Stainless steel cleaning media

First:

lol.gif
lol.gif
lol.gif
It's easy to get that mixed up..
Originally Posted By: 220_SwiftThat is what I have been doing wrong all this time.......I thought the shot of alcohol was for the reloader,not the tumbler!




Second:
sneaky2.gif
I have been using the SS media for almost 2 years and I have NO issues with it. Glad to know I wasn't missing any... I've tried every method available for cleaning brass & it gives FAR & AWAY a better result. Of course there are a few things that are a little aggrevating but isn't the entire process of loading full of those little things that bug you (FW707 sent me the poster child example just last night
tongue_smilie.gif
). I use the normal pins (from STM) and have never had a pin stuck inside a case. I do get a few case (in the 2-3% range) that 2 pins get stuck in the flash hole. A quick push with a paper clip & problem solved. As far as drying... Just lay it on a towel & when you come back it's dry. I also anneal after cleaning and that process will dry the brass also if you want to load the same night.


Third:
Were is the smiley with an erection ???

 
mine are pins. mine require a shaking of a high percentage of the cases to get all of the pins out.
This wouldn't work for catshooter and 50 lb batches. any straight walled cases have no problems.
bottle necks under .243 can require alot of shaking to get the pins out.

The cleaning process does a great job, MOST OF THE TIME. I have had batches where some odd coated
cases were mixed in and it stains the whole batch. I sometimes takes me 2 washes to rid them of the stain. Overall though, if the brass is already shiny, I through it into the walnut dry tumbler. If it is showing some tarnish, it gets washed.
 
Originally Posted By: RustydustOriginally Posted By: CatShooter

What footballs, and where did you get them.

All the media I have seen has been pins and they do stick inside of cases.

Thanks.



I no longer am in contact with the guy that got me the media, but this is every similar to what I use: http://www.ebay.com/itm/STAINLESS-STEEL-...T-/200796733577

The stuff that I use measures .190 by .408 so it goes down the neck of my .204 brass will not fit down the neck of my .17 Remington brass. I do not remember how much that I paid for it because it was only a few pounds of a larger order. $30 seems to stick in my mind though.

Hope this helps.

Thanks...
 
Originally Posted By: Keifus
bottle necks under .243 can require alot of shaking to get the pins out.

I rinse each one under a stream of hot water from the faucet. No pins and no shaking required.
 
Originally Posted By: GerbsOriginally Posted By: Keifus
bottle necks under .243 can require alot of shaking to get the pins out.

I rinse each one under a stream of hot water from the faucet. No pins and no shaking required.

Yep... water is like a lube (at least helps it "flow" & not stick). I dump mine while submerged in water and makes things go a lot faster & easier.
 
The media separators sold by Stainless Media Tumbling work very well. They agitate the brass while submerged and the media comes out of the cases quickly, easily, and reliably. I highly recommend these.
 
I run mine through an RCBS Case/Media separator after 2 hours in the tumbler and the only thing I occasionally run into is a set of pins stuck in the flash hole. Which isn't a worry because I catch it right when I stand them up to dry.

After using stainless, I'll never go back to the vibratory tumbler again. No more dust and noise for me.
 
$90 + shipping for a little Bag,, Come on, What a RIP !! For the Cleaning Media, Football shape.
 
Last edited:
I've wanted to give this SS thing a try but I just can't warm up to it. It sounds like a bunch more work and extra steps to use over the old walnut media. You read about emptying the cases under water or rinsing each case under warm water to get the pins out. Setting them in the sun or placing them in the oven to dry. Be careful to not use too much lemishine... Then you have to worry about loosing the pins. The list goes on.

Right now I run them in walnut, separate thru a plastic hand held thingamajig I got from midway 25 years ago and load.... Seems simple enough to me.
 
Originally Posted By: Bman$90 + shipping for a little Bag,, Come on, What a RIP !! For the Cleaning Media, Football shape.


I agree that's high. When I got my media it was ~$45. However, it will last a lifetime. You will spend WAY more than that buying media if you shoot much.
 
