Stainless Tumbling and case mouth burring.

[Wheres-Waldo]

Has anyone tried soaking their cases for a few hours in the tumbler and just tumbling for 30 minutes or so?

Does it stop the burrs from occurring?
Does it get cases squeaky clean still?

I have been doing 2.5 hours in tumbling and I can’t handle deburring cases on this quantity at this frequency.

Thanks!

 

[308pirate]

I wet tumble all my brass with just soap, hot water, and lemishine. NO SS PINS. It comes out clean, bright, and shiny in less than an hour and the mouths are just fine.

The only time I deburr the case mouths is if I trim for length.

 

[Wheres-Waldo]

308....

How do your primer pockets and case interior come out?

 

[pmclaine]

When I mentioned that I needed to ask the party that anneals my brass to not SS pin clean because it removes too much carbon and burrs the mouth of the case I was told that absolutely does not happen.

So just imagine it doesnt happen and you will be all set.

Im using corn though.

 

[D46Infinity]

So here are some things I have noticed since starting to tumble with SS pins.

Yes I do get case mouths that have been peened. Not so much burrs but the mouths will be dulled and flattened compared to my trimmed and chamfered brass.

I will say that the brass has been essentially shot peened by the pins. So because of the peening I do anneal after every run through my tumbler.

I do run my brass for about 4 hours or so but that is what I have found to be the best finish and cleaning of my brass.

The cleaner the brass is for me the easier it is to find brass that has been to its useful lifetime.

 

[Wheres-Waldo]

I found my brass to be “peened” to the point where I could easily hang a fingernail on it and see the flange.

I just cut all my cases back .005” and lightly reamed/deburred them. Going to try a long soak and a short run in the tumbler next time I process them.

 

[Praeger]

Try this instead of pins. Stainless steel chips. 30-45 minutes wet tumbling with a squirt of dish washing liquid. Bright, shiny, clean primer pockets.

https://www.facebook.com/southernshinetumblers/

 

[Cascade Hemi]

Try this instead of pins. Stainless steel chips. 30-45 minutes wet tumbling with a squirt of dish washing liquid. Bright, shiny, clean primer pockets.

https://www.facebook.com/southernshinetumblers/

I wanted to like that stuff. The business owners communicate well and shipping was fast. However, it makes an ungodly mess and is a total pain in the ass to separate from the brass.

 

[kindabitey]

I wanted to like that stuff. The business owners communicate well and shipping was fast. However, it makes an ungodly mess and is a total pain in the ass to separate from the brass.

In addition to that, there's some plain steel chips mixed in that rust if you don't get it all completely dry before storing.

 

[Wheres-Waldo]

Novel idea, but I’ll pass.
Will report back this evening, going to decap then soak them with the tumbler off for 3 hours then tumble for 30 minutes.

 

[Praeger]

I wanted to like that stuff. The business owners communicate well and shipping was fast. However, it makes an ungodly mess and is a total pain in the ass to separate from the brass.

Try this. After tumbling, pour off the filthy water. I rinse once or twice. Get a 5"- 6" high plastic bin. Mine is rectangular, about 12"- 18". While the tumbler is 1/2 full or so of rinse water, pour everything (water, brass, and SS) into the plastic bin. I do this on the clothes dryer next to the wash sink. With the brass and SS sitting in 4" - 5" of water, start pulling the brass out by hand (you can pick or 2 or 3 at a time), pouring the SS out back into the bin. The SS will easily pour out, look at primer pocket, if any SS, just give it a shake, it'll come out. I lay the brass out on a towel and pad it dry before placing in used plastic .40 cal pistol ammo trays, let dry overnight (or put them in the sun in the summer, and dry in an hour or less).

I normally tumble 100-120 6.5CM cases at a time and can go from tumbler to ammo cases in 20 minutes. I take the SS in the bin and pour off most of the water, then pour SS and remaining water back into the tumbler. Done.

In addition to that, there's some plain steel chips mixed in that rust if you don't get it all completely dry before storing.

Don't worry about it. Just start using it, it'll rust away - won't hurt anything. If it bothers you, pour your SS into a bucket and fill with water - wait a week. Pour off the rusty water. Most of the steel will be gone.

If you like the results of wet tumbling with SS, give this stuff a try. Unlike SS pins, your brass won't get peened. On my 6.5CM brass, pins would get stuck in the neck and were a pain to get out. This SS is much more like SS polish media you'd buy (https://www.kramerindustriesonline.com/product/stainless-steel-tumbling-media/) at a lower price.

 

[kindabitey]

@Praeger I had the same issue with my 6.5CM. So, after the rusting issue, I tossed the chips and switched to 6BR and 6Dasher

 

[Praeger]

@Praeger I had the same issue with my 6.5CM. So, after the rusting issue, I tossed the chips and switched to 6BR and 6Dasher

That is definitely one way to solve the problem. Thinking outside the box.

 

[Wheres-Waldo]

2 hour soak + 30 minute tumble
8 shots of Dawn from the soap pump, 8 jiggles of the Lemonshine
-No case mouth burrs
-Outside clean & bright, faint annealing marks remained from previous cycle.
-Primer pockets 90% clean
-Inside of cases 75% clean, some visible residue left inside the necks.

