Adventures in wet tumbling. There's no going back!!!

[Kirk Freeman]

I can't justify $100+ on a jar that spins.

I cannot either. This is why I started wet tumbling by using a spare growler, soap, and pins. I have rhino sit on a stool in the garage and spin the growler.

When I come home after work I have bright shiny brass and all I owe him is a peanut butter sandwich.

 

[padawan]

I cannot either. This is why I started wet tumbling by using a spare growler, soap, and pins. I have rhino sit on a stool in the garage and spin the growler.

When I come home after work I have bright shiny brass and all I owe him is a peanut butter sandwich.

A peanut butter sandwich? I think you're getting ripped off. I though he charged less than that.

 

[Ericpwp]

 

[Ericpwp]

On sale and will hold up to 1,000 .223 brass. I have this tumbler and highly recommend it. Lots of room for a good size batch and it's not too noisy. I run mine in the basement and can hardly hear it at all on the main floor.

5 lbs of stainless pins included

Frankford Arsenal Platinum Series Rotary Case Tumbler 110 Volt

On sale sale

https://www.slickguns.com/product/f...r-kit-13758-after-code-shop15-and-free-return

 

[padawan]

How to get some 9mm range brass sized and deprimed... Pay your kid .01 each. So 2000 rounds = a crisp $20. It 'ain't no cheeseburger' but it works... Take all the dies out of the press and just use the sizer/deprimer and let them roll...

 

[canterbc]

How to get some 9mm range brass sized and deprimed... Pay your kid .01 each. So 2000 rounds = a crisp $20. It 'ain't no cheeseburger' but it works... Take all the dies out of the press and just use the sizer/deprimer and let them roll...

This parenting thing, you've got it figured out.

I got my SS pins in yesterday and re-tumbled some brass that had already been tumbled without the pins. For the people saying you don't need the pins, let me tell you that you do. The water was filthy and the cases were so much cleaner than without the pins to aid in the process.

 

[craigkim]

I LOVE my FA wet tumbler. I used to be funny and not want to size/deprime prior to wet tumbling, because I was worried that the brass would deform or something and cause problems seating the bullet. Now, I get it a little cleaner first by either washing it in the tumbler or vibratory tumbling and then I size/decap. Then into the rotary tumbler with ss pins, dawn, and a very small sprinkle of lemishine. I usually turn the timer to max and go to bed. Wake up the next morning to black water and brass that looks brand new.

Something I was noticing is that I was noticing this week, is that the pins seem to become less aggressive as their edges are rounded. If you look at the new ones they are just a cut up piece of wire with sharp ends. Now that they have tumbled quite a bit, they are more rounded. That is a good thing, because I used ot end up with brass that looked very scratched and scoured. Now, it just seems cleaned and maybe a little burnished.

 

[Ericpwp]

Lee Universal Depriming Decapping Die

I like this guy for depriming dirty brass.

 

[craigkim]

Lee Universal Depriming Decapping Die

I like this guy for depriming dirty brass.

So do I but I keep bending and breaking the damn pins off. It'll only take one case not being fully seated into the shell holder and the pin bends as it hits the bottom of the case off center. Then I have to mess with it trying to bend it back to straight, which rarely works and then it starts punching out my primer holes. Even if I get it back to straight, over time they break from bending too many times. I don't run into that with a sizing die, because if it is off center, the mouth of the die hits the edge of the case instead.

 

[padawan]

This parenting thing, you've got it figured out.

I got my SS pins in yesterday and re-tumbled some brass that had already been tumbled without the pins. For the people saying you don't need the pins, let me tell you that you do. The water was filthy and the cases were so much cleaner than without the pins to aid in the process.

Cash is a good motivator for a 12 year old. Plus- he is getting the feel for the press. We discussed the 'feel' when the case goes into the sizing die and if it stops or feels different, STOP, take a look and probably toss that case.

 

[t-squared]

So do I but I keep bending and breaking the damn pins off. It'll only take one case not being fully seated into the shell holder and the pin bends as it hits the bottom of the case off center. Then I have to mess with it trying to bend it back to straight, which rarely works and then it starts punching out my primer holes. Even if I get it back to straight, over time they break from bending too many times. I don't run into that with a sizing die, because if it is off center, the mouth of the die hits the edge of the case instead.

