USSR
Member
Last year, I took on a contract to process brass for a well-known firearms businessman down on Long Island. He buys the brass from a local commercial firing range, separates the .30-06, .308, and .30 Carbine brass, and sends it to me. I have been cleaning it with my vibratory tumblers using crushed walnut fortified with a capful of Nu Finish and a dash of mineral spirits. I then take my percentage of the total brass I received as payment and then fully process the remaining brass and send it back to him. A couple months ago, he asked me if I could tumble the brass longer to make it look better. I told him that tumbling for a few more hours wasn’t going to do much for the brass, but there was a better way; wet tumbling with stainless steel media. However, I explained that for volume brass cleaning, the equipment would be expensive, as the cheaper units only held a couple pounds of brass. I researched this extensively, and finally decided to buy the Frankford Arsenal Platinum Series Rotary Tumbler.
This tumbler will handle 30 pounds, and with the drum weighing 3 pounds, this gives you a drum capacity of 27 pounds. While the directions say to use 1 gallon of water (8.3 pounds) and 5 pounds of SS media (which comes with the tumbler), my testing says there is a better way. The problem with their directions is, the ratio of brass to media is too high. Using their directions, you can load up to 13.5 pound of brass in the drum without exceeding the tumbler capacity. This is a ratio of brass to media of greater than 2.5 to 1. What you want is something close to 1 to 1. There is no benefit to adding more water (it’s heavy and does nothing for you), but there is a big advantage in having your tumbler clean faster and better by increasing the amount of stainless steel media. I settled on 8 pounds of media, which allows me to use up to 10.5 pounds of brass, which is much closer to the 1 to 1 ratio. The tumbler comes with a couple of packets of cleaning solution, but the thing to use is 1 tablespoon of Dawn dishwashing detergent and ¼ teaspoon of Lemi Shine. Very economical and does a great job.
In addition to getting more SS media, there are several other pieces of kit that are really necessary. One is a couple of 5 gallon pails; and the other is a media transfer magnet.
These are very inexpensive ($7 - $12), and will save you a lot of time and grief. A media separator is also nice for getting out the media that like to hide inside of some cases, but you can live without one. I use the same one I use for dry media from my vibratory tumbler. So, the question is: Is it worth the expense (about $225 for tumbler, additional media, and magnet - when on sale at Amazon with free shipping)? Most definitely!!!
P.S. – If any of you guys need some nice once-fired .30-06 or .30 Carbine brass, please contact me.
This tumbler will handle 30 pounds, and with the drum weighing 3 pounds, this gives you a drum capacity of 27 pounds. While the directions say to use 1 gallon of water (8.3 pounds) and 5 pounds of SS media (which comes with the tumbler), my testing says there is a better way. The problem with their directions is, the ratio of brass to media is too high. Using their directions, you can load up to 13.5 pound of brass in the drum without exceeding the tumbler capacity. This is a ratio of brass to media of greater than 2.5 to 1. What you want is something close to 1 to 1. There is no benefit to adding more water (it’s heavy and does nothing for you), but there is a big advantage in having your tumbler clean faster and better by increasing the amount of stainless steel media. I settled on 8 pounds of media, which allows me to use up to 10.5 pounds of brass, which is much closer to the 1 to 1 ratio. The tumbler comes with a couple of packets of cleaning solution, but the thing to use is 1 tablespoon of Dawn dishwashing detergent and ¼ teaspoon of Lemi Shine. Very economical and does a great job.
In addition to getting more SS media, there are several other pieces of kit that are really necessary. One is a couple of 5 gallon pails; and the other is a media transfer magnet.
These are very inexpensive ($7 - $12), and will save you a lot of time and grief. A media separator is also nice for getting out the media that like to hide inside of some cases, but you can live without one. I use the same one I use for dry media from my vibratory tumbler. So, the question is: Is it worth the expense (about $225 for tumbler, additional media, and magnet - when on sale at Amazon with free shipping)? Most definitely!!!
P.S. – If any of you guys need some nice once-fired .30-06 or .30 Carbine brass, please contact me.
