Wet Tumbling My Biggest Run Of Growdy 45 ACP Brass Without Pins
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- čas přidán 5. 09. 2024
- There's dirty range brass and there's growdy range brass. Growdy range brass is so bad you don't even want to touch it with bare fingers. No way that you would even want to run it through any die in your possession. So off to the wet tumbling first... in the biggest load I've yet attempted.
I de-prime before I tumble, it prevents water trapped in cartridges. Then I use the same wet tumble method with pins, cleans everything. I then dump the pins and water into a bucket and refill the tumbler with cold water and add a strong magnet or two and run the tumbler for a few minutes. This catches all the pins that didn't come out the first time & rinses the brass. I then dump the water into bucket & shake the water out, grab the magnet & add a few strips or chamois or terry cloth & run for several minutes. This almost dries the brass completely. Lay on towel to air dry, I use the ceiling fan to help.
NYfirefighter357 - Hooray for the NYFD..!! You've got a great system to get where you want to go. I'm looking at using a spinner media separator to get the pins out. We definitely don't want any pins in our 223s. Best to ya, FC
I looked at the tumbler you used then saw the price. YIKES! and the capacity; not as big as I like. But wet tumbling is indeed the way to go. I started Wet tumbling manually with a plastic Skippy jar Lemi-shine and soap and a lot of healthy exercise. It works but technology works better. Anyway: I instead of a tumbler went to Harbor Freight and bought their smallest electric Cement Mixer. Load in about 2lbs of pins and 1000 rnds of brass. Set up in the yard with the garden hose, a slosh of dish soap and a shake of Lemi-shine and go back to a cuppa coffee and yell at the CNN new guy for an hour or so. COme back, dump the yuck and run again with water 2 or three or four times (be sure to run a magnet over the area you dump in. Anyway, the mixer was actually slightly more but it processes an industrial ammount of brass.
Grey Pilgrim - Well, there you go, pilgrim...fantastic. The cement mixer is the way that Jerry Miculek does his brass - but he shoots ammo by the jug. You will be able to go into business with that rig... Best to ya, FC
I'm new so there's a lot I don't know...but I think people wet tumble way longer than necessary...like dry tumble times. I need to do more experimenting, testing... but I'm leaning toward 40 minutes to one hour being adequate. I'd like to see someone do a test like this with really dirty brass, but stop at 30 minutes, reach in and take out a fistful, rinse and dry them...do this again at 45 min, 1 hr, 1:15, and 1:30. Compare each handful side by side to get an accurate idea of how time tumbling affects brass.
I think too much time in contact with a citric acid solution might be detrimental... and avoid acetic acid (vinegar) completely...
I LOVE my Frankford Arsenal wet tumbler! I have used that thing a lot! It's running right now! I never use the pins on pistol brass. I deprime my rifle brass first and use the pins. It works great. I fill mine about 2/3 of the way full. If I fill more than that I noticed it's not quite as effective. Hope you are doing well and staying politically active. California needs to hear from good folks like you!
😀
CountryBoyPrepper - You've got that processing goin' good...We shooters of Calif. are not giving up ever, but we are rolling with the punches... Best to ya, FC
I bought myself a wet tumbler because of your videos. I love it. I have not tumbled without pins yet. I got a bunch of 30-06 brass dated 1942 off my late grandfather. It was shot long ago and corrosion was taking its toll. After wet tumbling for 24 hours my father didn't believe me that it was the same brass. There was only a handful that was unusable. I really enjoy your videos. This is the first video I skipped through because I couldn't stand the suspense of seeing how clean it became. Jake
Jake Outdoors - like skipping to the end of a Star Trek Voyager episode to see the punchline... ;) :) ;) Have a great day, FC
Fortune Cookie I’ll share how I’m doing it. After tumbling I just open the lid and dump everything into a 5 gallon bucket. Then I rinse my tumbler with warm water and dump it into my bucket and rinse off the lid. Then I dump out the nasty water and add more clean. When I get it pretty clear then I sort the pins. You can use an old noodle strainer with 1/4” holes to get most all the pins out. Put the strainer down in the water while you shake the cases and use an up and down motion. That makes the pins slide right out. I leave the pins in the bucket and drain off the water and put them back in the tumbler and leave the lid off and let it dry out setting in another 5 gallon bucket. My cases I throw on a towel folded in half and pull up the corners, fold them over and shake the water out. When I get most of it out then I dump them on a clean towel and inspect them and let them dry. I get less than 6 pins after doing it this way on my towel and just throw them in the tumbler. No water spots, brass looks brand new even inside and primer pockets too. I love doing it this way and I showed some fellow loaders my brass and they were blown away. Thanks for the lessons sir!
