Stainless Steel Tumbling Media

[Deadeye Dick]

John Boy where do you get the 2X2 mm ceramic triangles? I use the tubular ones and have problems with them on smaller brass cases.
Deadeye Dick

[Mako]

...That's All Folks!

John Boy,
That's not all... show us your primer pockets and flash holes.

I use ceramic media, but the limiting factor is the flash holes and primer pockets.  I use pyramids (roughly the same size as your media) mixed with balls instead of just straight cut triangles like you do.  The balls are mixed in to limit the bridging and caught media, but my pockets and flash holes are definitely not cleaned like these photos below.  

I copied the links from the Sniper's Hide which has the longest running threads on this media.  These have been cleaned with the media this thread in the Darksider's Den is all about.
375,375







                          BEFORE                                                                        AFTER

 
                          BEFORE                                                                           AFTER


This is another interesting one showing how walnut hulls and rouge don't clean primer pockets.  Look inside the necks as well, see how the walnut hulls don't clean the interiors?



~Mako

[Fox Creek Kid]

Mako, the photos didn't come through, or the stainless media completely "erased" the brass. 

[Mako]

Mako, the photos didn't come through, or the stainless media completely "erased" the brass.  

They are flash images, do you have your flash player add-in authorized on your browser?

http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/


Too many people were deciding to steal my images without attribution, they were showing up everywhere.

Let me know if it doesn't work.  All of my copyrighted stuff and every image of others I link to is now posted as a flash image so it can't be copied from where I used it.

~Mako

[wildman1]

I have the Adobe  and I'm not seeing any pics. WM

[Mako]

I have the Adobe  and I'm not seeing any pics. WM

Wildman,
I went to a LOT of trouble to transition everything.  So before I abandon flash which means I will quit posting my copyrighted images and models do me a favor....  Are you using the newest version?  look at your add-ons:

Under Firefox: go to the "Tools" tab at the top of the page and then Add-Ons on the pull down menu.

Under Internet Explorer: go to the "Tools" tab and then the "Manage Add-ons" on the pull down menu.

Under Google's Chrome it should already be integrated.  It automatically integrates.

You should show (Adobe Flash Player 10.3.181.14) as the most current version on your browser.

If you want to see what you are missing until you get your flash settings adjusted on your current browser then download Chrome.  I haven't ever heard of it not working.

So do me that favor and check, I really liked being able to post my illustrations and models on this forum.

Regards,
Mako

[Deadeye Dick]

Works on mine.
Deadeye Dick

[wildman1]

Yep that is what I have. I got an upgrade on May 16. WM

[Fox Creek Kid]

I have the lastest Adobe but evidently my Secret Squirrel security clearance has been revoked!! I can't see them. 

[john boy]

John Boy,
That's not all... show us your primer pockets and flash holes.

Come on Mako, get real.  You have to be joking or smoking some kind of funny weed.  If the inside and outside of the cases shine, that means the flash holes and pockets are black as the ace of spades  

Where did I get the 2x2mm ceramic triangles? I drove to the office of Kramer Industries in Piscataway, NJ.  I made a deal with them to buy some of their lab used media in lieu of buying their normal ... Packaged in 50 lb boxes.
http://www.kramerindustriesonline.com/

Mako, so you will be able to sleep at nights and have a nice Holiday, I just went down to the reloading room and took a picture ... JUST FOR YOU!  They are old grungy 30-30's that I cleaned and am loading for lever silhouette matches.  Before I took the picture, worked the holes over with a Q Tip and Brasso too!

A Very Enjoyable Memorial Day to All

[Mako]

... Before I took the picture, worked the holes over with a Q Tip and Brasso too!

A Very Enjoyable Memorial Day to All

I KNEW IT!!!!!  Brasso and a Q-Tip!!! 

I just wanted to see if they were as clean as my pockets.  I  see they are similar.  The stainless pins beat us both on that one.

Like I said at the very beginning, everyone will go to their own corners and defend their own techniques and media.  Not me, I know a better process when I see one.  The lower left case in your photo looks a lot like some of mine.  I'm assuming you're not having the problems others were viewing the photos I posted.  You have to admit they look pretty good and they don't look any more damaged than the photos you have posted.

I'm like you about switching, the pyramids work well enough and I have had them for 17 years.  But if I was in the market for new media I would buy the stainless pins.  The media you and I have are not readily available to the general public in affordable quantities.  Dick has been able to make ceramic ceramic cylinders available, now there are steel pins available in smaller quantities.

IF I was home I would go into work and visit the finishing media room and take some photos to show you the assortment of medias that we use on a regular basis. There are banks of small 1 pound capacity tubs, very large fluid fed bowl vibrators, angled tumbling drums and our most aggressive finishers which are centrifugal  finishers with counter rotating drums.  We use everything from stainless powder to carborundum forms.

Regards,
Mako

[Four Eyes Henry]

I ordered the media and I will post my findings with foto's.
Especially the primer pockets will have my attention (I don't have a clue what Q tips are  )
I'm shooting "el cheapo" primers and those primers need their clean and uniformed pockets.
The blackpowder I use is also cheap but with J/P 200 Biglube bullets functions well in my Rugers and Rossi in .45 Colt.

