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Got to use my new wet tumbler yesterday.

TNGunsmoke

TNGunsmoke

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Ran 100 308 cases through it to load up some new deer rounds because I only have 3 left. Water and lemishine to polish it. Had to wipe the grime off all the cases after I pulled them out. Did I miss something, or is this normal for a wet tumbler. I got the smaller FA rotary tumbler, and it is the first time I've used it. Brass looks good after I wiped em all down though. Letting them air dry now to get any remaining water out of the insides before I prime. Good way to kill most of a semi rainy Sunday afternoon.
 
TNGunsmoke said:
Ran 100 308 cases through it to load up some new deer rounds because I only have 3 left. Water and lemishine to polish it. Had to wipe the grime off all the cases after I pulled them out. Did I miss something, or is this normal for a wet tumbler. I got the smaller FA rotary tumbler, and it is the first time I've used it. Brass looks good after I wiped em all down though. Letting them air dry now to get any remaining water out of the insides before I prime. Good way to kill most of a semi rainy Sunday afternoon.
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Soap, dawn is best. Run another batch, or the same one using warm water, lemishine and dawn. Also, you didn't mention steel pins, or chips, they help scrub the cases and reduce the time in the tumbler.

Edit: Some use carwash soap with a bit of wax, say it helps the cases remain untarnished longer, I have yet to see the difference, but both soaps work.
 
Omega said:
Soap, dawn is best. Run another batch, or the same one using warm water, lemishine and dawn. Also, you didn't mention steel pins, or chips, they help scrub the cases and reduce the time in the tumbler.
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Steel pins. I'll try adding a couple drops of dawn next time.
 
TNGunsmoke said:
Steel pins. I'll try adding a couple drops of dawn next time.
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I use a spoonful, with 1/4 tsp of lemishine, seems to work fine with mine.
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Hmmm. I have had this problem.
1. Do not tumble nickle with brass
2. Decap before tumble.
3. I use purple power cleaner to remove all lubricant--say a cap full for around 400 223 brass rounds. double for 900 9mm rounds.
4. I do not use lemishine any longer.
5. There are tons of videos on youtubee about this issue, most are pretty helpful
6. I tumble for at least two hours. If I get some once-fired brass that can go up.
7. I like my brass to double as signal mirrors for F-22's. Bright, very bright. Look for neck cracks. Seeing more of this than I like in 223 on 3rd loading.


As noted by TiminTN you may notice peening on the case mouth. Run your fingernail across one and you may feel it. I think this may affect tension....don;t really know but for my purposes there is no discernible impact on accuracy. Lot of "mays" here because sometimes I see no indication of peening.

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How long did you tumble them? I use stainless steel pins that came with the large FART and FA cleaning packs. I run 100 .308 cases for 3 hours. They came out shiny like new.

I also have the FA dryer. I don't use it anymore, It doesn't work very well and seems to be a waste of time. Now I just roll them around on a towel to get the water off, then move them to a dry towel to let them air dry.
 
I let them go a couple hours. Most weren't real tarnished to start with. Once fired Federal brass that I've had from the past several years.
 
I believe using a little soap will make a difference for you. I have never had to wipe any of my brass.

Also, you can replace lemishine with citric acid that is used for canning. Walmart carries the ball brand.
 
I only tumble mine for 20 minutes using hot water, dawn and lemishine with steel pins and I toss in a couple golf balls. This insures the brass doesn't just sit in one spot. Also, I'm not trying to get the brass so shiny it hurts your eyes. But, I want to keep the case mouth peening to a minimum. You must trim cases each time to freshen the case mouth up.
 
I'd like to add to this. I used my FART for the first time last night. Ran a few hundred 308 bass that I had deprimed. They were pretty dirty. I had some purple power like DaveB mentioned. Used about six squirts of it and hot water. Ran for 2 hours with the SS pins.

I rinsed everything with cold water. I'd say 3/4 of the pins came out as I rinsed, but there were still quite a few in the container with the brass. I pulled the brass out in handfuls, but had to tap on each piece of brass to get pins out of the cases. Is that normal? This was very time consuming.

They were definitely cleaner than when I put them in, but no where near shiny like some of the pictures you guys post. Maybe I didn't use enough purple power or maybe I need to use dawn next time.
 
eastTN270 said:
Is that normal? This was very time consuming.
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I use Frankford Arsenal brass cleaning packs just because the guy I bought the FART from gave them to me. I run it for 3 hours and the cases come out looking like new, other than a little debris sometimes in the primer pockets. But it's far better than the results I was getting with a dry media tumbler.

I use a Dillon CM500 Case/Media Separator after cleaning. It gets most of the pins out of the cases and makes the separation process much easier. But yes, you have to check every case, and sometimes I will have to tap a pin out, but rarely.

I also have a dryer, but I quit using it, it took too long and darkened the brass if the temp was too high or it was left too long. After rinsing with clean water I just roll them around on a towel to get the excess water off and let them dry.


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The tumblers are what I use. I have had one or two stay in the case. When I prime I ALWAYS turn the prime case mouth down in one of the plastic trays or reloading boxes I use. Gravity works find and another trick is to make a sammich reload tray brass mouth down another reload tray on top. Place the sammich on top of your jogger and hold the sammich in place. Works good. The primed brass is mouth down until I lift it from the tray and turn it right side up to pour a charge.
 
Background: I'm completely new at reloading. All I've done is deprime. So follow up questions. After cleaning and drying I will lube, resize, trim, etc. When it comes time to load with powder and bullet, do you wash again to get rid of lube or go straight to loading?
 
eastTN270 said:
Background: I'm completely new at reloading. All I've done is deprime. So follow up questions. After cleaning and drying I will lube, resize, trim, etc. When it comes time to load with powder and bullet, do you wash again to get rid of lube or go straight to loading?
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I usually wipe my cases off after sizing to get rid of the lube.
 

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