why do people dry tumble and not wet tumble?

[Warp]

I accumulating parts to build a wet tumbler. I 'm not exactly sure why. The biggest issue I see coming is pistol. I have no intention of doing anything twice with the pistol brass. Currently I dry tumble and then load 'em up. I can't say that having a bit of carbon in the primer pocket causes me any lost sleep. I do not plan on dry tumble - resize/decap - wet tumble - load. It seems excessive.

That would be excessive.

It would be a whole easier, IMO, to use a universal decapper to pop the primer out before you wet tumble, than to take all of the steps to try tumble it before you start the process.

 

[jcwit]

Originally Posted by Rule3 View Post
Sure you can if it provides a reasonable return on your effort or improves the end result. Wet tumbling with the high intial cost and the other reasons mentioned proved no benefit to me, To others if they like it go for it.

Dirty brass actually shoots as well as clean brass.

Clean brass is clean enough,(so you do not mess up your dies) it does not need to be blinding. With a dry tumbler I can make brass look as good as wet so why bother.? The inside of the case does not need to be cleaned. Heck some rifle shooters use a powered metal brush on the inside??

And a dirty car gets you from point A to point B as well as a clean car, but you know? I like to drive a clean car!

 

[cougar1717]

I've got a friend that is into reloading and rock tumbling and also has kids under 5. He wants to tumble his brass, but doesn't have a good place to do it. He also doesn't want to put his kids at risk of lead dust. I can see how he would be looking into wet tumbling. If you already have a heavy duty rock tumbler, the additional costs of wet tumbling are just a dedicated drum, SS pins, and cleaning solution.
I think his situation is a little unique. Many people either have a place to dry tumble that is off limits to kids or they do not already have a rock tumbler.
For most people, there isn't a lot of additional benefit to get a wet tumbler setup if you already have a dry one.

 

[Warp]

I've got a friend that is into reloading and rock tumbling and also has kids under 5. He wants to tumble his brass, but doesn't have a good place to do it. He also doesn't want to put his kids at risk of lead dust. I can see how he would be looking into wet tumbling. If you already have a heavy duty rock tumbler, the additional costs of wet tumbling are just a dedicated drum, SS pins, and cleaning solution.
I think his situation is a little unique. Many people either have a place to dry tumble that is off limits to kids or they do not already have a rock tumbler.
For most people, there isn't a lot of additional benefit to get a wet tumbler setup if you already have a dry one.

If dust is a concern it's not like dust stays where it is generated, exactly. It gets in the air and goes wherever, and it gets on anything near it, including your and other stuff, and contaminates.

I like the idea of washing everything down the drain more than having it go up in dust (during tumbling or during retrieval or during media separation or while dumping media back in tumbler or whenever).

But really...they both work. Pick one. Or both. You don't have to pick the same thing as every other person.

 

[John3921]

That would be excessive.

It would be a whole easier, IMO, to use a universal decapper to pop the primer out before you wet tumble, than to take all of the steps to try tumble it before you start the process.

This would be fine - but it is still handling things twice - decap everything one at a time, then tumble and load.

The dry tumble essentially eliminates a step. Dry tumble everything - and you're ready to go.

Bottleneck rifle cases are different, I do 2 tumble ops now - once before doing anything and once to get the lube off.

 

[Potatohead]

And a dirty car gets you from point A to point B as well as a clean car, but you know? I like to drive a clean car!

true

 

[tightgroup tiger]

I prefer to clean my brass in an ultra sonic cleaner then dry under my inferred heater I have mounted over my work bench. It take 8 minutes to clean my brass, 15 minutes to dry it and I'm ready to go. My inferred cleaner doesn't take any more electricity than my tv does so, BIG DEAL on the electricity.

I like my brass clean and want it to look like I cared and knew what I was doing when I loaded it. I usually lube my shells when I resize them so my last move is into the dry rotary tumbler for 15 minutes to take the lube off and put some polymer on them to preserve them.
The weight of the loaded rounds dramatically speeds up the cleaning process in the dry rotary tumbler.

