Question about tumblers

[ashiha]

I currently use stainless pins from STM to clean my brass and I'm very happy with the results. However, I would like to change the process up a little by hand drying them, adding lube, resizing, trimming/chamfer/deburr, then throwing them into a media tumbler to remove any excess shavings/lube and possibly dry the insides and primer pockets as well. Is this a reasonable expectation that brass would get dried in the tumbler. I haven't used a media tumbler before so I don't know what to expect.

Any recommendations on a tumbler and media to get started?

 

[FatherMorpheus]

Unless you are using something like Lyman's treated media, you will have a dust issue. I'm not sure what the moisture would do to media but my guess is at the very least you would have media stuck in your primer flash holes.

 

[KYpatriot]

Why not just put em back in the tumbler you have for 10 minutes or so then lay them out to dry or put them on a baking sheet and dry them on low heat in the oven.

 

[Big Z]

Get a dehydrator. Shake water from cases and put 'em in on high.

 

[vman]

The tumbler (stainless) will certainly remove case lube from sizing, however if you have done any neck chamferring and debur work, the pins will peen that nice sharp edge. I recommend the following process.

1. Lee universal decap
2. Lube outside of cases (i use imperial)
3. Size (i use Redding bushing dies without an expander. The expander comes out for bent case necks only)
4. Tumble in the stainless tumbler
5. Rinse and soak in methylated spirits
6. Hair dry for 5 mins
7. Anneal necks (this is an additional step. I do it after every firing, plus it dries out any residual alcohol)
8. Chamfer and debur
9. Prime, charge, seat
10. Check run-out and fix

If you don't anneal, I recommend dumping the alcohol rinsed cases in a colander, and hitting them up with a hair dryer. Shake around the cases a little while you do it. Once the cases are so hot you cant really touch them, and the bottom layer of cases is dry, then your job is done. The hair dryer will never heat the cases up so much as to anneal them.

 

[ashiha]

Unless you are using something like Lyman's treated media, you will have a dust issue. I'm not sure what the moisture would do to media but my guess is at the very least you would have media stuck in your primer flash holes.

I wonder if using rice would work. I already know rice absorbs water and may be small enough to get into every part of the cases. May not work so well in terms of traditional cleaning, but my cases would already be clean at this point.

Why not just put em back in the tumbler you have for 10 minutes or so then lay them out to dry or put them on a baking sheet and dry them on low heat in the oven.

Two parts here. Laying them out to dry can take a day or more. Putting them in the oven would work which is essentially what the dehydrator would do, but I would rather keep them out of the kitchen and heating them up still takes a fairly long time as well.

Get a dehydrator. Shake water from cases and put 'em in on high.

See above. This is the kind of solution I am looking for the late nights before a match where I realize that I don't have any clean brass to prep and load.

The tumbler (stainless) will certainly remove case lube from sizing, however if you have done any neck chamferring and debur work, the pins will peen that nice sharp edge. I recommend the following process.

1. Lee universal decap
2. Lube outside of cases (i use imperial)
3. Size (i use Redding bushing dies without an expander. The expander comes out for bent case necks only)
4. Tumble in the stainless tumbler
5. Rinse and soak in methylated spirits
6. Hair dry for 5 mins
7. Anneal necks (this is an additional step. I do it after every firing, plus it dries out any residual alcohol)
8. Chamfer and debur
9. Prime, charge, seat
10. Check run-out and fix

If you don't anneal, I recommend dumping the alcohol rinsed cases in a colander, and hitting them up with a hair dryer. Shake around the cases a little while you do it. Once the cases are so hot you cant really touch them, and the bottom layer of cases is dry, then your job is done. The hair dryer will never heat the cases up so much as to anneal them.

I don't really keep a tub of methylated spirits lying around. This seems like the least practical solution, but I appreciate the input. I also use a FL sizer with the expander and it makes it more difficult to size the cases when dirty. So I prefer to have them clean beforehand, but that ends up leaving them with lube on. I usually just hand wipe it off later as I don't really mind a little lube, but waiting for the cases to dry is the really annoying part for me.

I haven't started annealing yet, but I was actually planning on trying it out this weekend if my schedule allows.

 

[1J04]

Yeah, don't recommend wet cases in walnut/corn cob media unless ya want a cement like substance in your primer pockets. My 2 cents would be just run them through again.