Wet Tumbling Question - Update post 28

I've been using a cement mixer for the last 5 or so years, last year I tried not using pins and I will never use them again. 90% as clean without the hassle of separating the pins.
 
Pins will most likely get stuck. Just get in a habit of using a headlamp and looking into the case mouth to see if any are left. I use my vibratory tumbler after with a bit of nupolish and corn cob. Helps dry and it keeps the brass from tarnishing.
 
Some pins will be slightly off the spec length and could get stuck in the neck. Once you remove the stuck ones, toss them in the trash instead of back in the tumbler. Within a few loads you will have no more stuck pins. I bought cheap eBay pins so I had more trouble with that...higher quality pins will have less length variation. I use a homemade 5 gallon bucket tumbler with 10 lbs of media.
 
So here is my findings with wet tumbling if anyone is interested. I wish I had started doing this long ago. It is a little more work than dry tumbling but it is well worth the little extra effort. The brass comes out cleaner than I expected and no dust. As for my worry about pins sticking inside the brass, I found that if you tap the brass a little with it upside down, any pins in there slide right out. I did this with the dry tumbled brass as well to ensure no media was left in the case as well so it's no big deal. So here's the lowdown as far as I can see.

Pros: Super clean and shiny brass, inside and out, including in the primer pockets. No dust. This is important to me now as it contains lead from the primers and my four year old grandson loves to be in the gun room with me. No tumbler media plugging the primer pocket or flash hole. No media that is going to need replacing or added polish etc.

Cons: Very little. A little more money to get started. A little more labor intensive with the rinsing and drying of the brass. But my old dehydrator makes quick work of the frying.

If your thinking of making the switch my advice would be do it. You will not be disappointed.
 
Last edited:
yomomma said:
Waiting for P51 to post ...
Click to expand...

Below are some once fired Starline .44 special cases that were wet tumbled for less than one hour. These cases had been trimmed and deburred fired and then wet tumbled and have peened case mouths.

When these cases were sized and then expanded it left very small brass flakes on the expander and inside the cases. On rifle cases if you trim and deburr after wet tumbling you can remove the case mouth peening. But on pistol cases I'm not going to trim the cases each time they are wet tumbled. And to solve this problem I bought a sonic cleaner that does not pound and peen the case mouths.

fiSsctS.jpg


Below on the left is a rifle case wet tumbled far to long and has a very peened case mouth. The case on the right is right out of the Winchester bag fresh from the factory with a peened case mouth.

CIxnlIW.jpg


I have a Lyman Turbo tumbler for dry media, a MTM wet tumbler and now a sonic cleaner. And with the sonic cleaner the cases may not have the bling of wet tumbling but are just as clean as wet tumbling. And with a sonic cleaner there is no dust or media stuck in the flash holes.
 
Last edited:
I size and de-prime before wet tumbling.

I hold the cases upside down in the water and a quick shake gets rid of any pins in the cases.
 
686 Shooter said:
Haha, what can I say? You were right on the money. Thank you.
Click to expand...

Wish I'd seen this thread sooner.

I bought a little rock tumbler a while back on a local buy and sell website. I was shocked at how well it worked, after seeing my shiniest brass in town, the manager and my local gun shop decided to try it for himself. It probably goes without saying that they pretty much don't even sell dry tumblers anymore, lol.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom