Changing to wet tumbling with stainless steel pins?

First topic message reminder :

Using corn cob media in a vibratory tumbler has served me well over the years but after 9 cycles of cleaning the 45ACP cases used were looking pretty bad.  The buildup of case lube mixed with soot left inside was starting to take its toll.  I think it even contributed to feeding problems.  I started to just wipe the crude off each cartridge but that got old quick so decided to try wet tumbling with stainless steel pins.  I should get the setup in about a week.  In the meantime I went through the boring process of depriming a batch of cases.  Anyone else face this dilemma and switched to wet tumbling?  Any new lessons to learn in the process?

Greetings,

I got started on wet tumbling years ago. Decap the cases and tumble in hot water with Palmolive. Drained the Palmolive and tumbled again (20 minutes) with a little Citric Acid to remove the oxidation and rinse. This cleaned the outside but not the inside nor primer pockets very well.

Then one day my Pal Duane showed me some brass cleaned with pins. What a difference. Current process is decap, add water and Palmolive and a small scoop of Citric Acid, tumble 2-3 hours, drain and rinse.

I dry the cases in a Food Dehydrator (look for at Goodwill and other Thrift shops). It looks like a circular beehive. Gentle heat and moving air drys them readily.

I do not use any case lube after tumbling.

CAVEAT. I do use case lube to size 9mm cases prior to tumbling due to the tapered case.

Cheers,

Dave

I have been wet tumbling for a couple years.  
1/2 tsp lemeshine.  
One table spoon car wash soap and pins for a few hours.
I dump out all that black water, rinse a little and add one table spoon car wax.  Tumble long enough to coat with wax.  I have the frankford arsonal ball that separates the pins by cranking it in a bucket.  Easy peasy.   
Dry in a dehydrator on LOW.  Cases look like they came out of the Midway box.  

For 9mm, I too use a little case lube.  Not needed for 45.  When I first started, I did not add the wax and cases were a bear to size.

If I put the dehydrator on HI heat, it tarnishes the cases.

Enjoy.

Wet beats the heck out of dry and I did it for lead reasons.

I’ve been wet tumbling my rifle brass with pins for several years, and just started using it for my 45 brass.  I shot my first bullseye matches this year, so I’ve been stepping up with respect to my loading process and quality.

I know with rifle I couldn’t see a difference on target with stainless media vs a vibratory tumbler.  The value of it to me, besides the shiny brass, is it saves the step of cleaning the rifle primer pockets for free.  The other big advantage I believe is that it’s easier for me to spot defects in brass, and that’s why I started doing it for my bullseye loads.

I have cleaned brass with all the popular methods (corn cob/walnut tumble, stainless pins, ultrasonic with special fluid, ect.) For the most part they all do the same thing, clean up the brass. Dry tumble is simplest, but can be slightly dusty. Any method involving water has drying, which can have benefit of depriming before hand (or not depending on personal philosophy/time constraints) 
One method or another may work slightly better given specific circumstances, but end of the day pick the one which works best for you and your personal situation.

I find dry leaves a satin finish, wet a brute finish

Just a hint.  Using a vibratory tumbler is not as simple as just adding media and cases.  It takes some observation and experience to get the best action with your specific type of brass / media.  

The cases should cascade over inside the tumbler and as they do, some to most of the media will come out of the case allowing more vibration of the media inside the case.  If you can't see them swirling over and tumbling back under again, you need more brass or less media to get the action you need from a vibratory tumbler.  So, if your cases are not getting somewhat clean on the inside, try adding more brass or less media.  They will not get as clean (and shiny) inside or out as wet with pins, but the crud should not be building up.  

This action is a function of the case mouth area versus volume (to let some of the media empty out of the case so you get more vibratory action inside the case), so .45 and 9mm cases tend to do better on the inside than say .38 special cases.  

Mine kinda reach a stasis point with about the upper half of the inside of the case pretty clean and just somewhat darker at the inside bottom not matter how many times they are fired.   

CR

Clean shiny  brass inside helps me see the 2.7 grain charge in a 38 case.

David

I received my tumbler and SS media yesterday and today put a 4 lb. batch of 45 ACP cases through it.  It's amazing how clean both inside and out they came.  Unfortunately I jumped the gun a bit and didn't follow through with the advice in getting a proper media separator, magnet and dehydrator before getting started.  Those pins are absolutely insidious little guys but I managed to coral most of them.  I dried the cases using a large bath towel.  It did an OK job but I can see the advantage of using a dehydrator.  Our local Goodwill didn't have one for sale so I'll probably buy something new.  We just had a Cal Store open up here and they had a Hornady dehydrator for $90.  I don't know if I'm ready to spend that much for one though.  Thanks for all of the advice in getting me started into wet tumbling.  This has been a 100% success venture.

Update - Although drying with a large bath towel seems to do a good job drying the outside of the cases I noticed the insides remain wet in spots.  If placed in a sealed container I suspect that moisture will not be good.  I'm convinced that a dehydrator is a must if wet tumbling.

You can also use your oven to get the cases dry. Just pre-heat it to 225 degrees then turn it off. Spread the cases on an old baking tray. Place it in the oven for about an hour or so. They'll be dry. Remove and air cool before storing.

5shooter wrote:You can also use your oven to get the cases dry. Just pre-heat it to 225 degrees then turn it off. Spread the cases on an old baking tray. Place it in the oven for about an hour or so. They'll be dry. Remove and air cool before storing.

I’ve done this,  but my oven allows me to preheat to a lower set temperature.  I find in my climate, it takes about 15 minutes. And of course, it it my kitchen, and my oven, so I don’t hear any complaints.  :-)

Other option is buy/acquire more brass. I typically let my brass air dry for 2-3 days before putting in a container if I wet tumble or clean with an ultrasonic.

When I have a smaller batch of wet brass, I break out the compressor and blow dry...

Harbor Freight has a food dehydrator that works pretty well and is fairly inexpensive,  Might want to check that out.

As far as drying.  I just keep them in a wire basket and leave them on top of the boiler they dry nicely in a few days. 
Tom

Food dehydrator, $5 at a flee market because I felt generous!

I dried my first couple batches on a towel.  

I do not deprime.

I had some 38s that went pop instead of BANG!.  They must have not been dry, so a cheap dehydrator at wally world was the answer.

I have this separator.    
https://ads.midwayusa.com/product/1016958652?pid=271904

I had the bucket and separator from dry tumbling.  

and my dehydrator looks like this.



This

https://www.amazon.com/Elite-Gourmet-Dehydrator-BPA-Free-Stackable/dp/B08BSQZ2LS/ref=asc_df_B08BSQZ2LS/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=459650416237&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=740354416412567811&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9005588&hvtargid=pla-966988442049&psc=1
David

That's the ticket James.  I checked the local Goodwill, Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist but nothing has turned up like that yet.  If my patience runs out I'll probably buy something new like what David R mentioned.