Which wet tumbler?

[cbrconst]

9 hours ago, Glock021 said:

Separating and handling the pins is the biggest pain for me.  So is drying.

The pistol brass that I wet tumble ends up too clean (if that makes sense).  It sticks to the powder funnel and makes for a rough upstroke when loading on a 550.

I end up tumbling in walnut (with polish added) anyway. 

Used to run through corn cob with polish added after wet tubling.  Stopped.  Hornady One Shot is all it takes.  Designate a plastic coffee can. Dump 100ish in, spray, swirl, spray, let dry.

[Tino2212]

9 hours ago, Edge40 said:

 

 

11 hours ago, Bkreutz said:

3 hours in walnut and polish is 3x longer than I spend wet tumbling. It takes me an hour to clean 2000 pistol cases, from the time I throw them in the cement mixer, until I spread them out on a towel to dry. (I'm not counting the drying time) 2-3 days later the brass is ready to use. I wet tumble to save time 

How is 2-3 days before the brass is ready to use ( dry ) saving time against 3 hours in a dry tumbler and ready to use ?

[metalicat30]

1 hour ago, Tino2212 said:

 

How is 2-3 days before the brass is ready to use ( dry ) saving time against 3 hours in a dry tumbler and ready to use ?

Wow ! I run 20-25 mins in the wet with pins,then 20 min in 200 degree oven and i am ready to load. No 3 hours in dusty dry media ! To each his own. 

[Bkreutz]

2 hours ago, Tino2212 said:

 

How is 2-3 days before the brass is ready to use ( dry ) saving time against 3 hours in a dry tumbler and ready to use ?

I guess you have a point if you stood there watching it dry. Or do you have so few brass that you couldn't wait for them to dry?

Just noticed your location, I can see it if space to spread out the brass to dry is an issue.

Edited September 13, 2016 by Bkreutz

[Tino2212]

I does not matter to me how long the brass is in the dry thumbler eighter ( i don't stand there waiting for it to be clean ) normaly i put it in the thumbler before i go to sleep .

And then it's clean in the morning .

But You state the reason  for you to wet thumble is TIME SAVING so i state that 3 hours is shorter than 2 -3 days before it is ready to reload .

Edited September 13, 2016 by Tino2212

[warpspeed]

The only time I wet tumble is to make sure he primer pockets are clean. 

 

There is no way I'm going to decap 1000's of pistol cases before cleaning them. 

[Boxerglocker]

Get The Franklin Arsenal if you want to wet tumble. I had a Thumbler, it works but hold much less and is a PITA to use in comparison to the FA which I switched to. I usually do all my brass cleaning in the summer months when the sun is out. I deprime my rifle brass only, 9mm I don't bother. I do several lots over a week when I know the weather will be consistently warm and sunny. I leave the brass on a old beach towel on the ground in the yard and walk away getting a few thousand cases of each done at a time, mainly concentrate on getting the rifle done so I can process it all over the winter.
I don't know why people complain about separating pins, it takes very minimal effort using a media separator. I don't even have to touch the brass.

[Glock021]

I picked up a cheap food dehydrator from Harbor Freight.  It works great for drying brass even though it is another step in the process.  HF regularly has 20% off coupons.  There aren't many things at HF that are actually useful for any length of time, this has been one.

 

[Bkreutz]

4 hours ago, Tino2212 said:

I does not matter to me how long the brass is in the dry thumbler eighter ( i don't stand there waiting for it to be clean ) normaly i put it in the thumbler before i go to sleep .

And then it's clean in the morning .

But You state the reason  for you to wet thumble is TIME SAVING so i state that 3 hours is shorter than 2 -3 days before it is ready to reload .

We're looking at this from 2 different directions. To me, time saving is how much time I have to deal with the brass, lying on a towel drying doesn't involve my time, but then listening to it vibrate in the tumbler doesn't either. Maybe this is a draw? Considering the volume that I clean per load (2000-2500), I only clean a load every 3 weeks or so, I have around 6k pieces of brass in the reloading cycle. I add to this to replenish lost brass matches. Maybe one should figure out the time per case to clean (no wait, that would involve math, I don't do math)  Whatever works, I was just commenting about how everyone says the wet tumbling takes longer.

[Tino2212]

 

i work in batches of 1000 rounds so for now my dry one suits me , if i would have to clean 2000/2500 at a time maybe i would go wet to .

And yes i think we have a draw ?

[Edge40]

Looks like the FART is a really good option.  Think I'm going to spring and get one.  At the end of the day its really not that big of an expense compared to the rest of the reloading process and you end up with brass that looks cleaner than factory.  Thanks for all the info!

[mikeinctown]

I got a frankford wet tumbler. It's louder than I would like, but you don't even need the pins to get them fairly clean. Wet tumble then let dry and you can decap all you want. if you want them perfect the tumble again with the pins after decapping.

 

I can't remember the name of the guy/company but he came up with a small motor on a welded stand that turned rollers and he built tumblers out of 6 and 8" PVC. One of his rigs goes for like $400, but its sweet and you don't have a bunch of loud gears like the frankford deal. Takes less space than the cement mixer too. I would have gone dry tumbling, but I didn't want to keep buying media, and I didn't want to deal with any of the dust.

[thejez]

I just picked up the Frankford Arsenal tumbler from Amazon. Has everything you need to clean the brass. I did 2 runs so far, one with their packet of cleaning solution and one with dawn and lemi shine. The dawn + lemi made the brass look better.

