Adventures In Wet Tumbling

[Lorimor]

I finally took the plunge and bought myself a tumbler and some SS pins to clean brass.  I had some nasty brass that I "inherited" at the Vogel class.  It came complete with sand, silt and corrosion and no amount of time in the vibratory cleaner was going to clean it up.  (Believe me, I tried.)

It's a slow process but man oh man, does it turn out some beautiful brass. All the nasty stuff on the interior of the case is gone!  Even the primer pockets get cleaned out nicely. 

I just didn't want to launch that crap down the barrels of the guns. 

Another hobby within a hobby. 

[bkoenig]

Yeah, it's pretty awesome how clean it gets them.  Do you use any kind of cleaner in addition to the pins?  A lot of guys use Lemishine. 

[tstuart34]

I use leminshine and dawn brass is beautiful.

 One thing to watch out if you load rifle range brass I brass coated steel cases. They will tarnish your batch of brass a funky orangish color. I've started to run a magnet over everything just to double check I don't have anything hidden in a batch.

[SemperFiGuy]

Here's a good read on the SS-pins tumbling process:

http://www.accurateshooter.com/technical-articles/reloading/brass-cleaning-with-stainless-media/

Appears to make nice, bright, shiny brass.

sfg

[Lorimor]

Yeah, it's pretty awesome how clean it gets them.  Do you use any kind of cleaner in addition to the pins?  A lot of guys use Lemishine. 

I add no more than 1/4 tsp of Lemishine to each batch.  I also add a few squirts of whatever dishwashing detergent is on on the sink at the time.  The instructions say to use 1 to 2 tablespoons of detergent but that makes a BUNCH of suds and much more rinsing is required as a result. 

[Lorimor]

I use leminshine and dawn brass is beautiful.

 One thing to watch out if you load rifle range brass I brass coated steel cases. They will tarnish your batch of brass a funky orangish color. I've started to run a magnet over everything just to double check I don't have anything hidden in a batch.

Thanks for the tip. 

Another thing I do is toss a couple of paper towels in the brass separator and roll it over multiple times.  It captures a little more water and helps dry the brass after rinsing.  I then dump the brass into one of those white plastic things that's supposed to sit under a washing machine to catch water to let the brass air dry.