Try one of these ck...Qty 3 Ball End Decapping Pin Upgrade for Lee 90783 90292 Universal Decap Die | eBay

 

[craigkim]

Try one of these ck...Qty 3 Ball End Decapping Pin Upgrade for Lee 90783 90292 Universal Decap Die | eBay

Good find thanks!

 

[AngryRooster]

Getting ready to give this a try. My Lyman Pro Magnum gave up the ghost this past weekend. Before I jumped all the way in and went for one of the large FA tumblers I wanted to check it out a bit. I picked up one of the dual drum Harbor Freight tumblers this afternoon. Steel pins are on order from Amazon since HF didn't have any. I'm going to hook it up in a few minutes and give some of the dirty brass a run through without the pins just to see how it does, then run them through the deprimer. Once the pins get here on Wednesday I'll run them through again for a comparison.

 

[Ericpwp]

 

[AngryRooster]

I put some 45 & 357 brass in one drum and some 38 brass in the other. Both had a squirt of Dawn, one with hot water, the other with cold. I let it run for a couple of hours then checked it. I couldn't tell a difference between the hot & cold, was just curious if it would matter.

The brass was cleaner and had a bit more shine than the brass that was in the Lyman tumbler with walnut media overnight. I'll put up some comparison pictures tomorrow but so far I'm liking the results. I'm not in a hurry to get a ton of brass done so I'll probably wait until winter and all the sales hit before I upgrade to the FA.

Once I get the steel pins on Thursday I'll do another set of brass and put pictures up of those as well.

 

[padawan]

I have 5# of pins if anyone wants a handful to try just pm me. Don't forget to use some Lemishine. You can get it at Wally/local hardware/?. My thoughts on hot vs. cold was the hot allowed the Dawn and Lemishine to blend easier. I also tried Turtle wax and Brasso.

Ran some 9mm that we de-primmed/sized and the pockets were very clean after tumble-wash-rinse.

Looking forward to your before-after pics and opinion...

 

[AngryRooster]

Here's what I've got so far. The 45acp was wet tumbled with Dawn soap, NO pins, NO lemishine. It was tumbled for 3 hours. It also had some 357 brass in with it, the other drum (done the same way) had 38's in it. None of these were deprimed yet. (Bent pin) The 38 & 357 look the same, I just photographed the 45's because it was easier to see inside.

The 9mm brass was dry tumbled in a Lyman Pro Magnum for 13 hours with walnut media. 1 hour to clean it a bit so I could deprime it. Once deprimed it went back in for the remaining 12 hours.

My depriming pin came today and the stainless tumbling pins will be here tomorrow. When they get here I'll tumble half of the 45's again with Dawn, Lemishine and the SS pins. I'll do comparison pictures again after that.




It was about 6:30 pm and not very sunny out.


45acp - Wet with Dawn, no pins

9mm - Dry tumbled, walnut media

Both

There is only a slight difference with the wet tumbling edging out the dry. I'm sure that gap will widen once the SS pins come into play and they get deprimed.

 

[straight-shooter]

Lemi-shine with the dawn soap will make the big difference although the pins will also help and your brass will be stellar.

 

[gmcttr]

...There is only a slight difference with the wet tumbling edging out the dry. I'm sure that gap will widen once the SS pins come into play and they get deprimed.

Once you run deprimed brass with 5 lbs of pins, it will be completely clean and shiney in 1-2 hours and looking like new.

 

[AngryRooster]

Once you run deprimed brass with 5 lbs of pins, it will be completely clean and shiney in 1-2 hours and looking like new.

I Should have had my pins today. I ordered 4 things from Amazon on Friday morning with Prime shipping. Every single one of them said 'order within the next 6+ hours for guaranteed Tuesday delivery.' Placed order and everything shipped that evening, except the pins which they decided didn't need shipped until Monday.

Truth be told, even if I had the pins today I probably would have done the same experiment just to see the differences. It's more fun that way.



I'm looking forward to seeing how they all turn out. Next I'm going to build a drying rack for them. Probably a shallow flat 2'x2' box with wire screen on the bottom. Add some legs and set it on the side of the barn in the sun. Every couple hours give them a quick roll.

For those that are already using the pins, how bad do they stick to the brass when it's still wet? My normal (and cheap) method of separating the brass from the walnut media is to dump the entire tumbler into a small mesh laundry bag in a 5 gallon bucket. Give the bag a good shake and tumble and it's all done. Will this work with the wet pins (after I drain all the water out) or will they stick too bad?