Stainless steel media is the best!

Not very big at all. Foot print is (going by memory since I'm at work right now, maybe someone wants to measure) is about a foot by a foot. Could be as big as you want if you build it yourself or get a cement mixer if you want to go crazy.

If you have a newer dryer with one of those shelves it's easy to throw in there. Or I leave the brass in my media separator, wrap a towel around it and put the entire thing in the dryer (assuming the wife isn't using it).

I personally don't care if it is/isn't more accurate, more/less consistent speed or whatever the case may or may not be. I like handling clean brass and it's easier on the dies. Makes a huge difference on the amount of force pushing up into the sizing die.

I would suggest depriming before cleaning ... Water can (and has for me) gotten trapped in the primer pocket. I've noticed small bits dripping out onto the press .. I always deprime 1st now.

Best way to clean brass ever!

Just my 2 cents
 
Lately the brass started coming out dull from my tumbler. I mean, it is still clean, just dull. No noticeable change in setup: 5lb of SS media, 4 handfuls of brass, add water to cover by about 1". I normally add a squirt of Costco dishwashing gel and a bit of Lemi-Shine, and this was working fine - until last week.

I tried to double the amount of both gel and Lemi-shine - brass shines, but cases come out with discolored spots, so the nickel is leaching out.

Anyone cares to share their recipe? TIA.
 
aridan said:
Lately the brass started coming out dull from my tumbler. I mean, it is still clean, just dull. No noticeable change in setup: 5lb of SS media, 4 handfuls of brass, add water to cover by about 1". I normally add a squirt of Costco dishwashing gel and a bit of Lemi-Shine, and this was working fine - until last week.

I tried to double the amount of both gel and Lemi-shine - brass shines, but cases come out with discolored spots, so the nickel is leaching out.

Anyone cares to share their recipe? TIA.
Click to expand...

Only time I've seen that is when I left the brass on my wooden bench to dry over night. Tannins from the wood leached onto the brass giving them the dull look you described. Never seen it since.

My recipe and procedure:

Deprime all dirty brass using universal depriming die. Put into small ziplock baggies in the following quantities:

220 x 9 mm or
200 x .40 or
180 x .45

Use 2 teaspoons (roughly) of TSP powder (Tri Sodium Phosphate from Canadian Tire)

Dump brass, pins, and TSP into tumbler, fill to about 1" from top with hot water. Leave sitting overnight (not on the rollers, just sitting on the floor). Turn on unit next morning as I leave to go to work. After work, dump out water and rinse a few times (not perfect, just get most of the black water out). Add 1 x 9 mm case full of Lemishine (approx 1/4 teaspoon) and fill again with hot water. Turn on unit for an hour or 2 (roughly, not using an exact timer or anything). Rinse thoroughly with Franklin Arsenal media separator and bucket full of clean water. Spread out on towel and let dry overnight (not on bench as per above, just on floor). Make sure all brass from previous night is dry. Sometimes I just leave it there for a few days and look at it later, depending on my schedule. I will check them for cracks or dents as I spread out on the towel or as I'm putting them into big ziplock bags when they are dry. Approximately 10 lbs per bag. Repeat procedure.

If I have quite a bit of dirty brass, I will do this every day for a couple weeks. It only takes around 1/2 hour or so every night so really no biggie for time there. And if I'm at work anyways, I'm maximizing my time use when I'm home by having the machine run during the day. In this entire process, the most tedious is depriming the dirty brass ...

No issues with this method. Brass comes out looking brand new every time.
 
Thanks! Wow, that's a fair bit more than I have been doing. I tumble primed brass for 2Hrs then rinse. I did try to do a 2-step when brass started coming out dull: first 2Hrs with dishwashing gel, rinse, another 1Hr with Lemi-shine. This worked, so perhaps I should stop experimenting, and just settle on a 2-step approach...
 
aridan said:
Lately the brass started coming out dull from my tumbler.
Click to expand...
The same thing happened to me at one point. I was advised by a member on another forum that I was possibly using too much Lemi-Shine, I reduced the amount and the issue was resolved. Try backing off on it to 1/2 a 9mm case.

Good luck.
 
aridan said:
Thanks! Wow, that's a fair bit more than I have been doing. I tumble primed brass for 2Hrs then rinse. I did try to do a 2-step when brass started coming out dull: first 2Hrs with dishwashing gel, rinse, another 1Hr with Lemi-shine. This worked, so perhaps I should stop experimenting, and just settle on a 2-step approach...
Click to expand...

