why do people dry tumble and not wet tumble?

[Wreck-n-Crew]

In a way I do both. I wash tumble to remove most of the filth and then dry them. From there I use the Lyman red crushed walnut with the tumble lube to polish. Longer process and all but it keeps my media cleaner and I don't like using dryer sheets. Am I overthinking this? Little OCD I guess...

 

[7mmb]

Who cares if the inside of the case is spotless? It affects nothing. You only need the outside clean so it doesn't scratch your dies. Wet tumbling is a pain. I tumble with dry and then can go straight to reloading.

 

[41 Mag]

Well like most I dry tumble.

My first tumbler however was the RCBS Sidewinder which came with stuff to wet tumble. Well that lasted about as long as it took to get rid of the stuff it came with, then I bought a vibrating cleaner and haven't looked back.

Like mentioned I picked up my media at a sandblasting supply in 50# sacks for less than $20. That was close to 20-years ago and I still have some of each in partial 5 gallon buckets. Trust me when I say 50# of fine corn cob and walnut will last a long TIME. I have even used some of it to fill shooting bags and such.

I have two of them. One does big batches, the other sits close to my bench, and as I deprime and size I simply drop the case into the top, when done sizing I turn it on for 10 or 15 minutes while I am clearing the deck of my bench, then when I have my powder, bullets, and primers ready the cases are ready as well.

 

[howlnmad]

Because I'm to cheap to go buy a new tumbler just so I can wet tumble and rinse and then wait for them to dry. I don't care what the inside of the case looks like, I can't see it once I seat a bullet.

 

[Potatohead]

My crushed walnut seems to clean the primer pockets ok.

Also, I've yet to see this "dust" problem I always hear about. It's either invisible or not there.

I'm always open to an easier technique though.

 

[Potatohead]

I don't see any dust from the walnut grits

+1 Ham

 

[jmorris]

But, while you are running up the electric bill running the dryer for 40 minutes drying your wet brass?

To be honest I haven't wet tumbled in a long time. I loaned my large tumbler to a friend to use and just bring him brass to clean and stop back by to pick it up later.

He had just finished this batch of 3000 or so when I stopped by one day in August. In the Texas sun that afternoon, in 2.5 beers not only were they dry but also too hot to hold in your hand.

 

[LiveLife]

wet tumbled ... batch of 3000 or so when I stopped by one day in August. In the Texas sun that afternoon, in 2.5 beers not only were they dry but also too hot to hold in your hand.

But that's in Texas summer heat of August!

For the rest of reloaders in less sunny parts of the country, reloaders could be all drunk after several cases of beer waiting for the brass to dry (and moisture inside the primer pocket may still remain). For folks in wet Northwest, they'd be passed out as the rain kept falling on their wet tumbled brass.

And for us impatient reloaders, we want to reload as soon as the brass is ready and drinking and reloading don't mix.

I think wet tumbling with stainless steel pins definitely has beneficial applications (like bench rest shooting to remove all carbon from the inside of case to not damage/erode the barrel rifling and reduce exposure to lead) but for most, especially for pistol shooting, dry tumbling with walnut/corn cob/NuFinish is quick and easy.

 

[Beanie-Bean]

I've done all methods mentioned in this thread since I started a few years back. Corn cob/Nu Finish/dryer sheets was my mainstay. Then I tried out ultrasonic cleaning, but found I could only do small batches at a time. I only used this method for really dirty, muddy, or dark brass.

Then, I moved on to stainless tumbing. I've got the process down now, and I'm not waiting on the brass to dry (also a beneficiary of the drier air and Texas heat) because I keep tumbling the brass I've used and then place them in their respective "good to go" containers. When I see them getting low, then I'll start lining up the brass I need to replenish.

Yes, I have to do quite a few more steps, but that is by choice. I get to weed out any suspect brass during the process, and also get to sort by headstamp if I'm developing new loads.

Why do I like to drive a car with a manual transmission? Because I can, and it's what I enjoy. Not everyone will do things the same way, and I totally respect their decisions and choices.

