How do you wet tumble?

[Axis II]

I recently purchased a FART and kind of wondering how this whole processes should go? Currently I just dry tumble my rifle brass, size it, tumble again to remove lube and load. With wet tumbling I have heard the use of a universal de-capping die is ideal but I'm wondering who just sizes the brass and then wet tumbles it? Do you de-cap pistol brass or just toss it in there to tumble? How about mixing brass or smaller portions? Say I have 100pc of 45-70 or 44mag and 500pc of 223rem or 1k 9mm and 500 223rem can I just toss them in together? Any other tips are welcomed. Also, how do you separate pins from brass? I cant see spending almost $50 on a rotary separator. Do the gold panning type sifters work?

 

[Englishmn]

I just deprime and clean.
If the cases fit into each other don't mix them it's not fun getting them apart when wedged together with pins.
.40 and 357 sig are ok not enough overlap to get wedged in, but not .40 and 9mm.
If you want to find out if brass will tumble together just throw a couple of the other type in if they wedge only have 2 to get apart.
If it's muddy brass I run it short time with no pins to get the mud off then deprime and run with pins.
Don't toss your dry tumbler still good for cleaning off lube or brass you don't feel like sorting.

 

[scarletfire]

when i've tumbled 223 and 9 mm together some 9's got stuck over the neck end of the 223's.
if you decap first, it will clean out the primer pocket.
they seem to dry easier without the primer in there.
i think it may be easier on your sizing die if the cases are clean, also
these are just a newby's opinion and others will surely have their own ideas.

 

[sbwaters]

The decapping die is worthwhile. You want to size clean brass so as not to damage sizing die.
Decap before wet tumbling to allow the primer hole to be cleaned.

I tumble for two and a quarter hours with a dollop of Armor-All wash 7 Wax I add after filling the tub with water, and add a 9MM case full of Lemishine. I dump most of the contaminated water and then separate the pins and remaining waters in a spinner, dry on a towel for several hours and you are ready to go.

 

[Blue68f100]

I always deprime before wet tumbling. Mainly so it cleans the primer pocket for me. Then I use lube that does not need to be removed fol bulk loading. The media separator is required if you want to separate the brass from the pins quickly. The magnet for picking up the pins. For bulk pistol I still use my std vibrating tumbler since I go straight to the brass feeder to load. But every so often I will run them through the FART to get every thing shinny and clean.

 

[otisrush]

I don't mix my brass - but not for any deliberate reason. It's just the way I've done it. @Englishmn makes a good point about stuff getting wedged together.

When I started I just separated brass from pins by hand. That kind of stunk. Then I bought one of those "gold panning" pans. That was better, but it was still a pain. (You still get a significant number of cases with a significant number of pins in them....or at least "significant enough".) I then (and use now) a rotary separator. You still have to make sure the pins are out of each case. But there are significantly less that fall into that category. Overall I like the rotary separator and continue to use it.

I use the Lee Universal Decapping Die before tumbling. I'm not hung up on having shiny primer pockets, but I figure if you're going to go through the effort to wet tumble why not really clean the entire case? Decapping goes SO FAST.....I find it to be a very minimal step compared to the benefit of getting the case totally clean.

I use a towel to wipe off case lube after sizing. I don't do a second round of tumbling after sizing.

 

[HDMontana]

First, I decap with a Lee universal decapping dies mounted in a single stage press. I know that primer pockets don't need to be perfectly clean, but to me, not decapping first would be like washing the clothes you have on except your underwear. I then run them through the wet tumbler. I use lemishine with some armor all wash and wax. I believe this leaves a shallow coat of wax on the brass to help with pistol brass resizing and doesn't need to be removed after the sizing. Rifle brass would get a little imperial sizing wax applied before the sizing, and then wiped off with a rag afterward. Then continue normal reloading steps.

 

[Cowhide Cliff]

Decap with Lee universal decapping die, then wet tumble for about three hours in stainless pins and water with a touch of dawn and lemishine.

I like to use the universal decapper because the primer pockets get clean and don't scratch the brass.

Most of my wet tumbling is all black powder brass so it can be pretty nasty and dirty so don't want to run it through my dies before hand.

