Really Poor Man's Brass Tumbler

[therealsteamer]

All right this is gonna make alot of you guys laugh but here goes.........
Being sort of new to the reloading game and on a limited budget, I figured it was time to start cleaning some of my brass (3-5 times loaded w/ no cleaning). Now bear in mind I don't want the shiny factory brass look, I just want it clean enough to inspect and cycle reliably. Oh and did I say limited budget.
First of all most every household has the tumbler already. That handy dandy clothes dryer. Here is what I did: First I took one of our old broken down "guest" pillows, folded it in half and secured it with duck/duct tape. Also taped one of the ends shut. You now have a "pocket" to put your containers in. I use two plastic peanut butter jars, one for regular untreated crushed walnut media (which the thoughtful wife brought home from the pet store real cheap), the other is the walnut media w/ VERY dried Brasso added (it dried for a few days, no ammonia smell). Each jar will hold about 75 9mm casings. Now to use you just put the jars in the pillow, tape shut, and throw in the dryer with a load that needs to be dried. Yes the jars will warp some, but they get to a point that they stop warping real quick. About one cycle in each of the jars is all it takes for nice and clean brass, it works better than it sounds.

Just thought I would put this out there and see what kind of laughs it causes..........................STEAMER

 

[cropcirclewalker]

Not laughing........

How come you didn't set the dryer on "air only"? (or whatever they call it)

 

[therealsteamer]

done that too

I do that only when the wife isn't home. There is no real difference though. The old lady thinks runnin' the dryer without drying clothes "wastefull"... So I don't "ever" do that..................Steamer

 

[The Bushmaster]

Yeah!!!??!

 

[Matthew748]

Good idea. Before I broke down and bought a tumbler I had some pretty strange ways to clean cases. It never dawned on my to use a dryer, I wish it had.

 

[c_yeager]

Couldnt you just fill some old socks full of brass and run them through the washing machine just like a load of laundry? It would probably be a lot faster.

 

[Cloudpeak]

I've been putting my 40 S&W brass in a mesh container and putting it in the dishwasher. It does a great job of cleaning the brass.

Cloudpeak

 

[callgood]

Cloudpeak, do you use the upper or lower level? Does it matter? Also, would it harm the brass to use the dry cycle. I'm thinking it doesn't get hot enough to do any damage- I've read you shouldn't use the oven, even at a low setting to dry brass.

 

[Cloudpeak]

Callgood,
I use the top rack (I don't have to bend over so far that way<G>)
I don't think it would get hot enough on the dry cycle to do any harm. You could always take them out before the dry cycle & spread them out on a towel in the sun to air dry.

Cloudpeak

 

[anonanon]

yeager and anyone else interested: I've been using the washing machine to clean brass for years. Just dump it in an old pillowcase, tie the end, and throw it in with the wash. When the wash is done, empty the pillow case onto a towel (make sure no cases are standing up) and let it dry a few days.
Takes a little longer than a dishwasher but on the other hand involves almost no effort.

 

[Austin Charles]

I use a old electric icecream maker I got for $5.00

 

[longtooth]

Cleaning brass

When I got started I had very little money also. No way to clean & nver thought about above. A long time loader had been given a new vibrater cleaner for Christmas so he gave me his home made one from a lard bucket. Worked till I was given one & I passed it on to a colege Kid. Hope he does the same. They that love liberty more than life will die only once. They that fear death more than oppression die every time they close their eyes. Me.

 

[Crosshair]

I just use a Kool-Aid container and a treadmill. Works great.

 

[Edgeofthewoods]

Wow!!!

There are a lot of folks here who clean brass the same way!!. I use that Birchwood Casey cleaner rinse then in the dryer in a sock bah with a lod of jeans!! Nice clean and shiney brass!!

Chuck

 

[c_yeager]

I always like to see just how cheap we shooters really are. Seriously, i have NO PROBLEM at ALL with spending dang near every penny of my "disposable" income on a firearm that i really dont need, but if I can save $10 on some trivial piece of equipment, im gonna do it, no matter how much time it takes.

 

[redloki]

This thread make me laugh! It's amazing what people can come up with to get a job done. I do have a vibrating tumbler but the one thing I don't have is a media seperator. After I cleaned my first batch of brass with it, I wasn't quite sure how to get the brass out without picking the brass out one by one. I started looking around the house for "something that would work". Then it hit me. I went to the kitchen dug around till I came up with a large stainless steel bowl and a plastic pasta strainer. I just put the strainer in the bowl, pour in brass and media and shake for a few minutes till I have nothing but brass left. It works so well that I have not bothered buying a seperator yet. I did buy a new strainer for the kitchen.

 

[birddog]

More dryer uses...

A few years back I decided to try doing a taxidermy mount of a large rooster pheasant I shot. All the steps went well but when it came to tumbling the feathers in sawdust to dry and fluff them, I was baffled. Then it hit me. I put the skin in a plastic ice cream container, topped it with sawdust, duct-taped it shut, put it in a duffle bag and threw it in the dryer for an hour. Worked perfectly, and I used the technique several times after that.

