Hey guys I currently tumble with dry crushed walnut. I was thinking of buying a web tumbler and starting to use stainless steel media. What are your thoughts? Also if anyone can point me in the direction of one for sake that would be great. Thanks.
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Stick with dry media or wet tumbler
- Thread starter Festeraxp
- Start date
You can search out wet tumbling here.
I never found any benefits over dry media except “my brass is shinier than yours”
Dry/corncob is all around easier to deal with, particularly when separating media from brass.
I quit wet tumbling my Centerfire rounds. A lot of people were saying that the case mouths were getting beaten up and affecting accuracy. I did see that mine were getting beaten up too. I didn't wet tumble them long enough to be able to comment about loss of accuracy though. One of the influencing factors was that the SS media pins were JUST the right length to jam sideways in the mouths of my 6 x 47 brass. PITA.....
I do tumble all of my pistol brass in wet/SS media. It tends to be really grungy and separating the media is simple in the normal media separator. I can do a large batch, mostly unattended, come back, seperate and dry it with only a little effort.
I quit wet tumbling my Centerfire rounds. A lot of people were saying that the case mouths were getting beaten up and affecting accuracy. I did see that mine were getting beaten up too. I didn't wet tumble them long enough to be able to comment about loss of accuracy though. One of the influencing factors was that the SS media pins were JUST the right length to jam sideways in the mouths of my 6 x 47 brass. PITA.....
I do tumble all of my pistol brass in wet/SS media. It tends to be really grungy and separating the media is simple in the normal media separator. I can do a large batch, mostly unattended, come back, seperate and dry it with only a little effort.
In my view, the ss tumbling is superior but it can get the brass too clean on the inside of the necks, but that can be mitigated with neck lube. Now, what I had thought when I bought my ss tumbling setup is if it didn’t work or I didn’t like it, I’m pretty sure I would be able to use dry media, corn cob, wood shavings, rice.....whatever and work. I’d have 1 machine to do it all, honestly I don’t think I’ll ever go to dry media, the only way I would is if I got another media container and use that to get lube or whatever off.
I just got ss chips last week from southern shine media I hope to try out even though I haven’t had any major issues with what I got.
I just got ss chips last week from southern shine media I hope to try out even though I haven’t had any major issues with what I got.
D
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Different methods for different needs. I use the dry tumbler when I want to knock the filth off of range brass or my own fired brass just to save sand and grit from getting into my dies. I don't tumble until shiny, just until clean. When dry tumbling I do so before I resize so that any walnut media will be cleared as I size.
Brass that is going to be sold or going to be loaded and put up for a rainy day, gets wet tumbled after sizing. I used to use stainless steel pins. They get the primer pockets really well, but they actually get the inside of the necks too clean. They also get stuck in flash holes and can get wedged in cases. I now use ceramic media that is large enough not to get into necks.
The downside is that the primer pockets don't get totally clean, but clean enough, same for the inside of the cases. I sacrifice a little bit of cleaning ability for speed and ease.
I just got done wet tumbling about 3,000 cases of 223 using this method.
How it is built, I at the time thought I would be able to put other containers onto it, either smaller or bigger. I was going to build my own but, time, trial and error, compactness wasn’t going to work for me, but essentially this machine is built how I would’ve built one. Good machine, no complaints.
Also, I don’t worry about dinged/rolled case mouths because I trim every time to keep consistent.
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Got this one a few weeks ago and so far it works great.
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Deluxe Kit (Extreme Rebel 17 Rotary Tumbler, SS Media, Lemishine and Media Separator)
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I use a FA wet tumbler for bulk brass cleaning in pistol and semi auto plinking stuff. It's just so much faster and you can do a lot more volume. All my bolt action precision brass gets tumbled in walnut.
When I first starting using a wet tumbler I used the pins. The down side is it's a PIA for clean up. Also, the inside of the pistol brass was so clean it would get stuck on the powder funnel on my 650 on the down stroke after dropping powder. It took all the the carbon out of the inside of the case. When I stopped using the pins the problem went away.
I love the wet tumbler for the time saving aspect. I don't like being married to my reloading bench. Anything, I can do to speed things up is a win in my book.
When I first starting using a wet tumbler I used the pins. The down side is it's a PIA for clean up. Also, the inside of the pistol brass was so clean it would get stuck on the powder funnel on my 650 on the down stroke after dropping powder. It took all the the carbon out of the inside of the case. When I stopped using the pins the problem went away.
I love the wet tumbler for the time saving aspect. I don't like being married to my reloading bench. Anything, I can do to speed things up is a win in my book.
I have a wet and dry set up but only wet tumble now, much faster with wet for me.
Universal de-prime........resize........I don't shoot range pick up in precision rifle......
