Case cleaning

[Amazed]

Hello all,

Just woundering what approach you all take when it comes down to case cleaning ?

 

With the hornet i took things easy just using what ever I had to hand in the kitchen. But now I have the triple as well I'm thinking I should start looking at more ways that are less time consuming and give better results.

 

So what do you use and how do you find it cost wise in time/ money and What the results are like for you efforts.

 

All the best

Karl.

Edited November 27, 2013 by Amazed

[1066]

Over the years I've mostly used either rotary or vibrating machines with Walnut media - These give good results and the machines aren't too expensive. They're not particularly quick but if you can leave them running on the garage floor they do the job well enough.

 

Many will say "Why bother" or just rub the necks round with wire wool but I think starting with clean cases is one of the steps in good brass prepping. With a clean case it's much easier to see any case defects and clean case is much kinder on your dies.

 

For the last two or three years I have been using wet tumbling with stainless steel pins - I think this method is hard to beat, it cleans the inside, outside and primer pockets perfectly.

 

The downside is that it's not cheap to set up but once you have bought (or made) a suitable tumbler and got the pins there's no looking back, you'll also need some method of drying the cases.

 

Here's my tumbler and the results.

[kent]

Tumbler, walnut media and just a spoon full of Brasso added gradually. Clean with primers in, then de-prime and sort pockets and inspect for defects. Putting dirty brass into you dies creates stuck cases and ruined inaccurate gummed up dies.

[henry d]

I use an ultrasonic wet cleaner as per http://www.6mmbr.com/ultrasonic.html for the triple and the 6.5 No dust, small machine and chemicals can be bought locally (ASDA, Tesco...) or from gun shops.

[Amazed]

I am interested in the wet tumbler as there is no chemicals or fafing about

[phaedra1106]

I am interested in the wet tumbler as there is no chemicals or fafing about

There are some "chemicals", washing up liquid, citric acid crystals, Birchwood casey Brass cleaner etc. and a surprising amount of faffing about getting stuck pins out of the smaller cases like 222/3 204 etc.. Other than that superb bit of kit

 

One thing to watch is putting mixed case sizes in, 223 fall inside .44 and get stuck quite nicely at times

[Amazed]

Been pricing up and I can do it for roughly the same as a normal dry tumbler(much smaller than your set up though)

any preference on the drum type ? Was thinking the rubber looked a better choice.

 

This is a bit more up market so the price is too.

 

http://www.manchesterminerals.co.uk/acatalog/BEACH-2-25Kgs-TUMBLER--excl--barrel--10_020.html

Edited November 28, 2013 by Amazed

[1066]

Been pricing up and I can do it for roughly the same as a normal dry tumbler(much smaller than your set up though)

any preference on the drum type ? Was thinking the rubber looked a better choice.

 

This is a bit more up market so the price is too.

 

http://www.manchesterminerals.co.uk/acatalog/BEACH-2-25Kgs-TUMBLER--excl--barrel--10_020.html

 

Yes, they look like the barrels I use - Just note that the price there is just for the tumbler, the barrel is another 50 odd quid.

 

Here's the real set-up:

http://www.1967spud.com/product-category/stm-tumblers/

 

But if was to start from scratch myself I would make my own tumbler - It's very basic and there's plenty of bits on a well know auction site. also plenty of youtube ideas.

 

I recently bought a spare drum from Poundstretcher for £4.99 - It was a stainless steel biscuit tin with an "o" ring seal. I stretched a couple of vacuum cleaner drive belts round it to give it traction and a threaded rod through the centre to keep the lid on.

[fieldwanderer]

Tumbler works fine for me. I'd like to see the insides get cleaner and almost every flash hole gets a bit of media stuck but I just run them through the neck sizer a second time and the depriming pin makes short work of the job.

 

I do like the look of wet tumblers but I can't justify getting one when what I have works fine and I regularly prep the brass straight after tumbling - something I couldn't do if they were wet. It won't matter so much when I've settled on a load and start using the rifle for a few shots at a time though rather than 20+ when trying different loads.