Few months ago I found the Lyman Cyclone on clearance at a place. This was after looking at them and thinking "That would be nice." Then finding them on sale and "That'd still be nice, but I shouldn't right now." Finding it at that clearance price...
If you're not familiar, there are two types of tumblers for cleaning brass. A vibratory uses chopped-up corncob or crushed walnut hull as media to clean the brass; you put it all in the bowl, turn it on, and it vibrates and causes the contents to circulate, working the media through the cases. A rotary uses a drum that seals, water, and some stainless steel pins: fill the drum about halfway with brass, add in the pins(full batch is five pounds), enough water to cover, then seal the lid, put it on the base and it rotates the drum. For extra effect add a couple of drops of dish soap and some stuff called Lemi Shine(dishwasher additive). The pins are small enough that they'll even work through the flash holes in the primer pockets.
The vibratory is simpler, and dry. The rotary is more complicated, but does a better job cleaning. The pins will last forever(except the ones you lose).
What I've been doing for rifle cases is to throw them in the vibratory when back from the range to clean the loose fouling out, then lube and resize/deprime, and trim if needed. Throw them in a bag until I have enough to do a full load, then run them through the Cyclone, which cleans all the fouling out and shines them up nicely.
I was wondering about making my own pins to replace any lost, but was concerned the cut ends might scratch the brass(the factory pins are nicely rounded, which is why a five-pound bag runs about fifty bucks). Son suggested cut some, then throw them in the vibratory tumbler with some walnut media and then shave or grate some coarse buffing compound in to take care of the rough ends. Going to have to get some suitable wire and try that.
Added: With a rotary, I'd suggest getting a magnetic pickup tool, something like this, or this if you don't like bending over. Makes picking up dropped/spilled pins a lot easier.
7 comments:
A friend of mine is using the stainless pins and mentioned using spent 22lr brass(or any scrap cartridge brass) along with the abrasive to help take the sharp edges off.
Please keep us posted on how that works. I've been considering adding a rotary tumbler but the pin cost has been a roadblock.
Unless you add ceramic chunks to the mix, those pin ends are still going to be as sharp when you take them out as when you put them in.
Be very careful with the dish soap; some have additives that are bad for brass; much discussion on several reloading forums. I've been using a vibratory cleaner with walnut shells and a bit of the Dillon polish. They come out bright and shiny, but I don't shoot black powder (yet).
So far I've found no reference to problems with Dawn, which is what I've been using
My shooting buddy just bought one. We will put it to the test: 45-70's shot with black powder - intentionally left to rot and rust for a few days or a week! if it ruins the brass I don't care... 45-70's are cheap and easy to get. I just want to see what happens...
The black loads I've tried, followed advice and had a container of water with a little soap added handy; fire, after ejecting drop the case into the water. By the time got home the fouling pretty much rinsed out, made further cleaning very easy.
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