Tumbling brass

finnbear270

Well-Known Member
I decided to have a tentative look at this wet tumbling with stainless pins business, I got hold of a cheapo U.S.A. made rock tumbler, plugged into a step down transformer, sent for a small bag of pins from Spud, tried it using some Carex & Jif lemon juice ...:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek: Ki'nnell!!! Bright lights!!!!, stuff came out better than new out the box! ... Just have to be careful with the smaller cal stuff (.17), need to get hold of a pin/rod magnet to ensure none left behind when emptying them.

Just ordered the very thing from here, Buy Magnets Online | first4magnets.com
 
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Just got back home to find the magnets have arrived, checked thru all the stuff tumbled with pins, around eight pins recovered from .17 brass, & four from the .223..... for a fiver I reckon the magnets were pretty good value, seeing how I wouldn't want pins causing pressure problems or even bore damage,:eek:.
 
I did hear through the vine that dave (baldie) valkerie missed a case or 2 he wet tumbled with stainless pins had some left in and they went through his rifle,am not exactly sure what happened or whether is damaged anything, i think it was methuen cup day this year, I was there though I shot dreadful :rolleyes:
 
I repaired a pristine #4 Lee Enfield with a cracked bolt head and a blown case head from a pin left in a case. I won't touch them. Ultrasonic only. Clean good, shiny....meh!~Muir
 
Me neither muir, I don't even bother with ultrasonic as my unroom it in the attic and ive no water supply up there.
 
me too but I use a cordless drill and steel wool, still do it with some that have stubborn stains on, aa2520 is the most stubborn, rel 19 and n140 about the quickest to tumble clean
 
I bought a cheap ultrasonic cleaner. Use water,vinegar and a little washing up liquid. 20 minutes and they come out shiny. £20 for the unit and pennies for the vinegar.
 
I bought a cheap ultrasonic cleaner. Use water,vinegar and a little washing up liquid. 20 minutes and they come out shiny. £20 for the unit and pennies for the vinegar.
I do the same but finish by dunking them in a mild solution of washing soda which prevents the coppery finish the acidic vinegar causes.
 
The answer to stuck pins is really quite simple... invert the cases while still in water and the pins act like fluid and run out, either that or dunk them again neck down as you pull them out... never had a pin left in a case yet.. and lets face it, if you process your brass systematically, the chances are almost zero...

1. deprime and tumble
2. dry
3. resize
4. trim to length
5. inside and outside neck chamfer
6. prime

With all those operations it would be almost impossible not to notice/dislodge a forgotten pin.... and then it really is no biggie to visually check when they are standing to attention in a reloading block!
 
I'm gonna stick with the following and to h*ll with the naysayers.

‎1. De-prime - die #1
2. Full length body only re-size - die #2‎
3. Neck only re-size with bushing - die #3
4. Trim.
5. Neck chamfering.
6. Clean primer pockets with wee wire brush driven by cordless screwdriver.
7. Ultrasonic bath clean.
‎8. Dry
9. Tumble polish.
10. Prime.

K
 
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K -- not a nay-sayer but why do you resize before cleaning the cases? Dirty dies are not a good idea for best long die life or quality results & the cr*p mixes nicely with the lube necessitating die strip out & cleaning. Best practice would be to clean cases after depriming.

Ian
 
K -- not a nay-sayer but why do you resize before cleaning the cases? Dirty dies are not a good idea for best long die life or quality results & the cr*p mixes nicely with the lube necessitating die strip out & cleaning. Best practice would be to clean cases after depriming.

Ian

What do you guys get up to that the outside of your cases are so grime-encrusted that a quick wipe with a cloth at the time of applying a smear of Dax wax re-sizing lube is insufficient??

Even prior to more fancy ways of cleaning cases I’ve being doing it in this order since 1982 and have yet to replace a pooped die.

K
 
I just had a look on the Gem Craft site and see that they have bags of stainless steel "shot" for polishing rocks. Would this be as effective as the stainless steel pins? Or is it just another name for the same product?
http://www.gemcraft.co.uk/acatalog/JUNIOR-TUMBLER--EXCL-BARRELS--10_033.html

Harry, just had read,
These small assorted shape (5 types of pins, balls, saturns and bars) steel pieces
, I wouldn't use this stuff, the proper stuff is uniform in size & shape, Steve.
 
The answer to stuck pins is really quite simple... invert the cases while still in water and the pins act like fluid and run out, either that or dunk them again neck down as you pull them out... never had a pin left in a case yet.. and lets face it, if you process your brass systematically, the chances are almost zero...

1. deprime and tumble
2. dry
3. resize
4. trim to length
5. inside and outside neck chamfer
6. prime

With all those operations it would be almost impossible not to notice/dislodge a forgotten pin.... and then it really is no biggie to visually check when they are standing to attention in a reloading block!

When tumbling cases that are prone to pins being left behind, .17 Fireball for instance, I prefer to check with a magnet, bridging of corn cob is not the only media that should be properly checked for. Steve.
 
I've been doing a lot of reading recently prior to beginning my own reloads, & it seems to me that ultrasonic cleaning would solve a whole lot of problems? Is there any particular reason why some prefer tumbling in dry media over ultrasound?
 
I use a slightly different technique to some of you. Fired cases are tumbled in corn cob until bright & shiny,check for length & defects, trim & chamfer if necessary, discard defective cases, lubricate, FL size/deprime, tumble again, clear primer pocket hole with depriming tool, inspect for defects again. The case is now ready for reloading.

atb Tim
 
I use a slightly different technique to some of you. Fired cases are tumbled in corn cob until bright & shiny,check for length & defects, trim & chamfer if necessary, discard defective cases, lubricate, FL size/deprime, tumble again, clear primer pocket hole with depriming tool, inspect for defects again. The case is now ready for reloading.

atb Tim

Tim.

I don't follow why you would trim before resizing, unless you like random case lengths?

Regards

JCS
 
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