Stainless Wet Tumbling Media
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 27 พ.ค. 2024
- The performance of my wet tumbler has been slowly fading, so it was time for some new stainless tumbling media.
Interested in the stainless steel chips? Find them here: / southernshinetumblers
Buying a wet tumbler? Here are some links to the ones I mentioned (Amazon affiliate links when possible):
Harbor Freight - www.harborfreight.com/dual-dr...
Frankford Arsenal Rotary Tumbler - amzn.to/2COR6Qe
Frankford Arsenal Lite Version - amzn.to/2WD5B0Y
Lyman Cyclone - amzn.to/2HR9FaG
RCBS Rotary Case Cleaner - amzn.to/2U9qILn
Hornady Rotary Tumbler - amzn.to/2FHupOD
Also, don't forget to pick up some accessories:
Transfer Magnet - amzn.to/2FLfItG
Media Separator - amzn.to/2FHuuBV
/ johnnysreloadingbench
/ reloading
95% of all stainless steel pins are manufactured by Pellets LLC from North Tonawanda, NY, they are sold in bulk to companies that break it up and sell it to the public. I switched to chips from Southern Shine Media, and I couldn't be happier, a fantastic product from great people. I highly recommend it to anyone that wants to wet tumble
Just purchased 10lbs from Southern Shine Media. Glad you made this video and i found it. Love to support small businesses.
The most impressive results with the biggest pain in the butt process I have ever loved.
Nuff said
Try taking your worn down SS pins and throwing them into a bag mixed in with rocks. Throw it into your cloths drier and let her rip for 10 minutes. It should put some sharp edges on it. Better yet, do it at your local laundermat and beat the bejeezes out of it.
Actually, my media wasn’t cleaning anymore so I washed the media by itself. After 6-7washes with soap, hot water and lemi shine it cleaned them up and the drum. I cleaned more brass and it came out like new. FYI.
Dealing with T&B Bullets - Southern Shine media. It is always a pleasure and fast turnaround time on orders.
I took delivery of my stainless chip media yesterday.
The jury is still out but, so far, my feelings are mixed. As noted below, some of my negative observations may diminish as the chips are "worn in".
Johnny said the SS pins were taking longer and longer to get the desired cleanliness. He reasoned that the "corners" of the pins eventually became rounded, so they didn't clean as well as when they were new. When he switched to the chips, the required tumble time was diminished considerably.
For what it's worth, I tumble way longer than most reloaders. I load the tumbler late at night and let it run until the next morning. Rounded pins or not, my brass comes out VERY clean. There may be a bit of carbon in some primer pockets but, mostly not.
Am I worried about the brass being damaged because I tumble so long? Not really. While not based on a scientific study, I reason that my "rounded" stainless pins are cleaning the brass by "hammering" it not "gouging" it. It's probably reasonable to think of it like shot peening. For what it’s worth, my brass seems to last a long time.
Back to the stainless chips. Do they clean well? Absolutely! On the first (and so far, only) run, I tumbled a hundred or so 45 ACP cases and used my usual "tumble all night" process. In this case, it was about 10 hours. The inside and outside of the cases were, without exception, PERFECTLY clean. The primer pockets were MOSTLY perfectly clean. Some had a tiny speck or two of carbon but, EVEN I would not hesitate to reload these cases without further cleaning.
So why am I not raving that stainless chips are the greatest thing since sliced bread?
To begin with, I was not at all unhappy with my "presumably rounded" stainless pins. Again, I don't care if it takes longer to get the cases clean. Here are my initial criticisms of the chips. As noted below, I may change my opinion as time goes on.
1. The chips are so tiny, it's difficult not to lose them. Some of them actually float on top of the water. Obviously, the chips are heavier than water but, because of the surface tension, some do, indeed, float. This may diminish over time as the tiniest/lightest chips get washed down the drain. I have to give this aspect a resounding: "We'll see".
2. I use vinyl tubing to siphon the dirty water out of the tumbler. Quite a number of the tiny/light chips were siphoned out with the water. As noted above, this may diminish as more of the tiny/light chips get lost.
