Tumbling brass

[bobjs]

I have a wife that did not like the noise of the tumbler so I went to the web and found a cracking ultrasonic 3litre bath and have never looked back,

Spray lub
size,neck or FL
Trim if needed and inspect
ultrasonic clean
prime
load and check length etc

Then have great fun shooting them,

Bob.

 

[Hornet 6]

Seems to be a fixation here on disc shapes, don't know of anyone using disc shaped stuff?........... PINS!!!!!!!

If you had actually looked the first post I quoted, and read the preceding ones you would
know all about the funny shaped ones. Lol

Neil.

 

[multiman]

I have both an ultrasonic cleaner an industrial one that I also use for cleaning carbs and engine parts. I use finish dishwasher tablets and the brass comes out clean but not shiny. All I then do is rinse in clean water and dry.
I also have a Rebel17 wet tumbler and wow does the brass come out clean and shiny! inside and out and the primer pocket is clean. I take the top off the tumbler in the sink and just turn the tap on untill all the dirty water had gone. I then take the brass out turning them out into the tumbler so the pins fall out. I havent had any stuck in the case as of yet, even when doing .22 Hornet cases.

 

[Woodlander]

I'll try that. Thanks

 

[Harry mac]

Harry, just had read, , I wouldn't use this stuff, the proper stuff is uniform in size & shape, Steve.

Cheers Finn. I don't have the kit to use SS pins at the mo, but it's on my "to get" list.

 

[Orvil]

As long as you inspect each case once it's come out of your chosen cleaning process, you won't come acroper (who do you spell it??). I use a "modified" dryer to clean 2-300 308 sized brass at a time with around 5 kg's of media and have cleaned gowd knows how many. You will always get bits stuck in cases but the inspection will guarantee nothing untoward gets left in there. It also gives you the option of whipping out any buggered cases.

 

[jamesey]

Gents

I have a frankford arsenal tumbler that i intend to use stainless pins with
I know there are magnets for the removal / separation by same but its a bit of a clunky looking thing

just wondering if any of you have any ideas of how to remove the pins without needing the proprietary device
all ideas welcome

Cheers

 

[Moose67]

Gents

I have a frankford arsenal tumbler that i intend to use stainless pins with
I know there are magnets for the removal / separation by same but its a bit of a clunky looking thing

just wondering if any of you have any ideas of how to remove the pins without needing the proprietary device
all ideas welcome

Cheers

I originally used a 3d printed grid which I put into the tumbler and drained the pins out into a beer filter bag, keeping the brass inside the tumbler
but I much prefer to strain it through a Lyman Sifter which is quick and doesn't leak pins or need a magnet

 

[jamesey]

Thank you - Ill take a look at the sifter
Appreciate the super fast reply

 

[phaedra]

The FA large magnet isn't for removing the pins from the cases, it's for picking them up in bulk to move them.

My usual way is to tip most of the dirty water down the sink, then tip the remaining water, pins and cases into a 5L bucket.
Fill it with warm water (stops your hands freezing!) then pull out about 4 cases at a time, invert them so primer pockets are upwards over the bucket and shake to get any pins out, rinse in the water again to be sure.

Put those into another bucket or a large jug and repeat. Doesn't take long to do 100 cases, then rinse with clean water.
I then tip out the water in the jug, shake the cases and tip out the water again, I repeat this about 4 times to get most of the water out.
You can also run a telesopic magnetic pickup in the bottom of the jug to check for any odd pins.

After that I put about 50 cases into the middle of a medium towel, make it into a sling and spin it, centrifugal force gets more water out.

After all the cases are done I put them onto a pizza tray with some kitchen towel on it in a halogen oven on 80-100c for about 15 mins to dry.

 

[jamesey]

Thank you - this is really useful.
I aim to do 100 cases at a time
I have an aga i can dry the cartridges in - its on all the time so might as well make use of that warming drawer.

So. I have a good idea of how to get the brass out and dry
in order that the pins are re useable and dont end up in a damp rusty horrible mess - once they have been used and are sat in the bottom of a wet
stainless steel pin slurry - what do you do with the pins to get them ready to go back in the tub for next use ?

 

[paul o']

Reloading Ocd ! so its ultra sonic size, corn tumble , pocket clean, load shoot repeat and every 2nd they get an anneal first.

 

[jamesey]

As I dont intend to do LOADs its more about small patch precision and accuracy I planned to wet tumble - size - dry tumble to remove lube, clean pockets, load, shoot
and I have yet to take my UGLY annealer for a spin so thats gonna come into the mix- anneal every 2x ? I had (based on advice) planned to anneal every 4/5th -
is your every 2 shoots based on knowledge / experience. Learning loads as I go so this info is all gold. Thanks chaps

 

[angusb1]

Gents

I have a frankford arsenal tumbler that i intend to use stainless pins with
I know there are magnets for the removal / separation by same but its a bit of a clunky looking thing

just wondering if any of you have any ideas of how to remove the pins without needing the proprietary device
all ideas welcome

Cheers

Have a look for a salad spinner on Amazon.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B071G2TVMS/

Cheap and works a treat. Make sure your pins are shorter than the width of your case mouths and you should have no trouble with stuck pins.

Good luck.

 

[Pedro]

"Tumbling Brass". Sounds like a Rolling Stones track.

I admit to doing a bit of wet tumbling with pins and other additives and as a result my reloaded rounds do a nearly fair impression of factory rounds. But, really, so long as you are able to do enough to ensure the brass is in a good state to reload, anything more is just for show. I bet there are those amongst us who hardly do anything to clean their brass. And I'm sure there's some amongst us that want it to shine like it was polished gold. It's obvious that there are different methods to achieve your desired results too and to that, I say - power to your elbow. (Especially if you use wire wool).

 

[JTO]

Some stainless pins are NOT magnetic!

 

[phaedra]

Not had any problems with the pins rusting, I use either STM or the FA ones that came with the tumblers.

I have two of the FA 7L tumblers, one using pins and the other using 1.5mm ball bearings.
I use the balls for 223 etc. as they come out of the cases easier than the pins and do a very nice job.

One other thing I do now and again is to clean the pins, either in boiling water with some lemon juice or in some degreasing fluid.

 

[DesG]

I made myself a tumbler using an old tumble dryer motor and a super muscle builder food drum from the body building lads across the road. Ebay ss pins. Works great and cost nowt. I always stand the cleaned cases on end and shine a torch into them to check for stray pins and to be fair have spotted quite a few. I don't know how that would work with 17 though. My smallest case is 223.

I have experimented with different additives but find citric acid and washing powder works as well as anything. I left them running overnight once and turned the cases to bronze. I'm working on a new mix to turn them to gold!

As an added bonus, I have a smaller drum without tumbling strips which I chuck my cast lead bullets in along with bullet lube and run them for ten minutes or so. Coats them a treat.

 

[Rutland lad]

My only ‘complaint/observation’ re any of the above is I anneal cases first before starting in my reloading routine.
Once they’ve been through the ultrasonic it seems to remove the annealing marks leaving cases which look as though they’ve never been annealed. Not really an issue but somewhat galling after I’ve made a good job with the blowtorch !

 

[moeggesit]

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

How did you determine that it’s from a pin left behind? Was it still in the case? If so, wat caused the overpressure?