[Fox Creek Kid]

...those primers need their clean and uniformed pockets...

Be VERY wary of uniforming your pistol cartridges. As a matter of fact I don't do it anymore after the most embarassing moment in my life at a CAS shoot years ago. Here's why. 

About ten years ago a buddy of mine who shoots benchrest advised me to get a Sinclair carbide primer pocker uniformer to help get the BP crud out of my pistol primer pockets after tumbling. Remember that this was B.C. (before ceramic  ). I though this device was the greatest thing since the zipper as the primer pockets were cleaned in few seconds using a cordless drill. The next CAS shoot I had innumerable light hits. The entire posse ribbed me and rolled their eyes. I could have crawled under a rock. 

It was then after getting home and scrutinizing that I figured out what had happened. The uniformer takes the primer pocket to a perfect depth, which is wonderful in theory. However that theory goes out the window when one realizes that case rim variance is tremendous. This is just enough to be the difference between a light hit & ignition as the FP protusion is fixed. Uniformed cases with thicker rims cause the primer to seat deeper. In theory you could install a longer FP but then some primers would be pierced.

[Four Eyes Henry]

@ FCK
I don't have light primer hits and never had them*. I've found that primer pockets depths can vary (in your words) tremendous.
My "el cheapo" primers would not even go flush in some lots or brands of brass. With Starline I've found the biggest differences btw. When I used Federal primers there was no problem, they are softer and I think they form under pressure in the pocket. So I uniformed them and now there's no problem. This was already in the ceramic age .
The reason I went for the other primer was economical and worth the effort (19 euro/1000 to 32euro/1000)

* My Henry has less FP protusion then my Rossi, but I've seen that more with Uberti

[Fox Creek Kid]

@ FCK
I don't have light primer hits and never had them*. I've found that primer pockets depths can vary (in your words) tremendous...

CASE RIM THICKNESS variances cause the problems & primer pocket depth is secondary. Primer pocket depths are made to the same depths for each maker of brass. However, when you uniform the pockets they are sometimes cut deeper and this then eliminates the safety "window" that you had before uniforming them regarding case rim thickness.


On another note, primer pockets "flow" over time and not always rearward. Elmer Keith wrote of this years ago.

[Four Eyes Henry]

Uniforming the pockets is making them the same depth as seen from the "backside" right?
The primers should be slightly under the rim or flush, so if you have light hits after uniforming either the firing pin is to short or the headspace is to much and you needed "high" primers to make your gun(s) work!
I've checked 6 different brands of brass and they range from 1.3 to 1.44 mm (difference is 0.005in).
But who am I telling this, you're not new to reloading I guess
I use starline for the revolvers all the time and the rest gets eaten by the rifle (who is definitely not picky)

[Mako]

After I got home Saturday I was going through the brass bucket and I found a bag that must be left over from at least June:

 

Somehow they got in with the smokeless cases and had been "fermenting" for several months now.

I waited until after I had finished with the .44 spl brass and tossed these in for one hour in my ceramic media:



This is after one hour and a quick rinse.



So I threw some other "clean" 12 gauge brass in and used some Lemi Shine to brighten everything.



At first they looked good:


But look closer...



So I got water spots anyway, so this is the question for everyone, why did I get water spots after using Lemi Shine?

I know the answer, but this is a good lesson for me as well as everyone else.


And one last thing...Isn't ceramic media wonderful?


Regards,
Mako

[Steel Horse Bailey]

Gee!  DD, I wish you had the ceramic triangles when I bought my stuff from you.  They look small enough that I wouldn't have the issues I have with the ceramic rods sticking in my 45 Colt case.  I don't remember what the length is supposed to be, but I'll wager they're oversized.  I also have at least 4 different thicknesses in the batch I bought ... but I DO   like the way they get my brass clean and un-grunged!


Why the water spots, Mako?

[Mako]

Why the water spots, Mako?

You can see the shells I show after an hour have no spots.  But after I tossed the other previously cleaned shells in I added some Lemi Shine to brighten them.  Lemi Shine does that well especially with burnished brass which tends to "darken" a bit with steel shot.

During the rinses I used water from an outside faucet which is mineral rich.  I let them air dry and you get spots.  You would think the Lemi Shine would be enough to stop that, since it is made to stop spots on dishes,  but it's not.  The Lemi Shine seems to strip the brass bare of any coating and the water spots more instead of less.

~Mako

[Steel Horse Bailey]

I use the ceramic media from DD.  Per his advice, I also use TSP-PF added to his concentrate.  He explained that the regs in WI forbid the export of the original concentrate because of TSP in the solution.  (Tri-Sodium-Phosphate)  Well, apparently here in Indiana we have similar restrictions because the recommended TSP here is the TSP-PF version; Phosphate-Free.  Lemme review: Here, the TSP - Tri-Sodium-Phosphate, is actually Tri-Sodium-Phosphate-Phosphate-Free.  HUH??  But it's all I could find.  Is it a waste of money adding it, (TSP-PF) and would the Lemi-Shine help as we have VERY hard water here and while I don't fuss about the spots (much) I'd like shinier brass from similar darkening.

Understand my issue?  Thanks!

Inquiring mind wants to know.