Cleaning brass with tumbler and steel pins - Advice?

[Strat Rider]

I've seen a few references to using warm or hot water. Test it yourself (which I did) and found my results better with cold water. Maybe it has something to do with my water pH, who knows.
I sift out the pins while rinsing (using a paint strainer) but then when the cases are on a towel - I run a very powerful magnet over them and have found that with even 1 pin left inside of a case, it will lift it off the towel.

 

[Walkalong]

I have had a tumbler and steel pins for a couple of years now and have not tried it yet. (I know, shame on me). I just today ordered citric acid and Armor All Ultra Shine Wash & Wax which was recommended here. Maybe soon. I may try it without the pins first.

 

[sbwaters]

Deprime and add to 1 dollop of Armorall Wash and Wax + a 9mm case of Lemishine + pins for 2 hrs.

I use a spin separator. That way I don’t need the handy magnet to grab the pins. Dry overnight on a towel.

Never put .45, 9mm, .380 together.

... and don’t let people who shoot .40 on the range. Picked up, t get stuck in the 9mm case loader tube and you have to take it apart and use a cleaning rod to get it out.

 

[cheygriz]

I use WARM, NOT HOT, water and it works better for me than wither cold or hot.

 

[Tilos]

I have had a tumbler and steel pins for a couple of years now and have not tried it yet. (I know, shame on me). I just today ordered citric acid and Armor All Ultra Shine Wash & Wax which was recommended here. Maybe soon. I may try it without the pins first.

Get you a couple of those paint screening bags on next trip to HD/Lowes that I mentioned earlier in this thread, you'll be happy you did.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/HDX-5-gal-Elastic-Top-Strainers-2-Pack-11573-36WF/202061360

 

[Walkalong]

Will do.

 

[Erief0g]

I went cheap on my pin and brass separator. I use a large rubber tote, maybe 18 gallon that I had laying around. Then a large Sam's club dry laundry soap square bucket. Drilled the bottom and up the sides maybe two inches with a smaller diameter bit then my 380 brass so it can't fall through. I put about one gallon of water in the rubber tote, put the soap bucket in, pour contents from tumbler into square bucket. Then vigorous shake, flip, etc. Then dump brass into bin for rinse. I use harbor freight cheap plastic clamps and clamp a piece of old tshirt over an empty five gallon bucket. Pour rubber tote off pins and dirty soapy water over tshirt and stain out pins. I'll be cleaning another 500 brass pieces this weekend and I'll try to remember to take some photos.

Keep in mind I only reload straight wall pistol. 380,9mm,44 mag, 45 acp. The last four loads I've done I've had zero pins with my brass. With that said i also clean with primers still in case. I do occasionally clean 5.56 in hopes of eventually setting up to reload rifle. I do have to spend some time during rinse to confirm all pins are removed from brass with the necked cases

 

[jmorris]

It's all 9mm, no aluminum or steel cases and quite hefty (triple bagged) at about 45 pounds.

That’s going to be about 5294 cases.

I built a wet tumbler out of a couple of used 12.7 gallon/100 lb buckets and a gear motor, that amount of brass would be two separate batches.

I dry a batch in the sun after separating media with a Dillon kit with the tub filled with water.


This is the tumbler, just a bucket attached to a plate and bearing so there is no load on the 40 rpm motor shaft except rotational. The notches are for the handle gussets molded into the bucket that contains the agitators, brass and cleaning solution.




I also built some really big ones for a business, they clean 15 gallons per drum. Also have to have a gantry to load and unload the machine though.

 

[Toprudder]

I've seen a few references to using warm or hot water. Test it yourself (which I did) and found my results better with cold water. Maybe it has something to do with my water pH, who knows.

When I used Dawn, it seemed to work best with cold water. Once I started using Wash-n-Wax, it works best with the hottest water that will come out of my tap.

I have had a tumbler and steel pins for a couple of years now and have not tried it yet. (I know, shame on me). I just today ordered citric acid and Armor All Ultra Shine Wash & Wax which was recommended here. Maybe soon. I may try it without the pins first.

I tumble without the pins sometimes, when I am prepping rifle brass. I tumble for only about 15 minutes, just to get the outside clean, so that I can lube and size the brass. After sizing, I tumble again with the the pins for the normal time. Actually, tumbling without the pins does a great job cleaning the outside, and probably does just as good a job cleaning the inside as dry tumbling would.

 

[cheygriz]

Toprudder, IME, wet tumbling without the pins does a better job than dry tumbling.

 

[Toprudder]

Toprudder, IME, wet tumbling without the pins does a better job than dry tumbling.

Yeah, you are probably right.

 

[lightman]

I use car wash and wax (whatever was on sale that I am using on my car, Armour All, Turtle etc) and citric acid.
Citric acid can be found in the canning section of most supermarkets.
How much acid depends on your water PH and the size of your drum but between say maybe a 9mm case full or a couple of .45 cases full.

