AusVarmint

I run my tumbler until the brass is shiny inside and out. For the 9mm and 357 Sig an hour or so,

One tip deprime after polishing 'cause cob media is a bitch to get out of primer holes

HiWall wrote:As for noise, I quite often forget mine - brass gets real shiny after 2 1/2 days tumbling.

9 days-- ooops
P

I dont use a tumbler anymore- just a quick spin in a polishing cloth to take the carbon off the neck so it doesn't scratch the bushing- carbon is quite hard I have been told and has the potential to even scratch Tin coated bushings

It is some kitchen cloth the mrs got me- crazy cloth or flitz make a propper one for cartridge brass- but the one I'm using is the $2 shop version and it works for me.

I use really fine steel wool if I want a bright shiny case all over the outside- forget the grade- think is was 000 and the case in a cordless drill holder to spin it up

I dont do much loading these days so volumes of clean brass is not something I need to worry about
I might have to consider bulk brass prep if I get a 17 fireball- as I will need to prep several hundred brass at once- I like to have a few hundred loads per rifle on hand at most times

damb- need to get off my arse and load up some more 6BR's


Someone told me to use brasso and injection molding raw material in my tumbler- never got round to it before I sold the tumbler
the use of the molding raw material is so that the brasso isn't absorbed into the polishing media and making it clump together.

Also using a nail to get stuck media out of primer holes is not a good idea- to easy to damage the primer hole? use some sort of round pin instead

P

ive been told that using long grain rice and shellite is a cheap and just as good option in a tumbler?

ogre6br wrote:

HiWall wrote:As for noise, I quite often forget mine - brass gets real shiny after 2 1/2 days tumbling.

9 days-- ooops
P


Also using a nail to get stuck media out of primer holes is not a good idea- to easy to damage the primer hole? use some sort of round pin instead

P

I took a sight pin off my old compound bow sight and cut the optic fibre off it. Fits into a 6BR flash hole perfectly and has a smooth round ball on the end of it so no scratching flash holes.

I was told to pour some Brasso (at least a third of a bottle)

Wow that seems a lot Sean, are the case's wet/damp when you remove them?
I was advised to put brasso in my tumbler too, but only a couple of bottle caps full, case's come out dry and shiny after about two/three hours.
Thanks for the heads up on the mobile metals during tumbling.

Brad Y wrote:

ogre6br wrote:

HiWall wrote:As for noise, I quite often forget mine - brass gets real shiny after 2 1/2 days tumbling.

9 days-- ooops
P


Also using a nail to get stuck media out of primer holes is not a good idea- to easy to damage the primer hole? use some sort of round pin instead

P

I took a sight pin off my old compound bow sight and cut the optic fibre off it. Fits into a 6BR flash hole perfectly and has a smooth round ball on the end of it so no scratching flash holes.

I use a compressor, My little blower too has a rubber end. I just stick it in the bullet end and pull the trigger. One pop and their gone.

Daisy

Knackers wrote:

I was told to pour some Brasso (at least a third of a bottle)

Wow that seems a lot Sean, are the case's wet/damp when you remove them?
I was advised to put brasso in my tumbler too, but only a couple of bottle caps full, case's come out dry and shiny after about two/three hours.
Thanks for the heads up on the mobile metals during tumbling.

I think i have been the victim of wet media. Added a small amount of brasso to try to bring back some crappy media, and then spent an hour picking wet compacted media out of 100 .17 rem cases. Not fun.

Also i have read, have never tried it, the problem with rice as a media is it tends to break up and go a bit powdery.

Knackers wrote:

.....Wow that seems a lot Sean, are the case's wet/damp when you remove them....

G'day Knackers,

When I remove the cases from the tumbler they do have a kind of film on them but I haven't experienced mulch inside the cases. It is probably wiser to leave the spent primers in the cases whilst tumbling as it is easier to remove media with a neck that hasn't been re-sized (although removing primers makes the task of cleaning flash-holes almost non-existent).

The lid on the Lyman tumbler also has 'air-vents' and is not a sealed unit-the Brasso to some degree can dry-out.

I was also informed that the Corn based media (the stuff that is used in blasting) is ideal and more affordable.

Concerning the brasso, I simply add it to the media after I have finished tumbling my current batch of brass. I only add a few capfulls. Then when I go to tumble my next batch of brass (days or weeks later), the brasso has well and truly dried out.

Repeat the process.

HTH

220 wrote:

HiWall wrote:Primers etc leave some chemical residue in the cases which becomes dust (mercury to be specific), and this can be released into the air while the tumbler is operating even though most of them have lids.

I think you will find mercury hasn't been used in primers for decades. Lead is the problem hence a number of manufacturers making lead free primers. The lead becomes airborne when tumbling without a lid and when sifting cases from media. Airbourne particals are much more easly absorbed into the body especially when inhaled.
Simply a matter of running it and sifting in a well venilated area.

My bad mate ... same problem, different poison - but the concept is the same - outside or well ventilated and away from your kids!

Really the whole reason for case tumbling is to get clean brass for reloading (shiny is a bonus available with extra time in the tumbler, not the main reason for tumbling). I never (well I did once!) run untumbled brass through my sizing dies, can't really think of a better way to wreck a good die than filling it up with crap from uncleaned cases. If for some reason I want to de-cap before tumbling, and I can't think of many reasons I would want to do that, I will use a universal de-capping die. This is always a pain because I hate cleaning media out of flash-holes.

One thing I heard said one day (possibly by someone on this forum) was to give your case's a twist between your fingers straight after its been ejected before you put it back into your case holder while its still warm and most of the black carbon crap comes off the neck straight away.

True