Tumbler questions

[Ghost In The Fog]

other than super shiny in the wet tumbler isn't it better to get all the build up out of the cases using the wet vs the dry? i let my corn cob run for like 8hrs and all it did was give me shine but not clean inside or out for some range pickups.

I was very surprised when I tried the improvised wet with the OJ bottle for the first time using brass that was already cleaned in the dry media. When I rinsed it the first time, it was like it was never cleaned. Just as much dirty water came out of the bottle as brass straight from the range. I found it to be shiny and smooth, but not clean.
Even reloading the brass that went through the dry media, my hands got dirty from handling it. Using the wet tumbler and SS pins it is spotless inside and out. Even primer pockets are perfect. Plus, no more picking walnut, corncob etc out of the flash holes.

 

[Axis II]

I was very surprised when I tried the improvised wet with the OJ bottle for the first time using brass that was already cleaned in the dry media. When I rinsed it the first time, it was like it was never cleaned. Just as much dirty water came out of the bottle as brass straight from the range. I found it to be shiny and smooth, but not clean.
Even reloading the brass that went through the dry media, my hands got dirty from handling it. Using the wet tumbler and SS pins it is spotless inside and out. Even primer pockets are perfect. Plus, no more picking walnut, corncob etc out of the flash holes.

I noticed that the other night. i threw 9mm and 223 cases in the corn cob tumbler for about 4-6hrs and separated the 9mm and put them in boxes and my hands were nasty when i was done. i was kind of afraid to eat my pizza even though i washed my hands twice. if i can get a HF tumbler for 40 and media for cheap I'm going to give this a shot. my buddy loaned me his dry tumbler cause he never uses it but i would rather have my own.

 

[Ghost In The Fog]

I noticed that the other night. i threw 9mm and 223 cases in the corn cob tumbler for about 4-6hrs and separated the 9mm and put them in boxes and my hands were nasty when i was done. i was kind of afraid to eat my pizza even though i washed my hands twice. if i can get a HF tumbler for 40 and media for cheap I'm going to give this a shot. my buddy loaned me his dry tumbler cause he never uses it but i would rather have my own.

One of the things I found to help minimize the amount of dirt when dry tumbling was the Hartz Bird litter at Walmart- in the pet section- you can get a big bag of it for around 4 bucks. I believe it started off at $3.50 and went to just over $4.00 last time I bought it.
I used a tumbler full 2 maybe 3 times. When it started to look dirty, I dumped it. A $4.00 bag would do about 4 or 5 tumblers full times 2 or 3 loads each so it wasn't too expensive to change out. I think it did a better job than the Cabala's expensive stuff.
I just looked at the Walmart website and they are showing it for $11.00- I don't think it is the same as what is in the store. If you wan't, I can look at the bag when I get home tonight and let you know exactly what it is. Not only am I CDO I am also one very frugal (cheap) re-loader. I only get a $30 a week allowance and it has to cover ALL of my gun stuff.
And hey, who knows, gunpowder and lead pizza may catch on. Give me a coupon and I might just try it!

 

[LBEE]

I'm just starting to get into reloading, and I'm seeing a lot of information about tumblers. Being an engineer, I really like the idea of a wet rotary tumbler instead of a vibratory dry tumbler. It seems that they tend to clean brass better, and are dust-free (which is a huge plus, to me). I have no qualms drying media or brass, so that's the way I'm leaning.

However, I already shelled out a lot for my other reloading gear. Are there any good, inexpensive tumblers to start out with?

I saw HF has some smaller ones, are they any decent? There's also the Dura-Bull from Rio Grande. Does anyone have experience with that brand of tumbler?

Harbor Freight Tools has Two different ones....Larger...Small...Hard to beat Price

 

[salpal48]

If your looking to buy New I would look into a New Lortone QT 12. All steel Carriage Heavy duty rubber drum. Motor Made for continuos running.
Belt drive. I have several. my oldest is 25 Years Old. same motor , Same belt. . This is suitable for wet or Dry./ Made to run for days on end. . The Frankford Is Ok but as all Cheaply made reloading Tumblers or vibrators.. , The plastic will crack. and the motor is sub standard It has yet to show the test of Time .Go to the RockShed.com. for pricing. They Have all Parts and Made in US. . You will pay appox $40.00 bucks more. . Look @ it over 20 years or so. . Frankford , Lyman, just All plastic.
Just remember If they will Tumble Rocks For 60 Days straight. It is Your choice. Buy one time only
They will clean cases. I am a Loader and a Rock Tumbler. In the Photo There are Lortones, Sears , Diamond Pacific, Star diamond ,and silk
Sal