Good job, but you should have de-primed them first this way your primer pockets would have been cleaned as well.
I use a cement mixer to do an entire 5 gallon bucket at a time. Just water and dish soap.
Team Peg Leg - The cement mixer is the mega tumbler for sure..!! My little FA tumbler seems like a drop in the bucket in comparison...Good reloadin' to ya, FC
I am totally on line with wet tumbling. I have buckets in the garage that I just throw my brass into when I get back from the range, when it looks like enough to do a batch I process it. No more cloudy dust in the area that is hazardous, breathing it in and getting all over everything, no more Dry tumbling, Good recovery of brass cookie. Dave.
Thorsaxe777 - I remember that cloud - Even done outdoors, it was nasty and hung readily in the air.. Have a great day, Dave FC Steve.
Yeap.. It's a long story, However I have two thumblers Tumblers Mod-140's.
I was thinking of doing this without the pins very glad to see these results !!!
Retiredin - The pins result in cleaned primer pockets (if cases are decapped first) and shiny insides on all the cases. It is worth it to me to have good results and save the time doing the pins... Best Regards, FC
In 1982 I picked up a used THUMLER'S TUMBLER MODEL B for $20.00 bucks at a yard sale. I still use it today. The only thing I have done to it is replace the drive belt [twice]. Never ever used anything to clean brass in it but dawn dish soap and hot water.
And the brass comes out like new every time. Don't know if they are made the same today or not, likely not, I would not take anything for mine. Nice video Steve.
It’s amazing what some hot water, dish soap, and lemi-shine can do! All I do is put my dirty brass in a bucket of hot water, soap, lemi-shine, and just stir around by hand for a few minutes. It does a darn good job!
Then after drying put my brass in my Lyman 2500 tumbler with the Harbor Freight 24 grit walnut media, with some Mothers polish mixed into it for 2-3 hours, brass comes out better than new, aside a little dried stuff in the primer pocket. That comes out with my primer pocket cleaner/Uniformer.
I wet tumbled 200 45-70 cases with steel pins, Lemi-shine, and Dawn in my Frankford Arsenal unit, yesterday. They look brand new. I deprime and trim all brass before cleaning.
I've done this in a rock tumbler from Harbor Freight, works pretty good.
That stuff is CLEAN compared to a bunch of .45 ACP I've wet-tumbled over the last couple of years. I was literally prying a lot of it out of the crust of dried mud on top of the ground. Did a ton of .223 that same way. I use an old Lortone QT-66 rock tumbler and stick to small batches with Lemi-Shine and Dawn and stainless pins and take it from the nastiest, most tarnished "chocolate" brass imaginable to clean and shiny in an hour or so. If I stay on top of it and put in the effort I can do 50 lbs of brass in a weekend. Small batches make it go a lot faster than overloading things and I can do the work in the house at the kitchen counter year-round.
DEEREMEYER1 - Great hearing from ya..!! Good work reclaiming that brass or it would have been wasted. That's a great setup you have there for doing huge amounts of brass... Have a great day, FC
Frankford wet-dry separator makes it a walk in the park and an excellent rinse for the brass and knocks stuck pins free.
Pretty much a requirement as far as I'm concerned if you use the pins. What a PITA otherwise.
The pin magnet is also a Godsend.
I have always thought it wasn't necessary to use SS pins. Just good soap and run the tumbler a little longer like 2 hours! It gets everything clean by agitating the cases with soap! Thanks for posting FortuneCookie45LC!