3. I am concerned that some of the tiny/light chips will remain with the brass after the separation process. I don't know how valid this concern is because I inspected this brass VERY thoroughly and saw no chips. But, some of them border on microscopic.
4. As I mentioned earlier, the brass is ever so clean but it's not as shiny as when tumbled with the SS pins. Very probably, this is because the chips are microscopically "gouging" the brass instead of "hammering" it. Will this shorten the brass life? I don't know. Will it diminish with time? Logic says: "Yes", as the chips become rounded. On this point, if the brass life is not being shortened, I don't mind the slightly "matted" finish. I always tumble (also overnight) in treated corn cob after resizing (to remove the lube). It will be interesting to see how much "shininess" gets restored by the corn cob tumble.
So, there you have it. I will continue to use the chips and provide an update later.
I found media on amazon called jewelry stainless tumbling media. It is a mix of pins, balls and chips. About $12 for 2 lbs. I really like them for cleaning. I can do a mix of calibers in under 2 hours and get good results. I do ultrasonic clean for 20 minutes prior to tumble to break off the worst of the crud and keep the media in better shape. Yes it is a Harbor Freight ultrasonic. I’m cheap!
Just sent them a message to order #5, had a PayPal invoice in less than 10 minutes, paid the invoice and had a shipping notice in less than another 10 minutes. Now that's service!
I use the HF tumbler and a 2 lb. refresh kit and have not seen an issue with quality YET, but I know where I am going when I do. Thanks, Johnny.
BTW, I tumbled almost 4K of assorted cases, 99% range pickups and am still going strong.
You are right about wet tumbling. The pieces of brass come out so shiny that they look silver. Lemi-shine can increase that effect too.
Be conservative with the Lemi-Shine. Too much is too acidic and turns the brass a deep gold and is detrimental to the composition of the brass. Less than 1/2 a teaspoon per gallon of water is perfect.
Glad to see you back. Cant wIt for more videos
Heya Johnny. I dont want to step on toes here but.....Stainless steel tumbling medium is notorious for hardening metal. How do I know this? Im a formally trained goldsmith and we use stainless "shot" in our tumblers for silver brass gold etc. These pins actually case harden the metals. Its in a way why we use it.
As to why the media is wearing out it comes down to lubrication. Sunlight powdered detergent is added to the shot to both add lubricity and to keep the shot clean.
Be aware that you will harden the brass with those sharpened pins. The best shot for your tumbler will be a blend of round and sharps. Gesswein is where we goldsmiths source it.
It's not as bad as you think. Check out bullet point #7 on this page: www.ampannealing.com/articles/40/annealing-under-the-microscope/
@@JohnnysReloadingBench Well fuck me I stand corrected. It appears brass behaves differently than silver. With silver and gold to some extents prolonged tumbling does have a serious hardening effect ( detrimentally in some cases) but the cases behave differently. Very cool.
I still stand by my statement about buying a cleaner/soap for your steel shot though. It greatly extends the life of our shot and does one hell of a job removing carbon and surface impurities
A standard i use is dawn3x about a table spoon and lemishine about a .40 cal case full . Holy sh!+ you wanna talk about clean
I dumped in the chips with the pins and get excellent results. So glad I found southern media.
Thanks for some awesome recommendations, particularly stainless steel media
Gonna need some of those! Thanks for the review
I gotta thank you for introducing me to wet rumbling Johnny. I haven’t cleaned reloading pockets since, every time the brass comes out pretty good if not perfect, and I’m glad I bought the big fart tumbler instead of the little fart. Working my way through about 8,000 pieces of 30-06 400-500 pieces at a time with my little unit and 6 pounds of pins, gets em clean every time
So glad you made this video! Thank you
I tumble for 45 minutes and the brass is perfect. The cleaning solution you use REALLY makes a huge difference. I tumble a lot of small batches so time is important to me. RCBS makes an excellent solution. The frankford stuff is great as well...
Lortone 66 tumbler for the win
good info
those 223 cases look good as new!
Yeah, and I did a poor job of showing just how awesome they look. As soon as I took them out of the tumbler I thought "holy crap, I have to make a video about this stuff!". The fact that it's super cheap is just icing on the cake.
