Using Harbor Freight SS Tumbler

[Joe R]

amlevin said: As for Frankford Arsenal "making" the magnet, I've seen them all over the place. They're used in industrial or retail operations for picking up items like nails from a bin. They're for sale on Amazon.

amlevin, you're a good man to have around. Sometimes I overlook the obvious. I has searched Amazon for the FART but not for the magnet. Thanks to you,I was able to buy one for $6.11, and because I have Prime I'll get by Tuesday without paying for freight charges. That's less than half what Midway would have charged me for the magnet alone. Thanks, much appreciated.

I also use the T-shirt filter method, and the media separator, but I seem to find many ways to spill/drop the pins, so the magnet seems like a good tool to have for those times.

Joe

 

[amlevin]

I also use the T-shirt filter method, and the media separator, but I seem to find many ways to spill/drop the pins, so the magnet seems like a good tool to have for those times.

Joe

I've got to admit that I spill one or more from time to time. I use one of the magnets my wife uses to attach pic's of our grand-kids to the refrigerator to pick up the stray's

 

[Bayou]

Hi, Guys -

Good discussion on the methods of catching those pesky "escapee" pins. I've used them, and they all seem to work well.

Just another idea - when unloading the water and pins from the media separator, I often will pour the pins into a fine mesh kitchen strainer setting on top of a bucket. The strainer catches the pins, and water goes through. It has to be one of the fine mesh strainers, as some pins will get passed an ordinary mesh strainer.

Bayou

 

[Tempest]

Hi, Guys -

Good discussion on the methods of catching those pesky "escapee" pins. I've used them, and they all seem to work well.

Just another idea - when unloading the water and pins from the media separator, I often will pour the pins into a fine mesh kitchen strainer setting on top of a bucket. The strainer catches the pins, and water goes through. It has to be one of the fine mesh strainers, as some pins will get passed an ordinary mesh strainer.

Bayou

This is what I do.

 

[1shot]

I have a couple of 1"x2" magnets that came from who knows where. I pour the entire contents of the tumbler drum into a cheese cloth sack, that is placed inside the finest strainer I could permanently borrow from the kitchen without the other half raising to much sand . I then rinse the pins and brass in the hot water with the magnets placed in the sink drain to catch any of the pins that try and sneak away. Lastly, I take the magnets and hold them in my hand while making several passes around the bottom of the bucket of dirty water. I then pitch the water out the back door, separate the brass from the pins by pointing the mouth of the case down and tapping the brass together and placing them on a series of mesh screens from an old food dehydrator. I then set the dehydrator at about 120 deg. and all the brass is rinsed, clean and dry in about an hour. Any pins that got stuck in the brass because of moisture will fall out and are collected by the magnets. Believe me when I tell you it takes longer to explain it than to do it.
I hope this is of some help to someone,
Lloyd

 

[mattri]

Very interesting thread- thanks to all for the good information.

For those who have gone from regular corn cob etc. media tumbling to the ss method what kind of improvements in accuracy are you seeing?

 

[Joe R]

Mattri,
IMO the improvement in accuracy is negligible and difficult to prove. The main improvement is in consistency improvements. I know my hand loads are much more consistent, but the biggest benefit is that clean brass is simply easier to work with, the dies stay clean much longer and it takes less lubrication and force to resize them and the lube comes off easier.

To me another big improvement is getting the carbon out of the cases. Carbon is one of the hardest substances on the planet, with enough pressure and time it becomes a diamond. Getting carbon blasted in the case, behind the bullet or down the barrel can't help things. Minimizing it has to help.

Once you try it, you'll never go back. By the way I have a RCBS vibrating tumbler that I can sell cheap. Any interest?

Joe

 

[Joe R]

Just to post a follow-up in case someone reads the previous posting about the FART and stainless pins cleaning.

I've gone back to 1 tablespoon of Dawn and 1/4 teaspoon of Lemi-Shine as my recipe. For some reason the Blue Coral Car Wash and Wax did not work well with the FART and left the brass with a black film.

Additionally, I've discovered that tumbling for 3 hours is much too long. 1 hour is enough. Furthermore, 5 pounds of pins are not enough to prevent peening, I had to go up to 10 pounds of stainless steel pins. Peening happens when the .308 brass smashes into each other during the tumbling process and results in a little ridge forming at the mouth of the case neck. That little ridge interferes with neck tension and accuracy suffers as a result. Increasing the number of pins (they act as a buffer between the cases) and reducing the tumbling time eliminates the problem. jlow ( a user here) was kind enough to illuminate me on this matter.

If you're not reloading for precision long range shooting feel free to ignore the above.

Happy tumbling.

Joe

 

[Bayou]

Hi, Joe -

It sure sounds like you really are tumbling happy with your new FART! Glad to hear it....

It appears that each of the differing wet tumbler set-ups have their own individual personalities in what recipe works best, tumbling time, etc. Looks like you've got yours figured out.

Keep on Tumbling Happy.....

Bayou

 

[Senator]

My thoughts for anyone interested:

1. How big of a tumbler do you use? For rotary wet tumbling with SS pins I use an MJR 15# 1 gal tumbler with 5# of pins. I decap the brass prior to wet tumbling. I use a Dillon 2000 vibratory tumbler, but only for after the round is complete to wash off any excess lube and shine up brass that has been unused long enough to tarnish.
2. How many cases do you process at one time? Anywhere from 20 or 30 up to 150 .308, and up to 300 9mm
3. For how long do you tumble them? Depends on "fouling". For the really bad stuff I let the tumbler run for 3-4 hours while I'm doing something else (like mowing or gardening). For the clean stuff I just shot, an hour does the job. I let a couple of range sessions worth accumulate so I have a max load when I run the tumbler (ditto!)
4. Recipe for water mixture? I use 2/3 full of water with 5# of pins, one tablespoon of Maguire's Car wash soap with wax and a tiny pinch of LemmiShine. Seems to take longer before the brass tarnishes after using Dawn or Dawn with LemmiShine.
5. How many pounds/bags of pins? 5# - last literally forever.
6. How do you dry the cases after you've cleaned them? I rinse in the tumbler drum running warm water until full 4 or 5 times until no more bubbles when I re-fill the drum, and mix up the contents as I fill each time. Drain as much as I can without spilling the pins and brass, then use a rotary media separator. then I put the wet brass into a fruit dryer I got at Goodwill for 5 bucks and run it for 2-3 hours until dry. Cool and put into a suitable size container. My wife has birds, so I use the empty gallon size plastic bird food containers - they are square and stack well.
7. With the benefit of hindsight, is the trouble really worth it? Definitely. The brass looks like new when I finish and the dangerously toxic nature of gunpowder/primer residue is mitigated. I use D-Lead liquid Hand Cleaner (available at Wal Mart online) to wash my hands and arms after handling any dirty brass or spent primers - after an afternoon at the range. I also change clothes and wash my face with soap and COLD water (to close my pores) after a range day.

OBTW, I have found Lucas Brass Cleaner far superior to to any other corn cob media additive for vibratory tumbling. I have tried them all, I think.

I have been reloading pretty much continuously since I was 14. I'm 67 now and a lot smarter than I was about reloading from the beginning - and STILL learn every day. I really liked the t-shirt rinse method in a previous post - gonna try that next batch.