Dry tumbler, Wet tumbler or UltraSonic?

[Mr. Zorg]

I'm looking at wet tumbling, good way to make good use of something nature has in abundance in sunny San Antonio - sunshine, warmth, and reasonably dry air, more often than not.

I have a question. What's the typical disposal route for tumbling solution for folks? I see municipal (or other typical) solid waste disposal route.

TIA

 

[jebova2301]

I'm looking at wet tumbling, good way to make good use of something nature has in abundance in sunny San Antonio - sunshine, warmth, and reasonably dry air, more often than not.

I have a question. What's the typical disposal route for tumbling solution for folks? I see municipal (or other typical) solid waste disposal route.

TIA

I simply dump it in the yard on the side of the house opposite the well. Honestly, when I compare the amount of lead going back into the ground from my bullets or from shot while shooting clay pigeons, the amount going into the ground via wet tumbling isn't even something I will concern myself over.

 

[tightgroup tiger]

Here is the thread I was trying to find on the Citric acid vs Vinegar vs lemon juice.
It is about ultra sonic cleaning but it has a lot to do with why the case can turn pick.
https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/cleaning-brass-using-citric-acid.708100/
Look for Uncle Nicks posts

 

[Highland Lofts]

I pour the waste in our flower beds. We still.have roses growing and other kinds of flowers.
After I get the water out of the tumbler I put fresh warm water in the tumbler with the cleaned brass and let it run for about five minutes and then dump that water out, it will be a light gray color. Then I put the brass an my drying racks, hit them with the air hose to get rid of eccess water and lit them sit & dry.

On the dirty range brass I pick up I made three drying boxes with 1/4" x 1/4" wire bottoms. I dump them in after tumbling and let them dry before processing.

 

[lightman]

Here’s a quick update, i went with the wet tumbler and this was a test run to see how it performed. No media was used just Dawn and Lemi-shine for 2 hours, now i have a batch of range pickups 9mm
View attachment 949097 View attachment 949098 View attachment 949099 View attachment 949100

Those look pretty good. The main question is "are you happy"?

I couldn't tell by the pictures if you deprimed those or not. Many guys that wet tumble deprime with a universal depriming die. The Lee die is a favorite. Depriming before tumbling will get the primer pockets clean and aids in the drying process.

You might substitute an automotive wash and wax for the Dawn. It will add a protective coating to the brass that slows tarnish.

None of my comments were meant to criticize. It looks like you are off to a good start towards wet tumbling.

 

[packetloss]

I guess if you are most interested in saving time you can deprime first, however, that exposes you to lead dust. I wet tumble first with pins, dawn and no citric acid. That gets them very clean and free of lead dust. After they are mostly dry (it's good if the primer is still wet as there might still be lead dust inside there) and then I resize and deprime. After that I run them with steel pins, car wash with wax and citric acid.

 

[rdnktrkr]

I like the polish that stays on the cases when I use walnut/mineral spirits/ Nufinish, it seems to make the pistol cases size easier using carbide dies and no lube. I like the ultrasonic for cleaning guns, gun parts and dies using Eds red. I've been looking at building a wet tumbler and probably will this winter to try it out