slavex Posted September 26, 2015 Share Posted September 26, 2015 (edited) so in the many many threads I've seen on here I've seen many different recipes for wet tumbling. I'd like to start a thread where we focus on that and give reasons for our choices, if anyone else is interested in participating, that would be nice lol. Tumbler- Frankford Arsenal Wet Tumbler Soap- Tide laundry detergent 1/2 to 1 tablespoon Other stuff - 1/4 teaspoon of LemiShine powder or Jet Dry liquid Water - as hot as my tank will make it 5lbs of FA SS pins about 5lbs of water 20 pounds of brass (around 1500 or so I think) I use the laundry detergent because it foams up less and that makes rinsing faster for me. I used Jet Dry before I got Lemishine and found that it worked just as well, but is more expensive. I typically run my tumbler for around 45 minutes and then spend maybe 10 minutes rinsing and shaking in a towel before throwing the brass into the oven to dry (or in front of the fireplace with a fan if it's on). Brass comes out looking better than new Edited September 27, 2015 by slavex Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sschultz Posted September 26, 2015 Share Posted September 26, 2015 I use Dawn LemiShine and the hard water from the city water supply. I run from 1 to 3 hours. 7 pounds of pin and about 6 pounds of brass. Rinse alot tumble in a towel put on a screen and put in the sun in the summer or the oven in the winter ( put the brass in the oven turn it on to 170 when the pre heat dings I turn it off and let the brass set for an hour or two). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
armydad Posted September 26, 2015 Share Posted September 26, 2015 I use Dawn and hot tap water only. I have a water softener. I've run them between 1 & 3 hours and haven't noticed an appreciable difference in cleanliness. Brass that has standard tarnish comes out super bright. Heavily tarnished brass is clean, but remains tarnished. I rinse with hot water; pour casings onto a towel and dry the exteriors; then place them in the sun for an hour or so depending on the weather. I'm in SoCal, so drying issues rarely occur. I tumble in walnut, then decap before wet tumbling - I'm somewhat OCD... This has been talked about in a similar thread and someone was using Armor All (Wash and Wax I believe). I haven't tried it, or Lemishine, but will probably give it a shot to see how it compares to my current process, which is cheap and easy and cleans the brass plenty good enough for reloading, and likely overkill. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve RA Posted September 26, 2015 Share Posted September 26, 2015 Dawn and hot water, separate in enclosed media separator which also removes most water and keeps from losing pins and shuffle back and forth in towel. This dries them enough that I can just leave them on the towel on the floor for an hour and they are totally dry. Must deprime first for the above to work successfully !!! Usually tumble for 4 hours or so as I've got a homemade tumbler that rotates slower than some others. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glynnm45 Posted September 26, 2015 Share Posted September 26, 2015 Armor All wash and wax for the detergent and Lemishine. Leaves a noticeable wax finish on the brass. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raydee38 Posted September 26, 2015 Share Posted September 26, 2015 When I use my homemade case lube I end up with a film on my brass. I end up having to dump the water and run them again to get them clean. I think I may be using a bit to much case lube but I have never had one get stuck in the die and there are no dents in the cases so I will keep it as is. I use 9lbs of pins with about 500 cases with a pinch of lemishine and a cap full of dawn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anachronism Posted September 28, 2015 Share Posted September 28, 2015 Armor All wash and wax for the detergent and Lemishine. Leaves a noticeable wax finish on the brass. I use the same combination. My Thumlers is only the older 1600 RPM version, so I tumble brass much longer than most do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
igolfat8 Posted October 1, 2015 Share Posted October 1, 2015 LemiShine and Dawn for me as well. I use COLD water and never saw an improvement using hot water. I tumble for 90 minutes and let stand over night then tumble 90 minutes the second day and never have a trace of crud in any nook or cranny. I always decap before tumbling. I use a tumble / crank media separator to separate the pins then dump on a towel to dry over night. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJE Posted October 1, 2015 Share Posted October 1, 2015 (edited) I'm going for simplicity in the process. Latest try: -About 12lbs of .40 brass, NOT deprimed -NO pins -Water to top of the hex in the drum (FA tumbler) -Armor All Wash & Wax -Sprinkle of Lemshine -Air dry for about 36 hours. The picture is two loads. Edited October 1, 2015 by AJE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slavex Posted October 1, 2015 Author Share Posted October 1, 2015 Nice dude Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregJ Posted October 2, 2015 Share Posted October 2, 2015 After a lot of error, this seems to be working so far: Tumbler- Frankford Arsenal Wet TumblerSoap- 1 sec squirt of Dawn, 1 tsp LemiShine, 1 capful of TurtleWax Wash n WaxWater - HOT5lbs of FA SS pinsWater - fill to neck of tumblerBrass - Fill a quart size jar of 45ACP. This puts the weight of the drum right at 29lbs. I run the tumbler for 1.5 hour. Drain dirty water out, run water hose in tumbler to rinse brass and get dirty water out. Dump contents in RCBS media tumbler. Empty brass onto towel, take FA transfer magnet over brass to pick up any loose pins. Roll brass in towel like a bowling ball. Put brass in FA Dehydrator on max temp for 2 hrs. Brass comes out dry and looking like new. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glynnm45 Posted October 2, 2015 Share Posted October 2, 2015 I like your method Greg, but I'll add, since I reform a lot of 223 to 300 Blackout I do use SS pins and eliminate the process of de-burring the cut brass. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FTDMFR Posted October 7, 2015 Share Posted October 7, 2015 (edited) Here's my process: No pins 15# of 9mm brass (around 1800 cases), not deprimed Water to the top of the brass 15 squirts of Dawn 15 9mm cases full of Lemishine Cold water 30 minute tumble Cold water rinse 10 minute soak in a bucket, hot water to the top of the brass, 15 9mm cases of Lemishine (helps keep brass from tarnishing for a long time) Drain (no rinse) and towel dry 1 hour in the food dehydrator I used to do the whole shebang with pins and decapped brass, but I ain't got time for that. Also, having dirty case interiors really does help the brass not stick to the powder die. I used to think it was an old wives' tale, but now I'm a believer. Edited October 7, 2015 by FTDMFR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bfalcon00 Posted October 8, 2015 Share Posted October 8, 2015 15 lbs of ss pins Add brass till 5 gal bucket is half full (my homemade tumbler uses a 5 gal bucket for the bin) 45 case full of lemishine 12 squirts of gain hand soap I then separate with some old mesh trash cans from the dollar store Then brass goes into those mesh bags for delicate laundry and those are placed in cheap cookie pans to collect excess water Turn the bags over a couple times on your way by and you have dry brass in 48 hours probably less really Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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