Stainless steel wet tumbling

[bkoenig]

I got tired of dealing with dust and residue from tumbling media on my cases so I decided to give wet tumbling a try.  I've read a lot about it online and everyone raves about it.  I had an old junky Harbor Freight rock tumbler and I ordered 5lbs of stainless steel media from Buffalo Arms http://www.buffaloarms.com/Detail.aspx?PROD=164066.

I put in maybe 1/2 lb of the stainless steel pins, a squirt of dish soap, and a squirt of lemon juice, and filled it up the rest of the way with water and .223 cases.  After tumbling for about 2 hours I opened up the tumbler and I was very impressed.  This is the cleanest I have ever gotten my cases - they look almost new inside and out.  Another big plus is the media doesn't stick in .223 cases like walnut shells does.  It just slides right out.  You do have to rinse them a couple of times to get all the dirty water out, but that's easy to do.  Just pour off the water leaving the cases & media behind, refill, swirl it around, and repeat until it runs clean.

The greatest thing about this is that I don't have to worry about the lead reside from the dust that you get from regular dry tumbling.  It's all just washed down the drain.  There is one drawback, and that's the need to dry the cases after you're done.  I purchased a cheap aluminum foil roasting pan and I plan to just set them in a warm oven.

My little rock tumbler doesn't have much capacity, maybe just 50 cases or so.  I figured if I liked the results I would step up to something bigger, and Cabelas has a rotary tumbler for around $160 that they say can hold 250 .30-06 cases.  I'll probably go with something like that.  You can't use a regular vibratory tumbler for this, it has to be a rotary tumbler.

If you're thinking of getting into reloading I would definitely recommend going this route.  The setup costs aren't all that much more than dry tumbling, and it's so much cleaner and has nicer results that for me it's no question which is better.

[wallace11bravo]

Have you tried ultrasonic cleaners?

[bkoenig]

I haven't, but I've heard good stuff about them as well.  It would be interesting to see a comparison between the two.

[wallace11bravo]

It's all I've used. Never messed around with tumblers. Works well for me, use distilled water and the Hornady solution, 3x 8 minute cycles, dry upside down, brush out the necks.

[unfy]

I'd be curious to see some before / after pics, a long with how long they were tumbled ?

This goes for both the wet tumble and sonic cleaners!

I don't do any shouldered rifle reloading at the moment, but I can definitely see physical media getting stuck inside the case / causing problems.  I know on pistol brass, they'll inevitably get a piece of media stuck in the flash hole at the bottom of the case....

Any extra info / gotchas / procedure stuff concerning the sonic would also be welcome.  How long have you had it ? Any quirks develop ? Any considerations ?  Traditional tumbling (dry or wet) is pretty straight forward and not a 'new' technology.  Ultrasonic stuff... I'd be curious how the machine handles after a year or three etc.


Edit:

The thought of buying media only once and it last a lifetime is very intriguing btw

[unfy]

PS:  the original link to steel media is slightly fubar (it includes the period, which breaks the URL).  Correct one is:

http://www.buffaloarms.com/Detail.aspx?PROD=164066

[unfy]

Looking at midway, reloading stylized tumblers for wet cleaning... aint cheap.  $150-$400, as opposed to a $50-$75 vibrating tumbler.

Harbor Freight appears to offer a double drum tumbler for $50:

http://www.harborfreight.com/dual-drum-rotary-rock-tumbler-67632.html

Rock tumblers seem to be over priced for what they actually are.  I wonder how difficult it'd be to just build one yourself heh.

Out of curiosity, what size drum(s) are you using ?

[bkoenig]

That's what I have right now from Harbor Freight.  It's kind of a piece of junk, to be honest.  You can actually only run one drum at a time, otherwise it binds up.  I do think it would be really easy to build your own tumbler if you had a motor laying around.  Hmm....maybe a trip to the surplus center is in order.

This is the one I was looking at from Cabela's.  It has a 15lb drum, which they say holds 250 30-06 cases.

http://www.cabelas.com/tumblers-scales-thumlers-tumbler-model-b-rotary-tumbler-1.shtml. 

I'm interested to hear more about ultrasonic cleaning, too. 

[wallace11bravo]

As a disclaimer: My handloading methods are probably far different from what most of you do.

I use a $40 Ultrasonic cleaner from harbor freight, distilled water, and hornady cleaning solution.

I decap and place in the cleaner, 50 rounds gets to about the half way mark. I fill with distilled water until cases are submerged, and add the cleaning solution (I guestimate the 40:1 ratio). Run for one 8 minute cycle, let sit, another 8, let sit, another 8. Usually over anywhere from 45 minutes to 6 hours, just depends what is going on in life. I pick em out one at a time and put them upside down in a RCBS reloading block with holes drilled in each of the detents, to allow water to drain. Before I drilled the holes, I would sometimes end up with some residue around the mouth.

