Vibratory Tumblers

Sniffer

Sniffer

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I am thinking of moving to a vibratory tumbler for my precision brass.

I was using wet tumbling and it gets the brass super clean but the case mouth peening just ain't worth it for me (seen issues with two different guns). Have tried with pins / without pins (think with pins was better but still saw peening). Obviously less time will mean less peening but I just cant find the sweet spot. Thinking vibratory with media will eliminate this issue.

Don't need a massive unit (will probably be 100 cases at the time or could do them in batches) but curious as to pros & cons of what is out there. I have read they can be dusty - is this true? If so I can do it outdoors.

What are folks using for media? I have read about walnut shells? And have read about adding a little car polish. How long does the media last before it needs to be changed out?
 
I use both. Wet tumble in SS pins to clean the fired deprimed brass. Anneal, resize and then dry tumble to get the resizing lube off. I use extra fine untreated corn cob in my vibratory tumbler. A dryer sheet in the tumbler will reduce the dust.
 
I have been using the same jug of Lyman green coated corn cob and Lyman red coated walnut shell for almost 30 years. As mentioned above, a few used dryer sheets will keep down the dust and remove a ton of dirt from the media. Every once in awhile, a dollop of Nu Finish added to it will really bring up the shine. My Lyman 1200 is as old as the media and works very well. One complaint I have with this method is having to pick out the media from the flash holes when you clean the brass with the primer removed. A few years back, I bought an ultra sonic cleaner and I kinda prefer the results overall.
 
I rinse my cases off with a fast evaporating solvent before tumbling to remove lube. Just put them in a container with the solvent and give it a shake. Drain off the solvent for the next batch, throw the cases on a pie plate and toss in a lighted match to dry the cases. Prewashing the lube off works very well and shortens up tumble time. The dryer sheets suggestion works great. I get my wife to save the used ones and I store those in a paper towel tube.
 
I have a couple Lyman tumblers. I use corn cob and walnut. I found the Princess auto walnut media is small enough that it usually goes through the primer pocket instead of plugging them. Leaves some dust on the cases but don’t a big issue. Everything is done outside as they do stir up dust which can be seen around their base on the ground.
 
My tumble media has a hybrid thing going on with results I like. I added stainless pins to my corn cob. These pins are not the type used in wet tumbling. I purchased them from a company that supplies wire and rings for jewelry and chain mail making. IMG_9040.jpeg
 
RCBS vibratory cleaner with no messy media for me...Just hot water and dawn dish soap then a hot water rinse...I figure the cases them selves rubbing against one another during the process negates the need for media...They come out shinny clean enough for me and the process is easy on the brass.
 
I've used the RCBS Vibratory brass cleaner for decades. I mix together corn cob and walnut media for cleaning and shinning. You know that old cliche', "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". I trim, debur and clean my brass after every shot.
 
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