Getting into wet tumbling. What all do I need?

[lennyo3034]

I am finally going to start wet tumbling my brass and was looking for suggestions as to what to get. Aside from the tumbler, what else do I need?

I assume some stainless pins

How do most people dry their brass? I live in a humid area do just setting them outside may not be enough.

 

[AuburnBLK]

Your correct - stainless pins. Possibly sized correctly for calibers you intend to tumble. If not, you'll just need to check and make sure no pins stick in cases like I do. Rarely happens

Some come with pins, some don't so read carefully.

A media separator is a must. I use the Frankford one and like it just fine.

Dawn and Lemishine.

I use an old food dehydrator for when I'm in a hurry. You can usually find a used one cheap. When I'm not in a hurry I leave laying flat on a towel for a few days and everything drys just fine.

 

[TB10]

From my experience less is more when it comes to adding Dawn and Lemishine to the tumbler. Also don't tumble after trimming your brass or you will have to trim them all again to remove a bur from inside the neck

When in a hurry I have put brass in my oven at 200 degrees for about an hour. If not in a hurry I will lay them out in front of our dehumidifier over night. Laying out in the sun also dries them up pretty well.

 

[AuburnBLK]

From my experience less is more when it comes to adding Dawn and Lemishine to the tumbler. Also don't tumble after trimming your brass or you will have to trim them all again to remove a bur from inside the neck

Priceless words of wisdom. Trim/Camfer/Debur AFTER tumbling.

I find a 9mm case of lemishine works great. To much and you'll have pink brass.

Also a good idea not to leave cases in your "magic solution" over night or you'll have stained brass. Doesn't necessarily hurt anything... but looks odd.

 

[lennyo3034]

Any recommendations on which tumbler? Or does it not matter that much?

I was thinking of picking up these:

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/949347/lyman-rotary-tumbler-stainless-steel-pin-media-sifter-set

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/100809/hornady-case-and-parts-dryer

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/71...-platinum-series-rotary-case-tumbler-110-volt

Appreciate the help.

 

[AuburnBLK]

I've had the frankford arsenal for over a year with no complaints. Media separator I would recommend a rotary type (it will better spin media out of inside of case)

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/27...latinum-series-wet-dry-rotary-media-separator

This is the one I have, although I like the looks of the RCBS containment better. The frankford spills some water and makes a wee mess.

 

[NovaHunter]

Never used lemishine. I tumbled thouands of .223 and 9mm using water, stainless steel pins, and a splash of simple green. Gave a dull finish, but the cases were very clean.

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[GreenBlood10]

I have been using the Frankford Arsenal Platinum Series Tumbler for two months and don't have any complaints. I got it from Amazon as it was a good bit cheaper than Midway. For the price, which includes 5# of stainless steel media, I think it's a great value.

As others have stated, I use a large squirt of Dawn dish soap and a teaspoon of lemishine and the brass comes out impressively clean inside and out.

 

[TB10]

I made my own tumbler out of a 5 gallon bucket, a gamma lid, and an old windshield wiper motor. Not as nice as the frankford tumblers but it gets the job done

 

[wxl]

For drying I toss wet brass into a flat cardboard box and hit them with a $15 Harbor Freight heat gun on low until brass is almost too hot to touch.

 

[JCCinOhio]

I went cheap and use the Harbor Freight dual drum rock tumbler, think I got mine for $40 on sale. You can do a pound of brass in each drum at a time, so #2 is about 82 .308 or 140 .223. Has worked well for me, but if you plan to process a lot of brass it may not be the best option.

 

[NovaHunter]

If you are shooting alot, a Home depot cement mixer makes a decent tumbler. We could process something like 3000 5.56 cases or 6000 9mm cases at a time.

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[TripleBull]

If you are shooting alot, a Home depot cement mixer makes a decent tumbler.

Go big:

 

[lennyo3034]

I am actually small volume. I usually load 20 rounds at a time.

 

[wilson1911]

Here. They also have a dehydrator to use for drying. I would highly suggest getting a depriming only die, as some calibers will get pins stuck in the neck if you resize first. I also use 2x dawn ultra with lemishine. You will have to adjust this to suit your water PH, everyone's is different. Start with a tablespoon of dawn, then put a dash of lemi in your hand and take a pinch out of it...put the rest back in the bottle. If you need shinier brass, just add more. If your cases turn orange, back off some.

