Frankfort Arsenal brass tumbler ... never used one before ... I’ve used a wet tumble in the past without pins but this seems like it will hold more.
It says it will hold about 600 9mm or 350 5.56 cases. How much media do I use?
For 30 years, I have used two FA and one Cabelas/Berry's 400 vibratory tumblers with good results but for retirement, decided to transition to wet tumbling using FART and Branson ultrasonic cleaner -
https://www.thehighroad.org/index.p...-unlimited-budget.912629/page-2#post-12726267
As to
bowl capacity, there's advertised max capacity and there's
"real world" cleaning/polishing capacity.
While Cabelas/Berry's tumbler advertised 1000 9mm case capacity, tumbling that many cases would slow down the vibratory/tumbling action so much that media/cases would barely move which really slowed down cleaning/polishing. So "real world" capacity for me is to load the bowl with media about 1"-1.5" below the rim (So as to not spill out media after adding brass) and run the tumbler while adding brass until tumbling action starts to slow down which is around 600-800 9mm cases.
While FA tumbler advertised 600 9mm case capacity, 300-400 9mm cases maintained fast tumbling action and adding more cases would start to slow down the tumbling action. If range brass is fairly clean, 500 9mm cases would clean in relatively short time of 30 minutes.
BTW, FART wet tumbler advertised 1000 .223/5.56 case capacity (About 2000 9mm) and that's also "real world" capacity as rotary action is maintained suspended in water.
What kind of media is best?
As to
media type, crushed walnut with sharp edges tend to clean better and corn cob media tend to polish better. Some mix 50/50 for combined cleaning/polishing action. Since polish on brass don't improve accuracy, I usually just clean my brass. With range brass/my spent cases that just need carbon fouling removed, FA/Berry's tumblers loaded to "real world" capacity would take 20-30 minutes to clean brass enough for reloading.
As to
media size, you want to use small enough grit size to not clog up flash hole which is smaller than 18-20 grit (Larger grit number = smaller size). As to blast media vs pet/lizzard litter, blast media is washed so it is clean without dust and screened for uniform size.
In recent decade, I have used Harbor Freight fine grit walnut media with good results but Home Depot now sells at lower price (Joining HF mailing list/Insider Club gets you 10-20% off coupon):
As to
media life, walnut will maintain sharp edges so as to not "wear out" rather get dirty. Using untreated walnut, media would last more than a year until it gets dirty enough to slow down cleaning action. I have even washed walnut media with little bit of dish soap and after drying in the sun, it worked just as well as new media. As many suggested, adding cut up used dryer sheet helps extend media life.
As to
adding polish to media, I have used Dillon, FA and NuFinish liquid polishes with good results. In recent decade, I have found NuFinish liquid polish to help with cleaning/polishing with residual polymer on brass surface to help with resizing of pistol brass and also prevent tarnishing of brass for years.
As to
treating media, I add one cap full of NuFinish to new walnut media with tumbler running and use a stick to stir/break up clumps until all the clumps are gone before adding brass. I prefer to run the treated media on the "dry" side adding additional cap full of polish every several batches as using too much polish will gum up the media and leave gray haze on brass instead of cleaning/polishing.
As to
tumbling time, most clean range brass with surface carbon fouling/soot will clean in about 20-30 minutes. If I want some polish on brass, I will run the tumbler for 1+ hour. If I want mirror finish, I will run tumbler with corn cob media. Below are sample of my reloads shot and tumbled in walnut media for 20 minutes.
As to
what dry tumbling won't do and that is remove surface tarnish/discoloration. Below is sample of brass from FART wet tumbler after
1 hour in Dawn dish soap and lemon juice with sample of dirty brass in the bowl. Dry tumbling would have removed surface oxidation but you would end up with clean/polished darkened brass.
I normally deprime first and like wet tumbling for it’s dust free processing. Can I deprime and tumble? A lot of crud falls out of cases when I deprime and I’d rather not have that in my media.
I prefer to do the same and deprime first for wet tumbling but it's different for dry tumbling.
Most common source of lead dust comes from primers and after a round is fired, inside of case is coated with lead dust along with residual lead dust inside spent primer. While removing primer for wet tumbling helps move water through flash hole, removing primer for dry tumbling increases risk of releasing more lead dust. So I prefer to leave spent primer in for dry tumbling.
As to
lead exposure, I strongly recommend sorting range brass, dry tumbling and sifting of tumbled brass/media outdoors in fresh air to reduce inhaling lead dust as processing range brass indoors could have cumulative effect to be circulated by heating/air conditioning ventilation system to expose occupants to lead dust. Of course, you want to wash your hands and remove clothing that could have been exposed to lead dust before going indoors.
If you have high blood lead level issue, you may want to consider using 3M respirator with filters rated for lead dust when processing range brass outdoors or picking up brass from indoor range floor (Which turned out to be my primary source of lead intake) -
https://www.thehighroad.org/index.p...-and-discussions.778197/page-11#post-12406408