 

[solman]

I tried wet tumbling and the results were great. It is a lot more work so, I am back to dry tumbling as well. I found that separating the pins and brass, and draining the water without losing the pins to be a hassle. The best I could do was to use the Dillon case media separator to spin out the brass and pins. Still you have to dry out the cases and it's not quick enough if you want to load right away. Once in a while I will wet tumble in the summer and put the brass out in a tray under the sun. That dries them well enough and fast too.

 

[leefan]

I forget which kind soul here linked us to the wet tumbling vendor, but said vendor also sells private labelled desiccators for case drying. I tried that in my own thirty year old dryer, exactly the same looking as what he sells, and does it dry fast! Thanks! Now I don't have to sneak my wife's hair dryer.

 

[Elkins45]

I dry tumble because I have a dry tumbler. When I bought my tumbler in 1988 I don't think the reloading community had really embraced wet tumbling. I certainly don't remember seeing stainless pin tumblers in the Cabela's or Gander Mountain catalogs.

Even now the expense of wet tumbling seems much higher than dry, and a lot of the tumblers I've seen on forum posts have been made at home from plumbing pipe and cannibalized motors. For the first few years I reloaded I didn't own a tumbler at all, I just washed my brass with Dawn. I don't remember enjoying waiting for it to dry back then, and I doubt I have gotten more patient.

Besides, how shiny does your brass really need to be?

 

[Nordeste]

To each his own. I own a ultrasonic and a small tumbler and use both. My thought is that wet tumbling with stainless media is harder on brass (galling), whereas ultrasonic is the less harmful but you won't obtain shiny brass out of it. This is where the dry tumbler comes handy.

My procedure is first of all, decap with a Lee universal decapping die, then go to the ultrasonic. I like clean primer pockets. I know it's not necessary for handgun, but I still like them clean, it makes for a better feel when inserting a new primer into the primer pocket. Together with the dirty water, goes all the toxic primer residue. Then they get a pass under the hair dryer (five minutes do) and go to the dry tumbler+(local equivalent of) nu finish for one or two hours. The result is clean in and out, primer pockets spotless brass. As you have mentioned, dry tumbling has a lubricating and protecting side effect that I have noticed and like.

How I do is not the quickest way, but it is how I like it. This said, when I've been in a hurry I have just dropped my cases in the dry tumbler for a couple of hours and that was enough.

 

[another pake]

I'm relatively new to this forum, but not to shooting and reloading.

My methods for cleaning brass probably differ because my situation differs. First of all, as I said in another thread, I'm one of the fortunate guys who get to shoot right at home on my farm. So do my sons, sons-in-law and my grand kids. There is usually a lot of empty brass available, and for us shooting and reloading are family times and social events.

When reloading, I prefer not to resize dirty brass because I like to keep the grit out of the die. That's just me. It's a preference. So, I decap first. Or rather one of the grand kids does. Even a young child can use a Lee decapping punch and a hammer while sitting next grandpas anvil in the shop. I'm usually tinkering with something or other while that goes on and it gives us both a good opportunity to chat about "important" stuff.

All decamped brass of any caliber gets tossed in a 5 gallon bucket. The bucket never gets full cuz from time to time someone will say, "Can we clean brass today?"
"Sure, why not?"
So we throw an ice cream pail full into the wet tumbler and let it go, while we go on to something else. When they're done we load em to an old dehydrator that sits on the corner of the bench for just this reason. After a half hour or so we unload, inspect for damage and sort by caliber. Now they're ready to reload the way I prefer, but there certainly are more ways than one to skin that cat.

Best way?

If it meant cleaning each piece by hand I'd do it to spend a little time with the kids and grand kids. But that's me.

 

[LiveLife]

When reloading, I prefer not to resize dirty brass because I like to keep the grit out of the die.

Been dry tumbling so long I forgot to mention that. Resizing clean dry tumbled brass keeps your dies from getting dirty and prevents dies from putting scratches on the brass.

Even with rifle cases, I use Lee Universal decapping die first to deprime all the cases then I tumble clean before I full-length resize the rifle cases. Then trim/chamfer case neck, prime and reload with powder/bullet.

 

[mtrmn]

Much less PITA with the old standard vibratory tumblers.
I add a couple ounces mineral spirits to mine and it cleans better and no dust.

