Allen in MT Posted July 21, 2014 Share Posted July 21, 2014 (edited) I have for years been cleaning shell cases with corn cob or walnut shell which get them shiny but doesn't get the staining off and never turned out bright brass, just shiny. I have even tried some of the solutions in the heated ultra sonic.Then while surfing the net I came across a new form of case cleaning that as they say is the cats meow. Stainless steel tumbling. Found a company in Utah called STM or Stainless Tumbling Media that sell a whole kit with a tumbler called the Rebel 17. http://www.stainlesstumblingmedia.com/ I bought it and have done over a thousand different cases in the last 4 days. I de-prime all cases first as this allows the primer holes to be shiny clean, even the inside of the cases are spotless clear down to the flash hole. It is a water base with 2 TBS of dawn detergent and 1/4 tsp of Lemi Shine and 5 lbs of stainless tumbling media (pins). I tumble for 3 hours and then do a double rinse and dry. I use a media separator to separate the pins from the cases. Talk about a cleaning machine, this is it. I thought that the tumbling would wear the cases thin, but you will shoot out your cases before any wear down from tumbling. Here is a before and after of some 44 rem mags I just finished.enjoy Edited July 21, 2014 by Allen in MT Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
azblackbird Posted July 21, 2014 Share Posted July 21, 2014 That's a pretty sweet cleaning system you got there Allen! I'd love to get into reloading. Problem is I've still got about 30,000 rds. of ammo I need to shoot up first. Years ago (pre-Obama) I hooked up with a custom re-loader out of Montana (you probably know them) that would make me whatever I wanted. I was in no big hurry, so in order to get the best price and save on taxes and shipping costs, I'd just have them bring me down a pallet full whenever they came to town for the gun shows. I always got a big kick out of the ATF guys watching me wheel out several thousands of rounds on my moving dolly whenever I went to pick up my orders. They probably thought I was some militia member or something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Dorado Posted July 25, 2014 Share Posted July 25, 2014 I would think that the brass might get a bit of work hardening from the tumbling. Have you noticed that at all? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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