Stainless steel media tumbling. What steps 2 do first?

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axel314XCorporal
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Stainless steel media tumbling. What steps 2 do first?
12/31/2016

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Curious how yall do yurs. Should i wash then size or size first then wash etc?? Help would b great thanks. Best way to dry the brass??. And do yall trim brass before or after size. Thanks

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gunsnjeepsXFirst Sergeant
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Re: Stainless steel media tumbling. What steps 2 do first?
12/31/2016 Last edited 12/31/2016 by gunsnjeeps

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I have a friend who deprimes only and then does the stainless tumble. After tumbling he sizes and processes as normal. I borrowed his tumbler and used it for a bunch of brass that had been picked up in the rain so it had spots on it. I think I deprimed it first, been a few years. I had some cruddy range pick up brass that you couldn't even read head stamps on, it came out looking brand new. That batch went in with primers, they sized and deprimed without a problem but I have heard some shooters say that stainless tumbling with primers can cause them to stick.

As far as drying brass goes, after I run mine through the the ultra sonic I get most of the water of and out of it in a bag I made out of a towel. Grab the ends and move the bag like you are polishing a bowling ball. Then I dump it out on to a cookie sheet and let it air dry. Generally I wash brass Wednesday evening and let it dry until Thursday or Friday. It's dry on Thursday but I don't get around to putting it away or priming on Thursday all the time. I also process most of my brass in January and early February then prime and load as I need it. You will find shooters use the oven at its lowest temperature, 150 to 175, or have boxes heated with a light bulb and a fan to move the air. You can even use dehydrators from Walmart. I've never been in more of a hurry that I couldn't let brass dry 24 hours.

PS: I trim after I size. If you deprime first you get shinny primer pockets. I like to corn cob tumble then size and deprime in one step. I'll be swapping out the pins for the ultra sonic.

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fursniper

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Re: Stainless steel media tumbling. What steps 2 do first?
12/31/2016

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axel314 wrote:

Curious how yall do yurs. Should i wash then size or size first then wash etc?? Help would b great thanks. Best way to dry the brass??. And do yall trim brass before or after size. Thanks​

Deprime 1st. Anneal (if you do that). Resize THEN trim. Air drying is the easiest, usually overnight will do it unless your area has high humidity. Other wise oven dry on low (very low) heat works just fine.

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quietmike

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Re: Stainless steel media tumbling. What steps 2 do first?
12/31/2016

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Universal deprimer, ss tumble, resize, trim, load.

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bigedp51XGunny Sergeant
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Re: Stainless steel media tumbling. What steps 2 do first?
12/31/2016

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quietmike wrote:
Universal deprimer, ss tumble, resize, trim, load.ing​

This is the best way, especially for brass fired in a semi-automatic and the brass hits the ground and picks up grit.



I started wet tumbling because I was scratching my dies and brass from the brass being on the ground.



And wet tumbling scrubs the brass clean and removes any dirt and grit embedded in the case "before" sizing.



I also think it makes the cases easier to size when they are wet tumbled clean.

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padom

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Re: Stainless steel media tumbling. What steps 2 do first?
12/31/2016

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Depends, when I acquire 1xLC 5.56 or 7.62 brass I will deprime, remove crimp and debur flash hole then SS stumble since they are super dirty and gritty.

My brass after fired in my rifle gets deprimed, quick dry tumble since I dont let it hit the ground then size, trim and SS tumble.

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Baron85XSergeant
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Re: Stainless steel media tumbling. What steps 2 do first?
12/31/2016

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I ss tumble first run it through an rcbs media seperate to get pins out, and rinse the brass the. Lay on a big beach towel with a fan blowing on it to dry overnight.

Next resize and deprime. The. Back into the ss tumbler.

I anneal every other firing. When I anneal I wet tumble fired brass then anneal which also dries the cases.

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Beiruty

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Re: Stainless steel media tumbling. What steps 2 do first?
01/01/2017

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Since, I am trying necking size on 243, there no need to case lube. Quick neck sizing and then SS Wet tumble. Cases are like new inside and out and including clean pockets. Gauge size drop, if it passes for both fit and length. Case is good to be primed. Otherwise, trim or full size as needed.

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LaytonH

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Re: Stainless steel media tumbling. What steps 2 do first?
01/02/2017

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Just to add, if you want to dry your brass quicker rinse it with 90% isoprophyl alcohol on the final rinse. The alcohol will evaporate in an hour or so instead of overnight like water.
L

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Beiruty

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Re: Stainless steel media tumbling. What steps 2 do first?
01/02/2017

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Anyone uses Brasso with the SS Wet tumbling or do polishing the cases with it. It has ammonia for sure.https://www.walmart.com/ip/31954265...d-1105724408941&wl12=31954265_0&wl14=&veh=sem

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Citius7XCorporal
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Re: Stainless steel media tumbling. What steps 2 do first?
01/02/2017

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I dry mine in a oven at 200 degrees after SS tumbling. Only takes 30 to 40 minutes depending on how many pieces you do. And how big your wife's cake pan is that you stole to dry your brass out in. Also if you have a convection oven you'll have em dry super fast.
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BrettdecXSergeant
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Re: Stainless steel media tumbling. What steps 2 do first?
01/03/2017

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If the case has already been pocket reamed, neck turned and fired in the rifle I'm loading for:

1. Deprime

2. Ream pockets to true

3. Anneal if due

4. Wash

A. Point cases down and shake while submerged to release pins. Surface tension makes them stick when out of the water.

B. Final rinse in a bucket of really hot water to heat the brass. This helps them dry quickly.

C. While hot, place the brass in the middle of a large terry cloth towel and fold the long sides over in thirds to form a tube. Grab the ends to close the tube and tilt so that the brass slides to the end. Now reverse to slide to the opposite end. Repeat. Be gentle, as you can chew up the mouths of the cases with vigorous polishing motion.