I have gotten to a point where I have more clean brass right now than I have time to use. By doing it this way I'm never waiting on brass to be cleaned before I need to reload some. It's always sitting on the shelf waiting for me. I'm at work and the tumbler is working for me at home. Also, the amount of actual time playing with brass is very little. Maybe 1/2 hour at a time. The only time that goes up is when I have a pail of dirty stuff that I sort through and then decap. As said earlier, I don't put brass in unless it's already deprimed because of the water issue.
 
One more step I'm about to add into my case prep routine ....

I just bought a Case Master Jr from Magma Engineering with 9, 40 and 45 dies .. I will re-size all cases after clean once I get it ...

As for the time issue ... reloading is kind of a "me" time anyways ... I crack a beer, put on the Sirius Radio and relax a bit with it ... play with the scales, calipers, press, fiddle with things ... kind of a zen time almost ... same goes with cleaning my guns ... it's all relax time to myself ...
 
Thanks for the tips. I tried TSP, and found out that it creates lots of foam, perhaps because I was still adding dishwashing gel. Anyway, if I do a 2-step cleaning, first with dishwashing gel, then rinse, then Lemi-shine, then my brass comes out clean AND shiny. I guess I'll have to stick with the 2-step, for now: I noticed the range pickup brass is really dirty lately, and that is probably why a single step doesn't work anymore.

I also have tons of clean 9mm brass on hand, so that I don't have to wait for it to dry.
 
TSP and dishwashing soap ... Never tried that. Just TSP for step 1 and lemishine for step 2 ... Best part about about SS cleaning is that I can pick up the dirtiest brass that's been thrown out and make it look brand new .. :)
 
Brass cleaner

I bought the SS media but rarely use it to clean cases. Hot water, dish soap, not dishwasher soap, and one pouch of Lemi-shine 3. Twenty minutes in tumbler is all it takes. Dried in oven at 170 F.
 
Nickel Plated?

I have noticed that most of the threads are discussing normal brass cases, what about nickel plated cases? Is it too aggressive for these? Would it strip the nickel off if it went too long? Any experiences?
 
I put the nickel ones in all the time. They come out just as shiny as the brass. I usually pick up the ones that the RCMP leave sitting there ...

I have accidentally dropped in a zinc-plated washer one time and the zinc was completely stripped off when it came out. Nickel cases don't seem to be affected from what I've seen.
 
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...

To each his own, but I could not disagree more. These pins do not peen the brass. I have studied the difference between ultrasonic cleaning and STM using digital micrography; I was all set to make the same assumption based on an intuitive belief. Any system where brass tumbles with other brass is going to result in some minor surface changes tot he brass. I don't care if it's vibrating, or tumbling.

I WILL agree with you that they need to use shorter or longer pins, because I have had problems with pins log-jamming in the necks with 6mm and 6.5mm rounds.

As to the exterior gleem, I use dishwashing soap and a quarter tsp of Lemmishine and these cases literally look better than new.

My wife has a "Bread Proofing" setting in our oven and using this setting with a cookie sheet for laying out the brass makes them bone dry, not hot, and ready to use inside of 30 minutes.
 
Last edited:
Obtunded said:
I WILL agree with you that they need to use shorter or longer pins, because I have had problems with pins log-jamming in the necks with 6mm and 6.5mm rounds.
Click to expand...

There is now an option on their website to select if you intend to clean 6.5mm brass. That is what I just picked up so presumably it is a bit shorter than their regular pins.
 
I finally figured out what was wrong with my recipe.

1. Using dishwasher gel was a bad idea, that's what caused brass discoloration. I replaced it with just a squirt of car wash liquid. With a 9mm caseful of Lemi-shine, I can now do everything in one step, only takes a couple of hours to get perfect brass. I also rinse with a bit of baking soda added, to neutralize whatever chemicals may be left.

2. I used the air duct register to dry my brass. This works great in winter when the air is warm, but not so well in the summer when AC is on, and brass that was perfect gets some discoloration. Just letting the brass dry on a towel over a couple of days solved that.
 
aridan said:
I finally figured out what was wrong with my recipe.

1. Using dishwasher gel was a bad idea, that's what caused brass discoloration. I replaced it with just a squirt of car wash liquid. With a 9mm caseful of Lemi-shine, I can now do everything in one step, only takes a couple of hours to get perfect brass. I also rinse with a bit of baking soda added, to neutralize whatever chemicals may be left.

2. I used the air duct register to dry my brass. This works great in winter when the air is warm, but not so well in the summer when AC is on, and brass that was perfect gets some discoloration. Just letting the brass dry on a towel over a couple of days solved that.
Click to expand...

Use the hot air coming off the A/C unit ..:D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom