First Brass Cleaning
In this post I will discuss the first brass cleaning that I do whenever I handload ammunition. You will see before and after pictures when cleaning brass with the tumbler and process that I’ve chosen.
Uncleaned Fired Brass
I normally put about 40-50 pieces of 556 brass in each drum. I split the stainless media between each drum then add water, Lemi Shine and detergent. Then I cap everything, throw the drums on the tumbler and let er rip. I want to point out that it’s slower than some of the other tumblers on the market but I’m not too concerned with that right now. I let this run for about 1-1.5 hours.
When it’s done the water will be pretty dirty. I dump the drums right into the strainer over a 5-gallon bucket. I also rinse with the hose. I then take the magnet and run it around in the bucket to get any media that the
Tumbler drums filled with stainless steel media, Lemi Shine, dish washing detergent, dirty brass and water
strainer may have missed, usually there isn’t anything. Then I dump the strainer of media and brass onto an old rag.
Next, I tap each piece of brass to get as much media out as I can. If it’s not humid, the brass should be dry in about 24 hours. To speed this process up you can also throw all the brass in the BBQ grill, oven or clothes dryer. I’m normally not in a rush so I haven’t tried any of these methods. Here is what the finished brass looks like after the first cleaning. Keep in mind we will be cleaning this again after we deprime. In the next section I’ll discuss the press that I’ve chosen including the dies that I picked.
Fired Brass Tumbled for 1 1/2 hours
Fired Brass Tumbled for 1 1/2 hours
