wet tumbling = brass shavings

[bambam]

Using the platinum tumbler with ss media from frankford arsenal to clean 40 s&w range brass. The dillon 650 does not like it!! Looks like a christmas tree with all the brass pieces everywhere. Isolated the shavings to the crimping die.
The dillon rep put some dirty brass through it and NO SHAVINGS.
Dillon said the brass is too clean. I use some lemi shine and dawn and run it for 2 hours. Anyone else with this issue?

 

[ryan]

You might be getting a wire edge on the case mouth. Very common with SS pins. The drum should be nearly full of water to slow down the impact of the cases tumbling. If that's not it, maybe try tumbling without the SS pins. I have done that and there is very little difference.

 

[bambam]

Thanks, Will try less pins and shorter time tumbling.

 

[silverfoxdj]

I use Dillon lube even on pistol brass or (homemade) lube to smooth the process in the press.. you may see some benefit but don't overdo the lube and keep it out of the inside of the brass.

 

[bigedp51]

The problem is called case mouth peening, caused by the cases hitting the softer annealed case mouth. The case below had been trimmed and chamfered and now has been pounded while tumbling.
It has a great deal to do with drum size and rotational speed and the cure is to cut down on your tumbling time and making sure you chamfer the case mouth "after" tumbling. So inspect your cases with a magnifying glass because the case mouth can look like a mushroom with the edges peened over if over tumbled.

NOTE: Your new pins should be tumbled without any brass over night to wear down the sharp ends.

 

[Cleftwynd]

To reduce peening the case mouths, I added an extra 3 lbs of pins and run the tumbler almost filled with water. It pretty much stopped the peening of the cases.

 

[bambam]

Definately peening the case mouth. I see that on my own brass.

I will reduce the pins to at least half and reduce the time to one hour. I might increase the brass so there is less room to tumble. Sounds like the pins are the culprits.

 

[Cleftwynd]

The peening is from cases hitting cases, not the pins hitting the cases. I tried less pins and got worse peening, so I almost doubled the pins then filled with water after adding cases.

 

[bambam]

The peening is from cases hitting cases, not the pins hitting the cases. I tried less pins and got worse peening, so I almost doubled the pins then filled with water after adding cases.

Thanks for that. I assumed it was the harder ss pins. How often would one have to chamfer the casings?

 

[Cleftwynd]

Thanks for that. I assumed it was the harder ss pins. How often would one have to chamfer the casings?

Chamfer when required, I usually chamfer after each tumble. Doesn't take much though, just a quick turn or two to clean up the mouth. Cases grow a little with each firing anyway, so the minuscule amount of brass removed by chamfering equates to nothing really.

 

[sunray]

Forget the polish. Brass needs to be clean not shiney. SS pins are harder than brass, They're going to remove a bit of brass no matter what you do.
Chamfering is only required when you trim. It takes the place of flaring a handgun case to ease seating the bullet. It doesn't go away or miraculously appear. Mind you, when the case mouths get beaten up like that, a clean up isn't a bad thing.

 

[bambam]

Any recommendations on case trimmer? Nothing fancy.

The only reason I went with wet tumbling was to have a cleaner method, no dust. Hoping to make this work without too many brass shavings.

 

[Chinbullco]

The peening is from cases hitting cases, not the pins hitting the cases. I tried less pins and got worse peening, so I almost doubled the pins then filled with water after adding cases.

I quit using pins, switched to the low speed tumbler, using a lot of Sunlight dish detergent, and a pouch of Lemi-shine, machine clean. Run the drum full, Got to slap the drum lid on real fast to keep from foaming-over. Don't have any problems with case-mouth peening and brass is clean and shiny inside and out.

 

[silverfoxdj]

Any recommendations on case trimmer? Nothing fancy.

The only reason I went with wet tumbling was to have a cleaner method, no dust. Hoping to make this work without too many brass shavings.

This works great

 

[krprice84]

Thanks for that. I assumed it was the harder ss pins. How often would one have to chamfer the casings?

every reload... it doesn't take that much time and ensures the bullet goes in straight and that the jacket stays intact. maybe not as big of a deal for pistol rounds, but why not make sure you're loading right?