.

--
Of the Troops & For the Troops

Been reading about this. The downfall if there is one......as you say WEIGHT. A friend of mine is in the process of making his own tumbler using 8" PVC tubing. He will use a set of drive roller powered by an electric motor/pulley setup. The tubing will lay on the rollers.

Thank you John for your Post about Stainless steel pins as a Case cleaner, I have heard about this before on the (cast boolets) web site, John Taffin please excuse the way I spelled (Bullets). anyway I want to give this a try , my Question is how much of the Pin`s do I need? I like to clean a least a thousand .45Colt, .45Acp, .223. at a time. I have seen those small cement mixers made with plastic drums, look`s like they would hold a thousand or so case`s. form what I read, it look`s like 2 hours will clean the cases very well. I would sure be thankful for any advice on this subject.

Is it possible to use the "pins" dry?

I use a Thumler "B" and rarely tumble more than 100 straight-wall cases at a time.

Do the "pins" get lodged in the primer flash holes?

:)

First...not concerned with deep cleaning primer pockets. They just seem always to not cause any grief. I quit cleaning primer pockets years ago.

Next...not concerned about looks. Patina actually appealing to me.

I carry an empty bucket of some sort, folger coffee plastic can works well. I dump empties into bucket as I shoot...bucket has water with dawn dishwashing soap. Buckets gets agitatad and rinsed with clear water.
As you pointed out, drylng is a hassle. If lots of brass, use Paco method of pillowcase in washing machine.

After thourougly dry, vibrate clean with cheap corn cob PetSmart rabbit bedding.

I have often wondered about the steel pins. Where do get them? Would you continue using.

I bought the Kit from Brownells.
Model B highspeed tumbler with 5lbs of pins.
Corncob/walnut cleaned fine for me, not looking for new, just clean.
Then I got into F Class and expensive Brass(Lapua) and trying to load the best/most consistant ammo I can.
Doing my homework I decided I need to start annealing my brass. First for consistant neck tension. Second to extend the life of my brass.
So I started studing about annealing and the first thing I learned was carbon resist heat, so all the carbon must be removed from the case neck to get consistant annealing.

So now along with an annealing machine I bought the SS tumbling setup.
They work as advertised. I normally run about 200 case at a time, not sure about the weight.
When I have cleaned large amounts of brass for a friend I run them in batches using a Folgers plastic coffee can(1lb 13oz size) as my gauge.

I use a shot of Dawn DW liquid and 1/2 tsp of Lemon shine DW cleaner(powder) and hot water.
It is a little messy if not careful.
I take the finished tumbler to the kitchen sink, pick out the brass 2-3 at a time and give them a shake to get any pins out that are inside then drop them in a bucket of warm water. Never had a problem with the pins sticking in the flash hole.

Rinse a few times then pour them out on a towel on the bench under a ceiling fan.
Usually they are dry the next day.
Spotless inside and out including the primer pockets.