SS media

[itchyTF]

Does anyone know if SS tumbling media can be used dry? Would save the hassle of drying the cases.
Has anyone tried it?

 

[Cigarcop]

I honestly don't know why everyone thinks its a hassle to dry.....after tumbling I rinse them off, blow them out with the air hose and they are good to go. You can even dump them in some Rubbing ( Isopropyl) alcohol which will dry in seconds....I've seen people build drying tables with lights...just doesn't make sense to me. Good luck

 

[mikegaiz]

How do you get the SS media out of the cases? Does it get jammed up?

 

[premo 2]

I use a Dillon media tumbler just turn it slow or it goes everywhere 8)

 

[jlow]

It will not work when used dry. The reason is you are trying to do two things when you use SS media. One is to remove the carbon, the other is to remove the tarnish of the brass i.e. oxidation. In order to do the first, you need to soften the carbon deposit by putting it in water, and the Dawn soap that is in the water will keep it suspended. To remove the tarnish, you need to use Lemishine in the water. Lemishine is citric acid which will dissolve the copper oxidation, leaving a shine.

So without water, you cannot soften the carbon deposit which is very hard and all you have would be the rubbing action of the media sliding pass the brass which will not be able to work efficiently. You will also not get the shine since you cannot add Lemishine.

Having used this process for more than a year, I can safely say that the “hassle” of drying the case is overblown. Once you finish the process and rinse out the carbon /soap/Lemishine, all you have to do is put the brass in a wire basket and leave it over the exhaust port of either my furnace (winter) or dehumidifier (summer), the brass will dry overnight.

 

[Leaddog]

I dry using a final rinse of 99% Isopropyl Alcohol. Fast, clean, and easy.

 

[markm87]

jlow nailed it.

Once you actually go hands on with SS media, it will become monumentally obvious why it's a wet process.

Also, if you forget the liquid soap or detergent, it makes a huge different. The soap keeps the media flowing like lava. Without it the media just wants to cake up in the water.

 

[infantrytrophy]

And don't forget the other benefits of the water. The media, rotary tumbler and rotary media separator are self-cleaning.

Remember the PITA process to clean the carbon from the vibratory tumbler bowl when using walnut or corncob media? And when trying to get "just one more" cycle from a batch of walnut or corncob media, I ended up with a batch of slimy, not-quite-clean brass. No more - every batch of wet-tumbled brass is now perfect.

Randy

 

[Mudcat]

If you actually think cleaning with SS media is any more difficult than any other method, you are probably not cleaning your brass properly.

 

[markm87]

If you actually think cleaning with SS media is any more difficult than any other method, you are probably not cleaning your brass properly.

Yep. If you're smart you'll come up with an efficient way of doing the job.

A good separation system is helpful. I run a bucket to catch the water, a screen sunk into the bucket to catch the SS media, and my regular walnut separator pan over the screen to catch the brass.

 

[bsekf]

Haven't used my HF tumbler yet, so I am worring about the unknown.

Does the media stick in the cases? or does it flow out with the water? I planned on rinsing in a pail, shaking the media out of the cases and then pouring the liquid through a tea strainer to catch the media. Will that work?

Bill

 

[Mudcat]

Does the media stick in the cases? or does it flow out with the water? I planned on rinsing in a pail, shaking the media out of the cases and then pouring the liquid through a tea strainer to catch the media. Will that work?

Bill

I use a Dillon separator and my 10 yr old spins it for about a minute and then we rinse the cases and the brass one last time and then dry off the outside of the cases by dumping them in a towel an dthen check the flash holes to make sure that we dont have pins in the flash holes. sometimes I get none, sometimes I get 4 or 5 cases with them.

John

 

[amlevin]

Haven't used my HF tumbler yet, so I am worring about the unknown.

Does the media stick in the cases? or does it flow out with the water? I planned on rinsing in a pail, shaking the media out of the cases and then pouring the liquid through a tea strainer to catch the media. Will that work?

Bill

The only part of the media that sticks in the case is an occasional piece of pin that might get stuck in a primer pocket. I've used the stuff for over a year now and had exactly three pins do this. All it took was a paper clip to dislodge it. I've had more corncob or walnut shell get stuck in the cases than any SS pins.

I separate using my RCBS media separator. I dump the cases, water, and pins in the separator, tumble for a minute or so, then merely strain the dirty solution from the pins by pouring through an old t-shirt used as a filter. I just cut off a large piece of t-shirt, put it in a large plastic coffee container, pour the mess in, pull up the shirt and rinse through the shirt with hot water. The pins then go back in the tumbler to wait for the next "laundry day".

