Shiney Brass

[Ccrider]

No stainless tumbling for me. I figure sooner or later I would damage my annealer.

If I want clean, I use an ultrasonic cleaner and RCBS or Birchwood Casey solution.

If I want shiny too, I use the steps set out in the stickey post on this site.

If I want really shiny, I throw them into the vibratory tumbler overnight.

Most of the time, I wipe them off after firing and then anneal, brush the necks, clean the primer pocket, load and shoot them dirty.

 

[Oso]

Sorry - should have mentioned this in my earlier post. I was reminded as I sorted through this past weekend's tumbling pile.

With wet tumbling you only want to do brass cases, including nickle coated brass cases. Steel cases (lacquered or galvanized) are the Nemesis of wet tumbling, especially cases that have a lacquered finish... think Eastern Block surplus ammo for rifle and pistol. Also, aluminum alloy cases aren't hard enough to handle the abrasion of the steel pins. One other oddity is that some manufacturers have recently taken to nickle coating steel cases to save a penny. My first step is to run a magnet over and through all my brass (pistol and rifle) to catch any steel cases that I overlooked during my manual sort/inspection. Cases shot through an AR15 with a suppressor and weathered range brass takes on a green black color that is pretty close to the steel case bulk ammo. The magnet takes away the guess work.

https://www.harborfreight.com/long-reach-magnetic-pickup-tool-with-quick-release-93950.html
I have one of these and a shorter hand-length model. This makes life easy for identifying/separating steel cases, and also for picking up any loose steel pins/chips that fall on the floor when cleaning or spinning brass in a separator. I like these types of magnet where you can draw back the magnet cluster from the tool surface so you don't have to directly hand pick everything off the magnet.

You will know when you missed even one single piece of steel BECAUSE when you pop open the tumbler the water will be toxic black, cases will be coated in black film and so will the inside of the tumbling canister. The solution is to rinse everything thoroughly, and then spend some serious TLC soaping and wiping down the walls and lid to the tumbler canister until no more black grease comes off on your paper towels. Then it is a short 20 minute rinse cycle with hot water and soap to clean the greasy cases and steel pins. Sometimes you have to repeat this step. If it is really bad then you can always just run the tumbler with the pins and soapy water before running a rinse cycle to clean the greasy brass. PITA but easy fix.

 

[338 dude]

Just did another batch of 300 WinMag cases 100 pieces of brass for 90 minutes in the fart Tumblr then two hours in walnut hull media in the vibratory Tumblr

 

[jonbearman]

One thing I would add is run your tumbler with just the stainless pins filled with hot water from the tap and add a good little squirt of DAWN and a small pinch of lemi shine(walmart has it) which is used in dishwashers. Run it for a couple hours and dump into a pail pins and brass and rinse it with hot water, pour off the rinse washer till clear. The reason is the pins have an oil on them and if you tumble without doing this your first batch will look worse than when you put it in. Then put the media back in with say 300 cases and add one good heavy squirt of DAWN and a 1/4 teaspoon of lemishine. If they are real dirty run for a couple hours , if lightly dirty then run for an hour and a quarter. I use my dillion media separator with hot water in the pan about 3/4 way up and slowly tumble till most of the pins are out then spin faster till they are free of pins. Then shake the separator and pour onto an old bath towel. Run your magnet around the brass because occasionally one or a few cases will have a sideways pin in the neck holding the pins in. Remove the pin with a small needle nose plier and dump them out. Remember your magnet is your best friend. Then take your wife's blow dryer on high heat and dry them to taste.