Drying after Wet Tumbling......

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Really the pins are not much of a hassle. A magnet is handy for some few stray pins, but the $22 model (looks nice!!) is not required. I use a couple encased in plastic that were $1 or so. Seems like last time I weighed my pins I was close to original starting weight.
 
Ok thanks.......I'm still not 100 percent sold on the stainless media tumbler seems like trying to pickup those tiny diameter pins with my fat fingers would be a nightmare.....I like the transfer magnet option to pickup any loose or spilled pins that may end up on the floor.I guess I'll do some more research on the subject before I make up my mind. Thanks for all the help !
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Yep, open up the tumber with dirty water, pins and brass. Dump the bulk of the water out without dumping the brass and pins. Fill with water again and dump the bulk of the water again. I usually have to do that 4-5 times to get the soap bubbles out and have clean water. That's when I go the media separator like you pictured. I don't dump the entire contents of the drum into the separator basket. I just dump all the brass out and usually about half the pins will come out. You'll have the pins and a small amount of clean water in the bottom of the separator. Just dump that back into the drum.
 
Truth be told the pins are not much of a hassle, however, as I mentioned earlier I stopped using mine. After a couple of test runs without the pins and even reducing my wet tumbling time to 1 hour for a batch, the brass is 99% clean. These are 9mm batches by the way.

The primer pockets when using pins are generally 100% clean, and that is the only difference or edge over not using them. However, I am saving 12 to 14 minutes at the end of each batch by not using my pins anymore, and extremely happy with the wet tumbling results using little effort and avoiding all dust in my apartment.
 
I avoid drying them by not getting them wet in the first place.

I made a wet rotary tumbler in 1960 something.
As well as a 300 nail drying rack.

PITA no matter how you count your time.

Dry tumbling with media & case polish?
Do it, dump them out, load them.

rc
 
OilyPablo said:
Really the pins are not much of a hassle. A magnet is handy for some few stray pins, but the $22 model (looks nice!!) is not required. I use a couple encased in plastic that were $1 or so. Seems like last time I weighed my pins I was close to original starting weight.
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The magnet (That thing holds a crap-load of pins) is probably one of the handiest tools I purchased to make clean-up after wet tumbling quicker and easier. Not only for strays but for removing the bulk from the bottom of the bucket to the brass dryer. I agree don't pay that price, they can be found much cheaper, I got mine for $12.

OP, Here's another item (don't pay that price either) that works great for separation and cleanup if you don't have a separator. Dump in the brass & pins, give it a few good shakes and remove the brass for drying. Pins fall in bucket for retrieval....

http://www.btibrands.com/product/quick-n-ez-standard-media-separator/
 
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I bought the big magnet thinking it would be a handy option, but I now consider it a necessity. I would not be without it. Much easier to transfer the pins from one container to another, especially when still wet. And picking up the stray pins from the floor/ground is much easier.

The trick with the RCBS media separator is to fill it with water. If you don't, you have to deal with surface tension causing the pins to cling to the brass. When you tumble them under water, the pins fall out much easier.

I have my standard method of rinsing and separating the brass on my driveway, using a garden hose. I open the drum, dump out the majority of the water without letting the pins or brass fall out. Then, with the drum on its side, I spray water into the drum until the water coming out is clear and no suds left. Then dump the drum of brass into the RCBS separator cage and separate the pins. I use the magnet to sweep the driveway of any runaway pins.
 
I avoid drying them by not getting them wet in the first place.

I made a wet rotary tumbler in 1960 something.
As well as a 300 nail drying rack.

PITA no matter how you count your time.
Click to expand...

I keep reading about wet tumbling and have come pretty close to buying a kit on several occasions. Everytime, I talk myself ouf it when I see posts like these. Not knocking anyone or wet tubling in general. Seeing those primer pockets on rifle brass after tumbling in SS pins sure is purdy. At the end of the day, I'm just too lazy to add that much more work to cleaning brass.

Amen to that RC.
 
I switched over to SS a few months ago.

I just dump 'em in an aluminum lasagna pan and throw it in the oven at 170 for an hour or 2.

No issues so far. Contary to what I read on the 'net, wash 'n wax leaves them better lubed than the vibratory tumbler, Less time tumbling leaves them much cleaner, and I don't have lead-heavy dust coating the garage.

If you can't tumble outside and care about your lead levels, get SS. Best choice I have made in a long time.
 
rcmodel said:
I avoid drying them by not getting them wet in the first place.

I made a wet rotary tumbler in 1960 something.
As well as a 300 nail drying rack.

PITA no matter how you count your time.

Dry tumbling with media & case polish?
Do it, dump them out, load them.

rc
Click to expand...
I'm just about to the same point as RC. I spent the money for a FA rotary tumbler, pins, magnet, and media seperator. It still takes a lot of time dumping out the water, not losing pins, refill with water several times to clean, then media seperate, then lay out to dry via oven or whatever.

I'm debating on selling my wet tumbling setup and going with a large Dillon vibro tumbler with a lid.
 
