Many shooters prefer to “wet tumble” their brass with reusable polishing materials, instead of using dry media and vibratory tumblers. The “wet-cleaning method” works best with a rotating tumbler equipped with a horizontal drum that is water-tight and holds your brass, cleaning solution and stainless pin-type media. Thumler’s Model B Heavy Duty has been the rotary tumbler most commonly used. This is a sturdy, great machine, but you can now get a more affordable alternative. Frankford Arsenal offers rotary tumblers of the “Platinum Series”, which are designed to clean cartridges with liquids and stainless media. The polymer drum is mounted on four rollers that rotate it around its horizontal axis. Two filters are included to help you quickly separate brass from media. The timer can be set to up to three hours. There are two sizes of tumblers: a 7-liter large unit and a 3.3-liter smaller one. Frankford Arsenal claims that the large version can clean up to 1,000 cases of.223 Rem Brass. This is a huge capacity. Rotary Tumblers Sources OnlineMajor retailers such as Grafs.com Midsouth and MidwayUSA sell the Frankford Arsenal Platinum Series tumblers. Compare prices from multiple vendors. Amazon offers very competitive pricing for the Frankford Arsenal Tumblers. This includes both the larger, 7-liter tumbler and the smaller, 3-liter tumbler.
How to Clean Brass in a Rotating Tumbler
On our main Accurateshooter.com site, you’ll see a detailed review of the STM System for cleaning cartridge brass using stainless media. To clean brass with stainless media, start with five pounds of small stainless pins sold by StainlessTumblingMedia.com. Place the pins, along with a quart of water, some liquid cleaner and two pounds cartridge brass, in a rotary tumbler and run it for between one and four hours. Check all primer holes after cleaning. CLICK HERE to read the Brass Cleaning System Review. STM System tested by forum member
Jason Koplin from the Forum purchased both the STM media as well as a new Thumler’s tumbler. He then tested the STM procedure on his brass, including some very dirty and tarnished “range pick-up” brass. Jason was very impressed with the STM cleaning process, as you can see in the “before and afterwards” photos below. Brass that was ready to be thrown away was transformed into a “like-new” look. The process works equally on rifle brass and pistol-grade brass. Jason noted that the STM cleaning process has a surprising benefit: a significant reduction in noise. Jason said that the water-filled, rotary tumbler is much quieter than vibratory tumblers. One tip, though: Always inspect each cartridge after wet-tumbling stainless media. It is possible for a pin to get stuck in the flash hole of brass with large flash holes. It is rare but it can happen.
