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Ultimate Wet Tumbler Recipe


louu

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I deprime my rifle brass before I wet tumble, don't do it for my pistol brass.

I just add a long squirt of Dawn and 3 of those little Lee yellow powder scoops of Lemishine. I fill up my Thumbler's with water 1" below the rim. For brass I tumble for 4 hrs, for nickel I tumble for 1 hr. All looks great!

I just let me brass air-dry overnight and it is bone dry - one of the great benefits of living in Albuquerque!

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Ideally, you use Lemishine and some type of soap/wash IMO. The lemishine softens the water and adds some acidity which is good for getting the brass shiny, the soap/wash provides the cleaning (and some protection if there is a wax component) and benefits from the softer water.

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Do you need to use the lemishine and the cascade?

For up to 6 lbs brass in a Thumler B I use a 380 case of Lemishine (reduced from 45-40-9-380) and a 1-2 sec squirt of any dish soap. IMHO neither are optional and Lemishine [citric acid] is cheap (Amazon. Walmart, etc).

More than 2 hours can sometimes lead to a duller finish.

Edited by Beastly
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I've tried all sorts of acidic stuff and have found that you could only leave the brass in it for a certain amount of time and then it would turn various shades of pink.

Now I just use Dawn and hot water. You can let it run any amount of time, let it sit overnight and it won't discolor or affect the brass in any other way. Brass looks just as good, if it is real bad, like over the winter in a field, then just run it for a long time.

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Contact time. If I leave the last batch running overnight I try to get it rinsed and dried quickly in the AM.

I'm not so confident on brass that has sat out too long and turned black/brown - read up on de-zincification.

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Louu, just one question... Read through this and your tumbler build thread, and could probably do the math, but I'm feeling lazy...didn't see what the actual volume of you tumbler is... How many gallons is that whale?

Edited by cswpsi
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Louu, just one question... Read through this and your tumbler build thread, and could probably do the math, but I'm feeling lazy...didn't see what the actual volume of you tumbler is... How many gallons is that whale?

Not really sure. I'm gona do a load tomorrow and I just so happen to have an empty gallon water bottle. I'll measure it tomorrow.

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I wet tumble with the same design but got it off ARFcom. I will have to carwash to help with tarnish After cleaning. Drives me nuts to get it all done then come back later and find it not shiny anymore.

Sent from my VS985 4G using Tapatalk

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Dry it completely (I use a food dehydrator) and hit it with some Hornady one shot. I tried the carwash/wax I had around and found it left a dull deposit on the brass and accumulated on the pins like Lanolin case lube does. Sort-of defeated the attractiveness of having it super shiny in the first place.

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Louu, just one question... Read through this and your tumbler build thread, and could probably do the math, but I'm feeling lazy...didn't see what the actual volume of you tumbler is... How many gallons is that whale?

It's right at 2 gallons empty. I can make you one if you want.

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Louu, just one question... Read through this and your tumbler build thread, and could probably do the math, but I'm feeling lazy...didn't see what the actual volume of you tumbler is... How many gallons is that whale?

It's right at 2 gallons empty. I can make you one if you want.
Louu, Thanks for the offer, but I have a Thumblers. Just trying to tweek your recipe for my size of tumbler. Thanks much, your efforts and reply are appreciated.
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  • 4 months later...

I went into the garage and found a 1/2 gallon or Turtle Wax ZipWax Wash-n-Wax that the prior hemeowner left me.

Waste not want not.

I saw this - Turtle Wax Wash-n-Wax was a bust, coated pins and brass and left dull appearance.

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I just tried pretty much the same thing. I had the tumbler full and ready and I went looking for my Dawn to find out that the wife used it all so I decided to try some car soap. I liked the end result a lot more.

IMG_0868_zpsyjf9fsa2.jpg

IMG_0867_zpszrzbckxw.jpg

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