For me the time rinsing/drying is a wash because I only tumble for 90 minutes and the cases are perfectly clean. With the dust bowl I was tumbling for several hours and they were still only partly clean. Pistol cases aren't bad in a dust bowl but rifle cases don't get as clean IME.
 
Regarding separating the pins from the cases, this is my method.

Get something like this.

http://www.amazon.com/ChefLand-Stai...1434569752&sr=8-8&keywords=stainless+strainer

When tumbling is done, I just dump the entire contents of a barrel in to this strainer. Then just spray some water over the contents to rinse a little. The strainer keeps the pins from escaping.

Like most other folks I have a media separator, exactly like the one pictured in post 44. I dump the contents of the strainer in to the separator, close it up and spin.

There's a trick here though. I fill the bucket part of the separator with water. If the brass is wet, which of course it is, the pins stick like crazy just due to cohesion. If you immerse the brass and pins in water, that cohesion is negated and the pins just fall away as you spin the separator. It happens almost instantly though I do spin it for 30-60 seconds.

Towel off the brass and dry. I use a toaster oven dedicated to brass. 150 degrees for 30-45 minutes dries everything.

The water immersion is crucial to remove the pins. I've never needed a magnet for the pins. I just leave them in the separator bucket and pour out the water when done.
 
OilyPablo said:
The alleged hassle of rinsing and drying in this thread is GREAT overblown. I mean WAY out of proportion. It really is super simple.
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I think hassle is a matter of personal opinion. My opinion of hassle is probably not what yours is. So there's no way to say its "greatly overblown " or "way out of proportion". Might be for you, but not for others.

I have found wet tumbling is a hassle for me. I have a full time career, a seperate grip making business, another seperate FFL business, a 6 week old baby, and a wife who travels for work 70% of the year. Wet tumbling is certainly a hassle for me.

Dry tumble: fill up and start tumbler in garage or shop before leaving for work. After work, pour cases and media in a sifter on top of a bucket. Remove majority of media. Remove sifter and shake remaining stubborn media into yard. Pour clean brass in bag to load.

Wet tumble: pour cases into tumbler, add cleaning solution, add lemishine, add water, start tumbler, be present when tumbler stops to remove cases (cases tarnished for me when I left them in the water for a couple hours after it stopped), drain nasty water, refill with clean water and drain, repeat until drain water is clean, try not to dump out any pins, dump cases and media into seperator and spin, dump clean cases on a towel to remove excess water, prep cases in trays for use in oven/dehydrator/fan, wait until they dry, hang towel up to dry, use magnet to collect pins from media seperator and put them back in the tumbler, come back and remove cases from heat/air, possibly wait for them to cool, and put in bag to reload.

Depends on how much free time you have on your hands...
 
HJ857 said:
Regarding separating the pins from the cases, this is my method.

Get something like this.

http://www.amazon.com/ChefLand-Stai...1434569752&sr=8-8&keywords=stainless+strainer

When tumbling is done, I just dump the entire contents of a barrel in to this strainer. Then just spray some water over the contents to rinse a little. The strainer keeps the pins from escaping.

Like most other folks I have a media separator, exactly like the one pictured in post 44. I dump the contents of the strainer in to the separator, close it up and spin.

There's a trick here though. I fill the bucket part of the separator with water. If the brass is wet, which of course it is, the pins stick like crazy just due to cohesion. If you immerse the brass and pins in water, that cohesion is negated and the pins just fall away as you spin the separator. It happens almost instantly though I do spin it for 30-60 seconds.

Towel off the brass and dry. I use a toaster oven dedicated to brass. 150 degrees for 30-45 minutes dries everything.

The water immersion is crucial to remove the pins. I've never needed a magnet for the pins. I just leave them in the separator bucket and pour out the water when done.
Click to expand...
Reading this is pushing me toward giving wet tumbling another look.

Thanks for the different take on it
 
Olympus said:
Dry tumble: fill up and start tumbler in garage or shop before leaving for work. After work, pour cases and media in a sifter on top of a bucket. Remove majority of media. Remove sifter and shake remaining stubborn media into yard. Pour clean brass in bag to load.

Wet tumble: pour cases into tumbler, add cleaning solution, add lemishine, add water, start tumbler, be present when tumbler stops to remove cases (cases tarnished for me when I left them in the water for a couple hours after it stopped), drain nasty water, refill with clean water and drain, repeat until drain water is clean, try not to dump out any pins, dump cases and media into seperator and spin, dump clean cases on a towel to remove excess water, prep cases in trays for use in oven/dehydrator/fan, wait until they dry, hang towel up to dry, use magnet to collect pins from media seperator and put them back in the tumbler, come back and remove cases from heat/air, possibly wait for them to cool, and put in bag to reload.
Click to expand...

