tumbling???

[powderbrake]

Do you add any polish to your media? It will get the outside very shiny, but a lot of the carbon will remain inside the case dry tumbling.

I use corn cob and Dillon's Rapid Polish which does NOT contain ammonia. Cases come out bright. I clean first, then size and deprime, as the pin will knock any cob out of the primer hole.

I definitely WANT the carbon left in the neck, as it provides a lube for the bullet seating. I run a brush down each neck before loading the powder.

 

[strat81]

I switched from corncob to ultrasonic.

Ultrasonic pros:
-No toxic dust cloud
-No media to separate
-No media stuck in flash holes or neck
-No peened case mouths (compared to SS tumbling)

Ultrasonic cons:
-Gets necks "squeaky clean" which may affect bullet seating (compared to corncob)
-May not get brass super-shiny
-Requires drying, either by time or by machine
-Small processing volume, depending on unit size

I have one of the small Hornady units. After using a few different chemicals, I've settled on water with a squirt of dish soap and a dash of Lemishine (less is better). I'll let it run for 60 minutes for most cases. After the cycle, I'll rinse the brass with clean water, then transfer the damp brass to a cookie sheet and stick in the oven at 200* for an hour or two.

While the brass is in the ultrasonic or the oven, I can do other things, whether it's gun stuff, TV, or playing with my kids. So while the process may take a few hours, the time I'm actually hands-on is minimal.

To me, not having to deal with corncob or pins in my flash holes or case bodies is well worth it. No nasty dust either.

 

[msinc]

Without residue?

I don't see any. Not sure what residue there would be...I have bare brass cases wet with clear, clean rinse water only. The idea is to dry the water as quick and easy as possible without a whole lot of work. Slosh them around in denatured alcohol which is really the same as "dry gas", and let the much more rapidly evaporating alcohol dry up. Denatured alcohol will easily mix with water {and also gasoline, that's why it's the main ingredient in dry gas}. I have never had alcohol leave any residue behind unless there was something there to start with. It dries up pretty completely, same as acetone. When that dries you don't even smell it any more.
The one thing to remember is that both acetone and denatured alcohol are both fast evaporating chemicals so you have to keep it in a covered container when not in use or it is gone. They are also flammable. Denatured over isopropyl {rubbing} because the later has some water already in it and wont evaporate as fast.

 

[garandman]

@msinc ... sounds good. I will give it a try.

 

[ebb]

Why not?

 

[garandman]

Why not?

Cuz its childish ugly and insulting for no reason.

I made a legit observation / recommendation. I was trying to help you get the shiny clean cases you said you want.

And you respond by making fun of my username?

 

[garandman]

Well lets see garanddad I would have to buy a rotary tumbler, <snip>

..

 

[dcali]

The short answer to your question is "no". You cannot get cases shiny and clean by dry tumbling.

 

[riflewoman]

Well lets see garandman I would have to buy a rotary tumbler, stainless media, some kind of cleaning solution, and a separator then I would have wet soapy brass that I would have to wash then dry. I would have the potential of have deformed case mouths and getting a pin stuck in a case and shooting it out of the gun and ruining a barrel. Now I understand the last two scenarios are remote but still something I would like to avoid. Then I have a tumbler that I paid $150 for that was made for and will last a life time that will be useless. I "like" the super clean brass, but know it is not necessary for accuracy. Some of the very best benchrest shooters tested and found that even cleaning primer pockets does nothing to improve groups. All that said if I were starting over without any equipment I would get an ultrasonic machine. I was looking for a way to make my machine work better, and thought someone on here might have figured it out. I will experiment.

I have a Frankford Arsenal Rotary Tumbler. My process is as follows:

add brass to an empty tumbler until it is half full.
Add hot tap water until the water is 3/4 full.
Add 1/2 teaspoon Lemishine
Add 1 tsp Dawn dishwashing soap.
tumble for two hours
Drain the dirty soapy water
Then fill the tumbler to over flowing with clean water from the tap Then dumping it.
Repeat this three times.
Layout in the sun to dry or use a food dehydrator/brass dryer.

I don’t use pins.
I decap Rifle brass because it dries quicker, I don't Bother decapping pistol brass.

 

[jepp2]

I don’t use pins.

I'm curious, do you get any marks on the case mouth?

