Has anyone who switched to wet tumbling gone back to dry?

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Texas10mm said:
If I wet clean my brass I don't use pins. I use chips. They are far superior to pins.
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Are you using that southern shine media? Can you tell me why you think its better than pins? One of the issues with pins is they can get stuck in the cases particularly in .223 and 9mm. I am cautious and check all the cases to make sure they are out after I dry them. Last thing I want is a SS pin traveling through the bore.
 
Texas10mm said:
I tried wet tumbling. Went back to dry. Now the only time I wet tumble is if I have really dirty range pickup brass.
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Same here.

95% of the +/- 15,000 pcs of handgun brass and 3000 rifle that I cleaned in 2018 were tumbled in a vibratory tumbler. I currently have 3 of them in service in my garage. It is just too much work to wet tumble.
 
thomas15 said:
Same here.

95% of the +/- 15,000 pcs of handgun brass and 3000 rifle that I cleaned in 2018 were tumbled in a vibratory tumbler. I currently have 3 of them in service in my garage. It is just too much work to wet tumble.
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What do you do about primer pockets?
 
From doing some reading on the 'net it sounds like my bearings are worn out which is allowing the armature to contact the motor windings. After cleaning it out and lubricating it again the motor will just hum on startup unless you turn the unit upside down, then it will start and seems to run fine, but that's going to make it hard to fill it up when it's running. The other option would be to fill it, get the lid good and snug, then flip it over and start it. I was looking at finding a bathroom exhaust fan motor to replace the motor, but the motors I've looked at so far look like they wouldn't bolt up the same, and I don't know if I want to spend the money on this thing and have a Frankentumbler when I'm done. I don't have any dirty brass right now so I'm hoping I can limp along with it until I see a good sale on the FART.
 
I FARTed a year ago and haven’t even considered the vibrator since.

I do use pins but don’t deprime pistol before tumbling. The big advantage for me is verifying powder drops on the progressive is easier with the inside of the case being brighter.

If you clean brass, any method is going to be painful, you just need to pick what you consider to be the best pain.
 
TheDomFather said:
Are you using that southern shine media? Can you tell me why you think its better than pins? One of the issues with pins is they can get stuck in the cases particularly in .223 and 9mm. I am cautious and check all the cases to make sure they are out after I dry them. Last thing I want is a SS pin traveling through the bore.
Click to expand...

I am using the Southern Shine media. The chips did the same job in less time. They are magnetic. They didn't get stuck in cases. To me it seemed they were much easier to separate form the cases.
 
Okay, hijacking my own thread. I see the Lyman Cyclone is about $20 cheaper on Amazon and has the same capacity, but has sifting trays instead of the sifting lids that the FART has. Has anyone used the Lyman and have anything good or bad to say?
 
Dewey 68 said:
Okay, hijacking my own thread. I see the Lyman Cyclone is about $20 cheaper on Amazon and has the same capacity, but has sifting trays instead of the sifting lids that the FART has. Has anyone used the Lyman and have anything good or bad to say?
Click to expand...
I like the fact that the FART has openings on both sides, I can put one of the slotted lids on one end, turn that lid down (in a media separator tray) and then run rinse water in from the top. I don't use those lids to separate the media. I use an RCBS media separator, with the container full of water. (Frankford makes one similar now). Separating the pins is easier if under water.

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/2...latinum-series-wet-dry-rotary-media-separator

I already had the RCBS media separator from when I was dry tumbling, so that is what I use.
 
Dewey 68 said:
Okay, hijacking my own thread. I see the Lyman Cyclone is about $20 cheaper on Amazon and has the same capacity, but has sifting trays instead of the sifting lids that the FART has. Has anyone used the Lyman and have anything good or bad to say?
Click to expand...

I have one and I also had the fart, I like the lyman better as it is a bit quieter being belt driven , have used it for about an year now without any issues
 
Toprudder said:
I like the fact that the FART has openings on both sides, I can put one of the slotted lids on one end, turn that lid down (in a media separator tray) and then run rinse water in from the top. I don't use those lids to separate the media. I use an RCBS media separator, with the container full of water. (Frankford makes one similar now). Separating the pins is easier if under water.

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/2...latinum-series-wet-dry-rotary-media-separator

I already had the RCBS media separator from when I was dry tumbling, so that is what I use.
Click to expand...

Frankford separator cheaper on Amazon/free shipping ($32), unless you're loyal to Midway:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01B6S8JUC/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00__o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
:D
 
Dewey 68 said:
Okay, hijacking my own thread. I see the Lyman Cyclone is about $20 cheaper on Amazon and has the same capacity, but has sifting trays instead of the sifting lids that the FART has. Has anyone used the Lyman and have anything good or bad to say?
Click to expand...
I think the pins that come with the Lyman are .047x0.250, bigger than the Frankford pins, and less likely to get stuck in cases.

:D
 
glc24 said:
I was thinking of getting these pins. Has anyone tried them? All I'm using now are the pins that came with the FART. They do get caught in 5.56 cases. I haven't did any pistol in the FART yet.

https://www.amazon.com/Stainless-Steel-Tumbling-Media-Pins/dp/B00IER21M6
Click to expand...
I bought some .047 pins when I first got my Frankford, I got them off Amazon but I don't remember the vendor.

Supposedly, the Frankford pins would get stuck, 2 at a time, in the flash holes. I've seen many different sized flash holes in 223, so it may even be possible to get the .047 pins stuck though I don't remember ever having that happen. I have had pins get stuck sideways in the primer pockets, and a couple of time they were stuck sideways in the neck. This is one reason I would eventually like to try the stainless chips.
 
Went ahead and purchased the FART from Amazon. The Lyman unit looked pretty nice and the straining trays that come with it were intriguing, but I have the media separator that came with my Frankford Arsenal vibratory tumbler kit that will probably work okay. Seems like the only knock on the Lyman Cyclone cleaner is the ridges that the container rolls on can trap brass and pins and makes it harder to get them out when your done cleaning your brass. There were also some reviews that said the Lyman unit cap leaks, but supposedly that's been fixed in newer units. I haven't really found any negative reviews on the FART.
 
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8 years ago I promised myself when my Thumlers Tumbler died I'd move to wet tumbling. That tumbler is over 30 years old and refuses to die.

But, over the past year or so I've read a lot about wet tumbling and decided against it. Just seems like to much bother in my opinion.
 
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