Dave Doehrman
Expert
One of the reloading chores I hated most was case preparation. I used a Dillon vibratory unit with walnut shell media. It was noisy, dusty and the cases didn't really come out as clean as I wanted. I had media stuck in the primer pockets and residue left in the cases.
I did some reading and research and ended up ordering the RCBS Sidewinder Tumbler, a couple bottle of the RCBS case cleaner and a 5 lb bag of the stainless steel media. As soon as the unit got here I loaded up the SS media and a couple ounces of the RCBS liquid cleaner, 160 .308 cases and added 1 1/2 quarts of water. I set the timer for 3 hours and watched TV while the unit ran out in the kitchen.
When the time clicked off I took the drum to the sink and ran hot water through the unit and flushed all the cruddy looking water down the drain. I had to flush the drum 5-6 times and then I removed the cases one at a time with the case mouth down to keep all the media in the drum. The cases were smooth, but there was a grayish-black film on the cases and removing them this way was time consuming. I knew there had to be a better way so I went to YouTube and watched a couple videos. Dawn dish soap and LemiShine dish washing powder seemed to be popular products for cleaning agents.
I had a plastic tray from the bottom of a bird cage with sides about 1" high. I figured that would make a good tray to dump everything in to clean out the mdia. My next batch of 160 rounds went in with a couple squirts of Dawn dish soap and a couple spoons full of LemiShine. I moved the tumbler outside to keep the noise down and set the timer for three hours. This time when the timer clicked off, I sat the drum upright in my plastic tray and stuck the garden hose in and rinsed the cruddy water out for a couple minutes. When the water ran clear I dumped everything into the tray.
Now it was simple to just to pick out the cases and toss them on a towel out in the sun to dry. I poured off the excess water from the media in the tray and let it sit out in the sun as well.
About 3 hours later the cases and the media were completely dry. The cases looked better than new. These are Prvi Partizan cases that have been reloaded 8-10 times. Here's a photo of the cases after cleaning compared to the brass in the rest of the batch.
If you look closely you can see that the inside of the case mouths are clean as well. Here's a photo of the primer pockets.
If you're looking for a product to really clean up your brass, I would definitely recommend the Sidewinder Tumbler with the stainless steel media. Forget the cleaning solution that comes with the tumbler and get a couple bottles of Dawn and a couple bottles of LemiShine.
This works well outside, but I can see this working inside as well in the colder months. I can sit the tray in the bathtub to rinse the cases and media. I can spread a towel on the reloading bench to set the cases out to dry.
If you don't mind waiting for the cases to dry before reloading them, this is the way to go.
I did some reading and research and ended up ordering the RCBS Sidewinder Tumbler, a couple bottle of the RCBS case cleaner and a 5 lb bag of the stainless steel media. As soon as the unit got here I loaded up the SS media and a couple ounces of the RCBS liquid cleaner, 160 .308 cases and added 1 1/2 quarts of water. I set the timer for 3 hours and watched TV while the unit ran out in the kitchen.
When the time clicked off I took the drum to the sink and ran hot water through the unit and flushed all the cruddy looking water down the drain. I had to flush the drum 5-6 times and then I removed the cases one at a time with the case mouth down to keep all the media in the drum. The cases were smooth, but there was a grayish-black film on the cases and removing them this way was time consuming. I knew there had to be a better way so I went to YouTube and watched a couple videos. Dawn dish soap and LemiShine dish washing powder seemed to be popular products for cleaning agents.
I had a plastic tray from the bottom of a bird cage with sides about 1" high. I figured that would make a good tray to dump everything in to clean out the mdia. My next batch of 160 rounds went in with a couple squirts of Dawn dish soap and a couple spoons full of LemiShine. I moved the tumbler outside to keep the noise down and set the timer for three hours. This time when the timer clicked off, I sat the drum upright in my plastic tray and stuck the garden hose in and rinsed the cruddy water out for a couple minutes. When the water ran clear I dumped everything into the tray.
Now it was simple to just to pick out the cases and toss them on a towel out in the sun to dry. I poured off the excess water from the media in the tray and let it sit out in the sun as well.
About 3 hours later the cases and the media were completely dry. The cases looked better than new. These are Prvi Partizan cases that have been reloaded 8-10 times. Here's a photo of the cases after cleaning compared to the brass in the rest of the batch.
If you look closely you can see that the inside of the case mouths are clean as well. Here's a photo of the primer pockets.
If you're looking for a product to really clean up your brass, I would definitely recommend the Sidewinder Tumbler with the stainless steel media. Forget the cleaning solution that comes with the tumbler and get a couple bottles of Dawn and a couple bottles of LemiShine.
This works well outside, but I can see this working inside as well in the colder months. I can sit the tray in the bathtub to rinse the cases and media. I can spread a towel on the reloading bench to set the cases out to dry.
If you don't mind waiting for the cases to dry before reloading them, this is the way to go.
WOW that looks real nice! How do the primer pockets look?