 

[Wreck-n-Crew]

I went to wet tumbling without the pins then added pins cut my time down. I don't care about primer pockets in my pistol brass and I do in my rifle brass so I deprime them before wash. I think wet keeps lead contaminates out of the air better and puts them down the drain. Dry tumbling would sometimes gum up my dies and I would stick cases in my pistol brass. Not a good outcome considering they were Carbide dies. Doesn't happen often if you use the dryer sheets and change media often enough. But it still happens. With wet tumble I have had no stuck cases after thousands of rounds. The only cost now is the Detergent.

 

[MrSpiffy]

One of the things I found to help minimize the amount of dirt when dry tumbling was the Hartz Bird litter at Walmart- in the pet section- you can get a big bag of it for around 4 bucks. I believe it started off at $3.50 and went to just over $4.00 last time I bought it.
I used a tumbler full 2 maybe 3 times. When it started to look dirty, I dumped it. A $4.00 bag would do about 4 or 5 tumblers full times 2 or 3 loads each so it wasn't too expensive to change out. I think it did a better job than the Cabala's expensive stuff.
I just looked at the Walmart website and they are showing it for $11.00- I don't think it is the same as what is in the store. If you wan't, I can look at the bag when I get home tonight and let you know exactly what it is. Not only am I CDO I am also one very frugal (cheap) re-loader. I only get a $30 a week allowance and it has to cover ALL of my gun stuff.
And hey, who knows, gunpowder and lead pizza may catch on. Give me a coupon and I might just try it!

This is another reason I want to try the wet tumbling. You won't have to replace the stainless media, at least not for a very long time. Dry tumblers seem to have more over-time costs associated with them.

 

[salpal48]

The only Problem I found with Pins. If you constantly Pin tumble the same Brass. as I do . There will be a Point Your brass will be Peened. That is Tiny small Dents and Your brass will have an Orange peel effect. Firing That brass the dent will pop out but the effect is permanent

 

[hdwhit]

MrSpiffy wrote:
Being an engineer, I really like the idea of a wet rotary tumbler instead of a vibratory dry tumbler.

You can also dry rotary tumble.

I will observe that for about the cost of most rotary tumblers, you can get a small cement mixer from Harbor Freight. Seal the seams as you assemble it and you can do what these guys do:

 

[Cowhide Cliff]

other than super shiny in the wet tumbler isn't it better to get all the build up out of the cases using the wet vs the dry? i let my corn cob run for like 8hrs and all it did was give me shine but not clean inside or out for some range pickups.

Yes, and you can deprime and it cleans the primer pockets. Those who say it doesn't make a difference obviously don't shoot black powder.

 

[Nature Boy]

I have a question for you guys wet tumbling rifle brass.

How do you remove the case lube?

 

[otisrush]

I use a rag to wipe it down after sizing.

 

[Nature Boy]

I use a rag to wipe it down after sizing.

I think that's what's keeping me from moving to "the wet side"

 

[NeuseRvrRat]

I usually just size it before wet tumbling. If the brass is so dirty that I need to clean it before sizing, then I will either deprime and wet tumble, then size, then dry tumble in corn cob or walnut shell media. Or I can dry tumble first, then size, then wet tumble.

Tumbling wet or dry isn't very labor intensive. You take a few minutes to set it up, a few minutes to separate it out, and a few minutes to dry it if you wet tumbled. The waiting isn't a big deal for me. I have plenty of stuff to do in and out of the reloading room to take up that time.

 

[Hanshi]

Nearly 45 years ago I bought a "Thumbler Tumbler" and still have it and still use it. Some 20 years ago I bought a vibratory tumbler at the local gun store when they were selling at about half price; too good a deal to pass up. I prefer the plain ground walnut hulls without the polishing rouge. This cuts down on any dust and the brass comes out clean although not necessarily shiny. Clean brass won't damage sizing dies but you can get along nicely without one until you're ready.

 

[otisrush]

I think that's what's keeping me from moving the "the wet side"

If the concern is time (as opposed to being concerned they're squeaky clean after being lubed).....it is just no big deal. I'd venture to say the time drain is the same, if you took the time to futz with the vibratory tumnler, separate out from the media.....as compared I'm pared with how long it takes to wipe down a batch of sized cases.

 

[Bang!]

I have a question for you guys wet tumbling rifle brass.

