Brass in the tumbler

Bradley · Feb 28, 2014

Havent been reloading long myself and do NOT have the complete setup to do everything but I am setup to clean the brass then head down to my father in laws to powder charge and press bullets...
]
How many rounds do you guys put in the tumbler? My father in law has been doing this for me but im trying to set up as much as I can here at home.

Crunchy Frog · Feb 28, 2014

Well, of course it depends on the size of the tumbler and the size of the cases.

I have found that I can put at least a couple hundred .38 cases into my Frankford Arsenal vibratory tumbler with no problems. Although it is possible to overload it, having a good bit of brass in the bowl seems to aid the process. I guess the weight of the cases might add a little friction.

Tigerstripe · Mar 1, 2014

the brass will come out really shiney if you add a DROP or 2 of turtle wax. BUT you have to check the cases for plugged primer holes and make sure there isnt any globs in the case. if the old primers are in the cases the holes will be cleaned when deprimed.

i dont remember counting but with about half the tumbler filled with media i nearly fill it with cases. 300 223?

Chili · Mar 1, 2014

Most manufactures will give you an idea how many cases their machines will hold. My Lyman 2500 can hold 300 or 400 9mm cases, about 200 223 cases and maybe that many in 44 Mag/45 Colt. Of course It could probably hold more, but I don't feel up to overloading it.

Bradley · Mar 1, 2014

I have the Lyman Pro 1200 and most often clean 9mm more than anything but some .45 acp and 223 as well.

Bradley · Mar 3, 2014

How long do you guys let the tumbler run? I ran 100 cases of 9mm for 1 hour yesterday and just took them out of the tumbler and they arent really as clean as I'd like for them to be.

mark_b · Mar 3, 2014

I have a Lyman tumbler, I usually run it for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, depending on how dirty they were to begin with. My experience is that if the shells are really dirty, corn cob media is not aggressive enough to clean them.

I usually clean them in water with lemi-shine added first then tumble with corn cob media for the best results.

11B3XCIB · Mar 7, 2014

Bradley said:
How long do you guys let the tumbler run? I ran 100 cases of 9mm for 1 hour yesterday and just took them out of the tumbler and they arent really as clean as I'd like for them to be.

Do you tumble with anything besides the media? What type of media do you use ?? It also depends on how many cases you have in the tumbler, size of tumbler, and quantity of media. There's no magic equation of those things combined to get perfection, but they do matter.

I use corn cob media that hasn't been changed in 14 months plus a couple capfuls of Berry's Brass Bright polish (it was the cheapest on the shelf compared to Hornady and some others at the store I was in) and it works phenomenally. Shines my brass up better than new. Makes it really easy to spot case flaws with shiny brass and de-gunking the brass translates to less gunk building up in the chamber.

I like case polish in the media because it virtually eliminates dust. I hear of corn cob media dust being a problem but with the brass polish, I've never had an issue

As for the initial question about how much brass I put in it...depends on how much I'm reloading at the moment. But, if I'm loading a bunch, I've got no qualms about dumping as many in it as will fit. That's A LOT (hundreds) of .45 of 9mm but I think I've only squeezed about 150ish 5.56 cases into it.

Tigerstripe · Mar 7, 2014

you need to stop using brass polish.

there is something in it that will deterioate the brass.

use a small amount of turtle car wax.

anything with amonia or some chemical brass polish has is bad.

sc1911cwp · Mar 8, 2014

Your brass only needs to be clean, not shiny.

Recharge media with Nu-Finish from Walwart. Cheaper than others. Do Not use polish that contains ammonia, it degrades brass.

Tigerstripe · Mar 8, 2014

nu finish thats it i said turtle wax but that is wrong.

Ritter Gottes · Mar 15, 2014

Hello,
Flitz tumbler/media additive is about the best thing i have found as far as polishers go. You can get it from MidwayUSA.
I also throw used dryer sheets that I cut into 2x2" squares into the tumbler to clean the media while you tumble the brass. The media i currently have in the tumbler is appx 4 years old and still does a perfect job on brass.

Cheers!
RG