Stainless Steel media tumbling

Tunanut

Ten Pointer
Been reloading about 40 years now, and while many things have remained the same, here's one change I've made to my reloading process. Stainless steel media tumbling. First deprime all cases. Then put them in a model B tumbler and fill with hot water. Add some dawn and lemi shine, I use a 44mag case as a measurer, one each. Tumble for 20 to 30 minutes, longer tends to work harden your necks so I don't recommend tumbling much longer than 30 minutes. This method turns nasty tarnished brass into brand new looking brass, primer pockets cleaned inside and out. The media is designed to not get stuck in the pockets, but occasionally I'll get one I have to pop out stuck in there. Here's some 243 and 280AI brass that I tumbled last night.
 

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Mr.Gadget

Old Mossy Horns
When I use up all my corn cob and walnut I plan to go SS.

But I have about 6 gal of each left.....
 

bryguy

Old Mossy Horns
I am going to go with the ultrasonic units when my walnut and corn cob wear out. That is some good looking brass there.
 

JLove1974

Twelve Pointer
I have used every type of tumbling known to man, and SS pins, citric acid, and armorall wash and wax beats everything else hands down.
 

nccatfisher

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
Friend of mine showed me his setup about a year ago. For now SS is the way to go hands down.
 

Downeast

Twelve Pointer
SS cleaning is the way to go. My 5 shot group sizes have tightened up to half of what they once were. :cool:
 

superman4283

Four Pointer
Just soaking them in Lemi Shine without tumbling cleans them up a lot. I did that for awhile when my tumbler broke. I was surprised how well it worked.
 

Tunanut

Ten Pointer
What brand tumbler is that?

It's called a Model B I believe. I've done some customizing to it. Primed and Repainted it to prevent rust. Replace the wingnuts with rounded screwdowns and painted grip material on the roller edges of the tumbler. Keeps it from slipping on the rails when it turning a heavy load. It's almost 5 years old now.
 

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