Got tired of hand washing cases

[Rugerfanboy]

I do prefer simple solutions, when practical.

Yup, it's called wet tumbling.

[clovishound]

I do prefer simple solutions, when practical.

Yup, it's called wet tumbling.

I considered wet tumbling. It does have several advantages, as well as several disadvantages. One of the things I didn't like about hand washing was the whole rinsing and drying thing. That would not change with wet tumbling. In the end the economics and popularity of vibratory tumbling won out. I don't have so much invested in it, that I can't try something different down the road without too many regrets.

[Squatch]

I'm no expert but I think I can help. I just did a bunch of cases. Several loads. I've been experimenting. The reason the cases have wet media in them is because you didn't mix it 1st. Also the mineral spirits is important. It's a great mild solvent and gets the black off. It also thins the NF so it gets absorbed by the media. If my cases don't polish in a reasonable time then I need to add more wet mix.

I use lizard litter. Ground walnut shells. I fill my hopper about 2/3 full. I then take an old cat food can and add 1 cap Nu Finish and 2 caps mineral spirits and mix them with a popsickle stick. Then I pour this around the media. Close it up and run for 15 minutes with no brass in it to mix the solution with the media. This is important. It keeps the media from getting wet clumpy spots. I then take 2 dryer sheets and cut up into little squares and add them to the media. This cleans the media they say. Sure seems to. The black soot sticks to the sheets. Then add the cases and start tumbling. A couple of hours usually does the trick. Not just to clean but super polished.

I've found that if they aren't coming clean in a couple of hours then either run some more or I should have added solution to the batch. When I run several consecutive batches I'll add more solution at least every other batch. If I don't then it takes much longer to polish the last of the soot off. The MS evaporates away slowly.

The only batch that had clumps of media in the cases was the last one I ran the other day. I failed to pre run the mix in the media and just added it with the cases.

Every other batch I remove the dryer sheet pieces and replace. I run a max of about 2-300 44 mag cases or 100 45/70 at a time.

I takes longer but I sit down at the bench and wipe each one. I just pull a couple at a time out by hand and tap them out and place on a rag towel until the hopper is empty. This removes the stuff inside. Once the hopper is empty I sit down with another rag and a 44 bore mop on a pistol cleaning rod. I pick up each case and tap it on the table open side down. Run the mop inside and then wipe and drop the shiny case into a plastic container and repeat for all the ammo. I figure it's probably not necessary but they sure come out purdy and I have no issues with media left in the cases. I figure this also removes any residue from the solution that might later cause a problem. It takes a little time but not bad really and the results are ammo that looks as good as the Henry I'm putting them in.

I have run probably 3,000 cases through the media in my hopper and will probably replace it soon. I was thinking of putting some of the old stuff in a small can as campfire starter. Mineral spirits impregnated walnuts shells outta burn pretty well!

These pics are with the old camera earlier in the year when I was just getting started. The last round I did last week came out looking like the receiver on my BB. I'm getting better at it.

I know shiny cases aren't needed. But like so many things when you are done the finished product looks like you really accomplished something. I don't shoot so many rounds that I can't take the extra time.

Hope this helps.

[clovishound]

The media left in the cases is not clumps of wet media. It is just the case still partially full of dry media. The cases never turned over and emptied. I haven't had an issue with clumps of Nu Finish. When I did the first batch, I put the capful in, and then let it run for a bit. I did break up a couple of the larger clumps by hand, and they incorporated quickly. The last two batches, I just dumped the NF in, dumped in the cases and let them run. Did not see any clumps after a minute or two.

I may try the MS. I would not be surprised if it helped with both removing some residue as well as aiding in the media "cutting" through the grime.

[clovishound]

I ran the .357 cases for a couple more hours. Still had some stubborn discoloration on a few. A swipe with some 0000 steel wool will take care of that. We'll see if it starts to build back up.

Loaded up the last few Xtreme HPs I had on hand to try some Universal I picked up recently. I have another box of the HPs coming in tomorrow.


Those Xtremes do make some nice looking rounds.

[Rugerfanboy]

I do prefer simple solutions, when practical.

Yup, it's called wet tumbling.

I considered wet tumbling. It does have several advantages, as well as several disadvantages. One of the things I didn't like about hand washing was the whole rinsing and drying thing. That would not change with wet tumbling. In the end the economics and popularity of vibratory tumbling won out. I don't have so much invested in it, that I can't try something different down the road without too many regrets.

