wet tumbler question

[roval]

do any of you tumble cases without depriming, let them dry out and only deprime much later as you are reloading. do you get corrosion?

having to deprime beforehand is what's kept me away from it. but i saw the Frankford arsenal wet tumbler and it looks interesting.

 

[GBExpat]

FWIW, I use the Lee universal depriming die for almost everything ... prior to running them thru my F.A.R.T. (Frankford Arsenal Rotary Tumbler).

If I tumbled them prior to decapping, I would have to factor in drying time after decapping the cases.

I would not be concerned with corrosion unless I was going to store the not-fully-dried-cases for a period of time.

 

[Howard Roark]

That would defeat one of the main purposes of wet tumbling. The tumbler cleans the primer pockets, not you.

I wouldn't recommend it because I would be concerned that a pin could get wedged in the primer hole by the primer anvil. You wouldn't know it until you felt and heard a crunch as your depriming pin snapped off.

 

[Wreck-n-Crew]

SS pins were not mentioned and I'm not sure if they come with every FA tumbler but I would recommend the pins if not. I've done both deprimed before and after wash but always have deprimed the rifle brass prior to wash. Now I prefer to deprime first. Not that I've ever had a pin stuck in the flash hole during depriming as all my SS pins are to long to get bound up in there, or so it would seem after thousands of rounds without it happening. YMMV. I didn't see corrosion happening in my brass from having left the primers in.

FWIW I find that depriming pistol brass with a universal depriming die (or larger size die works for pistol anyway) to be a fairly quick process. I do it as soon as I get back from shooting most of the time. Hope this helps.

 

[FROGO207]

I also decap my handgun brass before wet tumbling using my 500 S&W decapping die. I do it on an old crappy press to save getting crud on either of my good presses. I did run some through with primers in them once and then let them dry for a month before I decapped/sized them. They still worked like normal but I still found some moisture in the primer pockets when I inspected them after. YMMV

 

[rjbmjb]

I also deprime all rifle brass before tumbling. For pistol, I tumble first if the brass is really dirty, then deprime/size and tumble again to clean the pockets. I never thought about using a universal depriming die on the dirty brass- I think I'll try it and save some time by not tumbling twice.

 

[Doublehelix]

Yep, I also decap with the Lee depriming die. I can whip though it pretty quickly, and it makes for nice clean primer pockets when wet tumbling. Totally worth it in my opinion.

 

[roval]

i don't really care if handgun brass primer pockets are clean. for rifle brass which i load rarely i don't have a problem depriming first although i would prefer to deprime and size at the same time.

i wait till I'm out of brass before cleaning a large batch of brass.

after drying( Do you dry in the oven at a low setting or sundry) i would just put them in containers where they may not get reloaded for up to half a year. can i do that with wet tumbling?

i load on a progressive for handgun so depriming separately feels such an onerous task.

 

[Doublehelix]

I use the Franklin dryer which holds a ton of brass, but a lot of guys seem to do just fine with a less expensive food dehydrator. I think Harbor Freight makes one too.

 

[hdwhit]

I've been reloading for nearly 40 years, but my techniques developed considerably for the first fifteen years or so. The process I have followed pretty consistently for the last 25 years has been:

• I decap all fired brass as soon as I get it.
• I do not wet tumble, but I do use a weak acid solution (vinegar or Lemishine) to remove tarnish after the brass is decapped. I tumble in walnut media after resizing to remove resizing lubricant and impart a shine to the cases.
• I do not do anything particular to clean primer pockets, they get "clean enough" with this process.

The only thing to really worry about with soaking the brass before decapping it would be if it was stored for a long time because moisture is associated with corrosion of the primer cup that can lead to the bottom of the cup breaking off during decapping thus leaving the sides of the primer in the primer pocket (i.e. a "donut"). So, if you are going to wet tumble BEFORE decapping, make sure to decap within a few days after tumbling.

 

[9mmepiphany]

do any of you tumble cases without depriming, let them dry out and only deprime much later as you are reloading.

I never deprime my handgun cases before wet tumbling. I don't even use the stainless pins. I'm not really worried about how clean the insides of the cases are, nor am I worried about the primer pockets. I usually tumble with Lemi-shine and Armorall Wash-n-Wax for about 1.5 hours

I do use the pins when tumbling rifle cases. If you are going to use pins, you really should deprime...not so much for the primer pockets, but to allow a flow of water through the case.

do you get corrosion?

Not when you dry your brass after tumbling. During the warm months, I lay them outside in the sun. During the wet months, I dry them in the oven (213 degrees/20-30 mins)

 

[Wreck-n-Crew]

i don't really care if handgun brass primer pockets are clean. for rifle brass which i load rarely i don't have a problem depriming first although i would prefer to deprime and size at the same time.

i wait till I'm out of brass before cleaning a large batch of brass.

after drying( Do you dry in the oven at a low setting or sundry) i would just put them in containers where they may not get reloaded for up to half a year. can i do that with wet tumbling?

i load on a progressive for handgun so depriming separately feels such an onerous task.

I have. As long as you thoroughly dry your brass you shouldn't have an issue with pistol brass. I never did and they would set for a bit before I ran them through my progressive. Just clean well, rinse well, and dry well.

 

[lauderdale]

I de-prime also and re-load mostly hand gun. As stated the ssp/clean the flash hole nicely.

 

[Hondo 60]

do any of you tumble cases without depriming, let them dry out and only deprime much later as you are reloading. do you get corrosion?

I have in the past wet tumbled before depriming.
I feel that's a mistake. But that's just IMHO.
I think it kinda defeats one of the purposes of wet tumbling.