I've been using the SS method for over 3 years now. Would never go back, but I'm not trying to do 30 to 50 lbs. at the time. That would take one big tumbler system Cat.

What I found is this, initially I had a few cases that would get two pins jammed in the flash holes on the cases that used SRP's. Never had a problem with cases that used LRP's. After a few weeks, the cases no longer got pins jammed in the flash holes. I think that is due to smoothing of the edge ends on the SS pins. Can't remember the last time I had two pins stuck now. I dump the cases, pins, and water all into an RCBS media separator and give the handle a few spins in both directions. That eliminates any pins in the cases. I dump the brass into a container and run water over the brass to eliminate the soap and lemishine.

While the brass is rinsing, I dump the water out of the separator until the pins are just barely left in a little water. I then dump that all back into the tumbler, fill it with water and let it overflow in the sink which rinses the media and gets rid of the soap and remaining contaminants. Once the water is clear I turn the tumbler over slowly on it side so the pins don't run out with the water. Then I just let it stay on it side in the sink until I do the next load.

Once the cases are rinsed, I dry them with in a big towel and place them primer end up in a grid to dry internally. I usually only do about 200 cases at a time, so I can place them in this plastic grid and either put them in my homemade dryer, put them in front of the ice machine fan in my shop, or take them out to one of the trucks and leave them in the cab for a couple of hours with the sun shining on them.

Brass will only come out dirty looking if (1) the tumbler is turned off and brass sits in the water without it being dumped out for an hour or so, or (2)the ss media is not properly washed and rinsed to get rid of all the contaminants. The process sounds much more difficult than it is. Actually it is very simple to do. I bought 10 lbs of ss pins 3 years ago, and still have only used the first 5 lb bag, and probably won't ever need the second one. Be sure the pins are magnetized before buying them as that makes the process so much easier in the event of some pins spilling.
 
Originally Posted By: FurhunterI've wanted to give this SS thing a try but I just can't warm up to it. It sounds like a bunch more work and extra steps to use over the old walnut media. You read about emptying the cases under water or rinsing each case under warm water to get the pins out. Setting them in the sun or placing them in the oven to dry. Be careful to not use too much lemishine... Then you have to worry about loosing the pins. The list goes on.

Right now I run them in walnut, separate thru a plastic hand held thingamajig I got from midway 25 years ago and load.... Seems simple enough to me.


You know, after a few years of the SS media and the Thumler's Tumbler thing I will admit that doing it that way is a bit of a PITA, but if you want the best looking shiniest brass there is then that is pretty much what you have to do.

If I have 100-200 rounds of brass to load and it has been cleaned in the not too distant past and I am wanting to start loading it in a few hours then I will dump them in my vibratory polisher, add a small squirt of Nu Finish and turn it on. In 2-3 hours I am ready to load. Nice clean shiny brass good to go.

BUT if I am digging trough a 5 gallon bucket of gimmie brass of indeterminate age or possibly even headstamp then you betcha- I am using the Thumler's.

A few years ago a fellow shooter at the local range showed me some before and afters of some 60 year old .50 BMG brass that he had done with his Thumler. I thought he was trying to pull a fast one on me. Showing me some gawdawful looking oxidized almost black stuff in one hand and brand new brass in the other. But it was the same stuff except that one was as he got it and the other was as it was now. THAT'S when I decided to get me a Thumler setup of my very own.

In the 3-4 times a year that I use mine now I rather doubt that I will ever wear it out, but it is just one of those Good Things to have around. It works and it makes my brass pretty and me happy so all is good. Glad that I bought mine.
 
Originally Posted By: HereticOriginally Posted By: GerbsSTM has been great to work with. They are also a sponsor here.

http://www.stainlesstumblingmedia.com/

This. I bought a kit from them about 2 years ago. Well worth the investment. Clean flash holes are neat to have, also!
smile.gif


+2

Back when the AR craze was raging; I sold enough "SS cleaned" range pick-up brass to more than pay for my SS Kit. Everyone that bought the brass commented they couldn't tell it from new after delivery. Some of it was black as spades before going into the tumbler. As mentioned, nothing works better.
 
Back
Top