I size & decap first. I use my cheap Harbor Freight dual drum unit with Bullseye pins, Lemishine & Dawn for my larger projects. For my smaller projects I just use a small plastic nut jar, Dawn, Lemishine, and hand agitate it for just a couple of minutes without pins; works well for pistol loading. I spray the lanolin & 99% alcohol 1 to 6 spray on them and let them air dry for a few minutes; then I load them. I used to use Armorall, but found the lanolin spray to work just as well at preserving the brass. And yes, I do it on my pistol cases as well as rifle, as it seems to make reloading easier and that coating makes cleaning my pistol chambers a lot easier. I then size again and prime. Then store or use right away. Saves a lot of headache on the progressive press, and a lot of die changing on my handheld press. Set my Lee 1000 to flare/powder charge in station one instead of two, seating in station two, and factory crimp die in station three. Also makes it easier to see if the powder charge was good.
Rodney "The Castle Keeper" Barnes - You've got good systems in place. And that home made case lube of yours is so easy to apply. That lanolin is a good old method of corrosion resistance - makes a lot of cents, errrr sense. I should make some of that for my own use - isopropyl alcohol and lanolin mix. Just haven't gotten around to it. Good shootin' to ya, FC
I purchased the Frankford Arsenal brass dryer and it's worth every penny! It would dry that much brass, inside and out, bone dry, in 30-45 minutes.
FC45... That is the same way I do mine, except instead of rinsing it the way you do... Try it this way...pour fresh water and tumble for 5 minutes. You don't have to rinse any more after those extra 5 minutes. You save time and most important water. Shoot lots and stay safe.
bison uberti - DON C up above recommends a 10 minute hot water tumble - I've got to try that....your 5 minutes is a variation of DON's 10 - Good reloadin' to ya, FC Steve
That lot looked like brand new compared to some of the 223 brass I've scrounged up. Haha. Had to start my AR brass supply with whatever I could find. Literally pulling them out of mud. But, similar to what you did here, I washed them in a bucket with laundry soap, rinsed, dried a couple days and then into the dry tumbler and they look shinier than brand new rounds!! There's lots of free brass out there! Just have to be willing to put the elbow grease to it!
Dave L - Thanks for posting this - encourages others to get their brass the most inexpensive way possible. Best to ya, FC
+FortuneCookie45LC reloading has been the best thing I have ever started for my shooting addiction....I mean hobby..... And in order to save the money you hope for you have to do the work! And now I'm just about to get into the casting to drop my costs even more. Scrounging brass, and getting free range scrap lead means I need only pay for the primer and powder for my 9mm rounds!!!! They will end up cheaper than even bulk .22 ammo up here in Canada!!
Dave L - When I tell new shooters at the range that a box of 50 of my 45 acp rounds costs me all of 6 cents a round or total of $3 for the box - it really amazes them. By reloading in volume, even our time spent is well returned. Plus the enjoyment factor is a plus - always good to spend our time productively. Have a great day, FC
+FortuneCookie45LC indeed, and I don't count the time to do it. It is a hobby so you can't add your time spent as a cost to it! My Lee pro 20 pot arrived yesterday and my die should be here tomorrow! Now to go to the flea market and try find a cast pot for melting scrap. And to finish constructing my I got mold I began welding up. For now I can only keep dreaming of the thousands of cheap bullets I will have!! Have a good day fortune cookie!
Dave L - Thanks for sharing your enthusiasm. Won't be long till you will have mounds of cast bullets... Good castin' to ya, FC
I really like Frankford arsenals brass cleaner. The brass comes out extremely shiny.
Got the FA rotary tumbler for Christmas and wanted to see about trying it without pins. I knew FortuneCookie would have the info!
I'm surprised they came out so clean without the pins.
Soulman1282 - The insides of about 1/3rd of the cases still have a dark look - clean, but still a bit dark. If you want all the cases to look brand new inside, pins are needed. I need to go back and annotate that to avoid misleading viewers. Best to ya, FC
Love that idea, the more brass you can get in the better. I will have to give it a try.
Happy reloading and tumbling FC
Nick J - That FA unit is about optimal for the needs of all but the very high volume shooters. Professional shooter Jerry Miculek runs a concrete mixer for the brass needs of a family of professional and semi-professional shooters. Have a great day, FC
Love your videos, I have learned much over the last couple years. My clean and ready to load brass prefers the large plastic pretzel containers over the cheese ball containers... lol
Keep up the good work!
Nice but I would have de-primed it first.
Dirty ground range stuff. quick wash down get dirt and rocks out. Deprime next and pin tumble. It's a lot of work but I now have a 5-gallon bucket over half full of usable 9mm brass. The hard part is running through the sifter to get shells sorted and rocks and crap removed. Good news no money spent just relaxing time used.
