Wet tumbling sans SS pins, with near SS pins results!

[dwhite]

I just wanted to post a big thank you for this thread!

Based on the info here, I just finished my first batch of 38/357 brass and they came out awesome -- looks like new brass.

I'm using the FART and kinda struggled to find a starting formula for the chemicals. So, in order to help others, here's what worked for me (admittedly it's only my first batch):
1 teaspoon of citric acid
1 Tablespoon of ArmorAll

Thanks again for the detailed info.

[Malamute]

I just saw a pic elsewhere about drying brass and realized I have some high volume solar drying racks in the basement. I always thought they were window screens!

[mtnbkr]

Thread necro...

With the death of my vibratory tumbler this Summer, I repurposed my kids' neglected Lortone rock tumbler. I don't use steel pins, but just fill the tumbler with brass, dump in some Lemishine, and a splash of detergent (laundry because it's handy). I run it for an hour or 4 (depending on when I remember to stop it), dump the liquid, rinse a few times, shake brass in a sieve to remove excess water, and spread out on my "outdoor work bench" to dry in the sun. Brass ends up looking better than it ever did with the dry tumbler and is less of a PITA to deal with. My little tumbler can hold roughly 130 223 cases or 80 308. It holds a bunch of 44mag, 38special, etc, but I haven't counted. I can typically get a range trip's worth of brass cleaned in a couple cycles.

Chris

[punkey71]

Try GuanoLoco's suggestion of a quick hot-water-only pre rinse.

Doing so for 5 minutes let me do a 1 hour clean with soap with very acceptable results.

A quick 5 minutes with just hot water gets all the loose stuff off and let's the degreasing Dawn suds work better, in my experience.


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[Mark D]

Bumping an old thread because it deserves it.

I recently tried dry tumbling 9mm brass using my buddy's Hornady vibratory tumbler. It was giant pain in the a**.

This thread inspired me to buy a Harbor Freight dual drum tumbler on Black Friday. $60 shipped to my doorstep. I've since cleaned 1500-2000 9mm cases using LL's method, and it is sweet. Minimal effort, no dust, and shiny clean brass.

I don't have Armor All so I substitute some McGuire's auto wash and wax. Seems to work fine.

[richiecotite]

I’ve had my wet tumbler for a few months now. The hornady dry tumbler I had died ( not its fault, I left it outside on the deck for a few months to do my tumbling due to dry media all over the damn place in my workroom)

I’ve found for pistol Lebowskis method works pretty well. I tried it with .308 brass with the spent primer removed, and just could not get the pockets clean enough to my liking. I just started reloading rifle, and I don’t know if primer pocket cleanliness affects accuracy, but I see enough people talk about clean primer pockets I just decided it’s worth the extra steps. I also only have probably 200 cases, so not high volume at all.

To others using the @LittleLebowski method, are you doing this with rifle brass? If so, are the primer pockets an issue?

I also tried the mini toaster oven method and found 30 minutes at 150 degrees gets em pretty dry. I just lay em out on a towel and turn my 17 year old box fan on overnight.


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[Malamute]

...I tried it with .308 brass with the spent primer removed, and just could not get the pockets clean enough to my liking. I just started reloading rifle, and I don’t know if primer pocket cleanliness affects accuracy, but I see enough people talk about clean primer pockets I just decided it’s worth the extra steps...

I use the cheap little Lee primer pocket cleaner, even when not cleaning brass otherwise. Theres other tools, some are a small stiff brush on a handle. Lyman and RCBS make some variation of primer pocket cleaning tools. I think it took maybe 3-4 seconds per round when sitting on the porch step with the brass in baskets for easy handling.

[Hambo]

If I could get away with it I'd run cloth bags of brass through the washer and then dry in the oven.

[Gio]

Necroing this one again because I'm about to convert from dry to wet tumbling...

What is the best for laying the brass out to dry?

I'm considering spreading them out on some old rag towels and letting them air dry on the drive way, but I'm open to suggestions.

[Alpha Sierra]

I tried it with .308 brass with the spent primer removed, and just could not get the pockets clean enough to my liking. I just started reloading rifle, and I don’t know if primer pocket cleanliness affects accuracy, but I see enough people talk about clean primer pockets I just decided it’s worth the extra steps.

I'm a very experience precision (NRA highpower/NRA prone/PRS) rifle reloader and I can tell you for a fact that primer pocket cleanliness is extremely overblown. I don't worry about it and suggest you don't either.

I don't know what the "Lebowski" method is.

Here's what I do (rifle or pistol):

1. Fill tumbler with cases
2. Add dish soap and lemishine, amount not critical
3. Run tap till water is scalding hot
4. Fill tumbler drum till water is over the top of the cases
5. Put drum in tumbler and let it run while I do other things (usually 1 - 2 hrs)
6. Drain out dirty water with cases still in drum
7. Fill and drain the drum (with cases) a couple of times with tap water
8. Empty drum into media separator and tumble cases a few spins to drain out water
9. Line toaster oven bake tray with aluminum foil and spread cases out on it
10. Bake at 240 F for 30 min
11. Lay out to cool

Cases are spotlessly clean outside and relatively clean inside. Note: I don't care about cleaning the inside of them either. Then I deprime and move on with the rest of the process

Oh yeah, no SS pins/media involved. Completely unnecessary if all you want are clean cases. I don't care about shiny cases, only clean ones.

I'll repeat the tumble and dry cycle with rifle cases after resizing to remove the die lube. I use carbide dies for handgun cartridges so lube is not used.