Stainless tumbler media and neck damage

[6Dasher]

Hi,

I have te stainless tumbler media and it cleans like nothing else. Despite all the "nothing but good" reviews I am no longer using this method as all my necks get damaged to the point I have to trim and chamfer in/outside of the neck after each cleaning.

The weight of the cases and media seems to trumpet the necks causing them to no longer fit a tight-neck chamber. If I resize after cleaning I will have to chamfer the inside of the necks and still have a small edge on the outside.

I've tried less/more media, less/more water, but no luck.


Does anyone have a work-around or solution to this, or similar expierience?

 

[Leaddog]

If you FL resize everytime, then trimming and chamfering is necessary anyway. This usually takes care of any peening issues. I've been SS cleaning for several years without complaint.

 

[6Dasher]

I always FL size (although minimally) with neck bushing after every firing. But rarely, if ever, do I need to trim the cases. The die does not deform the necks and have never had the need to chamfer besides on new brass and after trimming.

I clean the brass in the stainless media every 2-3 firings, but normally only trim every 10 firings: that means some calibers don't even make it there before being retired due to wearing out the barrel. The stainless media actually requires me to trim off more than I would ever due to case growth. Chamfering would need to be very agressive to get rid of the tumbler damage.

 

[Killshot]

I've been SS cleaning and annealing cases for customers and think the issue lies in the neck-turned brass.

If necks are turned down to .011" or thinner the media may slightly deform it. Cleaning only a dozen or so cases at a time with the barrel nearly filled with water seemed to help prevent the problem of "belling" the casemouths.

 

[daj]

I wrote to Cory Dickerson (STM) last year about this very problem but never received a reply.

After tumbling with SS media, my new looking brass would not feed reliably into my Lee Collet Die because of the neck mouth peening. Annealing made matters worse. As a work around, I have to bump the shoulder, length trim then chamfer before sizing.

 

[sparky123321]

Slow it down!

I use a standard speed Lortone rock tumbler and my brass comes out better than it does from the factory. Maybe it takes me a little longer because I don't use the high speed Thumbler, but I've NEVER had any damage to my cases. I really don't think it's the SS pins that are damaging your cases. It's most likely the other cases that are doing the damage. The SS pins do do have enough mass to damage your case necks. Pick up a new or used "standard speed" tumbler and you'll be good to go. I perfer Lortone. Thumbler would be By the way, I use 6-7lb of SS pins and then fill the drum to about the half way point. I then add enough hot water to cover all of the brass and pins. I know they say not to use hot water, but I highly recommend giving it a try. A teaspoon of dishwashing liquid and Lemishine and the brass will be good to go after about 3 hours.

I've also used the RCBS Sidewinder and a commercial deburing tumbler with the same great results.

 

[Alex Wheeler]

6Dasher,
I'm in the same boat. I'm cleaning by hand now. I did try only running the tumbler for about 30 minutes. They don't come out spotless, but still cleaner than a standard tumbler and not beat up. If we are peening the case mouth we are also work hardening it.

 

[sparky123321]

Guess I must be doing something right. I can do batches of 300-400+ .45 and 400-500+ .40 or .357 SIG at a time. My rifle brass(.223, .284, .338, etc) comes out just as nice.

 

[mikegaiz]

Is it hard to get the media out of the rifle cartridge necks? is there a secret process?

 

[gmorganal]

Is there any way to slow the Thumbler down so that you get the cleaning without the case neck damage and don't have to get a new tumbler?

 

[MQ1]

Sparky,

Which Lortone tumbler do you use and why?

MQ1

 

[Scott Harris]

I only tumble for 12 minutes....gets it 95% clean with far less wear on the mouths. Go to ultrasonic if a small amount of peening is unacceptable.

 

[Bradley Walker]

Is there any way to slow the Thumbler down so that you get the cleaning without the case neck damage and don't have to get a new tumbler?

I would also like to know this.

 

[brian427cobra]

SS media does clean like no other, its fast, its easy, but its not perfect, I don't consider the neck peening an issue, I use a Giraud Trimmer, my problem with SS cleaned brass is the SD/ES is higher than brass cleaned in Walnut shells, necks brushed but not polished, dry lube does help but is not as good as the left over carbon, so now I only use SS for pistol and blasting ammo.

 

[bigedp51]

I brought this up before in this forum and I was told it was my fault for doing something wrong. The only thing I did wrong was take a closeup macro photo of the peening and post it here.

 

[Bradley Walker]

SS media does clean like no other, its fast, its easy, but its not perfect, I don't consider the neck peening an issue, I use a Giraud Trimmer, my problem with SS cleaned brass is the SD/ES is higher than brass cleaned in Walnut shells, necks brushed but not polished, dry lube does help but is not as good as the left over carbon, so now I only use SS for pistol and blasting ammo.

What are you ES/SD numbers? What bushing do you use?

 

[BoydAllen]

I think that this is a perfect example of how the differences in how shooters use their brass, and their accuracy goals, dictate different procedures.

I do most of my reloading at the range, for a 6PPC that requires that I turn necks to a maximum thickness of .0086. I expect this rifle to be capable of delivering groups in the low .2s and .1s, when in perfect tune, and when conditions are light. In the course of preparing cases to be reloaded, I never want to remove all of the powder fouling from the inside of my case's necks, because experience has taught me, and everyone that I know of that shoots competitive benchrest, that leaving some fouling in case necks gives more consistent seating feel, and most likely bullet pull. I would never put my brass in a tumbler, or a vibrator cleaner. I clean powder fouling from necks with 0000 steel wool, and wipe them off. On the other hand, for many other uses, where case necks are a lot thicker, and the rifles less accurate, perhaps reality is entirely different. Different games have different rules. I don't think that my benchrest rifle would do a very good job at a three gun match.

 

[sparky123321]

I know Thumbler makes a standard speed rock tumbler and a high speed tumbler that seems to be the one everyone recommends for cleaning brass with SS media. I use a standard(low) speed Lortone QT12 rock tumbler.

I'll try to throw in a batch of .338 Lapua and .284 WIN(mixed) right now and post some photos later. Just need to decap them first. I all of my brass with steel pins now, including my long range precision rifle ammo.

I'll try to post photos of the entire process.

 

[sparky123321]

 

[sparky123321]

I normally clean more brass at one time, but this was all I had ready to go. The drum is normally filled about half way or even a little more with the brass and pins. I make sure to cover all the brass and pins with water. I used hot water and tumbled for about 2 1/2 hours. I rinse it quite a bit in the drum(until water is pretty clear), I then dump it into the colander and continue to rinse it while moving it around. Almost all of the pins end up going through the colander and into the bucket, but I still do a quick spin in the RCBS media separator. I roll the cases around on a bath towel to dry most of the excess water on the exterior and then stand up the cases on a shamwow(guess they're good for something afterall) to dry overnight.