danjordan78 Posted July 21, 2015 Share Posted July 21, 2015 How many of you tumble your mags to clean and polish them?. Do you protect the lips somehow to keep them from getting dinged up?. Mine all work and I don't want to damage them at all. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimboajubejube Posted July 21, 2015 Share Posted July 21, 2015 never tumbled mags before, keen to see what the comments will be. Good question Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zmanktm Posted July 21, 2015 Share Posted July 21, 2015 I have polished them in a vibrating cleaner and they came out very nice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nimitz Posted July 21, 2015 Share Posted July 21, 2015 you must have an extra, extra large tumbling device ... can't imagine trying to put a 170mm mag in my tumbler or even 140s .... how are yours getting so dirty that you need a tumbler to clean them? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChuckS Posted July 21, 2015 Share Posted July 21, 2015 Never do. I just wipe them down with a rag and hit them with silicone lube. Never got one funky enough to need tumbling. And I don't really see any need for a mirror-like finish on something that I am going to throw on the ground... Later,Chuck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigboy69 Posted July 21, 2015 Share Posted July 21, 2015 I do my 22/45 mags in a tumbler. They really don't tumble. just the media running through them. It does smooth them out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Open1215 Posted July 21, 2015 Share Posted July 21, 2015 I tumbled a 170 I got used here in a regular tumbler. Didn't do anything special to it. It seemed it was greased so I wanted that off. Just tumbled for 3 hours and that was it. Stainless media with dish soap N water. No issues. I don't think there's enough movement to damage the lips. Mine is a smaller drum. Mags stayed sideways the entire time Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EDA Posted July 21, 2015 Share Posted July 21, 2015 Never thought about, probably never will. A soak in MPro7 cleans off just about everything and I'd be worried about the feed lips! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan550 Posted July 21, 2015 Share Posted July 21, 2015 Ultrasonic cleaner works too, if you have access to one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc10mm Posted July 22, 2015 Share Posted July 22, 2015 I tumble all of my mags in a rotary tumbler with corn cob with the green colored jewelers rouge which is the correct color for stainless steel (available at harbor freight). I broke the rouge up into small pieces and tumbled for 24 hours. The mags come out with a mirror finish and my feed lip dimensions did not change. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danjordan78 Posted July 22, 2015 Author Share Posted July 22, 2015 Thanks all. I've heard of people doing this and thought it might polish them up a little. Not sure if I will try it yet, maybe just some Flitz or something. All I have is a vibratory tumbler so a little worried about the edges. If I had a rotary I don't think I would hesitate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sniper3 Posted July 22, 2015 Share Posted July 22, 2015 Tried it once, didn't seem to do much. Whenever my mags start getting a little "crummy" looking , I hose the inside down with gun scrubber and polish the outside with a buffing wheel and stainless steel polish. In 10 minutes I have shiny brand new looking mags Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve RA Posted July 22, 2015 Share Posted July 22, 2015 I've always polished them in a vibratory, just disassemble and put all the metal parts in the tumbler and run for three or four hours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reshoot Posted July 22, 2015 Share Posted July 22, 2015 Tumble mags? Why? I could care less if they are shiny. I have way more important things to accomplish. If, and when, they get dirty I disassemble, run a brush thru, wipe down spring and follower, reassemble and done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
troupe Posted July 22, 2015 Share Posted July 22, 2015 I have tumbled mine, does clean them well, but not much polishing done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete627 Posted July 22, 2015 Share Posted July 22, 2015 I just did two mags (SPS that I use in my Para) last week ... after reading about it here. They were kinda shinny anyhow ... but I dropped one at a time in an empty vibrator tumbler with my usual "lizard litter" load (walnut) and a couple of drops of nu-finish car polish for about 3 hours. ... just the bodies and they came out noticeably shinier. I suspect it is all cosmetic but I like it ... they feel nice ... When I see someone looking at them and thinking they are admiring them ... they are probably "really" thinking "what an idiot/fng ... he is polishing his mags" ... sigh ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve RA Posted July 22, 2015 Share Posted July 22, 2015 One good reason is that it makes the inside of the bodies slicker and takes any little rough spots off the followers. Besides, it is one of those things that really take very little time, unless you get your jollies watching a tumbler run for hours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danjordan78 Posted July 22, 2015 Author Share Posted July 22, 2015 Kind of my thoughts. Why not smooth things up. The cleaner they are the slicker they are. Doesn't take any longer to tumble and clean them than it would to polish and clean them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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