Pins wearing out...I thought this was a April Fools Joke!
It's no April Fools joke! I don't care if you're talking about diamonds...tumble them together long enough and they'll start losing their sharp edges!
Right? I've been wet tumbling for about 7 years (back when you could order the pins direct from Pellets LLC) and my brass still comes out as clean as the first batch.
Me too. I was an early adopter. No change after many years of heavy usage.
They may not clean as fast but there not wore out until there gone !
@@JohnnysReloadingBench Diamonds, garnet, etc cleave to expose fresh cutting surfaces
Hey Johnny, love you're videos, very informative. I actually use the harbor freight tumbler myself, but usually don't use any pins unless my brass is filthy. The tumbler is actually pretty good, but the drive system is a weak point, don't take much to make the belt to start slipping. If you're a budget reloader, it's great, i think i can fit about 150 cases of 223 or 300 blackout in each drum. The problem is weight, to much and the belt will start slipping.
Southern Shine Media is the very best SS Media!
@Johnny's reloading bench I actually recommended these and reviewed them as well. I told you back then they were incredible and dont get hung up in 300blk like steel pins do.
Have the FA Light tumbler, and when I dont wont to bring out the Thumblers B, it is perfect. I like that it is sized just perfectly when doing just around 150rnds of 308/6.5cm sized brass. I find that doing about 150rnds at a time is about the most I can do when doing full processing.
Frankford arsenal is by far the best wet tumbler on the market, and can easily handle large quantities easily, don’t be shy on smaller batches all you do is back off your time as necessary. Also great on smoothing and dechamfering your case necks (inside and out) especially in batches.
Aside from leaking like a minnow net, they are great.
The chips are the best!!!
I am only running my large Franklin for 30 minutes and it works great.
Been using the harbor freight tumbler for over 6 years now. It works, it's not great though. With two drums fully loaded they kind of drag sometimes. One drop off dish soap and some hot water and the media does the job.
Hi Johnny. Could you please do a video on 223 for bolt action I live in New Zealand and after the crap that has just gone down we have lost all our AR'S. So now its all bolt action. Love your reloading channel thanks Mate.
My new chips arrived and they sure small. Hard to handle . ,Transfer magnet does not really work as well but will get the job done. I used about 4 pounds on 250 223 Remington with Lemi shine plus Armour All wash & shine for 1 1/2 hours in hot water. Now this brass is on it's third loading since reclaimed from range brass. Rinceing was no problem and I can tell you as long as I have been reloading I have never had better looking brass. I will keep using these chips and really they worth it. Fast service and well packed. Thanks for the heads up Johnny.
I use the Harbor Freight Light. Perfect for me as I'm not a high volume shooter. A two hour tumble without pins works great for handgun brass.
@Johnny's Reloading Bench - If you have problems down the road with your brass not getting as clean as you want try having a look at what another guy is doing. The description following is on TH-cam:
TreeTopFlier - Problems Wet Tumbling? Brass is dingy gray, or tarnished reddish hue? Here are my...
It seems to be working well for him.
Great video
great video, great info !! Thank you
I have one of the harbor freight dual wet tumblers. The drums it comes with are awful and smell like Chinese toxic rubber. I ditched those within the third time using it and replaced it with a 4" PVC pipe. You will need to get one of these if you go the PVC drum
> (Oatey 33403 Plastic Plug with Galvanized screw and wing nut, 4-Inch)
I put an agitator on the inside of the drum to help move the media around because the PVC and the drums it comes with are round compared to 'polygons' on most of the other commercial wet tumblers.
With the harbor freight tumbler after you get steel pins and replace the drum, you are in about ~$70 for wet tumbling. The results are not as good as Johnny's but are plenty good. (I only tumble for an hour at a time I am sure if you tumble for 3 hours it will get you there)
Johnny, I stopped using the pins. I use a small amount of lemi shine, Dawn and water. They come out like new. Jerry Mucileck said he had loaded over a million rounds and never cleaned the primer pockets and never had a problem.
I was having a similar problem with my tumbler not cleaning as well as it did. I was wondering about the pins being smooth and worn. Thank you confirming my suspicions!
