Never Going Back To Dry Media!

[Cosmoline]

Cosmoline, please forgive me if I missed it but, are you even using SS pins?

No, I haven't needed them. The brass is already coming out as clean as I'd ever need it to be. And it's shiny.

 

[PCCUSNRET]

I won't ever go back either. I run my brass for approximately 5 hours in the Thumler's with a mixture of water, pins, a squirt of Ajax dishwashing liquid and a 1/4 teaspoon of LemiShine. I have shot some 25-06 and 243 brass processed this way 6 times so far with no head separations or cracked cases. The only thing I have noticed (other than how much cleaner this brass gets from when I was using corn and walnut) is the mouths of the brass tend to get dinged and need to be chamfered before I resize them (I used to do this after I resized the brass). This step isn't necessary if I am going to trim the brass. As for drying the brass, I separate it from the pins by hand into a pan of clean water. After rinsing the brass I pour it into one of those mesh laundry bags I had left over from the Navy and place it on the sweater rack in the dryer for about 45 minutes. If I'm not going to load it anytime soon, I put it in a regular tumbler with corn with a few drops of NuFinish polish for about 15 minutes to delay tarnishing of the brass.

 

[GLOOB]

oldpapps- i have no clue, i did what you explained everything to the T. but ive had head case seperations from brass from the same lot, same powder and same everthing else. I tumbled one batch in walnut, and one in the wet bath. everything was the same with the brass, and the next load was head case seperate from the ones in the bath.

Maybe the powder/primer you were using (or maybe the original factory powder/primer crud that has been in there from day one?) was leaving corrosive salts behind. This is what caused the initial pitting. Then, when you wet the cases, this dampened the powder residue and it ate away at an accelerated rate until the tumbler knocked away and cleaned off the residue.

Another thing to consider, if your brass is super clean on the outside, it will stick better to the chamber wall. This will reduce your "bolt thrust," but it will facilitate more case stretching near the web. If your cases were already on the verge of letting go, this might have pushed some over the edge. You might also have been pushing the shoulder back too far?

 

[mbopp]

My "tumbler" is an old 3# coffee can (yes, 3#) on a home made rolling fixture. For grungy 45 brass I deprime it first, then put it in the can with some water, Lemishine, and detergent and tape the lid on. After an hour or two I dump the dirty water and rinse. The brass air dries on a cookie sheet or (if the wife's not home) it goes into the oven at 200 degrees for an hour.