I’d prefer they be 100% clean but I’ll settle for this if I don’t have to mess with the flange that a long tumble creates.

 

[Don45]

I wet tumble all my brass with just soap, hot water, and lemishine. NO SS PINS. It comes out clean, bright, and shiny in less than an hour and the mouths are just fine.

The only time I deburr the case mouths is if I trim for length.

How does the primer pockets and inside of the cases look doing this?

 

[308pirate]

How does the primer pockets and inside of the cases look doing this?

Clean enough. I don't care if they're not sparkling clean as it makes zero difference.

 

[1moaoff]

You shouldn't need 2.5 hrs with SS pins.
I tumble for no more than 45 min if using pins. Also you need to make sure your full on liquid.

 

[anotherwannabe]

like OP - i’m back to vibrating with media. burrs on the neck were a very real issue for me.

 

[Kjohnson 1972]

I had issues with burrs on the neck when I used SS pins also. To much trouble for me, so I went back to vibratory bowl with corn cob and no issues now. The SS pins do an excellent job cleaning the brass and primer pockets but the burrs and having to dry brass was the issue for me.

 

[Sportin Wood]

I switched away from the large pins and went to small chips to clean. Results have been amazing.

 

[Don45]

Clean enough. I don't care if they're not sparkling clean as it makes zero difference.

Thanks for the reply.

 

[Wheres-Waldo]

Been doing 30 minutes of rotary tumbling over the last week. Only 50 or so cases at a time, or what ever round count was shot that day.

HOT water, 2 Tablespoons Dawn, 1 Teaspoon Lemonshine - been working great. Not as clean as virgin brass, but no damage to case mouths and it's 90% as clean as a 4 hour tumble.

 

[_Raining]

I bought a bunch of kitchen sponges and cut them up into pieces and use those with hot water, soap and lemishine (no SS pins) in a tumbler. Primer pockets are clean enough, not sure if the sponges are necessary but the pieces are large so they don't clean out the carbon in the necks so either they help or do nothing.

 

[Sean the Nailer]

So, I gotta ask from the outside looking in,,,, but some are complaining about peening, and others are not.

Is it/could it be a case of brass/media out of proportion?
---as in, not enough media for the amount of brass (or the other way around)

Is it/could it be a case of mix vs. tumbler size 'imbalance'?
---as in, too large of a tumbler allowing the brass to 'fall' too far, creating a heavier impact

I don't even know what to think regarding the liquids mix.

I'm grasping at straws here, and only asking variables that I am coming up with. I'm not in any way saying "these are the problems". For that, I'll leave to the ones actually doing this.

As it is, I'm looking at building my own tumber, as well as aquiring my own media. In this thread I've learned that there are also 'chips' to add to the possibilities and I'm just wanting to build what's best for our use here. Hence why I'm trying to discern the necessary variables.

 

[SuburbanHick]

I only run my brass through my home made tumbler for about 30 min.... pockets are clean so are the cases... its nothing more than a barn fan motor and 4 inch pvc pipe with baffles inside... case mouths are acceptable to load after....

 

[pmclaine]

So, I gotta ask from the outside looking in,,,, but some are complaining about peening, and others are not.

Is it/could it be a case of brass/media out of proportion?
---as in, not enough media for the amount of brass (or the other way around)

Is it/could it be a case of mix vs. tumbler size 'imbalance'?
---as in, too large of a tumbler allowing the brass to 'fall' too far, creating a heavier impact

I don't even know what to think regarding the liquids mix.

I'm grasping at straws here, and only asking variables that I am coming up with. I'm not in any way saying "these are the problems". For that, I'll leave to the ones actually doing this.

As it is, I'm looking at building my own tumber, as well as aquiring my own media. In this thread I've learned that there are also 'chips' to add to the possibilities and I'm just wanting to build what's best for our use here. Hence why I'm trying to discern the necessary variables.

Color me corn based.

Plenty clean for my needs and no controversy.

 

[SuburbanHick]

I only run my brass through my home made tumbler for about 30 min.... pockets are clean so are the cases... its nothing more than a barn fan motor and 4 inch pvc pipe with baffles inside... case mouths are acceptable to load after....

 

[Pvt.Donut]

With pins, I'll run mine for maybe 15 minutes with soap and drying agent. I just want to know off any dirt, I'm not trying to remove carbon from every nook and cranny.

Recently switched to no-pin tumbling for about an hour. Externally the cases are great and the case mouth is in better shape after. Regardless, after my final cleaning I chamfer/deburr, clean the necks, mandrel expand, prime and load.

 

[Fret]

I'm a rookie at this but I tried the steel pins in the tumbler technique once and it sure beat the edge of the mouth opening. Didn't like that so got a RCBS ultrasonic cleaner and their case cleaning liquid. It works great so far with no damage to the brass. It seems to come out as clean as with the pins in a tumbler. I run it for three 30 minute cycles. Here's a couple photos after rinsing them off and before drying: