New to wet tumbling...pins or no pins question?

[nelson1each]

New to wet tumbling...using the frankford arsenal tumble deal I got off midway. Been using their brand of solution with the 5lbs of pins and two empty cases full of lemimshine in hot sink water. I let them sit on a towel in the garage with a fan running for a night to dry. Absolutely love the results...cleaner brass in less time. So now I have bought some brass juice cleaner to give that a try. They advertise no pin cleaning. Before I waste a run with no pins I’m curious to what you guys think of wet tumbling with or without pins? Thanks 

[cvincent]

Brass juice is amazing. I don’t know what it is, but it makes the shiniest brass Ive ever seen.
Pins are dumb.


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[vgdvc]

11 minutes ago, cvincent said:

Brass juice is amazing. I don’t know what it is, but it makes the shiniest brass Ive ever seen.
Pins are dumb.


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I have s Frankfield Arsenal wet tumblr given as a gift. Used it as couple times but drying was a pain. I got a used food dehydrator to try. What is brass shine?  Any other tips for a new user? Thanks

[Furrly]

Works great, go nuts.. 

Edited December 29, 2018 by Furrly

[vgdvc]

My bad, I meant what is "brass shine"....

[vgdvc]

One more time "brass juice"

[cvincent]

I have s Frankfield Arsenal wet tumblr given as a gift. Used it as couple times but drying was a pain. I got a used food dehydrator to try. What is brass shine?  Any other tips for a new user? Thanks

https://www.thereloadingstation.com/products/brass-juice-case-wash

Their brass juice case lubricant is also great.
I like it better than one shot for pistol, for rifle I think I’ll still stick with lanolin based lube.

I just leave the brass outside for days to dry, then stick it in 5 gallon buckets. I’ve got plenty, so it kinda gets rotated. It’s probably months before it gets loaded.


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[vgdvc]

Thanks. In PA winter drying outside isn't really an option unfortunately.

[nelson1each]

Yeah I just leave my brass out to dry for a while too since Im in GA and have enough stock piled. So sounds like the brass juice is legit...must be some toxic stuff in order to clean as good with no pins. Why do I feel like 20 years from now I’m gonna see a tv commercial talking about have you been diagnosed with mesothelioma and ever used brass juice I will be giving it a try as soon as I run out of my frank ford stuff. I did buy their case lube too but waiting till my one shot runs out as well.

[cvincent]

Apparently it’s good for a few washes as well. I’m gonna test that theory this weekend. I need to run 3 maybe 4 tumblers full. Gonna use the same solution and see what happens.


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[Rnlinebacker]

forget the pins

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[Rnlinebacker]

Yeah I just leave my brass out to dry for a while too since Im in GA and have enough stock piled. So sounds like the brass juice is legit...must be some toxic stuff in order to clean as good with no pins. Why do I feel like 20 years from now I’m gonna see a tv commercial talking about have you been diagnosed with mesothelioma and ever used brass juice [emoji23] I will be giving it a try as soon as I run out of my frank ford stuff. I did buy their case lube too but waiting till my one shot runs out as well.

[emoji23][emoji23][emoji23][emoji23][emoji23][emoji23][emoji23]

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[Steve RA]

Out of curiosity, anybody ever use Brass Juice with pins ??

[jkrispies]

So, apologies if this is a stupid question, but I’ve got four vabratory cleaners sitting in my garage but rally only use one, a large Thumler's.  The basins can hold water, so is there any reason I couldn’t use this stuff in a vibratory, say half-filled?  Would there be an issue with the chemicals and plastic basins?  I always assumed that rotaries were used in wet tumbling mainly because of the additional weight that needed to be managed by adding the steel pins... but this doesn't use pins.  Anyway, I sent the manufacturer an email to see what they say.

Edited December 29, 2018 by jkrispies

[Bkreutz]

You need the rotational motion to wet clean, the vibratory cleaners work because the media is abrasive and cleans while vibrating. Using a vibratory cleaner probably wouldn't be any better than just soaking the brass in a bucket with the solution. I quit using pins over a year ago and find that my brass get clean enough in my cement mixer. This way I don't have to separate the pins, just rinse.

[nelson1each]

So I just ran a batch with no pins with the frank ford brand cleaner ( the little pouches you drop in) Cleans the outside well and some cases inside but definitely not worth running without pins cuz the majority of the cases are still dark and crappy inside. Have about a dozen of these left then I will be giving the brass juice a go. Can’t wait to try it but I gotta use these frankford punches up so they don’t go to waste.

[jkrispies]

Wow talk about great customer service!  The Brass Juice folks replied right away (on a Saturday morning, New Years weekend) and asked for my phone number.  We chatted for a few minutes.  

 

He says that I CAN use the Brass Juice in a vibratory machine but I may need to play around with the ratio of water to brass to mixture.  He also recommended running one of my spare vibratories with corn cob media to dry the brass afterwards... but I'd rather get away from that stuff altogether.  To that end, I asked if I could just air dry it, and he said that would be no problem if I left the brass out to dry in the sun but recommended that if I go that I use distilled water to avoid calcium spots drying on the brass.  He also said that I can get 3-4 uses out of each batch, so I'm thinking that I'll get a bottle along with some distilled water (it's not expensive from the grocery store) and will give it a go for the new year. 

[Kenstone]

I've been trying different cleaners that I already have around the house/garage for wet tumbling without pins.

I'm searching for the magical/golden unicorn cleaner that will clean primer pockets without pins.

Some I've tested to date: purple power, TSP, dish washer soap, Shout, Simple Green, liquid Tide, and others...without success 

I have more stuff to try, but I might need to bite the bullet and just buy some Brass Juice.

 

 

Edited December 30, 2018 by Kenstone

[Clint U66]

My experience has been that you can definitely wet tumble without pins but to produce the cleanest and best looking brass you need to use pins.  Not saying you have to BUT there is a difference.

[MemphisMechanic]

59 minutes ago, nelson1each said:

So I just ran a batch with no pins

 

Cleans the outside well

 

 the majority of the cases are still dark and crappy inside..

 

That last scentence is a good thing. Not bad. Use pins to get the inside of the brass spotless... and it sticks on your expander die. Then you’re dealing with more lube application needed to return to your previous consistency.

 

Leave the inside dirty. It acts like a powdered graphite lube and prevents cases sticking.

 

Why would it possibly matter if the inside isn’t shiny? Your ammo is just as accurate.

 

Edited December 29, 2018 by MemphisMechanic

[muncie21]

I use the Frankford rotary tumbler minus the pins.  Cleans the outside well enough for my liking.

 

Squirt of dawn + one .45 ACP case of lemishine for 45-60 min

Rinse and then add synthetic liquid car wax, tumble for 15 min, drain (don't rinse) and spread out on a towel to dry.

 

[nelson1each]

1 hour ago, MemphisMechanic said:

 

That last scentence is a good thing. Not bad. Use pins to get the inside of the brass spotless... and it sticks on your expander die. Then you’re dealing with more lube application needed to return to your previous consistency.

 

Leave the inside dirty. It acts like a powdered graphite lube and prevents cases sticking.

 

Why would it possibly matter if the inside isn’t shiny? Your ammo is just as accurate.

 

For me it’s about two things. I have run and loaded media tumbled brass for years (never cared how clean they were on the inside)  and I would find some that the powder was up higher in the case...I’d dump them out to find crap inside the case...they would shoot but obviously cause a pressure spike issues in an open gun. The second is I sell some brass from time to time when I acquire too much and it seems brass buyers have a hard on for super clean brass and pay a little more when it looks like new. Lastly doing something new like wet tumbling adds to the fun of reloading for me after a decade or more of playing with media tumbling. Anyways yeah I know it doesn’t affect accuracy and I guess it’s just fun to see a pile of brass that looks like gold all layed out.  Havnt noticed any issues with loading using the super clean brass but I use case lube so that probably hides any extra hang up on the dies issues you mentioned. 

[MemphisMechanic]

@nelson1each Ahh.

 

1. Hadn’t considered selling it.

 

2. For me, reloading is a chore. If it’s reliable enough to run at nationals and accurate, I’m good. I’m looking for the minimum amount of time required to load it up and get shooting.

 

3. I walnut tumble for only 30mins then load. You’d hate the way my ammo looks. I’m the opposite of OCD myself.  

Edited December 29, 2018 by MemphisMechanic

[louu]

6 hours ago, Kenstone said:

I've been trying different cleaners that I already have around the house/garage for wet tumbling without pins.

I'm searching for the magical/golden unicorn cleaner that will clean primer pockets without pins.

Some I've tested to date: purple power, TSP, dish washer soap, Shout, Simple Green, liquid Tide, and others...without success 

I have more stuff to try, but I might need to bite the bullet and just buy some Brass Juice.

 

 

 

[louu]

Also can someone let me know if the pictures in that thread still show up in the first post? They were on Photobucket and I don't know if that still works or not