But to answer the q, no I have not seen any corrosion.
(caveat - this is only with modern non-corrosive ammo - I don't think I'd try it with surplus ammo)

I like your question - it keeps us thinking!

 

[cfullgraf]

I do wet or dry tumbling depending on the cleaning needs I have at the time.

Regardless of tumbling method used, I prefer to tumble my cases, handgun and rifle, after resizing, which includes de-priming. It gets all the crud and resizing lubricant off the cases before I handle new primers and powder.

No drying issues and clean primer pockets are a side, but not necessary benefit.

Just one of my reloading idiosyncrasies.

 

[1976B.L.Johns.]

In order of what I do, may not be correct...
1. Use a universal deprimer
2.Wet tumble with SS pins and dish soap
3.Rinse & dry in food dehydrator
4. Resize, trim to length & brush primer pockets if necessary
5.Tumble walnut/corncob media & a polymer car wax
6.Reload
7.Shoot & have fun
8.Repeat any needed steps

Use of a universal decapper (deprimer) may save one scratching or damaging your "caliber" dies.

SS pins seem to last forever

Clean dehydrator B4 making jerky

I started going through this procedure after acquiring a lot of dirty range/gravel pit brass. It may not necessary for your brass, once fired. I may be a little anal, but do not go through all of this every time.....Just want to be consistent in reloading and kinda like shiny things.

B.L.

 

[Stripesdude]

I don't deprime pistol brass before wet tumbling with pins. There is no accuracy to be gained by cleaning pistol primer pockets...but it may do something for soothing one's OCD. My time is worth more than my desire to have brass so clean I could eat off it.

I dry them in the oven afterwards and there is no risk of corrosion. 30 minutes at 170 degrees dries everything well.

I resize and deprime rifle brass before tumbling.

 

[muncie21]

Being the nerd that I am, I decap prior to tumbling, even though this step may not be 100% required.

BTW, for those that wet tumble, easy does it on the lemishine. I added a bit too much to my last load and the brass came out dull, looking almost like bronze. Clean as all get out, mind you, just dull instead of bright and shiny.

 

[roval]

I don't deprime pistol brass before wet tumbling with pins. There is no accuracy to be gained by cleaning pistol primer pockets...but it may do something for soothing one's OCD. My time is worth more than my desire to have brass so clean I could eat off it.

I dry them in the oven afterwards and there is no risk of corrosion. 30 minutes at 170 degrees dries everything well.

.

can you just store it afterwards for months with the spent primers in. btw i agree with pistol brass primer pockets not having to be clean.

 

[JO JO]

I deprime first both pistol and rifle I use a handheld deprimer made by frankford works great and does not take long and as its hand held I do not need to be in front of a press to deprime one benefit I like besides the clean primer pocket is my presses stay clean no spent primer caps or primer dust on my presses ,

 

[Wreck-n-Crew]

can you just store it afterwards for months with the spent primers in. btw i agree with pistol brass primer pockets not having to be clean.

Yes I have. No corrosion or stuck primers. I have more brass than I keep loaded and when I would finish cleaning a batch of pistol brass from the range it went right back into one container that set on top of the bench to be reloaded. Two more containers holding about 2,000 more 9mm set back on a shelf unused for a 8-9 months at least and some even longer before I loaded a large batch of 3,500 last year. I just kept shooting the same batch for a few years at least.

 

[9mmepiphany]

can you just store it afterwards for months with the spent primers in.

Do you mean without drying the inside of the cases first?

I wouldn't recommend it

 

[Wreck-n-Crew]

Do you mean without drying the inside of the cases first?

I wouldn't recommend it

I think he dries them or plans to from his post here

do any of you tumble cases without depriming, let them dry out and only deprime much later as you are reloading. do you get corrosion?

having to deprime beforehand is what's kept me away from it. but i saw the Frankford arsenal wet tumbler and it looks interesting.

and here...

i don't really care if handgun brass primer pockets are clean. for rifle brass which i load rarely i don't have a problem depriming first although i would prefer to deprime and size at the same time.

i wait till I'm out of brass before cleaning a large batch of brass.

after drying( Do you dry in the oven at a low setting or sundry) i would just put them in containers where they may not get reloaded for up to half a year. can i do that with wet tumbling?

i load on a progressive for handgun so depriming separately feels such an onerous task.

 

[Metal God]

I wet tumble and mostly deprime first . How ever I recently tumbled with primers still in cases and deprimed the next day . I'm not sure what the number was but it was not all that much before I started seeing water dripping down the ram of my press .

So I got to thinking the reason I went to wet tumbling was to reduce contaminates in my reloading room which is in the house . Depriming first does still allow that primer fouling to drop when depriming and that got me thinking . What if I wet tumble with primers in and let dry two days . Works perfect because the primers no longer had standing water or enough to drip when depriming but there was enough moister left inside that I did not get and primer dust/fouling when depriming .

I've not decided If that's my new way of doing it or not . The only real issue I had/have is having hundreds of cases needing a place to dry for two days at a time .

 

[Ghost In The Fog]

I recently started wet tumbling and I am very pleased. I got the Frankford wet tumbler as well as the https://www.amazon.com/Frankford-Arsenal-909283-Platinum-Deprimer/dp/B00RPABDZO for Christmas and it makes depriming so much easier. Great to do while watching TV and I get to spend that time with the family instead of in the reloading room. It also keeps the crud out of the press. The deprimer works fantastic and within a few minutes, it becomes almost automatic to use. Easy to deprime several hundred cases an hour. I use it as I accumulate brass and it is ready to tumble when I have enough to fill the F.A.R.T.
Wet tumbling for me something I enjoy and leaves the brass extremely shiny and clean. As others have said, maybe unnecessary to go to that extreme, but the reloading process is becoming as enjoyable as the shooting.