My primer pockets are clean and the inside of the cases are clean. I can't ask for any more than that from 38 minutes of time. That's a total of 38 minutes that I'm doing something else while they are being cleaned.

 

[cfullgraf]

This would be fine - but it is still handling things twice - decap everything one at a time, then tumble and load.

It's what ever floats your boat.

I clean twice during my reloading cycle and I still have time to load more ammunition than I can shoot. I enjoy spending the time in the reloading room and it makes me feel better about my hand crafted ammunition.

Other folks prefer to spend some of their time doing other things and that is just fine by me.

 

[Rule3]

Here ya go, you can use the Jerry Miculek method. Concrete mixer AND case tumbler and crimp those 223/556

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5y_dsP3dsM

 

[RustyFN]

I dry tumbled for years, but the first time I saw the results with wet tumbling, I switched and never looked back. After you've climbed the learning curve of the first few sessions, wet tumbling involves about the same amount of work as dry, with one exception: the rinse stage. Other than that, every step in the process requires about an equal amount of effort. As for drying, unless you haven't been shooting too long and have a limited supply of brass, you rarely need to begin reloading the minute you finish tumbling. The brass pretty much dries itself.

The real reason to choose wet or dry tumbling pretty much boils down to pride of craftsmanship. The one phrase you will routinely hear from dry tumbling holdouts is, "I don't care..." as in, "I don't care if my brass is shiny", or "I don't care if the insides of my cases are clean", or, "I don't care if my primer pockets are clean", or, "I don't care what anyone else thinks of my reloads."

Craftsmanship does mean something to a significant segment of the shooting world, though, and those are the folks who tend to gravitate towards wet tumbling. Who knows if the rounds shoot better, or if the guy at the next bench thinks you're reloads are factory rounds? It doesn't matter: this is our hobby, and pride in our product is it's own reward.

Sorry but I'm just not seeing it. For me to load my dry tumbler, tumble and unload it takes me 3 to 4 minutes of my time and I have 600 + clean cases. What you are saying is you can decap 600 cases, load all the chemicals and water, clean, empty and dry and only have 3 to 4 minutes of your time involved? Also after they are loaded you can set yours and mine side by side and won't be able to tell them apart.

 

[Warp]

Sorry but I'm just not seeing it. For me to load my dry tumbler, tumble and unload it takes me 3 to 4 minutes of my time and I have 600 + clean cases. What you are saying is you can decap 600 cases, load all the chemicals and water, clean, empty and dry and only have 3 to 4 minutes of your time involved? Also after they are loaded you can set yours and mine side by side and won't be able to tell them apart.

I think you have some misconceptions based on how you say "load all the chemicals and water". It takes very very little time to run a few cups of water from the tap, pour a quick bit of dish detergent, and tap in some lemi shine. It takes no longer than the length of time to type and/or read this paragraph I just entered, more or less.

Yes, everything involved takes more than 3-4 minutes. If you can complete the dry tumbling and separating process with 3-4 minutes of your time, that is going to be faster than wet tumbling.

 

[jerkface11]

Dry will always be faster than wet simply because you don't have to dry the cases off.

 

[mtrmn]

Been loading for 30 yrs, owned a dry tumbler for 25 of those years--never once noticed a dust problem.

 

[Constrictor]

because I prefer dry tumbling.

 

[Master Blaster]

Tradition, Tradition, I already have the dry tumbling stuff, and I am not going to change as I see no need.

 

[buck460XVR]

At the end of the day, both processes work very well and produce quality ammunition. Shinier cases do not mean better ammo, suggesting it does is pure BS. Just cause one prefers one way over the other does not make them wrong, just means they have a preference. Nice to have a choice so one can have a preference.

 

[Rule3]

A true artist craftsman would polish each case by hand with Flitz and a soft cloth, then brush the inside and primer pocket.