Boy thinking it over I ordered the Lee decapper yesterday, should be here Wednesday. I do think doing a few hundred like 9mm at a time might be the ticket. Will give it a try and get back to you all.  Craig

I use & like the Lee decapper for 357 Sig because of the evil small flash holes on Speer brass. It's so small it binds up with any other decapping pin.

OK got the decapper in today and did a few hundred 9mm and they are ready for the tumbler but I want to more before doing the tumbler. The decapper did as expected and I think I am going to love it  after a while.  Craig

I can do 100 cases in 15 minutes and more if I just sat and did them. They are being cleaned right now and I may have time to "cook" them (dry them) Something else to think about. I now have a old Lyman pumpkin that I had made into a large vibrator cleaner that I will never use at this point and I have a lot of leftover stainless chips. I an thinking about trying to make a large rotary tumbler or does anyone think I could use the stainless chips as is???There would be enough power to vibrate everything but is the falling brass a big part of the cleaning process? I guess I could try it. Boy you could really do some quantity at that point. Craig  Any ideas???

Haven't posted in a week or so but I have been checking in between reloading sessions. I am doing 40 cal for a friend so I got 100 40 in the tumbler right now. Also a point of interest. I used to use the plastic netting bags in the corn to separate calibers when needed. I am trying a net bag in this tumbler with some 41AE I found mixed in with the forty. I will update with a final on how it works in this tumbler if at all.  Craig

The net bag doesn't seem to work. I think it is too big for the tumbler and restricts the ss  chip action. One of the 41AE empties was black from being on the ground and I put it in the tumbler by itself with a couple other 41's, all came out new except the black one need a little more time. Still works super for cleaning etc.  Craig

Had an idea derived from some ideas I have had in doing this tumbler method of cleaning. Been having trouble sorting the brass from the media with loosing some of the media as I tried to pour the brass and media into the pan to dry it in the stove. Today with the brass and media fresh out of the tumbler I used an old media sifter that I used to get out the corn with the upright vibrator tumbler. I used this sifter over an paper bucket I found in the trash. It worked!!! I will get a small plastic bucket to use to replace the paper bucket but the idea is sound. The stainless steel chips stick with whatever surface when wet so that is one little problem the bucket can sit until the ss media dries and then it comes right out. I may take this to the next level and use the sifter over the old upright vibrator tumbler as it would work the same. Craig

I'm using the same type "sifter" to separate the brass from the liquid and stainless media. Rinse the brass and I dry mine with a hair dryer. Takes about 5 minutes with a hair dryer to dry 500 9mm cases. The liquid/media I separate by pouring all it in a nut milk bag I got from Amazon. It's basically a nylon bag about the size of notebook paper and has real fine mesh. The liquid easily goes thru it while the pins stay in the bag. Rinse the bag/media off and the media is ready to go. The bags I bought come 2 to a pkg, so far I've cleaned about 10,000 cases using the same bag, and it shows no sign of wear. Always options.

      I forgot to say I use a fairly fine cooking strainer to rinse off the brass and ss media. It was the separating that was the issue for me. With a strainer I was loosing some media due to shaking the strainer to get it empty. My new way with the let's say larger strainer the ss media goes to the bucket and the brass stays in the strainer problem solved. I will try your hair dryer as it sounds very good and quick.  Craig

A couple of things! I bought some 40 cal brass from a gun show brass seller. It was cleaned but looked like vibrator style cleaning.  I just took it out of the tumbler and it looks newer than new. BTW I tried the hair dryer drying idea and it works super. Also my new idea of straining to separating the brass from the stainless media worked super. Boy I am getting there in general.  Craig

Well I am ready to jump off the deep end, Ha Ha. I am finalizing plans for a tumbler I am building from scratch. Should be about 6 or 8 times the normal size but can make it smaller if need be. I would like to be able to do 1000 plus cases at a time. All I need to finish the idea is a way to connect the v-belt pulleys to the cylinder or pvc pipe if I can't find a cylinder to use. We are haven fun now!!!  Craig

Trapper6L  A while back you were talking about a kind of blue grease on the cases. I ran into this just today while I was depriming 100 300 Blackout cases I got this weekend at a gun show. The brass was once fired mixed head stamps that I think the guy cleaned but that is all. I have gotten brass before from him that was worked up, deprimed, cleaned but empty of course. We will see how it works up as I still need to resize clean and reload. I will get back.  Craig

One thing I have noticed with this process is that I am not getting the forming action in the tumbler I was getting when I first started this process. I am just using ss chips and lemishine, nothing else but I was getting some foam with the lemishine. I opened up the tumbler after 15 minutes and added a lost piece of brass and more lemishine and after another 20 minutes or so I open the tumbler and no form but real clean brass!!! so I guess it's OK but I will try some liquid detergent of some kind. Craig

Most any of the liquid detergents like Dawn will not have anti-foaming agents in the mix. If you want you can use a powder form of dishwasher detergent like Cascade. I make up mine in a 1 gallon jug. I get 2-3 loads of brass out of a gallon. I'm using an old laundry detergent bottle to make and store it in. If you don't have one, buy a 128 oz laundry detergent and use it when it runs out. As of now, I'm using 1 tablespoon Cascade in a gallon of water, 1 cup of cheap vinegar, and add about 1/2 teaspoon of Lemishine. Works better than the powder case cleaner I had which was inconsistent in the finished brass. If the brass just needs a little touch up, just the cheap vinegar and water and about 20-30 minutes in the tumbler and it's back to new. The vinegar is a weak acid and gently eats the crap off of the cases without etching the brass.

Hey Trap thanks for the info and I am testing a load with a cheap dish liquid with lemishine on 100 cases of 300 blackout. I did the same yesterday without the detergent and we will see how it comes out.  Craig