My feeling is the marks on the case mouth come from them banging into other cases (heads and mouths) not from the pins. I also find the marks are the worst when I have very few cases in the tumbler, and the least when I have the tumbler at capacity. The cases "bang" around more when there are less of them in the tumbler.

 

[riflewoman]

I never really noticed to be honest. I generally deburr lightly every shooting anyway. I’ll truly to remember to look next time.

 

[Fotheringill]

Walnut with the "rouge" has always disturbed me with that fine red residue that I wiped off, so I am a corn cob guy. I use a nylon brush to clean the inside of the neck no matter what. For clogging the flash hole, I found one of the really small Allen wrench keys fit and work great for the clogs.

 

[xring]

I have used a Vibratory Brass Cleaner for decades . Can't even remember what the Media is . Many thousands of Cases . Never changed the Media . I add some Bon Ami Cleanser once in a while and also a few Tablespoons of Midway , Dillon , or Red Rooster Brass Cleaner . Brass comes out nice and shiny , but not inside . Decades ago when I had access to a lot of Chemicals and a Fume Hood , I did a lot of Tests on my Lunch hour . I even used an Industrial Ultrasonic Unit . I wont mention what cleaned Brass the best ( Acid Solution ) as it would be too dangerous for normal use . Darned Brass came out more yellow than normal , but also seemed to have a pasivation layer as handling that Brass over months did not Tarnish it . Picked up a Thumblers Tumbler and some Pins a while ago , but have not tried it yet .

 

[JimSC]

Without residue?

acetone will leave a residue, isopropyl or methyl alcohol would not

 

[mousegunner]

Walnut, thinner and a dryer sheet for initial clean. Soak in hot water, lemon shine and a little soap after resizing to remove lube, rinse and dry. GTG. Corn cob and Nu Finish if I want a little more shine. Done and done. I have pin tumbled and it does peen the case mouth. Don't want it on pistol brass and will get cleaned up on rifle brass when trimmed. I tried SS pins and went back to my old Lyman. I'm a grandpa and I approved this message.

 

[BDman]

I've been using the SST tumbler and pins for the last couple of years and have not found damage to case mouths if I limit the time from an hour to 1:20. No change in accuracy either but I'm okay with .25 - .30 moa with my rifles. I always dip the bullet base in graphite and bullet seating is smooth. However, a friend of mine has started adding a capful of liquid car wax to his tumbling solution and tells me he no longer needs the graphite "bullets seat like butter" he says and the brass stays shiny longer. I'm going to try it soon.

 

[Webster]

I have resisted ultra sonic and stainless pin brass cleaning because I have a relatively new Dillon vibratory tumbler, and I don't want my brass wet and don't want to have to figure out how to dry it. I do like the super clean cases! Is there a way I can keep using my tumbler and get better results than using walnut or corn cob media? I've heard of using rice but never tried cause it seems too soft. Could some type of ceramic balls, plastic, or metal media be used? Who here has tried anything new?

This subject has been covered many times but i'll add what I do. i don't do a lot of cases a year, maybe 75 a month. Clean once every 3 or 4 firings. I consider it cosmetic. I bought a tumbler at Harbor Freight for $39. I bought way to many SS pins. They are the big expenditure. I tumble a couple hours with water, LemonShine and Dawn. Eyeball the amounts. Rinse in a bucket with several changes of water, shake the pins out. Buy a gallon of distilled water for steam irons for $1. Rinse in distiled water, shake the water out a put in the kitchen oven at 190F for 2 hours turn the heat off and cool down over night. If you dry at higher temp the cases oxidize and don't look as bright. Inspect each case with a flashlight for stuck pins. The cases are bright and clean inside and out. Total time actual labor about an 1-1.5 hours. Several times I took a DustOff can inserted the straw-like tube in the case and blew water out. A lot of water was sill in some of the cases after shaking them real hard.

 

[Gater]

I use the Sonic cleaner then after dumping the solution out of tha cases I’ll tumble them to get them dry if you want them real shiny put a little Flitz polishing compound oh the inside of the tumbler. Another little trick is when your media gets dirty toss a sheet or two of bouncy fabric softener in while tumbling it will clean the media. Another idea is when you run out of media go on line and look for tumbling media you can get it in bulk a lot cheaper