Who / Which method of using stainless steel tumbling media is best?

[Victor N TN]

OK... I admit it. I'm old and set in my ways. I have all the stuff involved to tumble brass with the stainless steel pins. I've just been sitting on it trying to decide what way is best. How much of the lemon stuff vs. how much of the Dawn? Then some like to use the liquid car wash / wax combination solution.

Who has the best way to do it?

Thanks in advance.
Victor

 

[mg386]

I use 2-3tbs. Dawn and a 1/4tsp lemishine

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[Sig Marine]

To be honest, I've never measured the soap or lemishine. I usually put in a squirt (1-2 TBL) of dishsoap, whatever the wife has under the sink, and a little bit (probably 1/4 tsp) of lemishine. I tumble an hour and they're good to go.

 

[ZombieMonkey]

For most brass I tumble in cold water with 1-2 tablespoons of Dawn and less than 1/4 teaspoon of the Lemishine. I tumble for 1 hour after fired without depriming the cases before rinsing and drying the cases. I then prep the brass fully before they go back into the tumbler for 30-45 minutes with just 1 tablespoon of so of Dawn.

I've tried various methods, but this is what works for me if I am running a particular lot of brass through the stainless media. Gets the brass just as bright as tumbling it in the media for several hours plus it allows me to remove any lube from the sizing process.

 

[leadbullet]

Lots of water, a little detergent, bunch of dirty brass and enough pins to make it work and enough time to let it.
Just do it, the worse that can happen is the brass still being dirty.
Cheers

 

[Boogie]

For most brass I tumble in cold water with 1-2 tablespoons of Dawn and less than 1/4 teaspoon of the Lemishine. I tumble for 1 hour after fired without depriming the cases before rinsing and drying the cases. I then prep the brass fully before they go back into the tumbler for 30-45 minutes with just 1 tablespoon of so of Dawn.

I've tried various methods, but this is what works for me if I am running a particular lot of brass through the stainless media. Gets the brass just as bright as tumbling it in the media for several hours plus it allows me to remove any lube from the sizing process.

The only difference in our processes is I deprime first. Works great.

 

[Clark]

I did 84 pounds of brass last month and 35 pounds this month.
I am doing the Dawn and Lemi Shine for a couple hours.... same as everyone else.... no complaints.

 

[Wyfox]

If you tumble with primers in make sure to de-prime them shortly after, the wet primers tend to rust in the pockets. I full length resize before tumbling and fill tumbler with water, squirt of dawn, and a dash of lemon shine. They always come out like new.

 

[pawprint2]

Anyone testing Hot water (to start) vs cold water? I'm convinced that hot water (very hot from the tap) makes a difference. I haven't done a "side by side" because I'm lazy, I usually run the cases for an hour or two, depending on how dirty they were to start with. I've done a lot of OF military cases, but all these were stored in 50cal ammo cans, none were nasty range pickups (after having been there for God know how long) with great results. My "mix" is about the same as all the others above, I just eye-ball the amounts, I don't think they are really critical.

 

[ZombieMonkey]

Pawprint, I've had some issues doing it with hot water and someone posted up in a previous thread about the dezincification of brass and how the hot water can dramatically accelerate the process leading to weakening of the brass.

 

[Sniper260]

Sounds like the ol EF is the way to go... (eye fuck)

i really want to get the stuff to do it... but i cant afford a tumbler and media right now!! Last prices i saw were like $200 and up for those wet tumblers

 

[thespecialist]

Sounds like the ol EF is the way to go... (eye fuck)

i really want to get the stuff to do it... but i cant afford a tumbler and media right now!! Last prices i saw were like $200 and up for those wet tumblers

You don't have to spend $200-$300 to get set up unless you just want too. I don't do 250 pieces of brass at a time, more like 80-100 at the most as I try to keep my brass as close to ready to load as possible. I picked up one of the dual drum tumblers from HF Dual Drum Rotary Rock Tumbler , print off a 20% off coupon and it's less than $45 before sales tax. Ebay has small packs of the stainless steel pins for next to nothing, you only need a little for a small tumbler. Ultra 47 Stainless Steel Pellet Pin Tumbling Media 2 5 Cleaning Polishing Metal | eBay

Throw a couple more bucks in for some Lemishine and you're all set to start tumbling for under $75.

