My method rifle / pistol brass stainless & tumbler

[elfster1234]

for my stainless steel cleaning method with thumler's tumbler B and 5lb of stainless steel media:

<span style="color: #990000">TUMBLER:</span> http://www.midwayusa.com/product/426185/...umbler-110-volt

<span style="color: #990000">MEDIA:</span> http://www.midwayusa.com/product/635839/..._vc=sugv1426185

<span style="color: #990000">LEMI-SHINE IF POSSIBLE:</span> http://www.walmart.com/ip/Lemi-Shine-Super-Concentrated-Dishwasher-Detergent-Additive-12-oz/15724190

<span style="color: #990000">HIGH CONCENTRATED BLUE DISH SOAP:</span> http://www.dollartree.com/school-office-...o?method=search

<span style="color: #990000">SOME TYPE OF MEDIA SEPERATOR, FOR PURE EXAMPLE ONLY:</span> http://www.midwayusa.com/product/176956/rcbs-rotary-case-and-media-separator


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* it is really nice to have an airhose and sink next to your reloading bench for this if possible. Make sure you use eye protection when using airhose. Only takes 1pc of SS media to get pass your sieve method to give you a bad day. Nice to have some method of drain protection for SS media that might fall out of your SS media sieve method.

*pick up some lemi-shine @ walmart for about $3.50, and put about 1 teaspoon per use. will last a longgg time. This i'll actually measure out so the lemi-shine lasts and not just dumping into hot water.

*also, i'll pick up some blue colored high concentrate dish soap (thicker soap fluid the better) at the dollar store and will put about 3 tablespoons aprox per use... will also last a long time. this ill just put a big squirt into HOT water and don't measure.

*i'll tumble with hot water, and then rinse with cold water (IMO, helps with brass not tarnishing).... I will usually fill tumler's tumbler up about 3/4 full of HOT water. Do NOT overload your tumbler with too much brass!!


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<span style="font-weight: bold"><span style="text-decoration: underline">For rifle brass, with absolutely no wait time between steps i will:</span></span>

- tumble with HOT water/lemi-shine/high concentrated soap just enough for resizing (approx 45min)

- rinse cold water / sieve media / drain water, grab a big handful of brass case mouth up and hit down neck with air hose (make sure you use eye protection just in case SS media is still in brass) and then outside of brass / primer section with airhose. Can usually grab about 20pcs of .308 brass case mouth up in hand. this step only takes seconds.

- put airhose dried brass in special designated bowl for lubing, spray lube brass, with a very small dab of imperial wax in palm of hand, and work the brass till covered with lube. speed drytime of lube up with airhose. just enough for resizing / depriming.

- size and deprime

- back into tumbler with HOT water/lemi-shine/high concentrated soap just enough for primer pockets to be 100% clean (approx 1-1/2 to 2 hours). Fine line between cleaning enough for the primer pockets to be clean but NOT too long for the case mouth to get heavily ballpeaned from the SS media.

- MAKE SURE your hands are 100% clean from all oils and lube so your brass doesn't tarnish!!!! rinse cold water / sieve media / drain water, grab a big handful of brass case mouth up and hit down neck with air hose (make sure you use eye protection just in case SS media is still in brass) and then outside of brass / primer section with airhose. Can usually grab about 20pcs of .308 brass case mouth up in hand. this step only takes seconds.

- usually brass is damn near dry enough to seat primers, but i'll usually just let the brass sit over night.

- brass case prep, trim brass, blah blah blah

- while rifle brass is in reloading tray, ill double check each case mouth with flash light to make 100% sure there is NO SS media inside brass... better safe than sorry. It only takes 1pc of this very small SS media to torch your rifle barrel if not worse.

- seat primers, make sure all primers are seated just below flush.... no need for slamfires here people!!

- drop powder

- seat bullets

- load into your rifle and kick some ass


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<span style="font-weight: bold"><span style="text-decoration: underline">As for pistol brass it is crazy stupid easy if you stay ahead of the game before you reload with clean dry brass:</span></span>

- tumble with HOT water with lemi-shine and maybe a tad bit more dish soap for about 1-1/2 to 2hours

- rinse cold water / sieve media / drain water

- put into strainer type bowl and hit it up with with airhose with eye protection.... i'll usually put something over the sink drain as i had a 9mm brass come out of strainer bowl and go down sink drain = not friggen fun! don't need to get 100% dry with airhose, but dry as much as possible. I've noticed if you swirl pistol brass in a special flat bottom tray / bowl once you pull brass out of your media seperator, they have a tendancy to flip case mouth side up believe it or not!! This makes it crazy easy with an airhose!!! Obviously back the airhose off a little so you don't have 9mm brass flying all over the place. LOL

- let pistol brass sit for about 1 week so primer pockets are 100% dry for auto progressive pistol reloading before you reload / store brass in zip lock bag for future reloading... as for me, i have TONS of pistol brass so i'll have dry pistol brass 24/7 for reloading if you're ahead of the game.

- you do not need to lube pistol brass, run thru your auto progressive reloader set up... for me on my hornady LNL AP press it is size / deprime die, primer seat, bell brass die, power drop, RCBS powder lock out die (MUST HAVE IMO), bullet seater/crimp die. DONE!

- put in pistol and kick some ass!


Hope this helps.

 

[elfster1234]

Re: My method rifle / pistol brass stainless & tumbler

I would be interested in others methods when using SS media and tumbler. We can learn from each other.

 

[turbo54]

Re: My method rifle / pistol brass stainless & tumbler

I don't use SS for pistols. It is simply used so fast I can't bear to put much time/effort into it.

For rifle, I size/deprime before cleaning, provided my spent brass is reasonably clean. I use liquid dish soap as lube, because it becomes the SS tumbling detergent, and lanolin case lube doesn't come off that easy, particularly when you have 200-300 pcs of 308-sized brass in the tumbler.

I tumble for ~1 hour. I replaced the wingnuts on my tumbler with hexnuts and use a cordless impact driver.

I use an RCBS separator to separate brass/media.

Dump wet brass on a towel and use a "bowling ball polish" technique to get mostly dry.

Dump brass into a drying box (50 Cal ammo can with 100W light bulb, wire grate rack and an exhaust fan), and 1hr later, its bone dry ready for giraud trimming and/or annealing.

 

[Sespe]

Re: My method rifle / pistol brass stainless & tumbler

I use SS for pistol ammo, but I shoot black powder 45 colt.

I deprime before cleaning, using a universal deprimer. I use Dawn and Lemishine, same proportions listed as above. For separation I just use a dishpan and rinse the cases out. Takes a bit longer, but I can inspect each case.

For drying I have an old food dehydrator that wasn't useful for anything else.

 

[afate45]

Re: My method rifle / pistol brass stainless & tumbler

I use SS media for everything. I'm a bit of an aesthetic person when it comes to how my brass looks. Despite what the other side says, I haven't experienced any problems with brass I've reloaded 15+ times, washing in SS media every time.

Here is my method...

- Deprime

- 2-3 hours in the Thumlers (2 tbs blue Dawn, 1 9mm case full of Lemishine). If the brass isn't nasty, I'll only run it for 45min-1 hour.

- Separate using Frankford Arsenal media separator and 5 gallon bucket (hot water so the brass dries faster). I rub the brass with a clean towel to speed up the drying process as well.

- note: I let my cases air dry for 24-48 hours...nothing fancy for drying. Also, I haven't noticed any difference between using hot or cold water for tumbling.

- Size (if cases are lubed, such as when I FL size instead of neck size, I'll run them back through the Thumlers for 30 min).

- Before I load cases, I ALWAYS run them through clean corn cob with Flitz polish. It adds that extra bit of shine to the brass and keeps the brass from tarnishing over long periods of time.

Also, with pistol brass only I usually have 1 or 2 pieces of brass out of every 200 or so that have a stubborn pin stuck in the flash hole. I check every piece of brass before reloading. This is a pain in the neck, but a sacrifice I'll make for the best looking brass on the block