what's your 2 cents on brass cleaning

[shootnstarz]

You're a sucker for shiny things, aren't you, Rick?

Oooooh................shiny !!! :tongue1:

 

[Ardiemus]

I made my timber following Big Dawg tumblers example. I put a 1HP motor which is over powered but I clean Lot of stuff in mine that isn't brass like rusted tools and such and gun parts sometimes. It cost me about 300 but it'll last decades

 

[JohnAL]

nice work!
I have thought about firing up the welder and doing the same thing.

 

[JohnAL]

One question. What are the red rollers made from? I assume something to get some traction.

 

[Ardiemus]

Rods are 1/2" rolled steel rods from TSC ( or HD ) with 1/2" ID rubber hose on it. That gives the rollers traction with the drum. I bought 10lbs of SS pins. That is a 6" drum x 21" long. With a 6 to 4" reducer that uses a pipe clamp to hold the rubber cap on during operation.

 

[JohnAL]

Thanks. That's all I needed to know. Hmm. I have a 1 hp motor I think and some 10" PVC left here by the previous owner. That should make a big azz tumbler.

 

[JohnAL]

Maybe after looking at the prices of 10" reducing couplings I'll go with 6" :jaw:

 

[Ardiemus]

Yeah the 8/10" stuff is ridiculous in price. The reducer was like $15 bucks alone for 6" and I had to order those from H-D.

 

[JohnAL]

I could not believe a 10 x 6 was like $116.

 

[Marquezj16]

I'm still stuck with the old way of tumbling to clean after range (30 minutes), de-prime and clean primer pocket, then tumble again to remove lube residue and shine them up (another 30 minutes). Even if I pick up the stain steel or sonic cleaners, I would still use my tumbler for initial cleaning.

 

[Calculated steps]

Hope this will work for the preclean an final clean on my rifle brass that'll be sweet to have both going at once.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk

 

[blowback]

I've cleaned 45acp and 9mm brass that has laid on the ground in the woods and turned black after years of exposure, and they were shinny new looking using the Chicago single wet tumblers and SS media. I have two of them now. I de-prime first, and if brass is black, I change water half way through. Works Great!

 

[Calculated steps]

I've cleaned 45acp and 9mm brass that has laid on the ground in the woods and turned black after years of exposure, and they were shinny new looking using the Chicago single wet tumblers and SS media. I have two of them now. I de-prime first, and if brass is black, I change water half way through. Works Great!

where did you get the ss media from sir. I think that the best way to go, but for now I'm going with a corn cob. Just because its in town.

 

[willybv]

Yeah, we're all like a bunch raccoons when it comes to brass.

 

[blowback]

Sorry Calculated, I was away from internet service. http://www.stainlesstumblingmedia.com is where I bought my SS media. I got the 2lb size of the .047 media. I use a pound in each Chicago rock tumbler

 

[Burnt Drag]

Yeah, we're all like a bunch raccoons when it comes to brass.

Yep... my motto is to leave with at least as much as I brought.... and I'm not above asking a fellow if he's keeping it. At some ranges, if it hits the deck, you no longer own it. Thanks, OP.... this is a great thread.. Lots of good info.

 

[Khaot1c]

I know what you're saying Burnt' I was at a range the other day and the fella next to me was shooting .357 magnum. Before I realized what was going on, he dumped 2 boxes of 50 pieces right into the empty brass bin. Which is a small ammo can that has a little pad lock on it. OUCH! I've been scouring the planet for what few hundred .357 pieces I have.
Another range I visited had VERY large signs stating; if you want your brass, don't leave it laying longer than it takes you to shoot your string. Right under that - NO SOLICITING OTHER SHOOTERS FOR BRASS.


Ok, about the wet tumbling....
Do you using a universal decapping die (or manual decapper) before running the brass through the SS media?

I only ask because I have a huge phobia about running "unknown" range brass (something "I" did not shoot and immediately pickup) through my caliber specific de-prime/resize die. I don't want anything damaging my dies. Yes, silly I know....but aren't most phobias?

 

[blowback]

Khaotic, I decap using a Lee universal decapping die. Just watch out for the Berdan primed cases you might pick up. The brass I picked up in the woods was ammo that I had shot and left on the ground up at my folks place in the North GA mountains. Ive only recently started reloading. Ammo used to be relatively cheap and abundant, not any more. And with the EPA closing the last lead plant in MO, who knows whats going to happen with ammo. I know what your talking about when it comes to picking up brass at the range now. You can get dirty looks from people around you (armed people) if they think you grabbed one of their cases.