Found a mix of pins, chips and balls on amazon under jewelry tumbling media and 1 lb for under $15. They do a good job in a short time.
I use the same Franklin tumbler. Pins still fine.
My case cleaning method: Yogurt container, the big ones, put some brass in the container, add a little simple green, then add hot water. Put the lid on, let it sit for about 1/2 hr, then grab it and roll it around and shake for a few minutes. Swap the lid with another lid with holes in it, shaketo remove the liquid... add hot water and let overflow into the sink. Drain container, dump the brass on a towel, let sit over night, the next day, shiny brass.....not new shiny, but clean, and cheap... and somewhat shiny. Just my 2.5 cents.
Two video uploads in one week!!!
Thanks Johnny!🤜🍂🔥💨
Jus the video I was looking for. Need to get those primer pockets clean.
I have the DUAL HF tumbler, I use a squirt of dawn, and a couple teaspoons of lemme shine and I tumble for 2-4 hours(depends on how dirty and rusty). But if I go more than that they do start to turn pink!
I use the FA unit for my brass and use the Harbor Freight tumbler to apply dry powder coat to my bullets, works great.
Also, I have the lite version.... works great
I've been using the HF for a couple months now, extremely happy with it. I did make a 4 inch PVC Cylinder for it and it works great. I picked up 2lbs of media on eBay for cheap. Hot water, Dawn, pinch of lemi shine and about an hour and it's good enough for me.
Did you add anything to the inside of the PVC to keep the brass tumbling instead of just sliding? If so, what did you use and what type of glue?
No I didn't add any thing. I was going to but nothing slides. I run it 3/4 full of brass and it tumbles just fine. JH586 has some 1" PVC pipe cut in half to agitate his.
Lemon shine blue dawn and the chips. Brand new brass after use.
Hey man that's good info to know thanks !
After watching your video, I ordered 10 pounds also. It was about 10:00 PM CDST that I sent an E-mail to request an order form. With in an hour Fast service,Thanks for the VIDEO
Have you ever cleaned your SS pins with Simple Green? (or a degreaser ). That will make a difference. Put 2oz to 4oz in hot water and tumble for half an hour or so.
🎉🎉
I know these folks personally... great people...
Totally agree, I love my FART!
What a great idea with the chips. There is a machine shop nearby me and now I'm wondering what they are sweeping up every day.
mostly stuff that will get stuck in your brass.
@@GigsVT Good point
I have the harbor freight rock tumblr works awesome. 4” PVC pipe with 3 1” PVC pipe cut in half for the tumbling affect. Been using it for ova a year now.
Did you use standard PVC glue to affix your 1" pieces to the main 4" piece? Do you have to occasionally re-glue them?
Johnny's Reloading Bench No I actually used my wife’s finger nail glue. It’s crazy but it works and I’ve never had to reglue them using it. Just before gluing them scuff up the surface of the PVC pipe inside and on the 1” inch pieces then glue.
Good info, thanks
Man,I thought we were going to have to send a search party for ya,I used GUNTAP good deal for 30 buck's!..this new media look's like a winner!..great review Johnny,KEEP ON ROCKIN IT!.Johnny's Reloading Bench.................
I use the F.A.R.T. as well. But I stopped using the pins. I just use a squirt of Dawn Ultra and a palm spill about the size of a quarter of lemi-shine. A half full tumbler of brass with hot water. Tumble for 45 minutes and the brass comes out like new! Try it.
I found that 5lbs just don't cut it in my tumbler for big batches of brass. The more pins your tumbler can handle the better and the faster they clean. I built a tumbler that holds aright at 2 gallons of water with a 1/2 HP blower motor off of a furnace and love that thing but for small batches I still go back to my old Harbor Freight Drum tumbler.
Oh, I'm cheaper than Harbor Freight. Yet, another good video, Johnny. I'm going to bookmark Southern Shine.
recently purchased the 7L platinum kit on sale at midway for $67. came with 2 five pound bags of pins and sifting pans.
I really haven't had much luck with the pins. I put 5lbs in my thumblers tumbler add some dawn and lemishine. Does ok. Cases dont seem to be that shiny and seem to tarnish pretty quick. Not reall sure why. I tend to use 8mm diamer porcelain ceramic polishing balls. Works great.