Dump brass in tumbler- lemishine, dawn, car wash/wax, steel pins and water.
Tumble for about an hour-inside necks still have a decent amount of carbon
Dump tumbler into media seperator over 5 gallon bucket, spin handle half dozen times
Pins and water in bucket dump water out, pins that stay in the bottom of the bucket
Are then dumped back into tumbler for next time.
I live in hot ass, sunny California so I just dump into a towel "do the bowling ball wash" and then lay them out in back
Of my truck to sun dry for an hour or two.
Universal de-prime........resize........I don't shoot range pick up in precision rifle......
Dump brass in tumbler- lemishine, dawn, car wash/wax, steel pins and water.
Tumble for about an hour-inside necks still have a decent amount of carbon
Dump tumbler into media seperator over 5 gallon bucket, spin handle half dozen times
Pins and water in bucket dump water out, pins that stay in the bottom of the bucket
Are then dumped back into tumbler for next time.
I live in hot ass, sunny California so I just dump into a towel "do the bowling ball wash" and then lay them out in back
Of my truck to sun dry for an hour or two.
Cleaning brass sucks.
Yes I even tumble plasma cut parts in cement mixer and have thought of trying it. Cleaning just sucks.
Currently tumbling equipment
FA wet with pins
Ultravibe 45
Midsized Lyman
Ss pins get shit clean. Appropriate and easy for range pick up but sicks worrying about pins
Wet no pins does a good job but I hate water
Dry media takes longer but in the end no drying I just hate shaking out cases
Rice and other ideas I tried they suck too.
Volume, frequency, time availability, where you will clean, brass source, will affect your method also.
So they all suck it just depends on preference and what you are doing. I can say this pick a method and use it. Don't chase methods. I tried a bunch but I knew it was testing to see what I wanted to do. Too many people change methods and it can impact your results dramatically.
Keep it simple. I hate cleaning so much I run large batch. 500 minimum.
ETA: YES I HAVE AND KEEP AN ULTRASONIC AROUND BUT THAT SUCKS ALSO
Yes I even tumble plasma cut parts in cement mixer and have thought of trying it. Cleaning just sucks.
Currently tumbling equipment
FA wet with pins
Ultravibe 45
Midsized Lyman
Ss pins get shit clean. Appropriate and easy for range pick up but sicks worrying about pins
Wet no pins does a good job but I hate water
Dry media takes longer but in the end no drying I just hate shaking out cases
Rice and other ideas I tried they suck too.
Volume, frequency, time availability, where you will clean, brass source, will affect your method also.
So they all suck it just depends on preference and what you are doing. I can say this pick a method and use it. Don't chase methods. I tried a bunch but I knew it was testing to see what I wanted to do. Too many people change methods and it can impact your results dramatically.
Keep it simple. I hate cleaning so much I run large batch. 500 minimum.
ETA: YES I HAVE AND KEEP AN ULTRASONIC AROUND BUT THAT SUCKS ALSO
I switched to set tumbling a few years ago and couldn’t be happier. I use the Frankfort arsenal wet tumbler. 30-45 minutes in there with the steel pins, a little dish soap and some lemmishine and the brass looks brand new. I’ve never had any issues with case mouths getting dinged up. I anneal them first, then FL resize. Then wet tumble, then trim/chamfer and lastly I run over a neck mandrel.
Primer pockets are totally cleaned as well.
One issue I have heard is that searing your billets will be a little different because with media tumbling there is still media residue inside the case mouth which helps with billet seating and with the wet tumbler the inside is squeaky clean. But I use a little graphite dry lube when I put them over the mandrel and leave it there and works great.
Primer pockets are totally cleaned as well.
One issue I have heard is that searing your billets will be a little different because with media tumbling there is still media residue inside the case mouth which helps with billet seating and with the wet tumbler the inside is squeaky clean. But I use a little graphite dry lube when I put them over the mandrel and leave it there and works great.
I have cleaned brass every way there is, Uber clean brass is not as accurate due the the carbon being removed from the neck, once a primer pocket is uniformed cleaning it yields no difference on target, dry media tumbling is the least amount of work
Both.
Consistency from loading to loading is the key, and since there’s no way to keep brass the same amount of dirty each time, IMO it’s best to just clean it and start the process with the brass in the exact same state every time.
I first wet tumble with SS pins to clean my brass (but it only takes an hour to clean 100-200rds, no need to go for 3 hours). There’s no reason to use a shitload or all the pins one has like one would if they were tumbling 1000+ cases... a handful is enough and doesn’t beat up the case mouths like you hear guys talking about. Leaves no dust to muck up your sizing die and mandrel.