Get a can or bucket to put your deprimed brass in. If you deprime and throw in a bucket after a range trip, it will always just take 5 mins to do.

I would get a separator and magnet(frankford) to pull your excess pins out or move them around. Its much easier.

FYI I just had a bearing go out after 3 years...thousands of cases cleaned. They sent me a new one no charge.

http://www.stainlesstumblingmedia.com/stm-complete-package.html

 

[pinhead]

I also used the Frankfort tumbler with great success. As others have said, don't use a ton of Dawn or LemiShine.
I deprime with the FA deprimer first. What I do when done tumbling is to put the tumbler barrel on one end in the utility tub. Unscrew one end, remove the clear insert, put a thin tshirt on one end, then put the plastic screen on, then the big plastic nut on. Tip it over and let all the black water drain out. This keeps the pins in the tumbler barrel. Then take the other sight glass off and run clean water through the top, shaking and twisting. Then I put it in the tumbling media separator, and at that point it's just to get the pins away from the brass. About 10 seconds of spinning is all that's needed. Then lay out the brass on a towel, in front of a dehumidifier, cookie sheet in the oven, in a dehydrator, or however you want to dry the brass.


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[JCCinOhio]

I am actually small volume. I usually load 20 rounds at a time.

With that small a batch you can get the single drum Harbor Freight tumbler... and this is assuming you are loading for like 308 or under.. 338 Lapua or 50 bmgs & the like ain't gonna work in this (probably..). Gotta go.. my 140 rounds of .223 are done tumbling..

 

[elfster1234]

get the extreme version of the model B tumbler and then do this MOD of mine = will cut your cleaning time in half when cleaning multiple types of brass at the same time OR two different batches of the same type of brass but with different fires on the two different batches... best $3 MOD in my opinion for the model B tumbler AND is the only reason why I haven't moved over to the arsenal brand tumbler... i always reload in batches of 50 or 100..... no more = just in case you need to tweak things like headspace OR if you end up selling that rifle... i pull new brass OR once fired lake city brass as i need it in 50 to 100 pcs ............ if doing LARGE qty's or you don't care about saving time when cleaning different types of brass as mentioned above = then get the arsenal brand tumbler

50 pcs of 308 or 6.5creed IS about the same as 100pcs of 5.56 brass for pure example as described in the video below...... so for 308 or 6.5 i usually reload in increments of 50.... and for 5.56 i usually reload in increments of 100 which works great for most ammo boxes anyway


direct link to video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXiucGdUVmQ



would check out some other place for possible lower price $$$ but this is the tumbler im talking about just like mine, but on steroid: https://www.amazon.com/Extreme-Tumbl.../dp/B00IOE5K5Y


another helpful vids I made.... hope this helps!

direct link to video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIzLyVasxSk



same MOD in action during the 10part reloading series 5.56 & 7.62 at the same time:
direct link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsXp79pPCq4

 

[Srgt. Hulka]

Here. They also have a dehydrator to use for drying. I would highly suggest getting a depriming only die, as some calibers will get pins stuck in the neck if you resize first. I also use 2x dawn ultra with lemishine. You will have to adjust this to suit your water PH, everyone's is different. Start with a tablespoon of dawn, then put a dash of lemi in your hand and take a pinch out of it...put the rest back in the bottle. If you need shinier brass, just add more. If your cases turn orange, back off some.

Get a can or bucket to put your deprimed brass in. If you deprime and throw in a bucket after a range trip, it will always just take 5 mins to do.

I would get a separator and magnet(frankford) to pull your excess pins out or move them around. Its much easier.

FYI I just had a bearing go out after 3 years...thousands of cases cleaned. They sent me a new one no charge.

http://www.stainlesstumblingmedia.com/stm-complete-package.html

I also have this Rebel 17 setup. My wife gave it to me for Christmas a couple years ago. This kit is just awesome. A little Dawn and a pinch of Lemi-Shine and about an hour and a half will do it. Not too much Lemi-Shine or it will turn your brass pink. Ask me how I know.
I used to dry mine in the oven set on the lowest setting, but the brass would discolor a little from the heat. I now just dry the outside off with a towel to keep them from spotting, and spread them out on a towel overnight to finish drying.

Whichever setup you choose, it's hard to go wrong with a stainless steel tumbler.

 

[jmtyndall]

Actually don't bother with pins. Get the stainless steel chips. They won't stick in cases or flash holes.

Dawn and Lemishine(can get citric acid too, basically the same stuff)