How do you remove the case lube?

I wet tumble first time for thirty minutes no pins. Clean enough to resize. Wet tumble with pins three hours for "shiny". Bag'em and tag'em.

Dawn and lemi-shine in both cleaning cycles.

 

[Hondo 60]

$60 for a Harbor Freight double rotary wet tumbler
http://www.harborfreight.com/dual-drum-rotary-rock-tumbler-67632.html

Does very well with about 100 pcs of brass in each tub.
Just add steel pins - very easily found at eBay or Amazon.

I've had this tumbler for about a year & found it works well.
It takes the grungiest range brass & makes it look anywhere from great to almost brand new.

 

[Doublehelix]

I de-cap, then wet tumble. It takes me about 15 minutes to go from tumbler to my brass dryer and have the entire mess cleaned up and put away.

I will then size, and if I use lube that needs removing, I just throw the brass in my vibratory tumbler with corn cob media for 30 minutes or so.

The wet tumbled brass just looks so nice compared to the dry tumbled:

 

[joed]

4 years ago I said when my Thumlers Thumbler died I'd try wet tumbling. Well, that vibratory cleaner still keeps going, even after 38 years.

But, I've watched the guys using the wet method complain about drying time and water marks. So, I hope my old tumbler keeps going another 38 years.

Now, a friend told me to try what I have included below. Haven't tried it yet.

Deprime your cases. Put them in a jug with a scoop of Oxyclean and cover the
cases with water. Shake them for a few minutes, pour the dirty water out and
then run clean water in the jug until the water comes clean. Let them dry.
When dry put them in corncob media. Let it run for about 2-3 hours. Cases should come
out nice and clean. After that running them thru just the media should keep
them good until the carbon builds up inside the cases and primer pockets.

 

[Nature Boy]

My unscientific observation leads me to believe that a majority of those wet tumbling are doing it with pistol brass. Rifle brass, requiring resizing with lube, needs to have a step to remove it. To remove the lube now I toss my brass back in the corn cob for 30 min and I'm done. If wet tumbling I could wipe each case down (more handling/PITA) or toss it in the corn cob as I do now. If I do the latter it seems almost pointless to invest the time and resources to add more steps to brass cleaning by introducing wet tumbling into the process .Again, that's the detractor for me.

 

[Kaldor]

Don't waste your money. It doesn't make them shoot any better just shinny.

No, it doesnt shoot better, but thats not the point. The point is I can take the nastiest range pickups, full of mud, and tarnished black, and I can turn them into like new brass in a couple hours. You cant do that with corncob or walnut. The other benefit, and this is mostly if you are loading on a progressive, is no dirt or dust on your press, which in turn makes your press more reliable.

At OP: If you want to handwash your brass, it works. Just use hot water, Dawn dish soap, and a touch of LemiShine in a 5 gallon bucket. Put in brass, soaps and add hot water. Stir for 5 minutes. Rinse well with cold water. Lay out to dry on towel. I actually do this if Im just cleaning up some nasty range brass pre sizing pass as I dont want to scratch my sizing dies, so it does work well enough too get the major dirt off.

I also tumble from time to time without pins if Im just cleaning up brass before a sizing run.

 

[rfwobbly]

@rfwobbly, I get your points. But, I'd rather have lead contained within a liquid that I can control where it goes, instead of having dry lead dust that can float around [inside] my home.

Obviously control of the dust is the one thing we both agree on. We only differ in the approach seen as best for our personal situations and environments. I fully respect your differences in locale and facilities, and the personal decisions that stem from those differences.

In my area of north GA, two important factors enter my equation...
• All homes are equipped with electrical outlets on the exterior of the building, thus making it practical and easy to take an electric vibratory tumbler outdoors.
• Our winters are milder than most of the country, thus making outdoor tumbling accessible ~49 weeks a year.

So all my tumbling, sifting, sorting, and media handling is done strictly outdoors. Media only enters my home for storage purposes, and then only in sealed containers. As engineers, I think we both understand the need to be very prudent in the handling of possible contaminants.
.

 

[otisrush]

I agree wet tumbled brass doesn't shoot better. But for me I am very confident my loading process is SAFER as a result of wet tumbling.

Case inspection is much easier when the case is very clean. Checking for an empty case (no residual debris) prior to charging is easier. And powder level inspection prior to bullet seating is MUCH easier when the inside is clean.

 

[mdi]

Do you really need shiny case interiors? Must your primer pockets look pristine?