Get a brass dryer (food dehydrator really), leave your oven for cooking stuff lol, if you decap/deprime before cleaning it'll dry 200 pieces of brass in an hour, if you don't, and decap while sizing it'll take more like two hours to dry (the open flash-hole helps airflow/drying) ...
After sizing, it’s into the dry tumbler with corn cob media for 30-45mins, gets rid of the lube and leaves enough dust inside the necks for seating bullets without needing any other help like graphite or whatever. You just need to find a finish nail you like in order to clear the flash-holes after, because the corn cob likes to stick into 9 out of 10 of them, worst part
...
I could give a shit how shiny it ends up, I just need it to be the same every time.
Consistency from loading to loading is the key, and since there’s no way to keep brass the same amount of dirty each time, IMO it’s best to just clean it and start the process with the brass in the exact same state every time.
I first wet tumble with SS pins to clean my brass (but it only takes an hour to clean 100-200rds, no need to go for 3 hours). There’s no reason to use a shitload or all the pins one has like one would if they were tumbling 1000+ cases... a handful is enough and doesn’t beat up the case mouths like you hear guys talking about. Leaves no dust to muck up your sizing die and mandrel.
Get a brass dryer (food dehydrator really), leave your oven for cooking stuff lol, if you decap/deprime before cleaning it'll dry 200 pieces of brass in an hour, if you don't, and decap while sizing it'll take more like two hours to dry (the open flash-hole helps airflow/drying) ...
After sizing, it’s into the dry tumbler with corn cob media for 30-45mins, gets rid of the lube and leaves enough dust inside the necks for seating bullets without needing any other help like graphite or whatever. You just need to find a finish nail you like in order to clear the flash-holes after, because the corn cob likes to stick into 9 out of 10 of them, worst part
...I could give a shit how shiny it ends up, I just need it to be the same every time.
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I just got into wet tumbling and love it, especially for crummy range pickups, though getting the pins out of 556/223!brass is a pita. I don't really care what my brass looks like, but the dust in dry media is full of toxic shit like lead oxide etc, so instead of breathing that stuff in I choose to pour it down the drain to lower the collective IQ's of the generations to come lol, and be been experimenting with pins vs no pins, dawn vs tide vs dishwasher pods etc, and it's all worked. It does make for inspecting pickups a lot easier, and as others have said if it's shtf ammo I want it clean as can be.
I'll make it short;
If you have a place where you can let a vibratory tumbler sit for a longer length of time, it doesn't matter. I use a wet tumbler because the noise and realistically only wet tumble for 15 minutes max.
I just don't want to have to clean dirt and grit out of my dies.
If you have a place where you can let a vibratory tumbler sit for a longer length of time, it doesn't matter. I use a wet tumbler because the noise and realistically only wet tumble for 15 minutes max.
I just don't want to have to clean dirt and grit out of my dies.
Do any wet of you guys that wet tumble just leave the brass out to air dry? Every time I consider going to wet tumbling, it just seems like more work than dry media. Granted, I don't care how shiny my brass is, and I do believe carbon on the necks is a benefit for seating.
My process is below I wet tumble, not saying it is the only way I just did not want to deal with the dust and punching media out of flash holes
Brass in Wet tumbler not decapped for 1 hour
Dry in Oven at 170 for an hour on a cookie sheet
Anneal and Size
Brass in Wet tumbler for 30 minutes to get lube off
Dry in Oven at 170 for an hour on a cookie sheet
Mandrel
Chamfer, Trim, Debur on a Giraud
Prime
Load
I use SS pins, Dawn Soap, and Lemishine in the tumbler
Brass in Wet tumbler not decapped for 1 hour
Dry in Oven at 170 for an hour on a cookie sheet
Anneal and Size
Brass in Wet tumbler for 30 minutes to get lube off
Dry in Oven at 170 for an hour on a cookie sheet
Mandrel
Chamfer, Trim, Debur on a Giraud
Prime
Load
I use SS pins, Dawn Soap, and Lemishine in the tumbler
Stick them in the oven at 170 they dry pretty quick and there is plenty of carbon left in the necks for easy seating.
I dry tumble with walnut and a anti-static dryer sheet cut into thirds to clean. If I want them shiny I will follow with corn cob and a 1/2 cap of Nu-finish car polish. The Dillon polish is also fine but Nu-finish is cheaper and seems to work just as well.
For my semi auto that is shot supressed I wet tumble for about 30 minutes, then just air dry on a towel over night.
Would like to get a vibrator and do my bolt action brass in rice.
Would like to get a vibrator and do my bolt action brass in rice.
Wet tumbling is more trouble than dry tumbling. I bought a $30 food dehydrator that does a pretty good job of drying brass. I used to use my oven but that never got the brass completely dry no mater how long I left it in. I went back to dry tumbling for precision rifle brass. I still wet tumble pistol and bulk 223/308.
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