It is interesting how you can develop strategies even for hobbies!
I used to wet tumble, dry the cases, de-prime/resize, wet tumble and dry 😓. Now I pick up the brass, sort by caliber and separate the dirty from the clean brass. The cleaner brass gets de-prime/resize then wet tumble and dry. The dirty brass I save it in a bin until it is worth spending a free whole day for the extra steps.
I hate to admit it but I been doing the same thing for about 6 months. I got tired or lazy and tried it and it worked fine. Not as good but good enough.
The Reloader Dude - And the results are still pretty doggone good - Best to ya, FC
I enjoy your videos very much. I wet tumble with pins and have very good results but never without depriming. The primer pockets never get dry for a long time. Two weeks down the road and you will get wet powder.
tires2burn - Good point - we are definitely better off depriming before the wet tumbling. Thanks for posting...and Best Regards, FC
tires2burn ....out in the sun with the brass......24 hours bone dry. All these people putting them in the oven. Seems like a waste of money.
I surely thought some idiot with a limited vocabulary would say, "Awsome, Dude!" Regardless, this is great information. Very helpful. Thanks for the video.
You could have just said you rinsed the brass a bunch of times. I would have believed you. LOL
GREAT VIDEO !!
Machinegreen - Thanks for posting comment, Machinegreen - and you Have a great day, FC Steve
I had to laugh when I saw that cheese ball container. I use those exact same jugs for brass.
All I can say is WOW!! Thanks for the video.
Wow. At least you don't gotta deal with the water police. I just don't think I could bring myself to clean them with out de-priming first.
That is a lot of brass....I have that same container It is huge, cheese balls aren't bad either!
My Frankford Arsenal Tumbler is sitting in it’s box. I haven’t had the need to use it yet, but I’m looking forward to using it for the first time on some grungy .223 brass.
gapster46 - When you run your first batch, you will be amazed...Best to ya, FC
Those turned out pretty nice!
Steve, looked like you had a great day for range brass. What I like doing after tumbling, fill it back up w/ hot water tumble for 10 minutes I get pretty good results.
DON C - OK, I should try that...Good reloadin' to ya, and thanks for posting... FC
I have the same tumbler,,I love it,,but when I loaded it to the max it would not turn,,too heavy,so I just use 3/4 and do another load
I have that tumbler and it is the best. I tumble for 2 to 3 hours and get beautiful results.
I was curious the reasoning for the stainless media. It seems like it would aid in scrubbing for the interior areas but not much for the exterior. It seems the multitude of pieces would handle the scrubbing each other with no issues. It seems the media isn't necessary even for that.
Frankford should have made the grid on the "sifter" ends tighter. I've found that 30 carbine and 223 will fall through sometimes.
I took a old rival ice cream mixer and took out the agiator . tilted it off to one side and let it run. seems to do well .
Great video and great information….
Next time pop that primer out with a universal DE priming die. Then Wet tumble, get that primer pocket Nice and clean. And you wanna check that Flash hole.
Ladies and Gentlemen...the Mister Rogers of reloading.
That is clean brass compared to what I get. Most of mine are mixed with other sizes and red sand. The s ax and can wreak havoc on anything it gets on. Washing it out is the only way to clear it.
Looks like I'm going to have to break down and pick up one of those tumblers... It sure did a nice job on all that brass. Cheers!
SomeGuyInSandy - And with the pins used, the results are just a bit better especially primer pockets and the insides of all the cases. Best to ya, FC
Why didn't you decap them first so the primer pockets would be clean also?
Clean brass is better for your loading equipment. Depriming and using pins would have gotten the primer pockets mostly clean and better for positive primer seating.
Why not spin rinse in the tumbler with clean water for a few minutes? It works great for me.
One of these tumblers is way up on my to get list.
Don Eime - It's just too good a way for any serious reloader to not give strong consideration to it.... Best to ya, FC
Mobow72 ....best reload tool I ever bought..the Arsenal is super tough stuff.