Guess what? I don't have all kinds of spare time. I work a full time job (sometime 60 hrs week, run TWO businesses, have a teen daughter, manage rental places, maintain a fleet of cars, etc....) so implying I have spare time is just odd. Even though you go light on the dry nasty media and embellish the wet media steps, I will still say those steps are very very quick.

Loading the tumbler is easy. Unloading is easy. Rinsing easy. I am STILL searching for that step that is a hassle. Odd, to say the least. To each their own. I tried dry media. Total hassle, then nasty contaminated media. And the brass still looked lousy.

And an I am also absolutely sure both methods result in good reloaded ammo.
 
The way I look at it...

Both methods require a tumbler.
Both methods require the brass to be put in and taken out.
Both methods require media.
Both methods require cleaners/polish.
Both methods require separating.
Both methods produce nasty, toxic waste (water or dust, dirty media).
Both methods require some clean up.
Both methods will clean brass.

I use both methods. I dry tumble to remove lube but I prefer wet tumbling for cleaning brass because it is faster, quieter, produces better results and can be doing it's thing right next to me on my reloading bench in the house while I work.
Hassle? No way! From start to finish, clean, dried, bagged and stored away in 3 hrs. (2 of which are just waiting for it to finish tumbling which = a total of 1 hr. of taking me away from other duties).

Like everyone, I'm also a very busy person but I make time for my duties, hobbies, etc.. If I can't find some spare time in a day to clean my brass, then how am I going to find spare time in a day to reload it?
 
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OilyPablo said:
Guess what? I don't have all kinds of spare time. I work a full time job (sometime 60 hrs week, run TWO businesses, have a teen daughter, manage rental places, maintain a fleet of cars, etc....) so implying I have spare time is just odd. Even though you go light on the dry nasty media and embellish the wet media steps, I will still say those steps are very very quick.

Loading the tumbler is easy. Unloading is easy. Rinsing easy. I am STILL searching for that step that is a hassle. Odd, to say the least. To each their own. I tried dry media. Total hassle, then nasty contaminated media. And the brass still looked lousy.

And an I am also absolutely sure both methods result in good reloaded ammo.
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I'm not implying you have spare time. I don't even know you. I'm saying your comment was subjective. You say it's not a hassle for you and I say it is for me. That doesn't make you right or me wrong. It just means it's subjective to each individual and their circumstances.
 
What you will find, if you frequent this or other firearms related sites, is that many, many shooters are reluctant to try anything different. For some, it is because they are already set up for something that works and they don't want to spend the $$$, and for others they simply don't want to leave the comfy confines of something they are intimately familiar with. A couple of things that you should consider: First, take note of how many guys who have tried wet tumbling have been disappointed and gone back to dry tumbling (hardly any); and you will continue to use your dry tumbler, only just after you have resized the brass to remove the lube. To quote OilyPablo:
The alleged hassle of rinsing and drying in this thread is GREATLY overblown. I mean WAY out of proportion. It really is super simple.
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Really, wet tumbling is one of the best things to come along in the 35+ years that I have been reloading.

Don
 
Count me and RC as two who have tried wet tumbling and went back to dry.

Aside from what I consider extra hassle, wet tumbling with dish soap caused problems with cases getting stuck in my resize die. I had to use Armor All Wash and Wax.
 
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I guess the bottom line is what does wet tumbling do that is so much better than dry media tumbling?? If you are obsessed with clean primer pockets than you need to deprime first. I find that a waste of time) If you need you internal cases "surgically clean" (to steal someones phrase, I love it!:)) Why? That does nothing either.

Now if you have show and tell at the range and everyone grades how shiny your brass is well then, properly dry tumbled brass on the outside looks just as purty.:D

But only till you shoot it and it falls on the dirty ground!

Buy a surgical autoclave for $2K to dry and sterilize your brass.

I have washed buckets of range brass and it is a PITA I can even lay it on the driveway and it drys in no time.
 
Rule 3 if one uses that point of view then why clean brass at all? If I can spend the same amount of time either way but one only half cleans the brass, why not wet tumble. If you're happy with the dust bowl then by all means carry on but I've been happy with my switch to pins and the dust bowl now sits unused.
 
I think USSR hit the nail on the head.

If someone is interested in why I wet tumble now instead of dry tumbling, then I will tell them. I can understand why someone might not want to wet tumble. I'm not going to twist their arm trying to make them change their mind. Hey, to each their own.

When it comes down to it, why does anyone tumble the brass at all, dry or wet? All you really need to do is just wipe them off. It is a hobby and we get to do what we want, and how we want.
 
Dust? What dust? I have no dust.

What about toxic water and rinse water If there is dust then lead and other toxins are in the water,

The question was what does wet tumbling do that dry doesn't?

But think about a 3 page thread on just how to dry after wet tumbling??

No you really do not need to clean brass at all unless it has hit the dirt and has sand or dirt to scratch you dies, I believe it was Richard Lee that stated dirty brass loads and shoots as well as clean brass.

Sure everyone is entitled to do what ever they want, I just do not see any reason for it. Some like Unique powder others HP 38 around it goes:)
 
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