Wet Tumbling - I am a convert.

[CrossHairs]

Here is my wet Vs. dry results.

View attachment 269657

That pretty much sums up my own experience. Love how clean and shiny the brass looks.

 

[Certaindeaf]

Ooh! Pretty peen hardened fail brass! lol

 

[etrain16]

I'm new to the whole reloading process, but I've tried wet and dry and I do prefer the results from wet tumbling over dry. But that said, I think both are legitimate forms of cleaning. Honestly, if you prefer cleaner and shinier brass, then wet tumbling seems to be the best way to go. Dry/vibratory tumbling is simpler and takes less time.

 

[Guilty]

I use a Thumler's Tumbler with stainless steel pins, lemishine, and Dawn dishwashing soap then I dry the brass in a food dehydrator with very satisfactory results, clean primer pockets, and bling brass. What's not to like?

 

[mr.revolverguy]

I am a convert also but only for my rifle brass. Pistol brass still gets tossed in the walnut. I feel like wet tumbling requires more time and effort. Let it air dry roll it around on the towel to prevent water spots through a dab of armor-all wash and wax usually takes care of preventing wet spots.

 

[jluck]

I must be doing dry tumbling wrong. 1-3 hours in the FART and beautiful brass is the result. Six or more hours in dry and I get what you see above. I used to use corn media but I hear there are much better options.

 

[PDXSparky]

I bought a wet tumbler and pins to clean my suppressor cores. Being able to clean brass is just a bonus for me.

 

[HotRod61]

I like tumbling with dry media. Wet tumbling looks like added steps. No sunlight to dry them either this time of year. As for the clean primer pockets using wet tumbling, I don't clean them anyways.

 

[Gonzales]

I started with wet tumbling because I have young children. I did not want to give them lead poisoning and fry their little brains.

The right amount of lemishine per amount of water used is important. I would load up my FART with brass, top off with water. Add in lemishine and dawn. Then I would get different results. ??

I figured out what I was doing wrong. The amount of water and brass would vary between loads. So some loads had a higher or lower contentration of lemishine. Once I started measuring the water & limishine, all was good

Finding the right amount of limishine is like working up a load. The brass will tell you if you used too little or too much.

The process does get the brass stupid clean. To keep it shiny, and prevent oxidation, you can give it a final rinse with a soap with carnauba wax.

 

[Member 5605]

i've got both , wet and dry. what i don't like about the wet is it doesn't leave the brass as shiney as dry tumbling, "and" i've tried all the different additives. What i do like about the wet tumbler is is if the brass is deprimed, you don't have to worry about cleaning the primer pockets, they are clean. A person will be amazed how dirty the water is from wet tumbling. To rinse my brass after it comes out of the wet tumbler, i simply put my dillon large seperator in a tub of water, put my brass in, give it a dozen cranks and it's rinsed and all the steel pins fall to the bottom of the tub. Pour my brass out on a towel in the sun to dry and in a few hours it's ready to load. Pick the brass up out of the tub with a magnet , put it back in the tumbler and it's ready to go again. Before i got a magnet, i could just tilt the tub, all the pins would collect in the corner, pour off the excess water, and the pins were good to go.

Car wash soap. Armor all with caranuba wax. Guarantee your idea of clean will change. (Also go easy on the lemishine too much is worse than none).

I try not to fill the drum past 1/2 full of brass. The more it's filled the longer the time it takes. These cleaned in about an hour with 1lb of media since there wasn't much brass and a lot of pins.





@Gonzales
I think one thing we overlook with clean brass is the resistance it takes to expand the mouth, how smooth the Bullets seats into the case as well. I've noticed that by using a soap with wax my cases don't oxidize if they sit for a while. That helps me when doing batches and letting them sit for a year or two. Dawn dish soap strips everything but coats the brass with nothing. Even a fingerprint will leave lasting marks. That little bit of wax really helps when doing lots of cases later on with smooth(er) press operation.

 

[CrossHairs]

Some great advice and first hand experience here......love this forum.

 

[PiratePast40]

I've been lubing mine with One Shot once they're dried. That keeps them form discoloring over time and I don't need to mess with them again before reloading. That's with 9mm. I read on another forum that some brands of car wash/wax products can leave a mess.