Stainless Steel Tumbling media

I've used that stuff for a couple years now. It does an awesome job. Other than the log-jamming you get with some calibers, the other thing I don't like about it is the way it peens the case mouths (mushrooms the end). They look like they do on new brass.

Its like having a burr that the Giraud trimmer doesn't quite remove (still present at the bottom of the chamfer). The only effective way to remove it that I've found is with the K&M chamfering tool. Fired cases that still have the burr will hold a bullet fairly tightly, where as the bullet will just fall into the case when that burr is removed. It if isn't removed, I get high SDs because it affects neck tension with my tight match chambers.

If you're using this stuff for precision in a custom chamber, take your fired cases and make sure that a bullet will freely drop down into them.
 
Picked up some of this stuff and was given a tumbler for Christmas. All I can say is WOW!!!

Before... The grungiest most tarnished brass I had in the house. Some .338 Lapua that has seen better days.
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After....some of the cleaned up brass after three hours in the tumbler and a couple of grimy ones in the top corner for reference. Case mouths are not peened and the primer pockets are spotless.
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Yeah, LD

As much as I thought the system was a bit labour-intensive at first, I have to say this beats all. I love it. I wanna dip my brass in CLR just so I can tumble it again and make it clean. :)

I did grab some Lemmi-shine from Cambodian Tire and it does make a difference. ...

Cheers,

Ian
 
These pins are so small that I do not think peening is an issue. I also examined the freshly thrimmed and beveled case mouths and these are intact. I tumbled a batch of 308 brass overnight and they came out better than new.
 
The pics of the pins stuck inside the brass would make me very nervous .... A buddy who was breaking in a new barrel that was shooting well, started having flyers. A bore scope revealed a "slash" in the rifling near the crown. When he checked his gear, he found the decap pin was missing from his resizing die. He reckons that it must have got stuck on the last case resized and and been lodged in the primer pocket ..far enough for him not to notice when he primed. Anyways, it appears when that little bugger went sideways in the barrel at supersonic speed, it caused some damage. Fortunately, the damage was close enough to the crown that he was able to cut the barel a couple of inches and re-crown. Think I'll stay away from putting anything that is harder than copper in my cases.
 
Question, how much of the stuff do you buy to put in your tumbler? They sell them in 5lb increments it looks like and I don't know how many pins that makes. Is that enough or are you buying several packs?
 
ceriksson said:
Question, how much of the stuff do you buy to put in your tumbler? They sell them in 5lb increments it looks like and I don't know how many pins that makes. Is that enough or are you buying several packs?
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5 lbs is the standard amount for most tumblers, mine is home-made, and holds 5 lbs of media and about 100? or so 22-250 brass...

I'm not sure if peening is really an issue or not...I guess time will tell....

I also have a bit of a concern regarding a pin left in. To deal with it, I do one additional step of inspection while prepping my brass. As well, after lubing and sizing, etc., I wash and dry my brass one more time, thinking that a pin may very well wash out if missed previously.
 
5 pounds ends up being about a cup and a half of media.

The sticking pins were a concern for me too, however, he has replaced my media with longer pins, and they have not been a problem in anything from 223 up to 338.

As to pins remaining in the cases, I have not found any in the thousands I have tumbled since. On the other hand, i have had clumps of walnut media inside cases and I only discovered it because the powder over-flowed when I put it in.

To each his own, if you don't like the system, don't use it. I love it.
 
You have to dry the cases and when dry, any media left inside is just going to fall out when you handle the cases. You're still going to pick them up to re-size and trim them. If any media is still in the cases its going to get noticed.

The pins are heavier than pieces of walnut or corncob, so if these fall out of a case when its turned upside down, don't you think the pins will?
 
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