 

[dcbiii]

I bought the Frankford Arsenal Tumbler (love it btw) and I load it up with 2lbs of Media, all the brass I need to reload, a 3-5 second squirt of Dawn, and a 1\4tsp or so of LemiShine. Comes out perfect every time (and I decap beforehand).

 

[Neo]

I just got the Frankford and love it too. 500 45acp brass, 5 lbs of pins, about 3 Tbs. of dawn, and a 45 case of lemonshine. 3 hrs. later and it looks like new.

 

[dave300]

the specialist, do you find that the Harbor Freight tumbler actual tumbles or does the brass mostly stay and the bottom and get a spin cycle versus the full on tumbling? I ask because it appears to be a circular drum and i cannot see or tell if it has baffles insde to aid in the tumbling?
I too have the Frankford Arsenol and so far so good, but at times I am just needing to do much smaller loads of brass as most of my shooting is LR precision and I like to turn my brass around faster and in smaller increments.
Lastly, I have horrible results when I use cold water with Dawn and Lemishine. Hot water, Dawn and Lemishine for this kid, no doubt about it.

You don't have to spend $200-$300 to get set up unless you just want too. I don't do 250 pieces of brass at a time, more like 80-100 at the most as I try to keep my brass as close to ready to load as possible. I picked up one of the dual drum tumblers from HF Dual Drum Rotary Rock Tumbler , print off a 20% off coupon and it's less than $45 before sales tax. Ebay has small packs of the stainless steel pins for next to nothing, you only need a little for a small tumbler. Ultra 47 Stainless Steel Pellet Pin Tumbling Media 2 5 Cleaning Polishing Metal | eBay

Throw a couple more bucks in for some Lemishine and you're all set to start tumbling for under $75.

 

[thespecialist]

the specialist, do you find that the Harbor Freight tumbler actual tumbles or does the brass mostly stay and the bottom and get a spin cycle versus the full on tumbling? I ask because it appears to be a circular drum and i cannot see or tell if it has baffles insde to aid in the tumbling?
I too have the Frankford Arsenol and so far so good, but at times I am just needing to do much smaller loads of brass as most of my shooting is LR precision and I like to turn my brass around faster and in smaller increments.
Lastly, I have horrible results when I use cold water with Dawn and Lemishine. Hot water, Dawn and Lemishine for this kid, no doubt about it.

Honest answer, I don't know for sure. It sounds as though they are tumbling, somewhat, while they are in the drums but not being tossed around as they would if there were baffles on the drum to help pull them up as the drum spins. I can say that using hot water/dawn/lemishine leaves me with spotless brass in a short time and every case has pins to be dumped out. I'll toss 35-40 308 sized cases in each drum, add the pins, fill the drum to the top of the cases with the witches brew, turn the tumbler on, and come back a couple hours later to clean brass.

If I'm in a hurry, I'll rinse them with hot water and shake them in a towel then throw them in my vibratory with some corncob media for an hour to dry them out.

 

[GIXXER2000]

The thing I like best about the steel media is that it cleans the inside outside and primmer pocket. I tumble for 4 hour rise and the last step soak in alcohol to displaced any water inside the case.

 

[sentry1]

To be honest, I've never measured the soap or lemishine. I usually put in a squirt (1-2 TBL) of dishsoap, whatever the wife has under the sink, and a little bit (probably 1/4 tsp) of lemishine. I tumble an hour and they're good to go.

This. It's not a science, just add some soap, some Lemishine, and tumble until you get around to having time to unload it. Boom, done. No special formula or recipe required.

I use a Frankford Arsenal Media Separator to shake the brass around over a 5 gallon bucket and let the pins fall out. I leave a 10" fine mesh flour sifting pan in the bottom of the bucket, and just lift that up to pull all the pins out.

 

[Sniper260]

You cant use a vibrating tumble with stainless media can you? It has to be the drum to hold water and stuff too?