 

[bob_atl]

in a hot tub

 

[Fine Figure of a Man]

I never mix brass in a tumbler because I hate de-mixing it (un-mixing?). With handgun ammo I don't de-prime first, I could care less if the pockets are clean. I load it on a progressive press which to me means 1 pull of the lever results in 1 loaded round.
Starting with hot water helps a little with very dirty brass and I use a dash of lemishine/citric acid. I have not used wash and wax but I probably should. The timer goes to 3 hours so that's how long it gets tumbled.
The fastest way to separate pins is a rotary separator and a bucket of water. https://ads.midwayusa.com/product/9...ng+Equipment+(Not+Presses)&utm_content=972948
I also find it easiest to handle the pins with a magnet. https://ads.midwayusa.com/product/3...ng+Equipment+(Not+Presses)&utm_content=375973
None of this stuff costs much and it saves time which is well worth it to me.
Countless pages here on how to dry brass. It's just evaporation, accelerate it however you want. Mine goes on an old towel out in the sun in the summer, in front of a fan on the floor in winter.

 

[labnoti]

My revolver and bolt-action brass is clean (not scrounged from the grit). I also shoot lead-free primers exclusively. I still wet tumble for about 30 minutes and dry it in a towel and air-dry overnight. You can also just do a simple rinse. I decap on a progressive press and want to keep it clean. But you can get a hand-decapper that handles grit and crud off the press and would probably tolerate wet cases. If you don't at least rinse the brass, wear gloves. This doesn't have to be elaborate. Just evaluate the brass you'll be decapping and the equipment you'll use and pre-wash it or don't as needed.

I have a universal decapper, but I use a carbide resizer/decapper for handgun brass. My brass is very clean when I go to decap so it won't punish a carbide die at all. The reason I do this is because I can eliminate the pressure of resizing from my progressive reloading process. It does not add any processing because I simply use the resizing die instead of the universal decapper. The progressive with a case feeder decaps very quickly. I am likely to use the universal decapper for bottle-neck rifle cases.

I like clean primer pockets, so I definitely wet tumble after decapping.

I never have trouble separating pins from brass. I simply empty the tumbler into a cheap colander type strainer (not rotary). I shake it a few times and 95% of the pins are in the bucket below. To get the remaining pins, I dump the colander of brass into a 5 gallon bucket of hot water and swish them around. The water being hot seems to make a big difference. The pins don't stick at all. I dump some of the water off the top of the bucket and the remaining water, brass and the last of the pins get dumped through the colander again. At this point, there's almost never any pins remaining. All I've done is dump a bucket through the colander twice and I'm done. I take a 1" super-strong neodymium magnet and swish it around in the brass and pull out any pins if there are any. It's also useful should a pin end up on the floor somehow.

To dry the brass, I dump it out on one end of a large towel, pick up the corners and roll the brass to the other end. I pick up the four corners and shake the brass a few times. I dump it out of the towel and air dry it. I can use an air compressor to speed this up. Then I vibrate it in corn-cob media because I like the lubricity this adds to the brass and it's a safeguard against wet cases or primer pockets which can cause squibs.

For bottle-neck rifle brass, I use a neck-sizing only die and removed the ball expander. I have a nitrided neck bushing, but I still use the slightest amount of lube on the outside of the necks only. I haven't found it necessary to clean such a tiny amount of lube off. I don't shoot a high volume of rifle, so I haven't been through 1000 new cases yet, but I might decide to lube, decap/resize, and then tumble.

I typically process about 400 cases at a time. If I had my way, the equipment would process 1000 at a time with pins, but it's too small for that.

I only process one type of case at a time. I wouldn't want to separate different cases. If I didn't have a full load of a case type, I'd just wait until I did. Buy more of that brass if I had to. You might be able to process different case types in mesh or net bags with holes plenty large for pins to pass through or with pins in each bag. But the popular tumblers are so small I don't see the point of tumbling 100 of this and 100 of that. Just buy more brass so you can tumble full loads which are too small as it is.

 

[dh1633pm]

Don't forget a nice magnet. Does wonders for collecting pins that fall on the floor or into the sink. You know that ones and twos that don't go where you want them.

 

[D Rock]

Don't forget a nice magnet. Does wonders for collecting pins that fall on the floor or into the sink. You know that ones and twos that don't go where you want them.