I made the mistake of lubricating the inside of my .223 " and other bottle neck rifle cases"and then vibratory cleaned them with Lymans Rouge Walnut Media . The result is a red oily sludge on the inside shoulder of all the cases. What a disaster ! I didn't discover it until I was reloading and a rather conservative powder charge was overfilling the case. I am sure this sludge would also contaminate and adversely affect the powder as well. I have about 3000 cases to re-clean. I am awaiting for my ordered Frankfort Arsenal wet tumbler to fix the problem, I ordered the electric cased dryer also to make sure I don't have any moisture problems. Just go's to show you that even after 35 years of reloading experience you have to be very careful when reloading.
Roha Waha - The rouge is among the very finest grades of iron oxide or the like - abrasives that are so fine that they polish the brass. And unfortunately, it is red in color. Congrats on getting the FA wet tumbler. We both should have gone to that many years ago. It is the healthiest way to clean and polish brass + the results are excellent. Doing 3K cases actually requires that dryer. If we are only doing 750 - 1000 rounds of brass, a hair dryer actually works OK. Dry brass is very important - or we will get some undesired corrosion. No matter our experience, there is always more to learn...thanks to you, readers now have intel to not have to learn something the hard way... much appreciated FC
Never put any kind of oil on the inside of cases. Petroleum lubricants kill powder and primer compound. That's why primer manufacturers recommend soaking unwanted or damaged primers in oil to deactivate them. Don't overthink things. Stick to the reloading instructions in RELOADING MANUALS and you'll be fine.
Dear Bullwinkle, do I understand that you got good results without pins ?
The word is GRUNGY not growdy…. let's not lose it here...LOL !
You must be happy!
dry brass in an old convection toaster oven, put brass in one of those throw away foil pans, they last a long time, set oven at 150f and run it for 30 minutes
Ghost Shadow - I've been looking at the Frankford Arsenal brass dryer - for $50+ it ises 160 degrees air movement. Those convection ovens are the same cost. Have a great day, FC
Yea but with the oven after the brass is dry you can throw in a small pizza.
Ghost Shadow - ;) :) ;) FC
I just picked up a tumbler yesterday after watching your videos, been reloading several years now, never cleaned any brass.
ej732 - That's the way it was before the dry vibe tumblers came along...we just wiped the brass off and reloaded them... Now, with the wet tumbler, we have clean, dry and polished brass to reload...much better to work with that... Happy Holidays, FC
FortuneCookie45LC Yah Ive stickily been reloading 308's, running a scotch bright over the cases while they're on the drill to size, its worked. After watching these videos, and seeing the dirty water you pour out, holy smoke! Happy Holidays to you sir!
ej732 - The sunlight didn't allow the dirty water to really show, but on other videos of mine on this FA wet tumbler, the nature of the dirty water really shows well...Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas to ya...! FC
How much Dawn and Lemi Shine was used in that big batch of brass?
I love mine best money spent !
Hi, could you please share the ratio of your dawn/lemishine recipe. I have heard that you should not use to much lemishine. Your results were phenomenal. If you could share the ratio it would be much appreciated. LOVE your videos.
David Tabor - really is no ratio - you fill up the drum and put in a pinch (1/4 teaspon) of Lemishine. plus a teaspoon of Dawn. But the rinse of the cases after tumbling is also very important for good results. A garden hose or spigot run on the top and draining from the bottom into a big 5 gallon bucket works well. Rinse for 15 seconds, invert and rinse again, and then a third time. Good reloadin' to ya, FC Steve
When picking up my brass I just fired at the range, is it necessary to wet tumble the casings? I'm loading 115 gr plinking ammo. Also, how often should the primer pocket be cleaned? Is it necessary? I haven't seen anyone mechanically cleaning the primer pocket.
I never clean the primer pockets on pistol rounds, only on my rifle rounds. I load pistol on a Dillon 550 which knocks out the primer on the old case while I'm loading it up, so going through the extra hassle of depriming before loading would add a completely separate step and defeat the purpose of my press. I do the primer pockets on my rifle rounds as I load way fewer of those and am going for consistency/accuracy. I do those on a single stage so the extra step of depriming is not as big a deal. All that said, I've never had an issue with dirty primer pockets on pistol brass even after tons of loadings.
Watched your video and bought the tumbler. Haha even bought a thing if cheese balls for the kids so I could have the storage. Did 500 rounds of 223 with pins and it got the decent cases like new. My really dirty cases it didn't really do much to. They still looked pretty bad after 3 hours. Any suggestions on how to get them clean or is that just how theyre gonna look? I used the dawn and lemi shine as well.
