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Wet Tumbling Without Pins


jschweg

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I absolutely hate brass prep, and am looking to make this part of the process less painful.

 

I also really like wet tumbling because of the dust control and how nice the cases come out afterwards.

 

The problem is separating the pins and needing to deprime before the cases can be thrown in.

 

It seems that a lot of people wet tumble without the pins and get very good results. Do the primer pockets stay clean enough for multiple reloadings?

 

If you aren't using pins, is it a horrible idea to tumble them without depriming first? Seems like that might trap a bunch of moisture but that's why I'm asking.

 

I love wet tumbling, but I'm really starting to miss the simplicity of my old dry tumbler where I could just throw them in and turn it on.

 

 

 

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I wet tumbled for quite a while but went back to conventional style. I tumbled without pins for a bit but it wasn't as good as having the pins. I never deprimed before tumbling. I had no issues ever with primer pockets being too dirty or anything so while they were not pretty and shiny they work all the same. If you do tumble and then deprime after, you do need to let them dry completely as there will be water moisture left over. I can make my dry tumbling almost as shiny as wet tumbling (minus the inside and pocket) with half the effort.

Once I realized that having the shiniest ammo got me no more respect or made me a better shooter then I stopped caring so much.

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I have done both with and without pins.  I only de-prime my rifle loads because 90% of my brass is lost during matches.  The majority of the brass I pick up is not mine.  I usually only use the wet tumbler for brass that is muddy or extremely dirty.  As Jmoreno88 stated, shiny brass didn't make me shoot better.  I'm better off utilizing the time dry firing.

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1 hour ago, 858 said:

I wet tumble pistol cases without pins. It is faster than dry media tumbling and I use a wash/wax combo that makes the press run smoother without lube.

I need to try that.  What wash/wax combo are you running?  I would save a step not having to lube my cases before loading.

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6 minutes ago, stick said:

I need to try that.  What wash/wax combo are you running?  I would save a step not having to lube my cases before loading.

 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001GJ9K8C/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

I also use 1tsp of Lemishine. Total runtime of 1.5 hours in the tumbler and 30 minutes in the oven at 175 degrees (with the door open) to dry the brass. It took three hours and brass polish in the dry media to get the same results (plus all the dust and crap).

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1 minute ago, 858 said:

 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001GJ9K8C/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

I also use 1tsp of Lemishine. Total runtime of 1.5 hours in the tumbler and 30 minutes in the oven at 175 degrees (with the door open) to dry the brass. It took three hours and brass polish in the dry media to get the same results (plus all the dust and crap).

Thanks!  I have some of that in the shed.  I need to try it.

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I haven't touched my pins in over a year. I process all my pistol brass through my 1050 dirty. I shake all the dirt I can out of it using the brass separator trays (which I do outside and with a mask on as there is dust). Then to the reloading room, lube it, decap, swage and size. Once that's done it's into the FART with a 1/4 teaspoon of Lemishine, 1 tablespoon of laundry detergent, and the hottest water I can get out of my tank. Making sure there is a couple inches of space from the brass to the bottom of the neck of the FART and also maybe an inch of air from the water to the bottom of the neck. This gives the brass lots of room to agitate. My brass comes out looking better than new. Sure not every primer pocket is polished, but the rest of the case is. I use laundry detergent as it is easier to rinse off than dish detergent and foams up less. 

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Thanks for all the replies guys. I think I may either go back to dry tumbling, or also toying with the idea of just buying cleaned once fired brass and leaving it on the range. Once fired brass for 9mm is so damn cheap it'll bearly even hurt my bottom line.

 

I love the whole wet tumbling thing, just can't stand the process involved.

 

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Just started wet tumbling without pins. 1 hour with hot water and a cap full of ArmorAll Wash & Wax. Then into a dehydrator for 1 hour on ~145*. Basically cycle brass through the process at 1 hour per batch and once running process ~2,500 pieces of brass per hour.

 

I haven't decapped before wet tumbling since my 650 is always setup to load. I don't have an extra tool head setup nor do I want to mess with it.

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49 minutes ago, jschweg said:

Thanks for all the replies guys. I think I may either go back to dry tumbling, or also toying with the idea of just buying cleaned once fired brass and leaving it on the range. Once fired brass for 9mm is so damn cheap it'll bearly even hurt my bottom line.

 

I love the whole wet tumbling thing, just can't stand the process involved.

 

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How much are you shooting per year? I'm averaging 12,000 and paying almost $40/1k for fully processed which is a lot of money to be left on the ground.

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I really don't see the benefit of pins with pistol brass. most of my primer pockets are spotless, without pins, and I don't need to worry about them being stuck in the flash hole. the great thing about processing before washing is that I don't really need to worry about drying case if I don't want to. 

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yeah the extra pulling used to be a drag, but, knowing the brass was prepped and no debris etc makes the loading session much much better in my opinion. I've got a Revolution coming to replace the 1050 on the bench, so the 1050 will become the garage press, processing brass as soon as I come home from the range. 

 

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I think I'm just going to try this. If you aren't having any problems leaving the primers in, I'm there.

Do the insides of the cases get clean enough after multiple reloadings to not be rough on the dies?

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I'll add my comment to this thread. I've been using pins for quite a while, separating them in a media separator. After reading (here) about wet tumbling without pins I tried it about a year ago. I've never pulled primers on 9mm so that's the way I did them. They came out great, I tumble about 2500 cases at a time in a cement mixer, rinse the brass, and then put them on a table with towels. I roll the brass around in the towels and then let them air dry for a week or so. (I have a heated shop) After they've dried I lube them with Dillon case lube then let them dry on the towel for another few days. Then they go into the brass bucket next to the press. I've never had a problem leaving the primers in. And not using pins removed one step from the process.

IMG_20131122_094748_172 (Small).jpg

brass clean 10.JPG

brass clean 11.JPG

brass clean 12.JPG

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Another no-pin-wet-tumbler here!

 

Deprime (only because I'm a touch OCD and don't want the primer/powder residue all over my press)

Wet tumble with a touch of lemishine for 1-1.5 h

Rinse w/hot water

Add synthetic car wax (petro based wax can turn to sludge) and tumble for ~15-30 min

Air dry for 1-3 days

 

I mainly do this during the cold season when I'm not shooting as much.  I have a pretty good stash going into the spring/summer competition season.

 

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I always find it amazing to see all the different ways people do their washes, with pins, without, hot water, cold, air dry, dehumidifier, oven, and all the detergents and additives used. I try to find the absolute minimalist way to do it, and must have perfect water for doing that I guess. 

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I found that Hot water actually made them dull for me and using too much dawn or Lemishine causes problems also.

A level teaspoon of dawn or equivalent squirt and 3/4 teaspoon of lemishine per gallon gets mine like new, tumbling for 1 hour.

If the foam fills the container - you have used too much dawn.

I use the pins, but have a good magnetic separating system.

I also made a nice sorter to stand them all in trays then blow each out with a compressor then let them stand overnight on the bench.

The wife just showed me that we have one of those clothes dryer tray inserts for drying your shoes - Think I'll run some brass today and givve that a try too.  :lol:

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I use laundry detergent, less foam, less rinsing, 1/4 teaspoon of Lemishine, and super hot water. Looks like gold coming out of the tumbler. Usually an hour, but I've seen good results with indoor sourced brass in 1/2 an hour too. 

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