Wet tumbler - What cleaning products to add ?

[Rollo]

I've got a wet tumbler coming which uses the stainless steel pins - What are people adding to the water ?

I've read some American suggestions but would rather get a UK opinion on what we get easily get here to add.

[Turnup]

First boil the water - this will remove a lot of the dissolved salts (aka limescale). Add one drop of dishwasher finisher - this will crystalize out any remaining salts. You can add some white vinegar or citric acid or washing up liquid to help to lift grease, or if you can get it Phosphiric acid is good for cleaning brass.

[DesG]

I just chuck a drop of fairy in warm water, tumble for half an hour then put them on the radiator to dry. Works for me. They’re only Bullet cases after all. Just watch for bits of wire inside the cases before you load them,

[tim56]

Stainless steel = hard. Brass case = soft. Doesn't the steel pins wear the cases thin. ?? Just wondering.! Tim

[Charlts]

I use the Lyman stuff, seems to be doing a good job

[NoEntry]

lyman stuff and lemishine for me

[Ka-Boom!]

I add a table spoon of biological clothes washing liquid and a third teaspoon of so of citric acid powder.
The cases come out spotless.

[JB101]

Lemshine & citric acid

ATB
James

[sarge4318]

Lemshine is a water softener (I'm not sure if they make a detergent as well), same as the citric acid or dishwasher additive or rinse aid. Any one of these will be OK to remove the limescale or water marks on drying cases.

A little Fairy or supermarket own brand detergent will help with the removal of the dirt.

[Mr Fudd]

Been using a stainless tumbler for a few years now and honestly you dont need to bother with anything fancy just bang a dishwasher tab in with them as that has everything in it already to get them nice and shiny and practically like new

Also i tend to tumble them for a 2-3 hours as recommended by the tumbler media manufacturer and they come out like new everytime inside and out and the primer pockets too

[Rollo]

Thanks for the advice guys !

I've now got my 1st load running with warm water, a few squirts of fairy liquid and very small amount of citric acid powder.

In a couple of hours when its finished I'll let you know how it looks

[Rollo]

The brass came out nice and clean - even the primer pockets !

I do need a better way to separate the pins though - shaking the separator trays doesn't work so great as the 44 mag cases are bottom heavy so really just want to stand up.

How do people separate their pins ? I'm thinking of maybe trying a rotary media separator.

Do you just leave the pins to dry in a tray ?

[DaveC]

I leave the thing full of water and pick out the cases one at a time leaving the pins behind. dry off with an old towel and then 30 mins in the oven to dry out.

As for drying the pins, never, they stay wet in the tumbler, been wet for the last 4 years and they are fine.

[sarge4318]

I empty the water and then transfer the case and pins to a gratnell tray to rinse. A shake usually leave most of the cases on the top of the pins, the others can be picked out easily and the pins tipped out. Occasionally with 22 bottle necked cases the pins get stuck inside, tipping them up under water can help the pins flow out of the case.

Then in the oven for 20-30 minutes on a low heat and they're dry. Just check the pins aren't stuck in the flash hole before reloading.

[DesG]

This is a tumbler I made from scrap bits around my workshop. The motor and gearbox is an old cordless drill, the rollers are bits of vacuum cleaner pipe wrapped in leather. The drum is one of those superman body builder protein containers with some plastic fence inside to make sure the contents rotate and tumble. I put a connecting pulley joining the two rollers but it works fine without that on. The 12 volt dc power supply is from my pile of old phone chargers, adapters etc that I can’t throw out. I made the spigots out of bits out of an old dead printer. In fact the only thing I paid for was the stainless tumbling needles from the bay.

It has variable speed (yellow knob) and is reversable as per the drill.

I've made some smaller drums out of 4" waste pipe but the big drum seems to work fine with three or four hundred .38 cases. I empty it into an old kitchen sieve then pick them out one by one and shake out any stray pins. I've managed to break a decapping pin by missing a piece.

So a very effective wet media case cleaner for the grand price of nothing.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/gqmv1uae17...G0657.jpg?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/7kyzwvyzun...G0656.jpg?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/jq4xy4rawa...G0658.jpg?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/mizar6292d...G0659.jpg?dl=0