Great, informative video as always, and clearly presented.
Fantastic result with no pins, thanks for sharing. I bought the same tumbler last week after watching your videos, and find it superior in every way to corn cob, except drying time, of course.
I do not have Lemon Shine in my country - what is it please? Or a suitable substitute? A powdered brass polish abrasive or something? And Dawn soap is similar to dish soap / Palmolive etc?
Thank you again for your videos, and pleasant delivery!
Cheers,
Len
onslaught5012 - The Lemi Shine is a weak citric acid. Plain white vinegar can be substituted - don't need much - like a couple of fluid ounces is all. Good reloadin' to ya, FC
And a billion dirty primer pockets. Happy cleaning.
I clean this type brass all the time in my Harbor Freight tumbler...about 50 at a time, using dish washing soap from Costco. Lemon shine is a waste of money... primers out first... a one step cleaning.
apfelsnutz - The HF tumbler is used by quite a few reloaders...works well for small loads of brass or for polishing gemstones. Have a fine day, FC
Oh man I'm gana try this. I Hate dealing with pins more then I hate loading primer tubes lol
@Chris Knez how do you make sure your brass is pin free? I was thinking for once fired brass I have about 20 000 cases of 9mm once fired I've collected. Not that nasty stuff laying on the ground for months n years. I was thinking everyone in a while run the tumbler with pins. But for sure once I get to the dirty stuff I'd use pins. How do you seperate the pins? I only have experience with the pins that come with the frankford arsenal tumbler
@Chris Knez I thought there were different size pins. And no I'd probably process then in batches of 5000
@Chris Knez I tried without pins and with. Obviously with pins looks new, but the one with out pins wasnt bad either. I put a little vinegar and backing soda for 15 min run then rinsed and used dish soap for n hour. It cleaned up the inside pretty well just not shiney.
Ok now I am impressed, those results are truly fantastic without using pins. Have you tried any rifle casings? If it works that well universally without pins I think I am finally sold on wet tumbling
spyderxtra777 - if you want clean primer pockets and every last case interior to look shiny and new, then decap the cases with a Universal Decapping Die and the pins are still needed. If the cases are decapped, and then wet tumbled without the pins, not all of the interiors will be shiny, and the primer pockets are better, but some primer residue will still be present. Good reloadin' to ya... FC
Probably enough dirt in the solution that worked well in lieu of the pins.
Do you ever use the dry vibratory cleaners? I was thinking run wet for the initial clean then after sizing, and trimming run walnut in the big noise maker for that extra shine and polish. Good idea?
I use wet fir my initial cleaning, load my rounds, then use Dillon vibratory cleaner with ground walnut shells and Nu Finish for final cleaning. It leaves them sparkling and slippery smooth.
While using steel pins I would notice there would be brass shavings in my rinse bucket. I think I will try a load with out pins to check results. The only place I could think we're the shavings could come from would be the lip of the case. and if pins are shaving material of the lip , do you think this could cause your reloads to split cases ?
Les0945 -- Brass shavings would be disconcerting for sure...I've never had that happen. But certainly, no pins works very well - that has become SOP for many wet tumblers here at the range. Without the pins, the primer pockets and case interiors are cleaned, but not as shiny polished as with the pins. The case exteriors are as shiny as with the pins. Not having to separate the pins especially in 223 is considered beneficial. I still use the pins when I want shiny case interiors and fully cleaned primer pockets. Good reloadin' to ya, FC
+FortuneCookie45LC Thanks for your reply
Hey Les I mostly wet tumble after resizing and cutting to length wildcats, knocks the wax right off and the pins make the chore of deburring much less painfull, I think that may be were the shavings are coming from is the necks if they were rough. At any rate check your case lengths prior to reloading.
Could have been cleaner if you ditch the dawn and use Hornady case cleaner solution
I never use the pins any more even with rifle brass
starbuck1776 - OK that...not having pins to deal with especially with 223 is a big advantage. Best to ya, FC
Forgot to say I have been reloading my own pills for 40 years. And this IS the best $20.00 I have ever spent.
I think you just sold me on wet tumbling.
I've been pre-cleaning my really dirty brass with hot water, Dawn, and a small amount of vinegar before vibratory tumbling for a while, but this method has much better results with less effort.
