SS Tumbling, achilles heal.

Kelly Timoffee

Kelly Timoffee

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Have been set up with my SS tumbler for a bit now and have done a fair bit with it.

I have however recently had a crappy revelation.

Finally wanted to clean some 25-06 cases that I had for a bit, well, what is the case neck diameter and what is the pin length??

Well, you guessed , a large percentage of the cases had the pins stuck across the case mouth , and actually quite firmly planted, need to push them into the case with a small screw driver to get them out.

I guess If a fellow will be doing anything 25cal then some smaller or larger pins may be required and set aside for just this purpose.

Just did not speed up the process any.
 
Unless you absolutely have to have that "New Case" appearance, there is no advantage to the SS pins.

I started reloading when tumblers of any type were few and far between, and guess what?
All our reloads turned out just fine, and shot splendid groups, and killed game without the shiny look.

For those who cannot live without the shiny cases.....go for it!
For the rest of us.......meh.

Cheers, dave.
 
Fare enuff. You dont need to have clean brass. But for me when I am in a IPSC match, putting 4-500 round through one of my guns in less 10-15 minutes. (Combined stages throughout the morning or afternoon, pistol or rifle) I want my gun, brass and mag's clean. One less thing to go wrong.
 
I size and trim then throw it all in the tumbler.

Huge advantage as it cut's out the 2 tedious tasks of cleaning primer pockets and de-burring. Also don't have to poke a piece of corncob out of each flash hole. So 3 steps it saves me!

I just wish I had a bigger tumbler as now that's what's slowing me down.
 
Can someone please explain the fascination with using stainless to clean brass? Seems like a royal PITA and fairly expensive, not to mention time consuming...

If I am in the mood for clean brass I can clean brass spotless in 15-20 minutes with nothing more than water, vinegar, and dish soap using a ultrasonic bath.

From this:







To this in a very short time with no effort:







Hey, if you like your set up and are happy, fill your boots. I am just curious as to why stainless is so much better according to some folks. I see no advantage...
 
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LOL , I was thinking the same about the Yeti hands . Not too long outta the trees I think....:)

I like mine from STM but it did cost a fair amount especially for the shipping . I only load rifle cartridges so I use a lee decapping die then tumble before resizing.
The brass comes out fantastic with primer pockets clean as well . No dust and I don't have to buy media again .

http://w w w.stainlesstumblingmedia.com/
 
crazy_davey said:
Can someone please explain the fascination with using stainless to clean brass? Seems like a royal PITA and fairly expensive, not to mention time consuming...

If I am in the mood for clean brass I can clean brass spotless in 15-20 minutes with nothing more than water, vinegar, and dish soap using a ultrasonic bath.

From this:







To this in a very short time with no effort:







Hey, if you like your set up and are happy, fill your boots. I am just curious as to why stainless is so much better according to some folks. I see no advantage...
Click to expand...

For small runs of under 50 pieces of brass you are right, there really isn't any advantage. Once you have to do 300 and up then it becomes a bit more of a labour intensive problem. Yes you can swish the brass around in a bucket of water/vinegar etc. or put them in a vibrating tumbler and get them semi-clean and they will work just fine.

I have all three methods of cleaning brass and I use each method according to what I have to do. For very small runs I throw them in my ultrasonic cleaner. For 150 to 300 rounds I will use my vibrating tumbler, if I have over 300 then I use my homemade tumbler with s/s pins.

Lately I have just been saving up the fired brass to use the tumbler as I prefer that method now. For me it was worth it and the time saving on processing 2000 pieces of brass is big. If I have a big batch of 9mm then I can put all of them in the tumbler at once, let them tumble for 3 hours and pour them thru a strainer to remove the pins and then I simply let them dry over night. Total time is about 3.5 hours. Do that much with my vibrating tumbler would be 2 hours times 4 or 5 and then I have to dig the corn cob out of a lot of flash holes. Wouldn't even consider the ultrasonic for that much brass.

To each his own.
 
Got my media from the guy who first started the craze year's ago, and picked up my tumbler at the treasure seeker's. Free shipping!
People wonder why I don't wear longjohn's. If you think my hand's are hairy......
 
Here's a question for you all:

Currently I use a tumbler with crushed walnut shell as media. It does a great job on the outside of the brass, but the primer pockets don't really come clean and it doesn't clean the inside of the case at all. After using this same brass 4 - 5 times with the inside not coming clean in between uses, wouldn't the residue build up on the inside of the case walls and create a smaller inside diameter of the case, which would in turn drastically effect accuracy?

I'm getting set-up for SS tumbling now because of this, just waiting on the tumbler itself from Cabela's now.
 
I didn't start the thread to post the merits of SS tumbling or the the opinions of such, just to note that 25 cal cases may need a different approach for maximum efficiency.

BUT if you want the advantages of SS tumbling IMO here they are:

-Complete cleaning in one step.(insides, outside and primer pockets)
-NO dust(my biggest pet peeve)
-Small amount of consumables.
-Large or small quantities can be cleaned quickly.

It doesn't however get the polished look you can from tumbling with various products and media but it get's everything off the case.

Some folks like shiny ,I look at it that there is the least amount of possible crud or grime that will get into my dies and/or rifle from the reloading process.
 
In a year or two when I run out of the Lyman walnut media with the jeweller's rouge mixed in, I might consider switching.

I could take a pic, but my brass looks just like the SS tumbled stuff already posted when it comes out of the tumbler. There is a small amount of dust to be wiped off, but it's never seemed like a big deal to me.

Do you need a rotary tumbler to use SS pins, or does it work as media in a vibratory tumbler also?
 
Silverado said:
In a year or two when I run out of the Lyman walnut media with the jeweller's rouge mixed in, I might consider switching.

I could take a pic, but my brass looks just like the SS tumbled stuff already posted when it comes out of the tumbler. There is a small amount of dust to be wiped off, but it's never seemed like a big deal to me.

Do you need a rotary tumbler to use SS pins, or does it work as media in a vibratory tumbler also?
Click to expand...

Rotary tumbler..
 
What I like about the stainless is that there is very little no and no dust ever....and then there is the sparkling brass.

Zuke: You need to use less lemi-shine. You will notice there is a bit of a pinkish hue to your clean brass. This is caused, but too much citric acid which leaches the zinc from the brass causing the pink discoloration.
 
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