 

[jmorris]

For the rest of reloaders in less sunny parts of the country, reloaders could be all drunk after several cases of beer waiting for the brass to dry (and moisture inside the primer pocket may still remain). For folks in wet Northwest, they'd be passed out as the rain kept falling on their wet tumbled brass.

True enough. As always, results may vary

 

[blarby]

For the majority of my operations, I use dry tumbled brass.

Not only is the degree of cleanliness afforded by wet tumbling not required for this average use, it also increases the time required ( drying ) and difficulty ( removes "naturally" occuring lubricants from the firing and prior cleaning cycles- resulting in stuck cases and a large amount of galling if not relubed precisely).

I also finish tumble loaded rounds- something I believe is actually more beneficial than a squeaky clean case to begin the operation.

This aids my end use by removing toolmarks and residue from the presses and loading operation, and coats all of my ammunition with a combination of superfine dry lubricant that aids in chambering and extraction, and a(n) polymer that prevents corrosion during storage.

I also possess an ultrasonic cleaner for restoring excessively corroded brass, or for completely "undressing" a set of cases for both detailed inspection of fireforming results and the progression of general brass fatigue, and where the absolutely uniformity of the brass is of upmost importance ; long range benchrest rounds and personal defense loads that are worth the extra effort. Even with that process, they still get dry tumbled first to remove coarse material, and dry tumbled last for the reasons stated above.

For me, I've danced around the idea of wet tumbling. If I were to do it, it would be in extremely large drums to process first use brass that was obtained from a bulk source. We're talking in the neighborhood of thousands of cases- not hundreds.


In the end, its hard to say which method suits anyone the best.

What really matters is which method suits YOU the best.


As to overall beauty of the brass ? I offer many fine examples ( as have others ) that the end results very quite widely by user, and how the techniques were applied, here :

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=654866

Little steel pins are not required for great results.

But, while you are running up the electric bill running the dryer for 40 minutes drying your wet brass?

I got my dry brass out of the tumbler and reloaded it!!!

rc

True.

AND, if I stuck brass in my dryer intentionally, I'd be figuring out how do disengage from a fully armed wife- being shot at with ammnunition I designed to be as lethal and reliable as possible

 

[Potatohead]

This thread is reenforcing my belief that you cant teach an old dog new tricks.

 

[Arkansas Paul]

I've toyed with the idea of wet tumbling. I'm still considering it.
Part of me says that drying it is an unnecessary step, but the vain part of me likes the way it shines.

 

[Rule3]

This thread is reenforcing my belief that you cant teach an old dog new tricks.

Sure you can if it provides a reasonable return on your effort or improves the end result. Wet tumbling with the high intial cost and the other reasons mentioned proved no benefit to me, To others if they like it go for it.

Dirty brass actually shoots as well as clean brass.

Clean brass is clean enough,(so you do not mess up your dies) it does not need to be blinding. With a dry tumbler I can make brass look as good as wet so why bother.? The inside of the case does not need to be cleaned. Heck some rifle shooters use a powered metal brush on the inside??

 

[Warp]

This potential for wet tumbled (and not later dry tumbled with polish) brass to tarnish over time in storage. Does anybody have photos of what this looks like and how long it took to happen?

It hurts nothing other than how pretty the brass is, correct?

 

[cfullgraf]

Technically yes, psychologically maybe not.

 

[plodder]

I started with a dry vibratory tumbler...(well, when much younger I never gave cleaning the brass a thought). But, as I acquired more calibers and many thousands of more cases and a progressive setup, I started wanting to have cleaner brass and the ability to do more rounds at a time.

So, I fabricated my own stainless media wet tumbler. With capacity of 2000 .45 ACP & 1000 .223 it can do far more than my vibratory tumbler per batch. And it results in absolutely sterile primer pockets, flash holes and internal cases. Drying is never an issue because I either lay it out on a towel for air drying, or if in a hurry stick in a dryer bag & put it on the stationary shelf of our clothes dryer on Hi setting for 10 minutes.

Call me crazy, but I like shiny brass!

Yes, there are a few extra steps to stainless media tumbling, but if we were all interested in the easy way we wouldn't be on this Handloading and Reloading thread and would instead be on the whiney, hand-wringing "I can't find ammo" or "I hate gougers" threads, wouldn't we?

 

[jerkface11]

You can take brass right out of a dry tumbler and load it.