Loading wet cleaned brass

[Alamstutz]

I loaded a batch of new Star Line brass and had trouble with the cases sticking in the flaring die (Dillon 550b) I am wondering if I wet tumble brass with stainless pins if I will have the same problem with brass sticking in the die. When I clean brass in a vibratory cleaner I never have that problem. I'm concerned if I invest in a wet tumbler and media that I will create the same problem I experienced with the new brass. Any experience or suggestions are appreciated. Thanks

 

[Mountbkr]

I'm going to venture a guess and say yes it will. I believe the "wet wash" will remove the little bit of dust that stays on after tumbling that acts like lube when you are resizing. Lets see what the experts have to say?


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[haiedras]

If you're wet tumbling, you'll need to case lube before you load. Doesn't need much, just a couple spritzes of one shot or something similar.

[oteroman]

Wet tumbling cleans the insides enough to cause sticking. Some toss cases into media and run for ten minutes. Nothing is perfect.


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[Steve RA]

Polishing the expander portion of the powder drop generally helps with that problem.  With new brass it's not a bad idea to run in a tumbler for a little while to clean up any little burrs at the mouth of the case.  A little dust also comes with that solution.

[Taroman]

Found the same with my wet tumbled cases.

To minimize the problem I just add a teaspoon of Armor-all Wash & Wax to the water in the separator.

[muncie21]

6 hours ago, Taroman said:

Found the same with my wet tumbled cases.

To minimize the problem I just add a teaspoon of Armor-all Wash & Wax to the water in the separator.

Amen

[zombywoof]

I have the same problem with Starline brass when it's new and wet tumbled. I only have that brass for 38 supercomp. I polished the expander and it still happens. I'll have to try the tumbling trick. Right now I'm dry Tumbling, size, deprime and then wet cleaning. I want the primer pockets cleaned each time for my open gun. Working good so far.

[ShortBus]

Add mothers car wash wax to your water when tumbling. It's cheap, works very very well, and doesn't leave any residue to clean off. The difference is literally night and day. The press will run so much better, not only at the powder drop but also at the resizing station where most of the friction occurs. 

[conditionone]

The popular recipe for wet tumbling is two tablespoons of Armorall  Ultra Shine Wash and Wax and a quarter teaspoon of Lemishine. The brass could not be any cleaner and there is a night and day difference in the way the brass feels as opposed to brass being cleaned with a brass solution. I still use a spritz or two of One Shot which makes a huge difference especially when using an undersize sizing dye.  

[theWacoKid]

Yes. 

 

Use one shot and give it a little time to dry before loading. 

 

I use the wash n wax but found one shot made the biggest difference. 

Edited March 6, 2017 by theWacoKid

[muncie21]

ICE brand synthetic car wax works well too for those that wet tumble.  Just don't get too carried away, as fluffy powders will stick to the inside of the case, making powder measurements (insitu) difficult at best.

[Canine582]

I use Dawn liquid dish washing detergent ( 2 tbsp. )  with Lemi Shine ( 1/4 teaspoon ) for three hrs. 

 

your right, it's too clean, and will stick.  can't be any cleaner though.  I then follow up with 10-20

 

mins. with corn cob and Nu Finish at 50/50 with mineral spirits.  NO STICKING after that.  good luck

[hdultra]

On ‎3‎/‎4‎/‎2017 at 4:46 PM, Taroman said:

Found the same with my wet tumbled cases.

To minimize the problem I just add a teaspoon of Armor-all Wash & Wax to the water in the separator.

I'm about to "splurge" on a wet tumbler and this is very helpful....thanks!

[GregJ]

After wet tumbling for over a year, I am going back to media tumbling. I had a lot of primer pull backs on my 1050 w/AB. Wet tumbling with primers in then drying, glued the primers in causing the pull-backs. If you wet tumble strongly suggest you deprime first. 

[BaggerJoe]

On 3/5/2017 at 8:47 AM, conditionone said:

The popular recipe for wet tumbling is two tablespoons of Armorall  Ultra Shine Wash and Wax and a quarter teaspoon of Lemishine. The brass could not be any cleaner and there is a night and day difference in the way the brass feels as opposed to brass being cleaned with a brass solution. I still use a spritz or two of One Shot which makes a huge difference especially when using an undersize sizing dye.  

I use this exact recipe in my FART. I de-prime the brass before washing and never fill the tumbler full. You need to leave air space for agitation. After experimenting with times, 90 minutes is as good as it will get. I dry the brass in a food dehydrator for 2-3 hours. Before loading, I'll put the brass in a gallon ziplock about a third of the way full and, making sure all the brass is flat (not standing up), I'll give it a few sprays of One Shot, seal and hand tumble. Even with carbide dies, the difference in using One Shot (or some lube), loading is so much smoother. 

[PaladinPrecision]

On 3/4/2017 at 0:29 PM, Alamstutz said:

... trouble with the cases sticking in the flaring die..

 

I have used all the methods for brass cleaning that I know of (sonic, stainless wet tumble, chemical stripping, vib tumble with rice, corn cob, walnut etc). When I switched to stainless and was getting "new" brass every cleaning,  noticed that the primers in my 650 wouldn't seat as easily (required more force and more inconsistent force), also the case flair die would stick way more than ever before. (fyi, I deprime, head stamp sort, wet tumble with dawn and lemishine. I eventually narrowed it down to the stainless tumbling and the brass being stripped of carbon, lube etc in the recesses like case necks and especially primer pockets since we do our best not to get lube anywhere near the primer pocket. 

I eventually went to adding a Polish step with corncob media, dillon polish and nufinish car cleaner to act as a corrosion preventative compound  (aviation nonsense) that happens to add a bit of lubricity. It's a pain in the ass when you do spring brass cleaning in the 20k+ range in a week. But it really depends on the volume of your tumbler. With my Dillon huge tumbler my monthly brass can easily be cleaned in that without wet tumbling and it's far easier to get brass acceptably clean for rolling my own reloads for practice.