Well that's good to know thanks for the video
I have the lite model and i just washed 500 cases of .38 special and it did just as well as 200 cases.
I just wet tumble too. You get a system worked out and it is easy. and No dust.
Same here, breathed that dust for too long. SS pins for me
Nearly pissed myself over calling the Franklin tumbler the F.A.R.T.!
I run 7.5# of STM pins per drum in 1.6 gallon drums. My pins are over 5 years old, and have processed over a 100k cases. When brand new, my primer pockets were never perfect on small primer cases, and the inside of 223 cases never cleaned up that well. Large primer cases primer pocket always get cleaner. Inside of larger rifle cases like 308 and straight wall pistol cases clean up pretty well. I will not retire these pins, they still do a fine job, just have their limitations due to size.
Southern Shine media is pretty good stuff. Small media, so it will clean inside cases and primer pockets better. If I was going to start over, yes, Id probably buy some Southern Shine.
I use armor all carwash with a touch of lemi shine and my brass comes out super shiny and doesn't dull with age. I think the wax in the Armor all carwash protects the brass from oxidation.
@Phil C. Has it actually happened to you or someone you know to the point of causing problems or is this just an assumption you made?
@Phil C. I see. Without a question mark following your previous comment I assumed your were making a statement. I have seen a lot of people claim they are using the car wax as a cleaner and never seen anyone say it was a problem. Perhaps someone who has used it a while and shot some high round counts with it can comment and let us know if they have had any issues with it.
@John Beige I am still using the Armour all carwash along with lemishine. It IS sold at Walmart in the one gallon jug and have been using it for around 5 years. It works great with stainless pins and never caused me a problem. Give it a try you won't regret it
I saw where some guy on TH-cam was recommending Meguiars Wash And Wax. Anyone with jaw-dropping experience using it, or is it just another one in a line of multitudinous products that someone swears by, because it's different?
The FART. Hahahaha!!!
Guntap .047 Pins are good to go. Rarely does a pin ever stick and they clean great. My Frankford pins were replaced with these shortly after I bought the unit.
azureoval... My Guntap pins stick inside my cases constantly. I even gave up on using them. I tumble for 45 minutes just using Dawn and hot water and my brass comes out excellent. And the best part is I don't have pins to deal with. azureoval, next time you tumble, afterwards check inside of "each" of your .223 cases... I guaranty you, you will find a stuck pin inside. If you don't check each one it means you are firing steel pins down your barrel. Shoot lots and stay safe.
I have been wanting to gwt into wet tumbling. But its kind of expensive. And have been a little hesitant. But this sounds good to me thanks for the advice
use your wife's treadmill and a one gallon condiment jug from any restaurant, you can pick them up free, all it will cost you is the price of the chips to get you started
Great vid I have been wondering about how well the stainless works but didn't want to bite off $200 worth of stuff and have it suck. Thanks
All I reload is 9mm and use 2 lbs of media. 1 hour with the FA wet tumbling machine and their brass cleaner. Rinse with purified water a few times and let um dry for a couple of days. Good enough for me.
Was looking at the FART Lite. Seemed like it would be a decent deal for $99, but then saw that it doesn't come with any media. If I have to spend $30-50 to get media, the cost savings don't seem all that great. Thanks for the info!
That REALLY sucks! I didn't realize it came without media.
I had a similar experiance when I first started using ss pins. Years on I am still using the same pins. Try running your pins with some Zep degreaser and water to clean the case lube off them. Clean pins shold be bright silver and shiny, not dull silver. I just wash the case lube off now with some dawn and rinse then put in the tumbler with a shot of sonic clean from Hornady. Cases look brand nw every time.
Cool video. Just one question, have you ever weighed the brass before and after using those sharp chips to see if it is removing brass as well? Just curious as the shap stainless is a lot harder than brass.
thx John
Just got the F.A.R.T lite and it did NOT come with media . I have always ultrasonic cleaned my brass with ok results. I will be ordering the chips.
I just ordered my 7L frankford arsenal off Amazon for $110 on black Friday 2023. Normally like $150
45 minutes... no pins, just Dawn and hot water and my brass comes out excellent. Shoot lots and stay safe.