I then rinse the cases in the hottest water I can get from the tap, pour the rinsed cases on a large bath towel, then making the towel into a "sling" just slosh them back and forth to shake/blot off all the water I can. They're then dry enough for trimming/chamfering/deburring. If I want to load the same day, a hair dryer can finish the job in 10 minutes or so.

 

[jlow]

Getting the media out of the case in a foolproof manner depends on the case.

For pistol cases which are straight wall, this is pretty easy and you can use a regular media separator running it ½ underwater and the pins will fall out. The ones that gets stuck in the primer pocket you can get out by shaking the separator violently in the air afterwards so that all the brass bounce around strongly against each other, and yes, always inspect your primer pocket before depriming, you should anyway due to the possibility of a boxer primed case.

For rifle bottle necked brass, the media separator will not give you a reliable separation, this is because of the shape of the case which when sitting horizontal will want to keep the pins inside the case. The only sure fire way to ensure the pin removal is to hold the case with the neck pointing down and underwater and giving it a shake. You do not need to do anything else to remove the pins. It is more work but of course I don’t shoot anywhere the number of rifle rounds compared to pistol so it is not a problem.

 

[amlevin]

Getting the media out of the case in a foolproof manner depends on the case.

For pistol cases which are straight wall, this is pretty easy and you can use a regular media separator running it ½ underwater and the pins will fall out. The ones that gets stuck in the primer pocket you can get out by shaking the separator violently in the air afterwards so that all the brass bounce around strongly against each other, and yes, always inspect your primer pocket before depriming, you should anyway due to the possibility of a boxer primed case.

For rifle bottle necked brass, the media separator will not give you a reliable separation, this is because of the shape of the case which when sitting horizontal will want to keep the pins inside the case. The only sure fire way to ensure the pin removal is to hold the case with the neck pointing down and underwater and giving it a shake. You do not need to do anything else to remove the pins. It is more work but of course I don’t shoot anywhere the number of rifle rounds compared to pistol so it is not a problem.

Two things--

I think you meant Berdan, not Boxer

Next, I have run thousands of .223 cases in SS Media and have ZERO problems getting the pins out of them using my media separator. Unlike corncob or walnut shell which can clump if it gets wet or too much polish in it, the SS pins rattle out nice and easy when the separator basket turns. I had more issues with leftover 'cob than with the pins.

 

[jlow]

Amlevin – you are correct, I did mean Berdan. Thanks for the correction, I was going too fast writing that post.

Whether the media separator is 100% effective is a continued debate and not absolutely proven. For example, many people have run thousands of 223 cases this way but we know that not all those cases in question were checked. This is likely also true for you but I can stand corrected if this is not the case.

I recently had a discussion with someone who ran a test and use the invert the case method after running a large number of cases through just the media separator and actually did find pins which were not removed – not exactly a surprise if you look at the geometry of the case.

The problem is in fact the SS pin do not always rattle since a few do adhere to the inside due the existence of water and surface tension. The risk of pins in cases is something that each person has to decide for themselves. Not say this is the only method for others, but I choose the more labor intensive method.

 

[markm87]

I shake the bottle neck brass out in the tumbler bucket by hand each time I separate. I then dump that brass into a tote of fresh water. Then I'll take a handful of brass and whip the water out of the case with arm toss action and toss it into the vibratory to dry the inside.

It's a little extra work, but the only pins I end up with are the doubles that stick in the flash hole. Those get punched when I resize/necksize.

(we've only had one, that I know of, pin get fired in a weapon. It was an AR and the pin ejected out the port and got my buddy's attention when the hot piece hit his arm. That's when I started a more thorough rinse)

 

[jlow]

I shake the bottle neck brass out in the tumbler bucket by hand each time I separate. I then dump that brass into a tote of fresh water. Then I'll take a handful of brass and whip the water out of the case with arm toss action and toss it into the vibratory to dry the inside.

It's a little extra work, but the only pins I end up with are the doubles that stick in the flash hole. Those get punched when I resize/necksize.

(we've only had one, that I know of, pin get fired in a weapon. It was an AR and the pin ejected out the port and got my buddy's attention when the hot piece hit his arm. That's when I started a more thorough rinse)

That is a good practice and similar to what I do.

When I first started, my concern is that pins that gets ejected from the case may lodge in the barrel and cause a KB when the next round is fired. It appears that this does not happen but the pin apparently can get smeared into the barrel by the round. Not as bad as a KB but I am not sure I want SS media smeared on the surface of my precision gun, thus I take special care to remove the media. It is not that much work since as mentioned before, my rifle brass is much less numerous than my pistol brass.