Heads Up for You Wet Tumblers!

[Bubbas4570]

And if I get much more than a smidgen of suds around the edge, I used too much dish soap.

[ESquared]

Good question, Bubba, but I don't think this stuff is Lemi-shine or citrus based. Will see if I can find out more. Just had a pound of it show up yesterday but haven't had a chance to dig into it yet.

[JEBar]

I've never considered switching to using wet tumblers to clean our brass .... after reading through this thread, I'm growing more and more convinced that its best for us to continue using old school dry tumblers loaded with walnut shell media

[ESquared]

I've never considered switching to using wet tumblers to clean our brass .... after reading through this thread, I'm growing more and more convinced that its best for us to continue using old school dry tumblers loaded with walnut shell media

Depending on how long my rock tumbler holds out, I may investigate the dry method down the road. I went through the checklist when I was trying to figure out which to use as a newbie, and I ended up with wet because I knew I could do it all in my kitchen and not have to mess with dust/clean up down in the garage/bench area (where space is somewhat limited).
For my relatively low volume operation and the $35 price point for a rock tumbler, it seemed like a good way into tumbling at relatively low risk. And I have enough stainless steel pins to last 3 lifetimes!

[JEBar]

I totally support folks using whatever method they feel works best for them .... dust is most certainly an issue with dry media .... we set the tumbler on the back patio or in the garage if its rainy ....

[ESquared]

I totally support folks using whatever method they feel works best for them .... dust is most certainly an issue with dry media .... we set the tumbler on the back patio or in the garage if its rainy ....

Yeah, seems like a Ford/Chevy conversation. They're both trucks.

Reminds me somewhat of the Lube Debates that suck up so much bandwidth on some pistol forums, when the answer turns out to be that it doesn't really matter what lube you use (for the most part), but just make sure that you use lube.

[Rifletom]

I totally support folks using whatever method they feel works best for them .... dust is most certainly an issue with dry media .... we set the tumbler on the back patio or in the garage if its rainy ....

Along with a couple of squirts of Turtle Wax Spray in the crushed walnut media, I toss in a dryer sheet. It helps keep the dust down. About an hour or so, brass looks good.

[JEBar]

Along with a couple of squirts of Turtle Wax Spray in the crushed walnut media, I toss in a dryer sheet. It helps keep the dust down. About an hour or so, brass looks good.

I've never used any wax spray but do use dryer sheets .... when I can't get a dryer sheet, a couple of strips of paper towel helps

[ESquared]

I have nothing to compare it to, other than photos here and there, but I can't imagine brass getting much cleaner (or certainly any faster) than with this rock tumbler/pin set-up. It's low-volume, to be sure, but if a "batch" of 50-75 cases takes only 30-45 minutes, I can move a lot of brass pretty quickly.

[Rifletom]

Evan, you staying away from all that crazy weather around your area? Holy cow!

[Mistered]

but I can't imagine brass getting much cleaner (or certainly any faster) than with this rock tumbler/pin set-up.

Yep - It still amazes me even though I have been doing it for a few years - after dropping dry tumbling.
A load of 9mm from this morning. This was with a few heavy drops of Dawn and a 'shot' of lemon juice!

IMG_1515[1].JPG (240.08 KiB) Viewed 4511 times

[ESquared]

but I can't imagine brass getting much cleaner (or certainly any faster) than with this rock tumbler/pin set-up.

Yep - It still amazes me even though I have been doing it for a few years - after dropping dry tumbling.
A load of 9mm from this morning. This was with a few heavy drops of Dawn and a 'shot' of lemon juice!
IMG_1515[1].JPG

How much "tumble time" for those outstanding results?

[Mistered]

This was about two hours.

[Redthies]

Hadn't seen the vid, and like the song better. R.I.P., Glenn Frey.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSXKyHM133c

That was a good rabbit hole to go down. I grew up on the Eagles, and have seen Don play before, but I never got to see the entire lineup before Glenn died. I did go to Joe Walsh’s Vets Aid concert last Nov 11. What an amazing guy he is! The guy can still seriously rock at age 71. Don was there, along with Ringo Starr, James Taylor and Chris Stapleton. I could have survived without James and Ringo, but Chris Stapleton was outstanding!

[ESquared]

Hadn't seen the vid, and like the song better. R.I.P., Glenn Frey.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSXKyHM133c

That was a good rabbit hole to go down. I grew up on the Eagles, and have seen Don play before, but I never got to see the entire lineup before Glenn died. I did go to Joe Walsh’s Vets Aid concert last Nov 11. What an amazing guy he is! The guy can still seriously rock at age 71. Don was there, along with Ringo Starr, James Taylor and Chris Stapleton. I could have survived without James and Ringo, but Chris Stapleton was outstanding!

Stapleton is a favorite of mine. Walsh can still play a mean guitar, too, would love to see both those guys live.

[tarbe]

I am on my third generation of vibratory dry brass cleaning machines (I run two Frankfort Arsenal units, one with walnut shells/rouge and the other with plain corn cob to finish).

These units are about 5 years old and experience tells me they are getting close to end-of-life.

I think I am going to go over to the wet side this time around. Heck, I end up washing my cases in Ivory dish soap and drying them in the oven, to get all the dust and residue out of the cases anyway...may as well do that after the pin tumble.

How do those twin Harbor Freight units hold up? Are the higher cost units worth the extra coin?

[Mistered]

How do those twin Harbor Freight units hold up? Are the higher cost units worth the extra coin?

The HF of mine is running well with no signs of stopping after a lot of use in three years.
I have seen some HIGHER COST units to be a different color but essentially the same as the HF.
If I had to do it again I MIGHT consider the SINGLE tank HF unit. mostly because I only do similar caliber sizes at the same time E.G. .38/.357/9MM so cases do not 'nest' inside one another.

if you are only doing a couple hunnert or less cases either will work well.

Once you go WET - you'll never REGRET!

[ESquared]

I have the single drum unit and, for the kind of volume I do, it's just fine. 75 rounds (+/-) of 357, around 60 rounds of 45 Colt is plenty at one time. Shop those HF "Super Coupons" @ 25% Off and you're OTD for around 35 Bucks. Hard to beat.

[Old Syko]

For anyone who loads in volume, you can pick up an electric concrete mixer for cheap and they work extremely well with steel pins, lemi-shine and dawn. Even for small loads they're actually easier to use than a standard rotary tumbler. Much simpler to rinse and separate a load and the mess stays outside. I got mine at either Harbor Freight or Northern Tool for just over $100 probably 10 years ago and it works great. Buddy of mine just got one from a yard sale that works like new for $25. I have a Thumblers Tumbler II and 2 Lyman vibratories and haven't used them for a long time but wet is definitely the way to go.

I have a buddy in the military ammo salvage business who used to use an industrial vibratory machine filled with corncob and mineral spirits and what a hassle that was. Nowadays he uses a concrete mixer much larger than mine but with the same mix. He can clean a box of brass 4'x4'x4' in a day and have it all ready to be sorted and bagged for resale the following day.

[Mistered]

For anyone who loads in volume, you can pick up an electric concrete mixer for cheap and they work extremely well with steel pins,

A Concrete Mixer? How many pieces of brass are you thinking this will accommodate - like five thousand ? Are we talking about a construction grade concrete mixer?
I don't think many need this kind of capacity!