I keep my magnet in a plastic bag when picking up the pins. Makes it easier to slide the pins off.

Dave

 

[Bandit67]

I dump the dirty water in my laundry tub and rinse the brass and pins a couple times without taking them out of the tumbler. Then I use a $2 disposable paint strainer bag stretched over a 5 gallon bucket to seperate the pins. I put the slotted cover on one end of the tumbler, dump into the bucket and shake. 98% of the pins will land in the mesh bag. Then I use a magnet to transfer them into a seperate container. I use a small plastic bucket for the pins. Then i stick the entire tumbler slotted end down into the 5 gallon bucket with paint strainer bag. I remove the other cover from the tumbler and rinse through and shake until the 5 gallon bucket is about half full of water. I have a short length of hose on my laundry tub faucet that makes this easier. Shake the tumbler up and down and in a rotating motion with the brass under water. The remaining pins fall into the mesh bag. I transfer those pins out, dump the bucket and place the tumbler in the bag without the bucket and rinse the brass one final time. Sometimes there is a pin or two hiding and this gets them o out. It sounds complicated but you will work out your own system and it only takes about 5 minutes. I rarely lose any pins this way. Dump the brass on a towel and dry using the method of your choice. I use a Lyman case dryer that a got for cheap and it works like a charm.

 

[GBExpat]

I recently purchased a FART and kind of wondering how this whole processes should go? ...

There must be more than a hundred answers to that question (I penned several of them) that have been posted here in the past few years.

So ... if the new group of responses are not adequate, for any reason, you can use the Search feature to pore over some or all of those.

 

[Axis II]

There must be more than a hundred answers to that question (I penned several of them) that have been posted here in the past few years.

So ... if the new group of responses are not adequate, for any reason, you can use the Search feature to pore over some or all of those.

Search came back to drying brass and one other so I started another

 

[Tilos]

a wet tumbling search with 3 pages of results:
https://www.thehighroad.org/index.p...&t=post&o=date&g=1&c[title_only]=1&c[node]=15

 

[GBExpat]

Search came back to drying brass and one other so I started another

Aaaahhh, I understand ... I saw the @SUBJ and read the OP and realized that I am just not up to typing it all again. <chuckle>

A popular subject in the past few years, apparently, there was a period last year (year before?) when this subject was revisited many times over the course of just a few months, it seems.

You are going to love the results, especially if you like the look of new brass.

 

[dh1633pm]

What is sweet about cleaning brass posts is that you get a zillion recipes to try out and all manner of nifty ways to clean/separate the brass as well as clean up.

 

[Cowhide Cliff]

I use the rotary media separator just like corn cob or anything to separate the pins and brass. Then sit in the sun or a hair dryer to dry.

 

[cfullgraf]

I recently purchased a FART and kind of wondering how this whole processes should go? Currently I just dry tumble my rifle brass, size it, tumble again to remove lube and load. With wet tumbling I have heard the use of a universal de-capping die is ideal but I'm wondering who just sizes the brass and then wet tumbles it? Do you de-cap pistol brass or just toss it in there to tumble?

Unless the case are grungy with dirt and sand, I resize the cases, which decaps them, and then run them through the wet tumbler. This works for me as I prime off the press anyway.

If I did wet tumble before resizing, I'd decap the cases with a universal decapping die. As mentioned, the primer pockets get clean and the cases dry more efficiently.

How about mixing brass or smaller portions? Say I have 100pc of 45-70 or 44mag and 500pc of 223rem or 1k 9mm and 500 223rem can I just toss them in together?

Generally, I do not mix cases of different cartridges. But, on the rare times that I do, I make sure with the combination, the first cartridge case cannot nest inside the other case of the other cartridge. Separating them with dry media is enough of a pain. With cases jammed together with pins, they might as well be welded together. I'm not fond of sorting cases though.

Any other tips are welcomed. Also, how do you separate pins from brass? I cant see spending almost $50 on a rotary separator. Do the gold panning type sifters work?

I have a magnet thing where you can turn the magnet on and off. I turn the magnet on and sweep it through the cases and pins to pick up the pins. Then drop the pins in a different bin. There will be a few pins missed by the magnet so the cases will need to be checked when handling them through the drying process.