BTW, was that a couple of pieces stuck together with a pesky .40 at 5:19 (dead center at 5:28)? My eye went straight to it.
Jeff Henderson - Didn't notice that...you guys don't miss a thing..!! Best to ya, FC
I did start the wet cleaning lately. I don't have tumbler yet, so I did it manually in a bucket with some home made recipe and so far it worked quite good. I might just need to let it clean a little bit longer to clean the inside a little bit better, but so far it was already quite good. I wonder what of the tumbler or sonic cleaner would really increase the overall result. Because right now, it didn't cost me anything except some hot water, white vinegar, salt and soap... in a old bucket. So cheap enough for me at this point...
Phil Smith - Yes, there is also a video out on doing the "soak" method. But the tumbler works faster and better with the pins - with hot water and the Lemi Shine / Dawn, the cleaning cycle can be reduced to 20-30 minutes. The tumbler acts like a washing machine. Important thing is we get away from the unhealthy dry tumbling. Have a great day, FC
FortuneCookie45LC Good to know FC! I'm still on the fence with the sonic cleaner... I saw many good reviews about it, but I'm quite skeptical. I also experienced already the cases in my washer, but it was ok when I was doing small batches only... now I'd like to do larger batch. To be honest, even thought about having a dedicated washer (since we can find some for 150 bucks, so even cheaper that most tumbler in my area). Just some thoughts :)
Phil Smith - If you want to do big batches of brass, the Frankford Arsenal Wet Tumbler is the one you want. The sonic units don't process many cases at once. The only way you can beat the FA is with a cement mixer. Best to ya, FC
nice video, I recently started wet tumbling, and haven't bought pins yet. in your opinion are they really worth it? I don't do precision loads, just high volume. mostly loading 9mm and 223
I do a final rinse with distilled water to prevent water spots.
Our water is very hard.
Love ur channel thank u for the great content
What am I gonna do with an EMPTY CASE?
How did the insides get clean without pins?
As I sit here depriming some old 45 acp from years ago, I have to wonder if that is the proper way to spell "growdy"? We need an official ruling.
I believe GRODY is the correct way.
I spell it grody :-D
Most of my brass comes from an outdoor range. That brass came out looking like new. I really want a wet tumbler but it just isn't in the cards for the near future.
Mr. Tolly - There are always priorities on resources and timing...Have a great day, FC
Do you deprime your cases first? Looks like no but just curious
He didn't, but if you want nice clean inside and out primer pockets included de-prime. I de-prime always now and my brass always looks brand new inside and out.
I have been having a problem when I wet tumble, my brass is getting stuck on the powder funnel of my Dillon press. They said it was because the brass was to clean, they said the powder funnel needs some of the burnt powder to act as dry lubricant. I thought they were nuts so I was going to reload some 45 acp so instead of web tumbling I try tumbled it with walnut shells and it stopped the getting stuck on the powder funnel. Have you ever had that problem with yours? If so how did you over come it?
Thanks for any help you can send my way.
Barn Dweller - If that were the case, we would have all our wet tumbled cases getting stuck on all our expander plugs in all our presses loading all our pistol ammo. Expander plugs are pretty much the same in what they do. The expander plug is hollow to allow the powder charge to be dispensed through it. I'm not seeing any sticking with wet tumbled brass anywhere. Unless I miss my guess, your expander plug is fairly well polished, if so, there should be any sticking. And what happens with reloading new brass that is also clean...Let me go home and check this, perhaps I've been getting the sticking also, but not noticing it...Best regards, FC
Brass that is too clean? That makes me think I'll stick to my RCBS..
I had the same issue. I polished the expander and it helped for a while then started sticking again. This is documented on the Dillon website and the recommendation is to use wash and wax instead of Dawn. I ended up switching to the orange Armor All Wash and wax and the sticking is greatly improved to the point where it's hardly noticeable. The brass is more shiny - like it's been polished. Last week I was in a hurry and washed a batch of brass with Dawn again. After 100 rounds, the sticking came back and I was reminded why I switch to wash and wax. For reference, I'm using 2 tablespoons of soap (Dawn or W&W), and 1/4 teaspoon lemishine with the Frankford Aresenal tumbler.
Do you ever have issues with the primer pockets not drying all the way out? I always de-prime mine first but man is that a pain in the arse.
