Life expectancy of tumbler media

[brett1868]

Bit off topic but what pushed you to stainless pin tumblers over an ultrasonic one?

Look down that road before going stainless?

Ultrasonic has its place and is fine for small quantities but has limitations when trying to do bulk brass. I found that even with a 18L 400w commercial sized ultrasonic cleaner I could only effectively clean 40-50 of the BMG cases. Brass is very good at absorbing ultrasonic energy which limits the quantity of cases that can be cleaned and never really did a good job on primer pockets. Stainless will do over 1000 9mm cases in 3 hrs and they come out as new inside and out. The big cleaner has been relegated to parts cleaning, does a great job on muzzle brakes

[WayneO]

Ultrasonic is fine for rifle in small batches. But when it comes to 9mm, you cant be cleaning in batches of 100 at a time.
Trust me, nothing beats stainless.

[brett1868]

Lastnights brass is in the wash now. I've got some before pictures and when it's done I'll get some after pictures....I'll let the pictures do the talking

[Apollo]

How can a topic get so off track.

The OP asked about "Life expectancy of tumbler media" and now we are into numerous replies about Ultrasonic and Stainless Tumbling.

If he wanted that information I'd say he would have asked with a specific topic.

I use an Ultrasonic and quite happy with the results but I didn't mention it as it wasn't relevant to the topic. I have no problem what so ever with using a normal Tumbler, in fact with the additive I use I bet my cases stay bright n shiny way longer by years than done by any other method.

Maybe I too should show some before and after, bet my after win.

[juststarting]

Seems to happen a bit here, probably directly correlated to the age of the respondents

[Apollo]

Yes, maybe I'm just too old and cranky. Been at this story for many, many years and I'm happy with what happens plus the results which do vary on how you attack the situation, plus what media you use.

Walnut Media is the most agressive and doesn't result in the highest polish finish. Un-treated Corn Cob is next but doesn't clean really old rubbish off plus the finish isn't tops but better than Walnut. Treated Corn Cob about the same but it contains a polish so the result is a lot more shiny. My old, old Corn Cob washed many, many times then treated with Lyman Brite gives the highest polished finish. Looks great, but the point I found is that whatever is in Lyman Brite the gloss finish stays that way for a long time, like at least a year or so and finger marks don't tarnish the finish so that's what I prefer to use.

Let's take a bad example of the end polish result but gee, these started off as some old, really old .243W Winchester Cases I found out in my outside shed. They came from the very early 1970's when I first started reloading, have been shot many times (too many to remember) and were laying in an old rusty steel tin for again, many years. They were put in a tumbler with Walnut Media so the polish isn't that great but well good enough to examine for case faults and some had a sign of a crack around the neck which I found out on reloading then firing was the end of their life.

Some of these are still being used but they really do need to be annealed when and if ever I decide to go down that path.

Now to figure out why I can't add the attachments.... working on it.

Before..



After..



Some other cases ......

30BR



And another before n after ... before on the right, sorry. Carbon wiped off with Ballistol before tumbling.

[Apollo]

BTW...

If you want to start a Topic on Ultrasonic and/or Stainless Pin Cleaners please feel free.

I can give some hints on the Ultrasonic with solutions that are used and why. These are cheap and very effective for small quantities.

Stainless wet cleaners I have no idea, don't need one nor do I do huge bulk cleaning.

[brett1868]

Yes, a bit of a diversion from the OP's original question but without a little diversion he may otherwise not have known the pros & cons of other case cleaning methods. I've got a pair of vibratory tumblers that are not used anymore and a big ultrasonic I use on occasions to clean muzzle brakes, money essentially wasted and I wish I'd heard / seen the pin tumblers first.

Pictures below are self explanatory.

Before

IMG_2306.JPG (227.77 KiB) Viewed 4665 times

Oh So Shiny

IMG_2308.JPG (331.33 KiB) Viewed 4665 times

Inside same as outside

IMG_2310.JPG (235.91 KiB) Viewed 4665 times

Pockets clean as new.

IMG_2311.JPG (272.98 KiB) Viewed 4665 times

Appllo, Yes, you are a cranky old bugger and looking forward to visiting you in the near future How are the insides of those .243 cases?

[Apollo]

When you get old, you get cranky cause nothing works like it use'd to do and the young chicks don't like that much.

Since the .243W don't have a big wide mouth it's a bit hard to tell down that little dark hole but not as clean as your's. Bet they are many decades older too and were never cleaned inside like happens these days to a few.

Boy, those cases are tiny. Do they come out of a "toy" gun ...

Before you come for a visit Brett, I'll have to invest in a few dozen Ear Muffs for the neighbours and give them a few weeks notice so they can book a holiday away... or come join us.

So, is this going to happen before winter gets worse, during winter or wait until the mirage is so bad you can't see past 100m...

You won't lose a 50BMG case in the grass these days. What grass....