Tumbling with Stainless pins

[Cj10488]

Let's hear some tips for cleaning brass with a rotary tumbler. I have the Frankford Arsenal Platinum tumbler. 5LBS of stainless pins with 10 more lbs on order. Using the FA Brass pod packs... First load. Too much brass. Primer pockets still too dirty for my liking. Running a second time with about 100 or so less pieces of 223 as well as an added tbsp of lemi shine. So far an hour in and they look wonderful. Went with the FA brass dryer as well.

Interested in hearing input from others as well as today is my first day with one. Had I not thought ahead and purchased the FA transfer magnet I would have hated separating the brass and SS pins.

Is 5lbs of pins enough? Should I run more? Less? I will have 15#s here once the second part of mh order shows up. Didn't realize the tumbler came with 5#s so I probably have too much.

TIA,
James

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[Ura-Ki]

I run enough SS pins to cover my brass completely, if I can see the brass, I have too much loaded and I fish some out! I run about 6 pounds with liquid dish soap and hot water and I get really good results after about 1/2 hour or so, depending on how dirty they are!
For really dirty brass, or black powder, use a cup of "Formula 409" instead of the dish soap and they come out shiny new!

 

[BrandonQuixote]

Try BrassJuice. I get the same, if not slightly better results with no pins. Othewise, dish soap and lemishine gets em pretty clean with pins, just too much lemishine will leech out the zinc giving your pink-ish brass. Otherwise, 5 pounds is plenty.

 

[Camelfilter]

Maybe consider the steel media chips, rather than pins?

The chips are little egg shaped deals, tend not to get caught in the primer flash hole as some folks report pins may. Mind I've never run pins, only chips, so have no first hand experience with pins.

Bought my chips via Southern Shine tumblers.

As to media weight? No idea, just an inch or 2 worth out of a glad brand plastic small tub. So not much, compared with the amount of brass. Maybe a few pounds.

 

[P7M13]

5 lbs pins
~15-20 lbs brass.
1 cup Meguires car wash, 2tbsp Dawn, 1tbsp lemon juice.
Tumble 90 minutes, one out looking new.

 

[Ura-Ki]

this is the stuff I use, it's Jewelry grade and 'Spensive, ( $17.98 pound) but lasts forever!

 

[ageingstudent]

5 lbs of pins is plenty but I bought an extra 5 also to cover attrition. I have been using this:



6-8 ounces in your water. Don't need dawn this stuff already has surfactant and it doesn't turn your brass pink. It's the same thing as your FA cleaner or Hornady ultrasonic cleaner without the proprietary dye. I'm even finding it works well in a bucket with no pins. I dry tumble after the wet clean anyway so the cases will run smooth in the press. You can get it at Albertsons or Safeway.

 

[ageingstudent]

And FYI your dry tumbler media will last forever if you are just using it for polishing already clean brass. It's not getting all gunked up and grimy.

 

[awshoot]

I just use regular dish soap, 5 pounds of pins, about 4-500 pistol cases at a time, hot water up to the neck to keep down the suds. After the initial cleaning, I dump out the dirty water, refill with clean water (no soap) and run about 20 minutes -- I do this process 3x. Then I let them dry completely and run through a vibratory polisher with a dab of polish.

I probably overdo it, but that's my MO. They do end up looking beautiful though.

 

[RVTECH]

Cheapo apple cider vinegar in the water with Dawn also results in brilliant brass.

 

[ageingstudent]

Cheapo apple cider vinegar in the water with Dawn also results in brilliant brass.

Almost anything with a considerable amount of citric acid works well. Barkeepers Friend works well also it's oxalic acid

 

[awshoot]

Almost anything with a considerable amount of citric acid works well. Barkeepers Friend works well also it's oxalic acid

Isn't that what's in rhubarb leaves that makes them poisonous? (hmmm *) I got some rhubarb coming up -- I wonder if I should try it in a wet tumbler??

* Will Oxalic Acid in Rhubarb Leaves Harm You? - Garden Myths

 

[ageingstudent]

Cheapo apple cider vinegar in the water with Dawn also results in brilliant brass.
View attachment 686832

Comes in a can like an old Comet Cleanser can and looks like this:

 

[ageingstudent]

Isn't that what's in rhubarb leaves that makes them poisonous? (hmmm *) I got some rhubarb coming up -- I wonder if I should try it in a wet tumbler??

* Will Oxalic Acid in Rhubarb Leaves Harm You? - Garden Myths

You're not supposed to eat it Mister you're supposed to shine your brass with it

 

[awshoot]

You're not supposed to eat at Mister you're supposed to shine your brass with it

Making your own oxalic acid crystals from rhubarb: How to Extract Oxalic Acid from Rhubarb Leaves

Holy cow -- I could start line of GMO free organic macrobiotic brass polish! I'm gonna be rich!! ;-)

 

[awshoot]

Comes in a can like an old Comet Cleanser can and looks like this:

View attachment 686840

I'm thinking I can just add water, brass, and some of this:

 

[ageingstudent]

The snowflakes did us a solid. As luck would have it I just pulled a batch out of my tumbler. One hour swish and soak in the open nature stuff without pins and one hour spin in the cabelas tumbler with some cabelas polish and 350 .38 and .357 are ready to go...



If you want spotless pockets and clean inside use the pins in a rotary for an hour or so. But these are more than good for revolvers and they look impressive when loaded. They'd load and shoot fine dirty but I like a shiny case they drop right in the cylinder.

 

[CLT65]

I started wet tumbling several years ago, and I've run into an issue that I think is related, but have no way to prove. It's controversial, but I think it embrittles the brass.

I probably went overboard a bit when I started. I used more lemishine and Dawn perhaps than necessary, and tumbled longer than needed (about 3 hours- I wanted the primer pockets clean). Everything was dandy until I started having a much higher than usual percentage of split cases, on ammo that had been loaded for a while. I ended up pulling down over a thousand rounds of .223 ammo that had been loaded for a year. A lot of them had cracked necks before firing, and nearly all split after firing. I've loaded a lot of ammo in my time, and this is a first for this kind of problem on this scale.

I still wet tumble, but from now on I anneal all rifle brass that's been wet tumbled.

 

[Ura-Ki]

Tumbling supposedly "work hardens" brass, so I could see an increase in split cases or cracked necks, but I have never had it happen to me personally! I also anneal after tumbling, and only 5.56 and 7.62x51.

 

[Member 5605]

Best stuff to use is this:


Stainless media chips. Cuts the tumbling time down. it doesn't get stuck in the flash hole. So there will be 5lbs of pins in the classifieds very soon. lol. I finally picked some up today when I snagged 1,000 9mm rounds tonight.

This is THE soap to use. The wax stays on the brass if you don't rinse it with hot water when done, a little LemiShine as needed to neutral the pH. The wax helps in the flaring, sizing and running through the FCD at the end. Smoother product and smoother press operation.

Some agree, some disagree but no wax is sticky brass that isn't as smooth. That is a fact. Same reason you wax your car, slickens up the paint.