5. Inspect for web separation and pins

6. Lube and size.

7. Trim if necessary

8. Re chamfer if trimmed

9. Repeat mild wash to remove all traces of lube. Overkill perhaps, but better than paper towel & Q-tip method.

10. Load

11. Check concentricity - if you want to "go to eleven"





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savageshooter81XPrivate
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Re: Stainless steel media tumbling. What steps 2 do first?
01/05/2017 Last edited 01/05/2017 by savageshooter81

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I hand de-prime, then wash, dry (use a dehydrator with adjustable temp), size, trim and load

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deadlypunkXSergeant
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Re: Stainless steel media tumbling. What steps 2 do first?
01/06/2017

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Deprime only, annneal, SS wet tumble, separate and dry in oven, FL resize using one shot wax on body, graphite for necks, Giraud trim, load.

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z7jledX35 MONTHS
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Re: Stainless steel media tumbling. What steps 2 do first?
01/07/2017

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for rifle brass I will deprime and wet tumble for about 1hr. not the shiniest but i will be sizing and trimming etc.

I dry it by using a towel and then 15 mins in walnut media from harbor freight. it gets the inside dry as well, works good for large and small batches of brass.

I then do the full brass prep, size, trim chamfer debur, swage/ream primer pockets as needed, debur flash holes if needed etc. when this is done its back into the SS tumbler for about 1.5hrs to remove lube and brass shavings, a little air dry and a finish in walnut media with NuFinish car polish

it is a longer process then needed, I know. If I am not trimming brass then I reduce this process to once cycle of cleaning, but this process get my brass super clean and it remains clean after all of the handling lubing and trimming.

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dondlhmn

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Re: Stainless steel media tumbling. What steps 2 do first?
01/07/2017 Last edited 01/07/2017 by dondlhmn

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fursniper wrote:

axel314 wrote:

Curious how yall do yurs. Should i wash then size or size first then wash etc?? Help would b great thanks. Best way to dry the brass??. And do yall trim brass before or after size. Thanks​

Deprime 1st. Anneal (if you do that). Resize THEN trim. Air drying is the easiest, usually overnight will do it unless your area has high humidity. Other wise oven dry on low (very low) heat works just fine.​

I agree with this method. Deprime with a deprime only die, anneal (like said above---if you need it), Clean with the stainless pins/tumbler, Resize and THEN trim (which process includes chamferring in and out for me)---reason being is that I have found that resizing will cause the brass to flow and that means it very likely can get longer than you want it--, I am kind of hinky about getting any and all possible lube used in the resizing process off of the cases, so I throw it all in the sonic and put it on HEAT after doing the resizing. The rinse thoroughly and I try to time the process so that I can then take the cases and blow them out with compressed shop air before letting them air dry for maybe 24 hours before priming, powdering and seating bullets. yeah, I know I am maybe a little overboard on the lube and the water thing, but I am also very susceptible to mentally haunting doubts when I go shoot and that is the LAST thing I need when shooting in a match. Just knowing I did everything I could possibly have done (and just living with the "overkill") gives me more of a warm-fuzzy and lets me shoot without any (probably mostly in my mind) mental doubts or pressures.

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ZmechanicXPrivate
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Re: Stainless steel media tumbling. What steps 2 do first?
01/09/2017 Last edited 01/09/2017 by Zmechanic

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It seems like the trim after size is being expressed as a preference, but I would consider it a must. If you run a piece of brass through a sizer, it WILL move metal. If you trim before sizing, the case length WILL change after sizing. I would never trim first.



Otherwise I'm with the crowd. De-prime with dedicated de-primer, tumble, size, trim. De-priming first opens up one of the big advantages to pin tumbling, which is that it will clean the primer pockets too.

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dondlhmn

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Re: Stainless steel media tumbling. What steps 2 do first?
01/09/2017

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Zmechanic wrote:
It seems like the trim after size is being expressed as a preference, but I would consider it a must. If you run a piece of brass through a sizer, it WILL move metal. If you trim before sizing, the case length WILL change after sizing. I would never trim first.



Otherwise I'm with the crowd. De-prime with dedicated de-primer, tumble, size, trim. De-priming first opens up one of the big advantages to pin tumbling, which is that it will clean the primer pockets too.​

Yeah, I agree...it is a MUST to do it in that order...the reason that the step "TRIM" comes after ""size" is expressed/understood/interpreted by some folks as a preference is that it makes no sense at all to do it the other way around, therefore is the PREFERRED way to do it.

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30kalXCorporal
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Re: Stainless steel media tumbling. What steps 2 do first?
01/10/2017 Last edited 01/10/2017 by 30kal

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I do the following:

1. Deprime w/ universal die

2. Tumble with SS media for 2 hours

3. Resize

4. Case prep (trim, deburr, etc.)

5. Quick tumble (1 hour or less) without media to get the case lube and brass shavings off.

6. Charge and seat.

For drying, I just lay the brass out on paper towels over night and sometimes use compressed air to assist