Here's my take on wet tumbling. I wet tumble cause I shoot allot, hence the reason why I have a progressive press. It takes allot of time to clean brass with vibratory tumblers. So, I research wet tumbling and at the time, only commercial wet tumblers were available and they cost allot of money. So, I found some guys online building some wet tumblers and thought, hey, I can do that, but for whole lot cheaper. Fast forward past the build. I deprime my brass cause clean primer pockets, along with uniform primer pockets and uniform flash holes, are more accurate. For target shooting, yes you can get by with dirty primer pockets and so-so clean brass. I for one, have a high degree of QC instilled in myself from being former military. I want my brass clean cause I inspect each and every piece of brass that goes threw my firearms. I will not take a chance of a bad piece of brass getting reloaded and put in one of my firearms when I could of prevented it. I do not shoot and then clean every piece of brass that I was just shooting. I wait for when I have several thousand pieces of that particular caliber to be cleaned. So, wet tumbling has filled that void for me. My process of wet tumbling 2500 cases of 38 special, consist of pouring the brass inside of the drum, put in one gallon of water, 15 lbs of stainless steel pins and a 45acp piece of brass full of a product called Lemishine and a teaspoon of dawn dish washing soap. I wet tumble those cases for two hours. When the two hours are up, I pour the brass and SS pins into a RCBS media separator. Since I'm wet tumbling 2500 cases of 38 special, it takes three baskets loads to get the SS pins and the brass separated. At this point, I do not rinse the brass off with fresh water cause I've found it's not needed. I have 50,000 plus pieces of brass on hand and I have mastered wet tumbling (not a business, just a high volume shooter). Anyways, after the brass and the SS pins are separated, I take the brass and run them threw a beach towel, which only purpose is to get the water off the outside of the brass cause if you don't, it will leave water spots on the outside of the brass. After that, I have two brass dryers that I use to dry the 2500 pieces of brass. Which I let run for about 45 minutes to an hour. After that, I spend about two hours inspecting these casings for defects. That puts me out to five hours, which in time, I have 2500 pieces of 38 special brass ready to reload.

For less than $300 dollars, these are all the items you'd need to clean and dry your brass. All you would need is water and electricity. If you don't want to buy the dryer, you could put the brass inside of the stove on a cookie sheet and set the temp to 150 degree's. In about 30 minutes to an hours, your brass is ready to be inspected and then to be hand loaded. I've included some pictures of my clean brass. A vibratory tumbler will not clean brass like a wet tumbler will. Since I've switched over to wet tumbling, I have found several pieces of brass that I would have missed in dry tumbling. Wet tumbling is just one of my processes that I use to build premium and accurate ammunition. Case prep and high quality dies is a few more.

Platinum Series Rotary Tumbler (Stainless Steel Media Tumbler) $198.06
http://www.midsouthshooterssupply.com/i ... Tumbler%29

Double Action Rotary Sifter On Sale: $19.68
http://www.midsouthshooterssupply.com/i ... ry-Sifter-

Platinum Series Brass Dryer $55.09
http://www.midsouthshooterssupply.com/i ... ass-Dryer-

Lemi Shine Detergent Booster, 12 oz $4.13
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Lemi-Shine-Su ... z/15724190

Dawn Original Dishwashing Liquid, 56 fl oz $3.93
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Dawn-Original ... z/17243867

[Rugerfanboy]

My home built wet tumbler.

[clovishound]

If I had that many cases to clean, I would have to use something a little different.

As it is, this seems to be pretty easy to fit in the time schedule. It only takes a couple minutes on either end to load up, and then unload/sift the cases. The couple hours tumbling, I'm doing something else. I can only do several hundred cases at a time, but that works well for me.

[JEBar]

interesting setup .... your casings most certainly come out exceptionally clean

[Travlin]

I inherited an ultrasonic cleaner from my late friend. I put in a little Lemi Shine and run the cases about 20 minutes after de-priming them . I made a basket from hardware cloth to rinse them with water. While still in the basket, I use a heat gun to dry the cases while shaking them around. I have the big orange Lyman vibratory cleaner and lots of walnut shell media and Nu-finish. I like the ultrasonic better.