(You need to Login or Register to view media files and links)

Here is a link on people making their own. Interesting but long.

Got mine at Cabela's. You can also try Shiloh Sharps and Buffalo Arms. Or call Thumler and ask who might have in stock. Have gone from the stainless pins to small ceramic media and like the results.

The pins peen the case mouth, shortening the case and possibly requiring resizing, which I try to avoid once my cases are fire-formed. Pretty lengthy discussion on same on the Shiloh forum. Short story is the peening can be minimized with the stainless pins by filling the tumbler to within 1-2" of being full before tumbling and keeping an eye on the time so doesn't tumble any longer than necessary to get the cases clean. Pins do a good job of cleaning, but the peening can be a problem. I just ran my first load with the small media from Arizona Sharpshooters and left about 20% of the pins in with the ceramic. Filled to about 75-80% full along with a cap of Dawn and a cap of the cleaning fluid that BACo sells with the stainless pins and ran 2 hours and 15 minutes. Everything came out very clean and zero peening. I dump it out through an old t-shirt in a large colander over a 2-gal plastic pail, give the cases a good rinse with hot water and bake in the oven at 220F for 30 minutes. Not real shiny, but are very clean, inside and out. For 'shiny' folks, have been told that soaking in a water/white vinegar 4/1 mix for 20 minutes prior to cleaning will make them come out shiny. I may try it just because I have a gallon of white sitting here, but getting them clean is good enough for me. Here's a pic. Annealing was performed after cleaning.

ThX Wayne, great research.

Contrary to recommendations I have been running ceramic in an old (1994 or so) Midway vibrating tumbler. I typically use 1/4 cup of water and a teaspoon of dishsoap when cleaning 45 and 50 caliber BPCR cases. Cases come out spotless after less than 2 hours. I usually pull the cases directly out and drop them in a bucket of hot water. If and media remains inside I place the case against the side of the tumbler and it normally falls out almost instantly. Once all the cases have been removed I take the bucket to a large sink and dump the water repalcing it with the hottest water possible from the tap. I then let this sit for a few mintues and then pull out the cases singlely, I blow a breath thru the flash holes and then place them case mouth side down on an old towel. The end result is bright, shiney case with no water spots. I have used the dryer but found it to not be neccessary unless I want to immediately reload, normally I let them set overnight.

Any idea how the pins might work in a vibratory tumbler, common wisdom is cermanic will quickly kill one but I suspect that might be to the high water volumn many use.
SS