Can you overtumble brass

I use a thumblers tumbler, steel pins, lemeshine, and dishsoap. I tumble for 8 hours and my brass comes out looking like it is new unfired out of the box.
No problemo with overnite tumbling.
 
Over wet tumbling with stainless steel media your can damage your brass so take a closer look. Wet tumbling can peen your case mouths and wear the outside of your cases, this depends on the speed of your tumbler, how far the brass falls and hits other cases. On top of this the pins come into play with brass erosion depending on how sharp the tips of the pins are, this is why they tell you to pre-tumble your pins to wear down the tips of the pins.

I'm very surprised that no one has taken the time to look at your tumbled cases with a magnifying glass and why for some reason have forgotten the instructions. Each type tumbler will run at different speeds, they will have different diameters and will hit and rub your brass at different rates and the cleaning time will vary. Now go look at new unfired cases and the cases you tumbled over night with a magnifying glass and see what happened.

The small dents and dings you see on the case body are from the cases hitting and rubbing each other.

peen-b_zps89c5c4f1.jpg


The case mouth below was trimmed and smooth before tumbling, the dings you see are from the other cases hitting the case mouth. If the case is left in for long periods you will need to use a case mouth deburring tool "AGAIN" to remove the sharp edges.

peen-a_zps2fc373bf.jpg


STM_zps9d3bacae.jpg


Bottom line, the cases and pins are falling and hitting each other and rubbing against each other and these hits and friction can and will rub your cases the wrong way. If you don't believe me then stay in the shower for 24 hours and scrub yourself with stainless steel pins and dish washing detergent.

The stainless steel media below is used to polish silver jewelry in a "vibratory" tumbler used dry and the pins you buy for wet tumbling have cut ends that are very sharp until they are worn down. (cheap pins made in China sold by the cheapest vender)

jewlermix_zps309db458.jpg
 
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herpinator45 said:
Can you guys who are using the SS on 223 successfully measure the length of your pins. Mine are all around .296" +/- .002". I know there are some different pin lengths available. I just have the pins that came with my Frankford Arsenal Tumbler
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The length and diameter of the pins both matter depending on case mouth diameter and flash hole size. I have never had a problem with the pins that came with my STM tumbler.

pinsinflashholes_zpsa5be7728.jpg


Photo from AR15.com
 
herpinator45 said:
Just remember your tumbling media is consumable so does break down over time also. So just keep in mind if you are running long periods you are just degrading your future performance of your media.

I recommend a block heater timer from Noma at Canadian Tire for like $20 for three reasons
  1. Ensures a repeatable process
  2. Prevents excessive wear to both equipment and media
  3. I set it to run at off peak hours as running equipment during that time causes my hydro bill to jump $20 to $30 a month


Here is my rough process for really really dirty brass

  • Rotary Tumbled with water / lemon shine / dawn soap (no SS pins though) and run it and that for 2 cycles of 1.5 hours (change water at each interval)
  • Vibratory Tumbler - lizard bedding (crushed walnuts) and or absorb-all (crushed corn cob) and some dillon polish & nu finish for 2 -3 hours to finish it.


I do not go for a mirror finish. My goal is to ensure they are clean and smooth to ensure reliable feeding in my firearms.
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Set and forget is how I roll...... cheap grounded 24hour timer from princess auto surplus.
 
herpinator45 said:
Tire for like $20 for three reasons
  1. Ensures a repeatable process
  2. Prevents excessive wear to both equipment and media
  3. I set it to run at off peak hours as running equipment during that time causes my hydro bill to jump $20 to $30 a month
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That's damn near the smartest thing I've heard come out of Ontario in a long time!

I'm not sure that you could tumble brass long enough to have a problem. Not in one lifetime.
 
herpinator45 said:
Can you guys who are using the SS on 223 successfully measure the length of your pins. Mine are all around .296" +/- .002". I know there are some different pin lengths available. I just have the pins that came with my Frankford Arsenal Tumbler
Click to expand...

My pins are .250" in length and .004" in diameter.

I know when I first got the tumbler I had read reports of guys not tumbling their pins first and running into trouble. Determined to avoid this I believe I tumbled the pins alone for double the recommended time they say.

I have the normal speed Thumbler and don't usually exceed 2.5-3 hours of tumbling.
 
I got some ivi brass that was disgusting. Polished it for a week intentionally, and no ill effects. I think with corn Cobb or walnut, you couldn't over tumble even for months. With a stainless tumbler, i think you definitely could over tumble
 
BigUglyMan,

Just because I was born and raised, and live in Ontario, does not mean I am an "Ontarioian" Lol - Thanks for the compliment though.

I think I will try and source of the shorter pins to help with my SS Tumbling.

I am considering doing the Jerry Miculek method of using a cement mixer as I have a #### ton of brass to sort and clean.

 
krprice84 said:
I got some ivi brass that was disgusting. Polished it for a week intentionally, and no ill effects. I think with corn Cobb or walnut, you couldn't over tumble even for months. With a stainless tumbler, i think you definitely could over tumble
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Punch out the primer's and tumble for 4 hour's. They'll look new again
 
zuke said:
Punch out the primer's and tumble for 4 hour's. They'll look new again
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Honestly, i don't know what the hell is on this stuff. I need a stainless media tumbler. There is this odd brown staining on some parts of some pieces. Even a week in walnut media didn't take off a lot of it.... it sucks. Parts of some pieces are brilliant, some pieces are great too, but the brown barely gets touched. Any ideas short of buying a new tumbler?
 
Every batch of brass that I do in the vibrator is an overnight job... throw it in after the range session and take them out the next morning...
 
krprice84 said:
Honestly, i don't know what the hell is on this stuff. I need a stainless media tumbler. There is this odd brown staining on some parts of some pieces. Even a week in walnut media didn't take off a lot of it.... it sucks. Parts of some pieces are brilliant, some pieces are great too, but the brown barely gets touched. Any ideas short of buying a new tumbler?
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Well, I'm coming down to Calgary for a course soon. I'll bring my SS tumbler for you to use while I'm there if you want. I'll only be there for 2 days though. It can do 2 pounds of brass at a time.
Cheers, Tom. Oh ya, if it's anything like the chocolate brass I cleaned, it'll come clean overnight. Tried cleaning it before for 2 months in a vibratory tumbler with the red media to no avail!
 
If this is range picked brass that has sat on the ground for some time, it is likely sulphides in the soils that has chemically stained the brass.

krprice84 said:
Honestly, i don't know what the hell is on this stuff. I need a stainless media tumbler. There is this odd brown staining on some parts of some pieces. Even a week in walnut media didn't take off a lot of it.... it sucks. Parts of some pieces are brilliant, some pieces are great too, but the brown barely gets touched. Any ideas short of buying a new tumbler?
Click to expand...
 
Walmart has an electronic timer in the hardware department that can be set electronically in one hour increments by just pressing the button for around $10.00. I have been looking for something like that for a few years and someone new to reloading found it there.
 
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