Lee Loader

I measured the pins for comparison this morning.

Hopefully the guntap will do a good job for ya...

I bought a Frankford Arsenal Rotary Tumbler (FART) back in December when they were on sale for about $125. I have yet to use it as I still have loads of brass that has already been cleaned. I used a HF ultrasonic cleaner. It cleaned the cases like new, including the primer pockets. However it is slow compared to what the FART is reported to do, and I do still have many thousand that do need cleaning. I have read threads on SS pin tumbling on several other forums. All have mentioned SS chips and say they do a much more aggressive cleaning action and do an excellent job on the primer pockets. If I can't get the supplied pins to do the job, I will try the SS chips. I was not so worried about the carbon in the pockets until I read daboones link. Now I will become compulsive in my primer pocket cleanliness.

Decided to go back and read the FARTs manual, a bunch of info in it. I will go back to a rinse before the wash and depriming to keep the carbon off my press. I have the Platinum dryer, the cases dry quick. Working on weight & ratio stuff now.

Brownell's/Sinclair always has some good info. They talked about how much detergent is needed. You need to work in measured amounts and rub the water between thumb & finger after you are done. If the water between your fingers is dry at the end of your time, any additional time is useless and time on the current cycle a bit of a waste because not enough soap was used.

Okay, I took the time to read the FART manual plus I've been all over the map picking up insight in this form of cleaning.

Up first is advice from the Frankford Arsenal Platinum Rotary Tumbler Manual:

• Run a rinse cycle without the pins. Living on a farm and ranch, my wife would have suggested this. You cannot clean my work clothes without rising them first!
• The Fart is filled to 2/3's of its capacity before anything is added. I measured it; it is a gallon.
• The FART is limited to 30 lbs which must include the weight of the drum (3.25 lbs).

Here is what I've put together from a fellow that runs a shooting school near me and part of his income comes from selling once fired factory brass. He happens to run rows of the same tumbler:

• Pins are pins, the brand doesn't matter.
• Start by knowing exactly how many lbs of pins you have, weigh them.
• The weight of the brass should not exceed ¾ of the weight of the pins. At this ratio, the runtime is 45 minutes.
• Each additional ½ lb of brass adds 30 minutes to the runtime.
• Each lb. of brass added adds an additional measure of cleaning agent.

Based on runtime, I see that you quickly shoot yourself in the foot time-wise by getting the pin/brass ratio out of whack.

The FART weighs 3.25 lbs, and my hard water weighs 8.5 lbs per gallon for a total weight before pins and brass of 11.75 lbs. That leaves a useful weight of pins and brass of 18.25 lbs (30 lb limit). With the ratio, my tumbler can handle about 10 lbs of pins and 7.5 lbs of brass.

I will probably work with the 7.5 lbs of pins I have, that being the constant. I could bump the pin weight up another 2.5 pounds which would allow another 2 lbs of brass but I don't think operating the tumbler at its max weight is a good idea plus once I get rid of my surplus brass, my lots that I cycle are small. So, 7.5 lbs of pins and no more than 5.5 lbs of brass at 45 minutes after a rinse cycle will work fine for me. I tried it, pretty!
Back to soap briefly. An ½ ounce of Dawn Utra or Turtle's Zip is spent at an hour with my water, but still good at 45 minutes. Any bump in the run requires more soap.

The FA Platinum Case Drier dried the 250 308ME cases in 30 minutes. I rinsed 600 9mm Luger cases, they were bone dry for decapping in 30 minutes as well.

I know I've lost pins over time but I never checked their weight since I added the initial 5lbs to my old Tumbler's Tumbler. Nor have I ever been to concerned about the ratios of pin to cases. As for the cleaning mix it's a good squirt of dish detergent (normally Dawn) and a heaping spoonful of critic acid. So far so good. But now that I've read your info I'm sure the next batch will turn out nasty and I'll have to actually pay attention to this info. So I've added this info to a list of problem solvers, improvements and important stuff.

Two good runs today! My old media vibrator is sitting here for my nephew. I was so dissatisfied with the pins I was going to go back to it and give this outfit to him.

Started running some more brass through the FART. I decided to try the guntap Brass Shine from a sample pack that came with the SS pins I purchased; SHUT THE DOOR! 1 tablespoon, short run, low to no suds, super clean to include primer pockets. I came back inside and ordered a pound!

Now I'm going to have to hunt down the sample pack that came with my guntap pins and try it out

gunsmoke71 wrote:Now I'm going to have to hunt down the sample pack that came with my guntap pins and try it out

Haah, we must be alike! I throw all the samples aside, but this one happened to land were next to my garage sink. I noticed that guntap is in Cibolo, not too far from me.

I ran another 5 lbs of 308 ME cases through, similar load to which I tested last week. The cases had been run through a 15-minute rinse cycle with 1 oz of Dawn Ultra and then dried for decapping. Using 1 tablespoon of guntap Brass Shine powder, 7½ lbs of pins, and one gallon of hot water, the brass was completely cleaned in 45 minutes. Primer pockets look like they have been cleaned with a tool. Drying time is 45 minutes if I remember. Solved that, have a very slick outlet timer on the way here. I might be able to get that refined a bit as the Franklin Arsenal Platinum Case Dryer can probably do it in less time. I have found that 5 lbs of brass is about the capacity of the stack trays.