Stainless steel media

[Mazak]

Does anybody use stainless pins in water as tumbling media to clean your brass. I'm trying to keep lead exposure to a minimum as much as I can. What do you think is best?

[Sarge]

Really? Please just type in wet tumbling in the search window. It's one of the top 5 things we talk about almost daily.

[Mazak]

Sorry sarge, didn't mean to offend you

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[Steve RA]

He's not offended, but, it is one of the bigger topics of discussion lately.

[Mazak]

New to forums. Didn't really know to search for answers. I just had a concern and wanted to know what other people thought about it. Will do better next time...

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[bfalcon00]

New to forums. Didn't really know to search for answers. I just had a concern and wanted to know what other people thought about it. Will do better next time...

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Ah don't worry about it too much you'll get the hang of it. Welcome to the forum. The boys here are actually great and full of good info, one of my favorite forums on the net.

[Chills1994]

The combination that works best for me in my Frankford Arsenal Rotary Tumbler so far is:

1. Filled about halfway with brass

2. Dump in the 5 pounds of SS pins that came with the FART

3. Fill with hot water up to where the cannister necks down

4. A teaspoon of Lemishine crystals

5. A tablespoon of Armor All Wash and Wax

6. Set the FART's timer for 90 minutes

7. Walk away/go do something else

8. Dump out dirty water

9. Rinse 3 times

10. Separate brass and pins

11. Air dry over night on a towel with a fan blowing across the brass

[Mazak]

Thanks chills, after doing the search sarge suggested, I've read alot of good things about the FART. I think I'm gonna order me one. And I'll definitely try out your recipe. Thanks

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[Sarge]

Thanks chills, after doing the search sarge suggested, I've read alot of good things about the FART. I think I'm gonna order me one. And I'll definitely try out your recipe. Thanks

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You can't offend me. But there is basically nothing pertaining to shooting reloading etc we have not discussed, debated, argued over time and time again. If you only had access to one resource this would be the one to choose. The FART is awesome. Read that thread and you will be an expert in no time.

[Mazak]

Thanks,I will. Appreciate it sarge

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[T.McDevitt]

The combination that works best for me in my Frankford Arsenal Rotary Tumbler so far is:

1. Filled about halfway with brass

2. Dump in the 5 pounds of SS pins that came with the FART

3. Fill with hot water up to where the cannister necks down

4. A teaspoon of Lemishine crystals

5. A tablespoon of Armor All Wash and Wax

6. Set the FART's timer for 90 minutes

7. Walk away/go do something else

8. Dump out dirty water

9. Rinse 3 times

10. Separate brass and pins

11. Air dry over night on a towel with a fan blowing across the brass

I went from a dry to a wet tumbler and LOVE it, after I clean brass and remove pins dump brass on a large towel move back and fourth, Turn oven on to 250º When It reaches temp. TURN OFF OVEN then put brass on cookie sheet put it in and Forget about it when "I remember it's dry"

[Dr Mitch]

I use a cheap Harbor Freight concrete mixer full of hot water, a small squirt of liquid dish soap, a teaspoon of Lemishine, and 3000-5000 pieces of brass. Run for 5-10 minutes, drain, rinse once or twice. Dry on towels on big trampoline in backyard. Beautiful shiny brass, inside very clean as well. Clean around 16,000 brass in an hour. Rarely have to clean brass because so much volume can be accomplished in one session. Drying time varies, but nothing outrageous because the wind never stops in Oklahoma.

I had considered using the SS pins with the concrete mixer, but since the results with chemical action and no media were so good, I never even bought any.

[427Cobra]

I don't understand the logic of keeping lead exposure to a minimum by cleaning brass with SS media, most if not all the residue inside a fired case is gunpowder\carbon

[Chills1994]

The combination that works best for me in my Frankford Arsenal Rotary Tumbler so far is:

1. Filled about halfway with brass

2. Dump in the 5 pounds of SS pins that came with the FART

3. Fill with hot water up to where the cannister necks down

4. A teaspoon of Lemishine crystals

5. A tablespoon of Armor All Wash and Wax

6. Set the FART's timer for 90 minutes

7. Walk away/go do something else

8. Dump out dirty water

9. Rinse 3 times

10. Separate brass and pins

11. Air dry over night on a towel with a fan blowing across the brass

I went from a dry to a wet tumbler and LOVE it, after I clean brass and remove pins dump brass on a large towel move back and fourth, Turn oven on to 250º When It reaches temp. TURN OFF OVEN then put brass on cookie sheet put it in and Forget about it when "I remember it's dry"

I tried drying in an oven first, but I noticed the brass appeared to get darker.

Then I switched over to a terry cloth towel and a box fan blowing over the brass. The shells look more bling bling when they air dry.

For this pic, I dumped the oven dried brass onto the same table with the air dried brass. Oven dried brass is like the lower half of the pic:

[Steve RA]

Actually, most of the lead comes from the primers.

[jsg]

I think most of the lead comments come from the fact there is so much dust in vibrating brass with dry media vs. wet tumbling with no dust at all.

How much lead is in that dust, I do not know but I know any lead residue on the brass is in the water when wet tumbling so contamination is much easier to avoid.

[Nebwake]

How many of you deprime before? I used to but have got lazy on pistol brass. I still deprime rifle first since I only load rifle on a single stage press so I have to touch the brass anyway that step.

[Sarge]

I deprime first. Now that I have seen how primers stick in wet cases I won't wet tumble with primers still in. If you are set up for it you can stick a universal de capper in a 650 and do about a round a second.

[Tom S.]

I deprime first. Now that I have seen how primers stick in wet cases I won't wet tumble with primers still in. If you are set up for it you can stick a universal de capper in a 650 and do about a round a second.

This. Extra tool head with a Lee universal decapping die, and away we go!

[slavex]

regarding how much lead is in the dust from dry tumbling. A lot. When my first lead test triggered the whole Health Canada investigation into how my lead levels could be so high (can't remember the number right now, but it's in a thread here on the forum), we tested the floor around my tumblers in the basement with a lead test kit. The results, not shockingly, were positive, and high positive. We also tested dust 3 floors up in a spare bedroom, that dust came back with nearly the same color on the test swab. That was enough of a reason for me to change tumbling habits. But, all I did then was get a covered media separator and do it outside, mostly. Now that I've gone to the wet tumbling I don't have to worry about it at all anymore.

[soflarick]

regarding how much lead is in the dust from dry tumbling. A lot. When my first lead test triggered the whole Health Canada investigation into how my lead levels could be so high (can't remember the number right now, but it's in a thread here on the forum), we tested the floor around my tumblers in the basement with a lead test kit. The results, not shockingly, were positive, and high positive. We also tested dust 3 floors up in a spare bedroom, that dust came back with nearly the same color on the test swab. That was enough of a reason for me to change tumbling habits. But, all I did then was get a covered media separator and do it outside, mostly. Now that I've gone to the wet tumbling I don't have to worry about it at all anymore.

THAT is very interesting. Thanks for posting your findings. Empirical rather than speculation.

[slavex]

Once I went to wet tumbling I had my entire house, including the air vents, furnace and air returns cleaned. 65lbs of crap came out of the vents (mostly cat litter dust from having 7 cats for 10 years), We tested that dust too though, and yup same positive as the dust in the spare bedroom. I just tested again yesterday with my own Dlead test kit, the area around my press still showed positive, but nowhere else in the house did, that made me happy.