Anyone have some really NASTY brass they want cleaned?

[ScottRiqui]

This sounds pretty cool, I would like to see a short video of the tumbler in action. 15#'s of material seems like a LOT of stuff in a tumbler

Most (eight pounds) of the fifteen pounds is water - there's only five pounds of stainless pins and two pounds of brass.

I don't have a clear cover for my Thumler's, but post #16 has links to two YouTube videos. The first video has a LOT more "stuff" in it, though - two full quarts of pennies, and five pounds of gravel media (which takes up a lot more space than five pounds of stainless steel pins). The second video is probably pretty close to the recipe I'm using.

 

[beex215]

i have to see the results of the 45 acp brass.

 

[ScottRiqui]

Okay - four hours down. I opened the tumbler, grabbed a dozen cases, rinsed and dried them, and took pictures. By dumb luck, I got one of the two "super nasty" pieces that still had its primer in place. It's at the bottom-left of each of these pictures.

In general, the brass is a LOT cleaner already. It's much smoother, and there's even a bit of shine coming out, although the cases are still pretty dark. The insides of the cases and primer pockets are a lot cleaner, although I'm hoping they get even better with more time in the tumbler.

When I was done taking pictures, I tossed the cases back in the tumbler, buttoned it back up and continued with the tumbling - I didn't change out the water, soap or Lemishine. I'll give it another four hours and then take more pictures.

 

[ScottRiqui]

i have to see the results of the 45 acp brass.

Sorry - No one's sent me any .45 ACP brass to test, and I don't have any here that's "nasty" enough to be a good experimental batch.

 

[ScottRiqui]

And here's the brass after eight hours. Still some improvement, but I'm wondering if the soap and acid in the solution might be depleted by now. The brass is getting very clean, and has a good shine, but there's still an overall 'dark' staining. The piece of nickel-plated brass that was among the random dozen I pulled is looking much better - almost new. The primer pockets and insides of the cases continue to clean up. At this point, I wouldn't have any problem loading these up.

 

[Beentown71]

You should have some nasty .223 anytime. I thought mine was bad but some of that above was terrible.

I am still deciding on what tumbler to buy. It was going to be a Berrys but this may change my mind. How much is the stainless media?

 

[ScottRiqui]

Five pounds of the media is $45 from www.stainlesstumblingmedia.com, but as long as you're careful not to lose too many pins, it should last you forever.

The whole setup, with rotary tumbler, media, media separator, and Lemishine is about $300 shipped. It's pricey, but with the "normally dirty" brass I've done so far, it comes out almost indistinguishable from new brass in about four hours. Plus, the tumbler is fairly quiet, there's no dust, and I should never have to buy media again.

 

[ScottRiqui]

After Twelve Hours

And here it is after twelve hours. At this point, the brass is clean and smooth, inside and out, but it's still a little bit 'dark'; you'd never mistake it for new. As you can tell, the water coming out of the tumbler was *filthy*.

I'm still curious if the sheer amount of corrosion on this brass overwhelmed the capability of the soap and citric acid in the solution. So after I took these pictures, I replaced the solution in the tumbler with fresh water, soap and Lemishine. I'm going to let it run until tomorrow morning (about eight more hours) and see if there's any more improvement. Even if there isn't, this brass has still been "saved" - compare these pictures to the "before" shots earlier in the thread.

 

[ScottRiqui]

HERE'S what I was waiting for!

Replacing the solution did the trick! Evidently, once the soap and acid have been depleted, additional time spent tumbling only gives minimal benefits. But with fresh water/soap/Lemishine and about seven more hours, here are the final results:

"After" group shot:

 

[ScottRiqui]

And do you remember those two extra-nasty pieces that I left primed so I could find them later?

Well, here they are now!

I still have about a pound of schmellba99's brass left, so when I tumble it this afternoon, I'm going to follow a different schedule. I'm only going to tumble it for two hours, then I'm going to replace the soap/water/acid solution and tumble it for two more hours. I'm betting that I can get to the "like new" stage a LOT faster if I replace the solution when it gets nasty.

 

[Gdawgs]

Wow, that's impressive!

 

[Grizz12]

are the primer holes getting bigger or is it the camera/reflection/optical illusion?

By the way, they look incredible!!!

 

[ScottRiqui]

are the primer holes getting bigger or is it the camera/reflection/optical illusion?

It's not the same 12 pieces of brass in every picture. Some of the cases just have larger flash holes than others.

I was actually pretty surprised at the variance in flash holes among the different cases; some are nice and clean and centered in the case, while others are slightly off-center and look like they were made with an icepick. I guess they all work, though.

 

[schmellba99]

Well, crap.

Now I need to go out and get me a stainless tumbler. Vibratory tumbling never would have been able to do this.

I simply cannot believe that is the same brass I sent you.

 

[ScottRiqui]

I simply cannot believe that is the same brass I sent you.

I have to admit I was a bit surprised when I opened up the tumbler this morning. I figured the fresh solution would make a difference, but I wasn't expecting that much of a change.

I've got about 20 ounces of your nasty brass left - I'm curious to see how it does with two hours of tumbling, swapping out the solution and then tumbling it for two hours more. I'd like to find the "sweet spot" for tumbling time so that the cruddy brass comes out looking good, but doesn't have to spend forever in the tumbler to get there.

Considering that the results after four, eight and twelve hours in the same solution weren't dramatically different, I'm suspecting that the soap and acid were 'used up' pretty early in the first four hours.

 

[Beentown71]

That did great. Wonder how it will do on the extremely tarnished stuff I sent? That is pretty amazing results.

 

[ScottRiqui]

Here's the last of the .40 S&W brass. It came out as shiny as the first batch, after only four hours. Evidently, the trick is to replenish the solution early on in the process, once it's cleaned the bulk of the corrosion and gotten filthy. Otherwise, the depleted soap & acid don't do much more, no matter how long you keep tumbling.

The sequence for this batch was two hours tumbling, then replace the solution and tumble for two more hours.

Tomorrow - .223 brass!

 

[schmellba99]

You are killing me man, killing me!

 

[ScottRiqui]

You are killing me man, killing me!

LOL - Don't be surprised if you find yourself running your fingers through it like a troll with his gold!

 

[SgtDog0311]

similar experience

Hey Scott, Just had to chimb in. I love my thumbler!

Of course the nastier the brass the better the payback. What I like best about the outcome is the grit I'm avoiding in my dies. I use a universal decaping die for all my brass so they never see their standard dies till they are cleaned... that, and I can see at a glance which cases I've charged in the blocks since those without powder are shining back at you all the way from the bottom, even in the larger rifle cases, just like new brass. If you use light charges in some of your reloads (for casters shooting lower velocities) that can be an additional safety factor against double charges.

This month I cleaned 1600 cases (pistol, revolver and rifle - ten calibers or so) for my best friends widow to get presentable for sale. Man, what a difference. I did find that water makes a difference in the outcome. With my water here in Oklahoma, on tablespoon of dawn is sufficient; in Idaho, with my well water it takes 2 tbls.

I never mix calibers with necks that will slip inside the other... for obvious reasons.

That was a good idea to change out the water for really dirty/tarnished stuff. I never did that but can see it wouldn't take but a minute and would be worth it. I usually let my normal stuff run for 4 hours and the dirty stuff for six. I've never tried under four hours so who knows, maybe that is overkill??