I've gone pinless too, but I'm doing 3000 556 per batch in a modified cement mixer. Pinless doesn't work as well in the smaller tumblers or ones with rounder chambers.
I have the large Franklin tumbler and I use Dawn and Lemi-shine for my pistol brass with good results but there are some possible drawbacks: I have had a few stuck pins in the primer pockets that caused a bent de-cap pin in my loader. Also a few of my 9mm loads had a double feed so I magnified the rims and they appeared to be slightly rounded where the extractor pulls them out of the chamber. This theory is not proved but excess tumbling could contribute to this issue. The Franklin rep suggested try a batch tumbled for 30 or 40 minutes or use just the soap solution without the pins.
I have found with my pins that I have to tumble them with zep purple with simple green for about 2 hours, rinse add simple green Lemie shine run again for about 1hr, rinse again then dawn and lemie shine and I use the harbor freight tumble or the frankford arsenal lite tumbler....seems to be working... thanks
How long do they last before you have to switch it out. Also, can you use it for dry tumbling? Thanks great video.
I love my platinum FART
Thanks for the video. Just getting into reloading and looking for media for wet tumbling. So after 18 months, how do you like the Southern Shine media?
5 years later, how do you feel about the Southern Shine Media now?
Fellas might want to consider cleaning the rubber lining inside the barrel. It seems to hold onto a lot of black goo! A quick cleaning of the rubber does help!
Shooting big matches I mark my brass with a marker so I can tell it's mine to pick it up. The marks used to come off no problem. But now they don't. I wonder if this is my issue. I have the same FART unit and I am still using the original pins
It took me a long time to realize that my tumbler wasn't working as well as it used to. It's such a gradual degradation! New media is worth a shot. Worst case, you've got some extra laying around.
Cool at what price you can get them in the US. We pay around 350$ in germany.
Just a little note about the Frankford Arsenal lite, it does not like small loads either, I tried tumbling 50 creedmoor cases with 2.5lbs of pins and the cases would gather around the lid and just sit there. I contacted Frankford Arsenal and they basically told me I didn’t have enough brass in it. Just wanted everyone to know. I’m still using my modified harbor freight for anything under 100 pieces of brass.
Still pin tumbling and I see this just a week after ordering more pins!! (dang) The ONLY thing I use my dry media tumbler for is to speed the drying but even that hardly gets any use any more. Too easy to use an old beach towel to make a "bag" and shake out most of the water and put the brass on the towel out in the sun. Even with a wife who shoots and reloads, I'm not allowed in the kitchen so the sun in the back yard will do.
I wonder how hard the steel of the pins is? I also wonder if you could harden them and break them with a hammer, (in a bag of some sort to avoid shards in the eyes) essentially making your own chips from old pins?
I’m curious what the longevity of these will be. Follow up video in say a year?
As long as you don't lose them, they will last till Jesus comes back. ;)
@@FreestyleCustom Haha, as an engineer I know they will eventually wear down, and as a Christian I'd be just fine if Jesus came back during that lifespan XD
@@jaredbudzinski8434 , perfect reply.
I was thinking I'd have to go to that. I instead just went to hand shaking a 5 minute wash: Dawn, vinegar, lemon juice. Then the next day when dry 2 hours in walnut vibratory tumbler, then 2 hours in corn cob. It come out REALLY good. Not as good as steel pins, but pretty darn good with a lot less hassle.
I wonder if one uses Iosso Brass Case Cleaner with the Southern Shine chips in the wet tumbler would the cases get cleaned up within 5 minutes?
Pins come in different diameters and lengths. That actually changes which brass they'll bridge and/or pack tightly in. I'll have to give Southern Shine Media a shot when my current media wears out.
The new FA tumblers also come with a mesh end cap. I've been cutting window screen or 1/8" mesh for that because some brass goes right through the slotted end cap.
What I want a HF tumbler for is powder coating.
I wonder if the used pins would make a cool Damascus pattern
Save your worn pins for shotshell reloading
Owwwww that would be a bad day for whoever gets on the receiving end of that load