Cleaner brass

[James Adamson]

Just been cleaning up some more brass in my new rotary tumbler. I wish I had changed to this system before now. 1 hour in stainless steel pins, hot water, a squirt of washing up liquid and half a teaspoon of citric acid and hey presto beautiful shiny clean brass inside and out. It's cheaper than the normal vibrating tumbler with walnut/corn media, faster and the results are 10 times better.

 

[gillettehunter]

I've been using that for perhaps 3 yrs now? Works very well.
Bruce

 

[Hummer]

Did you use Lemishine in the tumbler? What kind of soap were you using?

 

[James Adamson]

Did you use Lemishine in the tumbler? What kind of soap were you using?

No lemishine, just fairy liquid.

 

[Hummer]

If you can find Limishine you will get shinier cases with less tumbling time.

 

[PARA45]

How about posting a pix of your rotary tumbler? I've been using a Dillon and Frankfurt Arsenal tumbler for many years, and it takes a while to clean, and they do come out clean, but not the primer pockets. I usually end up having to remove corn or walnut from the primer pockets.

 

[Hummer]

It is a Thumlers Tumbler Mod B, got two of them. Tumble with stainless steel pins. Drum holds one gallon of water. Below is one I found on ebay to give you a idea of what it looks like. I tumble 100 say 308/30.06 cases at a time.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/THE-ORIGIN...484746?hash=item2f3ee25b0a:g:I0MAAOSw6VVeXDPD

Below is before and after of 43 Mauser brass I found in flea market.

 

[PARA45]

Oh sh*t, wow, now that is some shiny clean brass. I don't believe my tumblers would have been able to produce brass that clean. Good deal, thanks!

 

[Ridgewalker]

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1012721373?pid=713881
This is what I have used for several years since I got a sink in my basement close to my reloading room. I use Dawn (a cap or squirt), tumble for an hour, dry over night, resize & deprime, tumble for another hour. The timer works and stops it when an hour is up. The primer pockets come out pretty clean on large rifle pockets, but usually need a little help on small primer pockets. A dryer or dehydrater would speed things up a bit.
I find it’s not much cleaner, just a lot faster than a vibratory walnut shell cleaner.

 

[tarbe]

I used to run two vibratory tubs, one with walnut shells and one with corn cob.

Switched to SS pins last year and wish I had done it sooner!

 

[Hummer]

I wish I had found the pens 40 years ago ! ! ! ! !

The above was tumbled with 2 oz Ivory Dish Detergent and a 9MM case full of Lemishine for two hours. I have a 71 Mauser and dies for it and I stumbled across those cases in a flea market and guy did not realize what he had and I snatched them up. That is the worst ones I have found to clean.

In that same flea market a guy had a Dumore grinder and wanted 20 for it. Wife was buying something from him and I made him a offer of 15. Got home and looked it up, sells for over 300. It takes dental burrs and I can engrave my name on steel with it.