and the pins bash right through them. I have examined the finished brass cleaned with the stainless and so far, have found no pins stuck in primer pockets. I will look closer when I get around to reloading some of this blindingly bright brass. Thanks for your comment, Antoine.
Geoff
 
Cabelas is where i bought my ceramic media...both types.

oneskilledshooter said:
So the ceramic media is used in a liquid solution as well? Where can you buy it? How would it work in a dry setup?
Click to expand...

HI there..

I bought my ceramic media at Cabelas. The had both the angle cut ceramic tubes and the balls.. but the tubes get stuck in 9mm and .40 S&W cases and you cannot use them on rifle cartridges... I find the ceramic balls sold by Cabelas too large for .223 cases... they get stuck and are hard to remove.

I just want to say that i have used both methods.. started with Ceramic and then moved to Stainless steel pins... and i would rank the SS pins superior to the ceramic method. I really did not see any evidence of peening for the SS pins but maybe i have not looked close enough.

As for using the pins or ceramic media dry.. Not sure i would do that. there is no place for the dirt to go!.. Not sure the ceramic media would absorb the dirt like corn cob does... so how do you get rid of the dirt? Just my thoughts.

RDG
 
Here's some picture of my stuff

5098438414_47d43563f6_z.jpg

5098436722_b333e38d10_z.jpg


45 ACP
5193493426_a74e612214_z.jpg

z

z


308 WIN
5193501450_238a96b881_z.jpg

5192907179_d05151d4d8_z.jpg

5193507088_f40ae4cf2d_z.jpg


Looks like gold.
 
thump_rrr said:
The reason being is that the stainless steel pins peen the cases slightly while the ceramic doesn't.
Click to expand...

Is that the peening you mention on the 308 brass pictured above? Can't really tell from a picture but it doesn't look like that big of a deal.

I use Kingston's 1mm porcelain bead media and I'm well satisfied with it. It will lodge in the occasional (small) primer pocket but a dental pick pops it right out.

I wonder how many guys switch back to dry tumbling after trying the wet method. Like anything else it has its drawbacks (drying) but its relatively quiet, dust free and primer pockets are always clean. I like it :p.
 
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