 

[Kamicosmos]

redloki:

I came up with the same solution for a media seperator. .68 cent pasta drainer from walmart. I set it on top of the media box and dump the tumbler into it, and shake.

I got my tumbler for XMas, so it was free.

 

[gwalchmai]

Let me see if I have this right. In order to save the $50 for a tumbler from Midway and the $15 for crushed walnut from PetSmart, you are washing brass containing volatile lead compounds in the same washer in which you do your family laundry? Or, better yet, in the dishwasher in which you wash your family's cooking and eating utensils?

Have you checked the price of chelation therapy lately?


Put one capful of SimpleGreen per gallon of water in a bucket with your brass. Put on (dedicated) rubber gloves or use a stick and swish the brass around in the water for one minute. Drain the water and rinse the brass with a couple buckets of clean water. Let it air or sun dry on newspaper. Your brass will be clean and almost as shiny as tumbled.


BUT DON'T EXPOSE YOUR FAMILY TO LEAD!!!

 

[Smokey Joe]

Pb is not nice stuff!

Esp. when it is absorbed into the human body. It harms the "little grey cells" that we use to think with.

I'm with Gwalchmai on this one. BE CHEAP SOMEWHERE ELSE. DON'T GET LEAD IN THE DISHES OR CLOTHING!!!

Or drinking water. Or pet bedding.

Ye gods--If you want to clean brass and can't afford a tumbler, you can't afford to reload.

That's like saying you want to weld but can't afford a face mask. Or you want to shoot at the range, but can't afford ear protection. Or....

Do you get the picture????

 

[gwalchmai]

Another po' man's tumbler, and this one is safe (except maybe to your sanity). Get a 5 gal bucket with a secure lid - like the kind paint or sheetrock mud comes in. Fill it 3/4 with brass, water and a couple cups of Tide. Or use crushed walnut. Put it in the back of your pickup truck or the trunk of your car and let it roll around for a couple of days. Your brass will look nice.

I also heard of a guy who did this with several coffee cans.

(Alternate plan - if the noise bothers you put it in the trunk of your wife's car. )

 

[Cloudpeak]

It looks to me like there's two guys who don't get anywhere near lead and THEY CAN'T CONTROL THE SIZE OF THEIR TYPE! Their typing is just going berserk!<Grin> If there' still lead floating around in your dishwasher, you probably need to buy a new one. If you're using copper clad or jacketed bullets, there is little chance of significant levels of lead being present in the fired cases.

Having been one of the@%*?l Having been one of ahhhhl Oh yeah, here's my train of thought. (Very small joke) Having been one of those using the dishwasher to clean cases, I'm going to buy a vibrating tumbler. I borrowed a friend's tumbler the other day and cleaned some 40cal brass. It did a beautiful job. Cleaned inside the case very nicely. Makes it much easier to inspect the case for defects. But, I forgot the most important reason: pride of craftsmanship. The finsihed rounds look much nicer. If you're going to take time to do something, do it right (thanks, Dad). As a former airplane builder, craftsmanship was always at the head of the list, even if you would normally never see the thing again. That's the way I operated for years on everything I did. I don't know why I'd change now (even though I'm a bit "conservative" (sounds better than cheapskate)).

Cloudpeak

 

[gwalchmai]

It looks to me like there's two guys who don't get anywhere near lead and THEY CAN'T CONTROL THE SIZE OF THEIR TYPE! Their typing is just going berserk!<Grin> If there' still lead floating around in your dishwasher, you probably need to buy a new one. If you're using copper clad or jacketed bullets, there is little chance of significant levels of lead being present in the fired cases.

Actually, it looks more like there's at least one newbie who hasn't a clue about the dangers of lead. Elemental lead, such as bullets, is relatively inert. That's why you hear anectdotes of old gunfighters with lead bullets still in them from 50 year old gunfights. That's why surgeons will sometimes leave bullets in victims instead of risking operations. The lead from the BULLETS is a relatively small problem.

HOWEVER, cartridges are ignited with PRIMERS, which contain (wait for it) lead styphnate - a volatile lead compound readily processed and absorbed by the body. That's the part that'll kill you. And that's the part that exists in fired cases. It will also build up in your washing machines and leach back out into your clothes and utensils. Now, if you don't believe that and want to take a chance that's your business, but I think you should give fair warning to any guests of what you may be serving.

 

[Smokey Joe]

Type size

Cloudpeak--Forgive me if I respectfully disagree with your position. As a Hunter Safety Instructor, a Range Officer, and a competitive shooter, I can state with confidence that the issue here (lead on the brain) is a serious one.

Having said that, I do not "lose control" of my type size normally. (Check my other posts.) I do however, attempt whenever I can to help make the sport of shooting safer for everyone involved. I was pointing out what I consider a serious safety issue.

What's the biggest easiest-to-read lettering you see on a gasoline tank truck? That's right, "Danger--Flammable Liquid."

We're dealing with an issue like that here.

 

[trickyasafox]

since i load currently in very small batches (20-50 at a time) i just use a rifle tornado brush to clean the inside of the case and a primer pocket tool to get the pockets clean, slower then death but in those quantities it doesnt really matter. i dont even have a powder dispenser yet and have to weigh every charge on the scale anyway.