This is pretty much what I do. Deprime the cases before tumbling. The primer pockets will get clean and the cases dry fast. A 9mm case file of citric acid is about right and a cap full of your choice of soap. I use the oven set at 200º for 30 or 45 minutes or the hot Arkansas sun to dry. Get a good magnet. Pay attention to weight and go by your tumbler manufactures recommendation.

 

[TheDomFather]

One thing I would add to all of this good advice here. I have been decap, wet tumble with dawn and lemi shine for quite some time. I do however still use my vibratory tumbler after my cartidges are complete to get the lube off and it also really brings the shine up when you put a little polish in the corn cob. So for me its both.

 

[1976B.L.Johns.]

One thing I would add to all of this good advice here. I have been decap, wet tumble with dawn and lemi shine for quite some time. I do however still use my vibratory tumbler after my cartidges are complete to get the lube off and it also really brings the shine up when you put a little polish in the corn cob. So for me its both.

Same here, except I vibra-tumble after resizing, not finished cartridges. I have the time,and do like shiny things like our old pet raven did when we were kids.

 

[Snowdog]

I just finished my first batch of 9mm range brass that was tarnished as heck, about 10 pounds worth.

The difference in results between vibratory/dry tumbling and rotary/wet tumbling is night and dry. There's a lot more work involved, but the results are worth it.

There's a bit of a learning curve (such as running right ratio of water, media and brass). The steel pins are a bit of a pain and I found myself using the steel shot that was included with the tumbler. It seemed to work just as well.

Thanks for all the tips and info. I'll probably never go back to dry tumbling.

 

[Jenrick]

I apparently do things a little different than most, but it works for me.

I use a rotary tumbler. In it goes, 1 green scotchbrite pad cut into about 1/2"x 2" pieces, and I use the cheapest laundry detergent I can find at the store. The cheap laundry detergent almost always lacks all the optical brightners and such, along with having filler material that is usually abrasive. Not what you want for your clothes, but it works amazingly well on brass. I use about a quarter scope of detergent per load, and tumble for about an hour. The scotchbrite does the heavy lifting of scouring the grime off, and the detergent does an excellent job of cleaning the interior of the case. Now this will not get your case interiors or primer pockets perfectly clean, but they certainly are servicable. I'm still on the same scotchbrite pad I used about 5 years ago, and the detergent lasts for a long time too.

 

[Tilos]

you gotta love a tumbler thread.
I just can't wrap my head around why anyone would tumble brass in a way that left the primer pockets dirty, why bother

 

[Dudedog]

Thanks for all the tips and info. I'll probably never go back to dry tumbling.

Glad your happy with it!

Another person succumbs to the Dark Side of wet tumbling

 

[jmorris]

you gotta love a tumbler thread.
I just can't wrap my head around why anyone would tumble brass in a way that left the primer pockets dirty, why bother

Only reason I can think of, is because they have shot surgically clean brass vs “filthy” primer pocket brass and there is zero difference in group size..,,

 

[Toprudder]

you gotta love a tumbler thread.
I just can't wrap my head around why anyone would tumble brass in a way that left the primer pockets dirty, why bother

Yeah, I tend to agree. But in the end, all you really have to do is wipe the brass clean with a rag, just to make sure you don't scratch the dies. Anything more than that is purely a matter of personal preference. I prefer wet tumbling.

 

[GBExpat]

Heck, for decades I (and I am sure, many of us here) just soaked & manually agitated my fired cases in a container with a detergent-water solution (perhaps hand wiping them as a last step) to get the clean enough to run thru the die(s).

My reloads worked just fine ... but they were quite ugly in appearance, quite ugly, because of the cases.

I now have the capability to produce reloads that are bee-oooo-tee-ful, looking almost new, and I enjoy my hobby more because of it.

 

[Walkalong]

Yep, I used to wipe cases clean and that was it. Then I got a tumbler in a deal on some reloading equipment, kept it and a couple of other items and sold the rest, broke even and now had a tumbler. Not much spare cash back then.

 

[Skgreen]

you gotta love a tumbler thread.
I just can't wrap my head around why anyone would tumble brass in a way that left the primer pockets dirty, why bother

I only have 2 tools that I use inside my primer pockets.
One is a swaging tool used only on military brass.
The 2nd is 'pins'

I also wonder why folks buy equipment to make priming a separate, additional step instead of priming on the press during other press-related work, but hey,,, if that's how they roll,,,, let 'em rolI!

 

[Walkalong]

but hey,,, if that's how they roll,,,, let 'em rolI!

Thanks, I appreciate that.

 

[Skgreen]

Yep, I used to wipe cases clean and that was it.QUOTE]

QUOTE]

Yep. I've heard that back in the day, that was very common.
I just started reloading a year or 2 ago. I ~needed~ to decide what method I would use for case cleaning before I purchased equipment.
A Harbor Freight dual drum, a couple pounds of pins, and a 'media sifting pan' got me 'up and running'
Something special about seeing that shiny brass coming out of the tumbler for the first time,,,,[/