 

[lightman]

I deprime range brass with a depriming die before tumbling. I will resize my fired brass before tumbling unless I do something to get it really dirty. I will tumble different calibers of the same size. 380, 9mm, 38/357, ect will play well together. So will 44 and 45 cases. If a 32 or a 40 gets mixed in they will nest together. I separate the brass from the media by hand. I dump it out in a plastic tub and rinse most of the dirty water and soap suds away and just fish the cases out by hand. I put a large magnet in the sink drain before doing this and I nearly always catch a few pins that are trying to escape. I dump the dirty water down the drain. I dry my brass in the oven during the Winter and outside in the sun during the summer. I'm thinking about a food dehydrater for this.

Tricks;
The Universal decapping die. The Lee is as good as any and is cheaper.
The magnet in the sink drain.
The pillow case like bag that my Wife made from a bath towel. I dump the brass in it and give them a shake, rattle and roll to get the water out.

 

[Fine Figure of a Man]

I dump the dirty water down the drain.

I do too, or just dump it outside.
Now, wait for it, we'll be accused of destroying the planet with toxic waste.

 

[Toprudder]

For all brass now, I just decap with a universal decapper when I get back from the range. I toss them in a bin or bucket until I need them, or until I have a large enough load to be worthwhile.

I've mixed brass before, but only if they won't fit inside each other. For instance, I don't shoot a lot of 44 mag, so when I want to clean some I will just throw them in with a batch of 45. Same goes for 460 S&W brass. Do NOT mix brass that will fit inside each other. The steel pins will find a way to lock them up so tight it will take you a while to get them apart.

For bottleneck rifle brass, I experimented with wet tumbling in two steps. I would throw the brass (not decapped) into the tumbler without pins and tumble just long enough to clean the crud off the outside (about 15 minutes) using a little Dawn. Then I would lube/size/decap in one step. The brass does not have to be completely dry for this. Then back into the wet tumbler, with pins and Wash-n-Wax/Lemishine. Then I finish processing the brass as normal. I basically do this same process now, just that I decap everything first with a universal decapper first.

I use hot water from the tap for the wash, and cold water for the rinse.

To separate the pins from the brass, it helps to keep the brass under water to break the water tension. I use the RCBS clam-shell type separator, with the base full of water. I use the other half of the clam-shell, with no water in it, to tumble and get most of the water out.

I've dried the brass many different ways, depending on the situation. Normally, I have a framed screen that I place in front of a fan, with a cardboard plenum to force the air through the screen. This is relatively quick and low power. In the winter, since I have to heat my shack anyway, I may use a re-purposed toaster oven or a food dehydrator. If I have a fire in the fireplace, I place my screen in front of the fire. I've used the shoe rack in the clothes dryer, but this uses a lot of energy. In the heat of the summer, I have placed my screen above the outside AC unit, that works REALLY fast. Lots of ways to skin this cat.

 

[vaalpens]

I just recently started wet tumbling using the FART. My process for normal pistol cartridges did not change, but my 357sig bottleneck cartridge process will have to change.

For my regular cartridges I:

1. I collect my range brass in a container by catridge
2. When the container gets full, I will then decap them using a universal decapper. The decapped cases now go to a container by cartridge, ready for cleaning
3. When there is a need for some additional ready-for-load cases for a specific cartridge, then I will just dump the container in the FART with SS pins, water, cleaning liquid and some Lemishine. I normally let the FART run for about 2.5 hours
4. After cleaning I dry them on a towel, sort by headstamp, and add them to the ready-for-load container

For 357sig bottleneck my process will have to change. I have not cleaned a batch yet in the FART, but it will probably be the following:

1. I collect my range brass in a container by catridge
2. When the container gets full, I will then decap them using a universal decapper. The decapped cases now go to a container by cartridge, ready for cleaning
3. When there is a need for some additional ready-for-load cases for a specific cartridge, then I will first clean it with SS pins, water, cleaning liquid and some Lemishine for about 2.5 hours
4. Next I will do my normal debulge and resize with some case lube.
5. Next step will be another trip to the FART, but this time without any SS pins. I will probably have to do it a few times to determine if it will be better to use SS pins before the sizing, or after.
6. After the final cleaning I will dry them on a towel, sort by headstamp, and add them to the ready-for-load container