My wet tumbling has evolved over the last few years as I became lazier and have so much brass to process...
The first thing to go was to stop de-capping before washing. Who cares about nice shiny primer pockets, right???
Now for the heck of it, I decided to try wet tumbling WITHOUT the SS pins. I have read other posts of folks doing this, but I never wanted to try it since I at *LEAST* want the inside of the cases clean, even if the primer pockets are dirty, right???
Well...
I had about 10-12 loads of pistol brass waiting to be cleaned, and the hardest part about wet tumbling for me is separating out the pins at the end. I decided to be lazy and try a couple of loads without pins and compare the results.
Just as I suspected! The outside of the cases are nice and shiny (the brass-on-brass peening will shine up the outside), and the inside of the cases are "cleaner", but still somewhat black.
Some folks like clean insides so they can see the powder level in the cases, but with the overhead light in my press, I can still see inside just fine.
It is SO MUCH easier to clean after a run. I just basically pour the brass into a colander after the run, and rinse well. Done. Wow. That was easy!!!
I think I have decided for bulk pistol cases, this is fine. I process and load about 16,000 - 20,000 pistol cases a year, and this definitely speeds up the process.
For more precision loads (rifle), I will continue to decap and will continue to use pins, but for the bulk loads of pistol brass, I think I can live with the dirty case interiors. At least for a while...
Obviously, YMMV.
The first thing to go was to stop de-capping before washing. Who cares about nice shiny primer pockets, right???
Now for the heck of it, I decided to try wet tumbling WITHOUT the SS pins. I have read other posts of folks doing this, but I never wanted to try it since I at *LEAST* want the inside of the cases clean, even if the primer pockets are dirty, right???
Well...
I had about 10-12 loads of pistol brass waiting to be cleaned, and the hardest part about wet tumbling for me is separating out the pins at the end. I decided to be lazy and try a couple of loads without pins and compare the results.
Just as I suspected! The outside of the cases are nice and shiny (the brass-on-brass peening will shine up the outside), and the inside of the cases are "cleaner", but still somewhat black.
Some folks like clean insides so they can see the powder level in the cases, but with the overhead light in my press, I can still see inside just fine.
It is SO MUCH easier to clean after a run. I just basically pour the brass into a colander after the run, and rinse well. Done. Wow. That was easy!!!
I think I have decided for bulk pistol cases, this is fine. I process and load about 16,000 - 20,000 pistol cases a year, and this definitely speeds up the process.
For more precision loads (rifle), I will continue to decap and will continue to use pins, but for the bulk loads of pistol brass, I think I can live with the dirty case interiors. At least for a while...
Obviously, YMMV.