When tumbling brass how long do you tumble it?

[BobABQ]

I have a wet tumbler that uses stainless steel pins and water so my question is; how many hours do you tumble brass?

1-2 hours? 2-3 or 3+ hours?

 

[Metal God]

Dry = 1hr , wet = 1.5 hrs . No specific reasons for those other than that’s always been long enough for each type to get the job done regardless of brass condition . I should add that I only dry tumble to remove lube and put a finish shine on .

 

[Blue68f100]

If I only 1/2 fill the drum it will clean them in a hour. If I fill it up 3/4 it takes 2-3 hr to get the same clean. This is with Lime-Shine and ArmourAll Wash & Wax.

 

[GBExpat]

For a full load (cases + SS pins) I use an almost-fill of hot tap water (hard well water, btw), a splash of ArmorAll W&W and a soupçon of powdered citric acid ... then I run my FART (fullsize Franklin Armory Rotary Tumble) for 3 hours.

EDIT:
In other words, I FART for 3 hours at a time, every time.

It is said that everyone has a talent.

 

[LiveLife]

Dry tumbling with Berry's 400 (1000 9mm case capacity) loaded to 600-800 cases (Loading more tends to slow down tumbling action) using Harbor Freight fine grit (24) walnut media treated with NuFinish/Turtle Wax liquid polish:

• 15-20 minutes - For quick cleaning of range brass to reload with light polish

• 1+ hour - For shiny brass

 

[jmorris]

Wet with pins, 1hr.

 

[BobABQ]

Thank you everyone. I have a pretty good idea now of how long I should start with.

 

[labnoti]

I wet tumble 10 minutes before I decap, resize and expand, and then another 15 or 20 minutes afterward. I use to tumble 2 hours but I found case mouths would get peened. I reduced it to one hour and still saw peening after three or four cycles. Now I'm tumbling a total of 30 minutes or less and my cases have never been cleaner. I use dish soap and lemishine with stainless media. I use a dial timer to shut it off automatically.

 

[Walkalong]

Sometimes 2 hours, sometimes 4 hours, sometimes overnight, forgot some for four days once.

 

[Ruger 15151]

1.5 hour of wet tumbling to clean cases and 2.5 hours if you want the primer pockets squeaky clean.

 

[748]

I tumble before I do anything for a day, 2 or 3 days what ever it takes to get it as clean as I am looking for.

 

[gifbohane]

I gotta be doing something wrong. I tumble for 6 or 8 hours. But the media has a lot of miles on it and I used to fill the tumbler almost full

 

[Highland Lofts]

I have the larger Frankfor wet tumbler. I deptime with the lee universal deprimeing die the wet tumble pwith a half teaspoon of Lemi-Shine (Booster), a cap full of armor all wash & was and a small sqriut of blue Daen dish soap.I put about 600 to 700 223/5.56 cases in the tumble for an hour. Drain it


Add clean cold water run it for ten minutes, drain it anf dump the brass in a small plastin bucket with semi warm water and grab a handfull of brass in my left hand.
Grab two cases, swish them right side up in the water to remove and pins that clung yo the inside of the cases, take a quick look at them and place them on my drying racks.



Hit them with a air hose and set them out in the sun
for a few hours or inside for a day or two to get thoughly dry.

Wheather it is my personal brass or brass I collect to resell.

I love super clean brass. It doesnt need to be so clean, but it is the way I like it.

This is the 223 brass I just deprimed and before I tumbled it.



It looks like gold nuggets when tumbled.

 

[.38 Special]

Vibratory tumbler with walnut media, dry. About three hours with brass to get it shiny. About an hour with nickel.

 

[peels]

....and the Lord speak, saying, "first shalt thou use some holy pins. Then shalt thou tumble for three hours, no more, no less. Three shall be the number thou shalt tumble, and the number of hours shalt be three. Four shalt thou not tumble, neither shall be the hours two, excepting that thou then proceed to three. Five is right out! Once hour three, being the third number, be reached, then emptyith thou content and let dry, thy carbon, who, being naughty in My sight, shall snuff it"

 

[packetloss]

It really depends on the condition of the cases. If they don't have a lot of carbon buildup or tarnish then 1 hour is more than enough. With lots of tarnish (like outdoor range pickup that has been outside for years), then it can take 2, 3 hour sessions (with fresh dawn/citric acid) to restore them to nice and shiny.

 

[375supermag]

Hi...
I dry tumble with walnut or corn cob media.
Tried washing brass...seemed to time intensive to me. Never tried wet tumbling with stainless steel pins.
Usually tumble brass 3-4 hours... always comes out shiny and clean.

 

[Insignificant bill]

15 mins

 

[lordpaxman]

Thank you everyone. I have a pretty good idea now of how long I should start with.

I read most of the posts and sure as heck wouldn’t be able to come up with a number. There’s a bit of learning curve with wet tumbling. Water, additives and quantity, brass caliber, condition and quantity, and media will affect the time required.

I’d advise you find some way to measure the quantity of brass you put in as well as the additives so you can develop a tumble recipe, much like a load recipe.

For my FART, 9mm, 1 24 oz plastic coffee can of brass (about 1K), 5# pins, 1 9mm case of 3X dawn, 2 9mm case of citric acid, and 2-3 hours will come out real shiny. I always finish with rinsing in the fart to get the soap out, about 3-4 times, and then tumble again with 2 9mm cases of citric acid. I save this water for the next batch of 9mm.

Adding more 9mm cases to this mix will result in less shiny brass but it’s still very clean. Good luck!

 

[JDeere]

Corn cob media in a vibratory tumbler 1 Hour no fuss no mess. Add a dab of car polish each load. People complain about media getting stuck in primer pocket. I don't size and deprime till after it's clean...

 

[bihj]

3 hours wet or dry

 

[Eugen]

Dry tumble 2 hrs with walnut media. Or 5 hours when I forget my tumbler is on and take the wife out for dinner.

 

[WestKentucky]

I just turn on the vibratory bowl when I head to work, turn it off when I get back home. Even with a full load the 10 hours I’m gone is enough time to clean the brass up.

 

[Highland Lofts]

For my tumbler I use
a cap full of Armoral wash & wax
1/2 teaspoon Lemishine Booster
and a small squirt of blue dawn.

We have city water

My brother has well water and he has to cut the lemishine in half of the brass comes out dull.

 

[shamfrod]

I wet tumble for about 2 hours with the smaller Frankfort Arsenal unit.