Having an issue with stainless media tumbling
- Thread starter Remmy700
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25WSM
Well-Known Member
We all went to ultrasonic. Had trouble with the necks on match brass with pins.
shinbone
Well-Known Member
I am a new reloader, so don't yet have the voice of experience, but . . . before investing in a particular cleaning method, I did a bunch of Google research and decided to go with ultrasonic cleaning. I opted for the RCBS Ultrasonic Case Cleaning Solution. Results are not perfect, but certainly good enough, so far. I was willing to give up some shiny-blingy-ness in exchange for not beating on the brass by tumbling or vibrating.
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John@redmt
Well-Known Member
I think it's going to come down to the "good enough" factor. If you tumble to the point of where it's good enough I think you'll eliminate the flaring issue. Something else is the amount of brass your tumbling may beat it up some but I would think that would dent it rather than flare it. I always wait until I have a few hundred cases to clean and fill the tumbler up at least to half way with brass. I have found that the more I put in the cleaner it comes. JMHO
SCSCHNUR
Well-Known Member
This is my Tumbler I built. Put a timer on it when I put it together that allows me to set time from 5min, 30 min, 1 hour and two hours. I read some where that you should run the stainless media by itself for an hour to take edge off media. This keeps the flaring down on brass. Haven't tried it yet but will as it also cleans up media. I have been using SS media for two three years I like it.My first tumbler was the Tumblers tumbler which is red and I believe is the cousin to the Rebel 17 like yours. This one is bigger and can do three times as much or more brass. I don't usually clean more than 100 or so at a time.
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Appreicate it brother and nice setup. The media in mine has been running for about two years now so I don't think that is going to part of the problem. I think I am just super critical on my brass now and am just now noticing lol. Plus I drink a lot while I load now which heightens your senses! lol
Hello Remmy,, what Oregonian has posted here is what I was going to post. There's also another post on the forum where a guy thought that he had something wrong with his chamber, a carbon build up, when it was a situation where he was tumbling his brass for an hour to an hour-and-one-half in the stainless media. The media actually was peening the mouths of his brass over to the point where the brass would not chamber or was giving him a hard time closing the bolt.
25WSM
Well-Known Member
Your necks will get thicker spots in them if you tumble with steel pins. We shoot turned brass and after tumbling the necks had clearance issues. No issues with ultrasonic. I normally don't clean any of my brass ever. I want carbon in my Neck for lube. Why remove it just to replace it with something else. Primer pockets clean up with Primer pocket tool. Shiney brass never shot better to me. Shep
I don't care much for shiny brass either but it's quicker than wiping each piece down cause I am not going to run them dirty in my dies.
Years ago I used to dip the necks in powdered graphite before neck sizing. Now I only lube the outside of the case on a pad and use nothing inside the neck.
So for those of you running ultrasonic does it leave some carbon in the necks unlike stripping it completely clean like SS?
Knight
Well-Known Member
I've been using stainless media along with 2-4 lbs of brass 3 tbs of dawn dish soap, 1/4 tsp lemi shine and 1 gallon of water with a 2 1/2 - 3 hour tumble. Brass will appear better then new without any problems. 308 Cal
Oh there is no doubt that SS cleans the snot out of the brass for sure, and I have always dealt with the dings in case mouth and accepted it as collateral damage, I mean I usually trim and debur after it's clean but I can't accept flared case mouths as collateral damage, there are simply to many other cleaning options.