*There are some homemade vinegar recipes that people swear by, I have not tried them.
*I have heard horror stories about corrosion of brass from tap water, I have never tried to use tap water, and at $0.69/gallon, distilled water will work just fine.
*I have heard of various drying methods, from paper towels to a 2x4s with trim nails.

I can do up to 100 peices of 308 brass at a time, but I work in 50 round lots, so it never sees more.

They're not super shiny like SS media, but they are clean inside and out and I know that I haven't beaten them to death nor scraped brass off the surface.

Images courtesy of "Gene Pool" from SH:

[unfy]

Prices have changed it'd seem

http://www.harborfreight.com/ultrasonic-cleaner-3305.html

That's the $40 one.  Appears to have a 3 minute cut off. Overall size is 5.5 x 8 x 5 size.

http://www.harborfreight.com/25-liter-ultrasonic-cleaner-95563.html

Is an $75 or $100 option, does the 8 minute thing and optional heat.  Tank deminsions (not overall) is: 3 x 9.75 x 5.5.

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/811447/frankford-arsenal-ez-ultrasonic-case-cleaner-110-volt

Is a $45 cleaner.  Digging elsewhere, specs are:

Tank size of 5.8" x 4.8" x 1.9", Capacity of .75L. capable of cleaning approx. 125 pieces of .223 brass per batch. 30 watt unit at 42KHz

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/898794/frankford-arsenal-magnum-ultrasonic-case-cleaner-110-volt

Is a bigger version of the above.

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/225214/lyman-turbo-sonic-2500-cleaner-ultrasonic-case-cleaner-110-volt

These are $120ish, and are available locally.... I swear I've seen them at Cabela's and maybe Scheel / BPS.

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/825983/lyman-turbo-sonic-700-ultrasonic-small-parts-cleaner-110-volt

I think I've seen these locally.  Claims ~100 9mm brass capacity.  Think prices locally were $60-$75 ?


The frankford arsenal or harbor freight get your cheapest options.  Locally, the smaller ones are out there (I swear Cabela's has them).

The larger ones... Seems like you can go from $110 to $300 without much trouble.  Where the proper value at, I dunno.

I'd personally probably not have a problem running the $45 frankford.  I'm content with my vibrator, but if I do another big midway order, i'll pick up the $45 thing to try it out definitely.

[unfy]

While the Thumbler thing is awesomely priced from many places, I almost want a something that sits more at an angel.  Guess I just have a fear of leakage.

http://www.cabelas.com/product/RCBS-Sidewinder-Rotary-Case-Tumbler/1172319.uts

Comes close, but it's stupid expensive.

It wouldn't be too hard to build something either.

[SS_N_NE]

After reading about vibrating dry units and the issues with lead dust...I went with stainless pins in an old rock tumbler I had laying around.

The stainless pins are from Midway...and were a decent price compared to many sources.
The rock tumbler is not identified in any way. Similar to the Thumbler units many are using for case cleaning. About a 6" drum with a hexagon rubber lined chamber. Lid held on with six wingnuts.
Most people running wet systems will note that the Thumbler units are "high speed" and that action will let the pins impact more efficiently.

Running a couple Tsp. Dawn dish wash detergent, a couple .45 ACP cases (measure) of Lemi Shine and tap water (and certain this can vary by location making distilled a good choice).

Cases (mostly .45 acp and 9mm luger) come out very clean, inside and out. Primer pockets are about the only thing that are not spotless but more than reasonable for reloading. I decap before cleaning using a Lee Universal Decaping die. Usually the cases are satisfactory after 45 minutes to 1 hour. Have even reused the dirty water in the tumbler to do several loads of 9mm and .45 cases (400-500 cases in three loads) without any change in cleaning of the cases (last load looks as good as the first). Have left cases to tumble 6 hours and could not see any appreciable difference in cleaning appearance or wear/tear on the cases from the stainless pins. Cases are a satin appearance and not polished like a dry media tumbler with polish in the media.

Have picked up range brass that was VERY tarnished (dark brown) and it comes out looking like fresh once-fired brass with cleaned this way .

Would like to try ultrasonic....but with a (expensive) quality machine (and will not buy import units).  Have seen pics on the web of ultrasonic cases run in solution of citric acid (Health food store product that is cheaper than products sold for cleaning cases). The run time is short and same inside/outside clean.

I have experienced some stainless pins sticking in primer holes. Appears to be pins with poor cut ends that seem to pair up and get stuck, but never an issue seeing the problem and pulling out the pins. Cases HAVE to be sorted. Running different size cases can cause pins to get between cases and stick so hard that cases will not separate (reported experience...not mine).