Or would a vibrating tumbler with stainless media and a shot of brass polish work ok?

my frankfort vibrating tumbler still work lol itd hard to buy something when mine aint broke yet..

 

[dariof]

Deprime
In the tumbler with 2 tbs Dawn, 1/4 tsp Lemi-shine.....tumble around 3 hours
Air dry
Size & trim.
Tumble in media tumbler for 30 minutes or so to remove lube on brass and inside the neck
Reload from there as usual.

If annealing, I would do it after air drying.

 

[dariof]

You cant use a vibrating tumble with stainless media can you? It has to be the drum to hold water and stuff too?

Or would a vibrating tumbler with stainless media and a shot of brass polish work ok?

my frankfort vibrating tumbler still work lol itd hard to buy something when mine aint broke yet..

No. SS media in water tumbler, not vibratory tumbler.

 

[VTSEAL]

+1 for de-priming before tumbling.

I measure the Lemishine in my Thumler's tumbler @ 1 empty 9mm case per batch. That method was posted in another forum a couple years ago and seems to be about right. There were also a couple threads back then discussing cold vs. hot, and if I recall, the cold water left the brass more shiny. Don't recall any discussion about a chemical change related to the zinc. Using about 2-3 Tbsp of dish detergent per batch.

I drain then rinse in cold water. Then a quick towel dry. I shake out all the cases 2 at a time and dry in sun or on towels. I visually inspect the cases under a bright light anyway; but in past couple years I can only recall finding a stray pin stuck in a case one time.

 

[sentry1]

No. SS media in water tumbler, not vibratory tumbler.

Vibratory tumbler would take a LOT more pins, in fact you'd probably just burn out the motor. The rotary tumbler you use between 2 - 4 pounds of pins, hell dump in the 5lb bag if you want, but I keep that last pound back for replacement because you end up losing a pin or two on occasion. It doesn't take much, and it doesn't take long.

 

[Clark]

​Stainless pins in a vibratory causes all life as you know it stopping instantaneously and every molecule in your body exploding at the speed of light.<dd style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-left: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-right: 0px; color: rgb(37, 37, 37); font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 18px;">Total protonic reversal.</dd>

 

[Victor N TN]

I know the ss wires in a vib tumber won't work. I just wanted some help on the how much and how long questions.

Thanks to everyone that had a good comment.

 

[Monmouth]

Victor,

I know a little about wet tumbling brass. Simple answer is water, some soap, and some SS media will clean reloadable brass in 30-45 minutes. You don't need bling and bling actually can make hand annealing by eye difficult due to lack of patina. Can I bling brass, you bet. Can I bling a metric ton of brass every time, no doubt. Can I bling brass AND get a Lapua style anneal mark, oh yeah. Does it matter, nope. Just looks cool for customers and inside ammo cans.

 

[Victor N TN]

The first 10 years I loaded, I never polished anything. I wiped it off on a clean shop rag and there it went. I bought my first Thumbler's Tumbler in 1981. Then another a couple of years later. In the late 1980s I bought one of the big Blue vibratory tumblers and another truck load of corn cob grit. Then I got the RCBS Sidewinder in 2000 when I started tumbling bullet jackets for making them. Since I already had everything but the pins, I went ahead and ordered them and tried it this past week. The process worked wonderful on 300WinMag cases. But it was a LOT messy. I flushed with running water out on the driveway.

Anyway... I'll probably wet tumble maybe 5% of what I load. The rest will go through the big blue vibrator.

Oh, I forgot. I used 1/2 t spoon of Dawn and the same of Lemishine. Very stained brass was cleaned great in 5 hours. But like I said, a bit on the messy side. Partly because my workshop only has a water hose. I don't have any kind of sink or toilet. Doint standing at a countertop sink would have been easier.

Thanks for all the replies.

 

[1066]

Lots of water, a little detergent, bunch of dirty brass and enough pins to make it work and enough time to let it.
Just do it, the worse that can happen is the brass still being dirty.
Cheers

Just do it is the trick - A little too much dish soap or lemishine is not a problem.

This is how I do it:-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcyAkj-LzA8