Can't get my SS tumbled brass shiny.

Schmellba99, those pictures make me sick lol. I think I need to run the brass into the hours not minutes. I just really thought I remember people running the SS tumblers for 30 minutes or less after being shot but I'm obviously wrong, my brass isn't dirty by any means but its definitely not pretty. Might as well burn some extra electricity and make em pretty.
 
There's some really over the top OCD going on here.
Brass doesn't need to be shiny to use--it just needs to be CLEAN.
 
…But that assumes you are cleaning only to make something that goes bang. I didn't discover the importance of shiny until I started competing with self-loaders and had to find the stuff on the ground during the short brass policing calls. Shiney was the difference between losing 5% and 0.2% of pistol brass where I shot. Nothing like oxidized brass to hide in grass.

Long range rifle shooters also have to contend with the fact bullet pull varies with how much dirt or carbon is in the neck. It's a variable that has to be eliminated to shoot in the top ranks, so stainless pin cleaning has become popular among these fellows, though some still use a bore brush in a drill to clean a neck out. Choose your preference there.
 
Well I took my "clean" bucket of 45 brass, probably 600 pieces and ran it again for 3 hours last night. The water was black when I dumped it out. Then I said what the hell and ran it another 3 hours while I was a t work, the water was still pretty black when I dumped it out. It looks world's better now, actually close to the pictures.
 
My reloading partner is my 14th grandson. I have explained to him if you are going to do something, do it right or don't do it at all. He is four.
After we collect brass from a local (private) range we go back to the shop and put all the brass in the cement mixer to get all the mud out of the cases. I pay him a $ a pound for brass, and his Nanny explained to him if they were full of mud they would weigh more.
After I start the mixer up we head to his favorite five star restaurant Golden Coral. When we return it all goes into the sonic cleaner. He is then given the brass to sort by caliper. I then de-prime the brass. After I get a coffee can full of brass it goes into the F.A.R.T. for three hours.
He then bags all the brass in baggies at 110 per bag. It is marked 100 and the caliper. He then sells it to a guy at the gun show for half what he sells it for. He made $520.00 the last show.
He is required to give 10% to the church and 50% into his savings. If it takes pretty brass to take pride of his workmanship, we will have the pretties brass around.
 
I tumble mine for 45min-1hr and when they're done that's it I dry them out and go to work. The primer pockets are cleaned out, I can look down the neck and see the inside down to the bottom is cleaned of residue and the necks are clean. I can take the expander plug out of a sizing die and there is not a huge mass of crud, even after hundreds of shells have been processed. I consider that good enough for my purposes. I also checked with my guns and they don't seem to mind.
 
There's some really over the top OCD going on here.
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Well, that describes about 97.4% of all reloading.

Brass doesn't need to be shiny to use--it just needs to be CLEAN.
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True, clean is the primary purpose. But if I can get both at the same time, shiny not only allows me to see any defects in brass significantly easier, but it also helps with seeing brass on the ground at the range and it just flat out looks better. And since getting clean and shiny takes the same time, no reason not to do both.
 
Wash & Wax works great. I've tumbled about 10 batches now, this is what works for me.

2Tsp of Wash & Wax, 1 drop of Jet Dry.
I use water from my Zero Water filter, 000 desolved solids.
Enough pins to cover my brass.
Leave an air gap between the seal and water.
Use enough water to cover pins and brass, you can be generous just leave the air gap.
3 hour tumble.
I use cold water. I rince with regular water, the water beads most beads off what remains drys without spotting.

*When opening my tumbler, if there are no suds I used too little wash and wax. If there is more than a half inch of suds I used too much.

image.jpeg
 
Don't use car wash or anything else.
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Disagree. Wash-N-Wax does an excellent job. It cleans just as good as Dawn or Palmolive or any other dish soap does, but has the added benefit of leaving a thin wax film on the brass that acts as a lubricant (dish soap leaves nothing, and bare brass against steel dies is not a good thing) and it also keeps oxygen from contact with the brass, which means that it says shiny much longer due to lack of oxidation. That's purely a secondary benefit IMO, but one that I particularly like. It also speeds up the drying process because water beads off of it better than it does off of bare brass.
 
tumbling brass

hey guys, I have been reloading for years,and tried everthing that could be tried. then i came across something that someone else tried.wasn,t sure about this but i had to try it.buy a bag of lizard litter at your pet store,then add the right amount to your tumbler,then add 2 to 3 capfulls of nu-finish car polish and tumble for 3 hrs.Before i finish tumble i pre tumble for 1 hr. to get off the powder residue.Thats it you will like the way the brass comes out.
 
Members,

I haven't been on site much lately due to medical issues, lost interest for a while, more worried about living.

I've been using SS Pins since 2009 and its the only way to clean dirty brass for me, My setup allows me to run 4 separate Model B barrels at once turning about 60 rpm.

Edit: My brass dryer has an air flow that will float 9mm and 40S&W brass out of a 5 gallon bucket. A perforated lid and a timer limits the process, more time in the Summer due to higher humidity.

I still use 3 vibratory tumblers but mainly to clean and polish live ammo. My media is very small and treated with Nu-Finish car polish. Using a vibratory prevents any possibility of any accidental discharge of ammo IF a near full level of media is used. Don't touch any after tumbling without gloves on. Tumble in a large beach towel and let cure in open air, then bag and seal in an ammo can after labeling bag.

For pins, I use 0.020"dia X 0.236"long (0.5X6mm). For best results, deprime brass. I tumble overnight out in my garage which results in longer tumbling times and VERY CLEAN brass. The pins are so light, no work-hardening can occur. Brass cases banging against each other would do more damage. But we all have bags of brass laying around and we never consider any damage occurring that way. The SS Pin processing cleans the brass very clean and pistol/revolver brass may be "too clean" which causes stiction to occur on progressive presses. Some re-tumble in lizard-litter for 1/2 hour to "dirty up" the brass to reduce stiction, I don't.

Any way, I'm back - won't post often - still type with one finger - and still loving my reloading hobby, going on 44 years now for this hobby.
 
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Living is good. There is a book written by a doc on old age and dieing.

The money line, "Old age is not a battle, it is a massacre." There are days I feel very much like Custer. And I don't think I'm that old, it's not the miles or the years, it's the road.

The voice recognition software today is awesome. Dragon or what comes with Windows, it is not hard to set up. Staying in touch is important. Once running, you will not go back to typing.

I'm a stainless steel pin and car wash & wax guy, 3 hours 80% full. It befuddles me the time spent on brass cleaning vs. load development for specific performance. I'm working on matching the buck a bang store hollowpoints.

I'm big on doing your physical therapy. My stretch goal at one time from the physical therapist was to get up at least once a night to pee, but call for help first. I'm back to three miles after six years although I will never see the run times I once had. Think massacre. Nike is right, just do it.
 
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