Eric White - I do run a hair dryer on the brass so that it is almost too hot to hold. But even so, with that big jug of brass, I'll perhaps get two or three primers that will corrode a bit and not deprime in my progressive - not a real problem. The primer pockets do get cleaned a bit, but without decapping, they will not get as clean as we would like - however, I never cleaned pistol brass primer pockets at all for many years anyway... Best to ya, FC
Thank you for the information. I've heard that if not de-primed first there could be some residue moisture in the primer pocket thus causing the new primer to fail. I'm going to try a small batch of 100 or so and see what happens, I'm in Georgia so it gets pleeeenty hot here to dry out the brass :-) Thanks again for the great vids.
Eric White - If you intend to reload that brass immediately, residual moisture could pose a problem. There are dehumidfier units that are available to dry the brass or the hot sun or hair dryer is still a good option. The the brass could be stored for a week or two before loading. Moisture will not be a problem. You might get one or two stuck primers caused by corrosion, but nothing really problematic. If you want clean dry primer pockets, best to decap and then wet tumble with the pins. Will also clean the insides of all the brass to new condition. Hail the great state of Georgia..!! As an aside, if we want our reloads to be showroom finish - best way is to 1) pick up brass that is on concrete so excess dirt is not included; or shoot a revolver or bolt gun so cases never hit the ground 2) run those cases through the resizer die first - that decaps and sizes the cases of course but then the wet tumbling will polish any signs of the resize operation also. Without outright dirt, carbide size dies will cause no scratches to the brass. 3) load powder coated bullets so no lube will be introduced. 4) hit the finished rounds with a bench lathe rag wheel with jeweler's rouge. Our reloads will shine like jewelry. Best to ya, FC
Scuzzy is good... but you should deprime before tumbling.
I'm new to reloading and I have been reloading my 308 with imr 4064. it smokes bad after I shoot. is this the powder, not a good burn or what? any info will help.
Justin Gentry - Smoke comes from oil in the bore but only the first round or two. What makes our shots smoke are the retardants that are used to control burn. Don't know how much smoke you are getting, but there is definitely some smoke when I shoot 4064. I do not suspect bad burn of your charge. Perhaps switching to CFE 223 might be in order - it's supposed to be clean burning and low smoke... But 4064 is a good wide range powder, don't give up on it yet. Tactical situations dictate low smoke and also low muzzle flash. The CFEs are supposed to also have low flash as well as the copper handling... I haven't tried the CFEs yet, but they are on my get list... Best Regards, FC
+FortuneCookie45LC thanks for the info. the barrel is dirty. so no oil. it has a cloud about 3-4 feet that floats away. no wind conditions. I was just making for sure everything was okay.
thanks for the quick reply.
Justin Gentry - That cloud is appropriate. We used to get more than that when we shot our lubed cast bullets - the lube added to the smoke = reason many competitors switched to plated bullets and then powder coating more recently = lower smoke....Have a great day, FC
Sold me
Good video. Keep it up.
guns3738 - Thanks for taking the time to post...Have a great day, FC
THIS IS A LONG PROCESS FOR TUMBLING BRASS, HUM, I THINK I HAVE TO THINK ABOUT THIS IF I WANT TO GO THROUGH THIS LONG PROCESS!!🤔😒
I have the FA Wet Tumbler and the Lyman dry media tumbler. It is a wash as to which is better. The only advantage the wet tumbler has is cleaning the primer pocket and flash hole when using the pins. But what a pita it is to separate the brass and pins.
Should have done a better rinse
I hate to rinse that tumbler become so heavy ween is full
Worse part off the process !..
Jim Tau - You don't need to fill the whole tumbler...we can do 1/2 loads just as readily, and the tumbler drum is definitely easier to handle... Have a great day, FC
I buy my kids cheese balls too!
Hey! Can you tell me what /how much you use for cleaning solution?
Sean O'Brien - One teaspoon of Dawn and 1/2 teaspoon of LemiShine (some say to use 1/4 teaspoon Lemi). Best to ya, FC
I am going to get a 5 gal. bucket and punch holes in it...fill it with brass....tie it to the back of my boat and run it at 30mph!!! Just kidding........
gman77gas - For a while I thought that was the way Wisconsiners do things - the robust way..!! Best to ya, Gary - FC Steve