[hceuterpe]

I too picked up the FART, about 2 weeks ago.  Works quite well.  Cleaned about 6000 cases so far with it.

 

Tip: Don't mix cases sizes in a batch!

[muncie21]

I tested my Frankford Arsenal tumbler I received from Grafs today and was pleasantly surprised! 

Loaded about 1200 pieces (going to weigh them after they dry, to get a better estimate) of 9mm decapped brass in it along with some Dawn and 1.75 shells of .Lemi-shine in 45 ACP.  Ran it for about 90 minutes (without the pins) and the brass came out pretty nice and shiny.  Simply drained the scummy water, rinsed a few times and then used the included sifter/grate to dump the brass on a towel to dry.  Total time I actually put hands on this process was < 5 minutes to include loading, rinsing and dumping the brass.

Best of all, now powder, dust or residue in my reloading room!

P.S. I realize the pins would have cleaned 'better' (especially the inside of the cases and primer pockets, I can still see some S&B green sealer on one of the cases) however this is more than adequate and satisfies my need for ammo bling.

 

[blaster113]

I'm using a Frankford Arsenal (FART hehe) wet tumbler with the pins that came with the tumbler.  It only takes an hour or less to get the brass spotless.  Using Dawn and Lemishine.

I've found that tumbling the brass for an hour or less prevents the copper coloring on the brass.  Longer cases like 10mm/.38SC takes a little longer than an hour to get the insides clean.

Constantly buying dry media was a pain (live in Hawaii, none of that shit around here.  have to order). 

 

[Gooldylocks]

 

i work in batches of 1000 rounds so for now my dry one suits me , if i would have to clean 2000/2500 at a time maybe i would go wet to .

And yes i think we have a draw ?

I don't consider drying time in my time calculations, but I do about 6-7000 at a time in the cement mixer, so.....

[Peplow530]

This is a link to the Rebel 17, this is the one I use. It is basically a bigger beefed up thumbler tumbler. I clean about 500-600 pieces of 9mm per a run. I have clened tens of thousands of pieces of brass without a hitch, and it still looks new.

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

If money is not an issue and you really want a roided out version of this tumbler her is a link to its big brother, the 40 lbs tumbler. I'd imagine you could run 2500-3000 pieces of 9mm in this thing. I'll own it one of these days.

http://www.stainlesstumblingmedia.com/reloading-products/package-kits/stm-40-tumbler.html

 

 

[orenp]

This is a link to the Rebel 17, this is the one I use. It is basically a bigger beefed up thumbler tumbler. I clean about 500-600 pieces of 9mm per a run. I have clened tens of thousands of pieces of brass without a hitch, and it still looks new.

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

If money is not an issue and you really want a roided out version of this tumbler her is a link to its big brother, the 40 lbs tumbler. I'd imagine you could run 2500-3000 pieces of 9mm in this thing. I'll own it one of these days.

http://www.stainlesstumblingmedia.com/reloading-products/package-kits/stm-40-tumbler.html

 

 

Agree with you. I also have a Rebel 17. Cleaning is great and separation is quick and easy. I dry in the oven. Put the clean brass in an old foil turkey pan, set the oven at 220. Run for 20 minutes and then shut it off. Go back in an hour or so and they're cool and dry. The separator helps a lot because it shakes most of the water out with the pins.

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[Rob5r]

There is a huge thread on ar15.com about building your own wet tumbler.  I didn't follow the thread, but built my own from an old tread mill.  Built a cylinder out of 8" PVC @ 15" long.   It's too big.  Great for doing a lot (Like 3k+ 9mm cases), but the cylinder weighs over 100 pounds.  Handling it is a pain.  Also built my own dryer using a small forced air heater in the side of a 5 gal bucket.  Then I suspended some wire mesh above the heater.  I sort half my load and place it in the heater.  By the time I sort the second half of the load, the first half is dry.  So about 2:15 min to do more than 3k 9mm cases.  A few weeks ago, I knocked out two 5 gallon buckets full (about 16k) of 9mm cases in a day.  I was beat! 

 

Or if you want to buy a big wet tumbler, look at bigdawg tumblers.  http://www.biggdawgtumblers.net/

This guy is awesome!  He will answer questions about building your own, the right ratio of pins to brass, or any other wet tumbling question.  Or he'll sell you a really high quality wet tumbler built to your specifications.  

[Tigereye]

The only lemishine that I can find is detergent booster granulated.  Is that the right stuff for wet tumbling with Dawn?

thanks

[slimm609]

6 minutes ago, Tigereye said:

The only lemishine that I can find is detergent booster granulated.  Is that the right stuff for wet tumbling with Dawn?

thanks

that is the lemishine that you should be using, they do sell it at stores like walmart, etc    https://www.amazon.com/Lemi-Shine-Hard-Water-Expert/dp/B0071OUD82/ref=sr_1_2_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1491402358&sr=8-2&keywords=lemi+shine
 

[biglou13]

i've only seen one kind of  lemishine.....   check package the active ingredient is citric acid.  so im inclined to say yes.   

 

if you can find citric acid you can use that.

[slimm609]

if you need a large quantity you can normally get ascorbic acid from almost any pool store.  

[Tigereye]

9 minutes ago, slimm609 said:

that is the lemishine that you should be using, they do sell it at stores like walmart, etc    https://www.amazon.com/Lemi-Shine-Hard-Water-Expert/dp/B0071OUD82/ref=sr_1_2_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1491402358&sr=8-2&keywords=lemi+shine
 

That's what I got at Lowes.