Wet tumbling recipes

I don't bother with the decap-then-clean step, at least not for pistol brass. I have yet to find a primer pocket so grungy that it wouldn't accept a new primer (outside range pickup might be an exception here). Hot water over the brass, 2 squirts of Dawn, a half teaspoon of lemi shine, and tumble for an hour. I use a cheap Harbor Freight double unit and one I built myself. Comes out pretty inside and out.

Warning: Don't leave the brass in the solution for too long - the lemi shine will discolour the brass if left overnight. I rinse twice and layer out flat on a workbench. About 5 minutes with a cheap heat gun and they are dry, or leave a fan on them for 20 minutes.
 
I use a RCBS Sidewinder Rotary case tumbler. I cracked it's rather thin walls, bought it used.
They kindly replaced the cracked drum, much to their credit.
Since then, I'm careful as to how much weight I put in it.
Can't overfill the water or it will spill out.
Used the stainless pins, under 2 lbs with med. hot water, dash of dish washing soap and a sprinkle of Lemmeshine.
Rinse 2-3 times then in the oven at 200°F on a baking pan to dry.
I use neodymium magnets to separate brass from "Stainless Steel" pins
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https://supermagnetman.com/pages/all-videos
 
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BigRobb said:
I have a die as well, but don't see a point in decapping and then running through a sizer. Maybe when I neck size only.
It's nice to get the lube off after resizing anyways. There's nothing more annoying than powder sticking to the inside of the case mouth.
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De cap then through the wash with SS pins, and dawn soap.
Then FL size...
 
I use armor all car wash in my tumbler. No need for lemishine, and it puts a wax coating on the brass to leep it shiny, and slippery through the press.
 
ruger22 said:
De cap then through the wash with SS pins, and dawn soap.
Then FL size...
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Magellann said:
That's why I decap first as well.
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Lol. I think you're both missing the point. Rather than running through my press twice, I wash twice. It gets the lube off. My primer pockets are sparkling clean. Dry time is a moot point as resizing while the inside is wet makes no difference. Not saying one way I'd better than the other, but my finished rounds are lube free and I handle my brass less. Ymmv
 
VanMan said:
Are you manually decapping? I'm reluctant to run uncleaned brass through my XL650 & case sorter, but I'm thinking it would cut my drying time by at least half if it was deprimed first.
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Buy a cheapo single stage for decapping.

BigRobb said:
Lol. I think you're both missing the point. Rather than running through my press twice, I wash twice. It gets the lube off. My primer pockets are sparkling clean. Dry time is a moot point as resizing while the inside is wet makes no difference. Not saying one way I'd better than the other, but my finished rounds are lube free and I handle my brass less. Ymmv
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you also put dirty cases thru your sizing die......
 
bsand said:
Buy a cheapo single stage for decapping.
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I save my brass and process it in batches when I have time. This was about 8 months worth (includes brass I scrounged from the range too though :) ) Maybe I'll pick up an old progressive press with a case sorter just to decap brass.

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I'll do mine in batches as well, I tumble outside in the summer, and reload in the winter. I have a few thousand cases of each pistol calibre all ready to go.
 
I clean twice, half hour in hot water, Lemmeshine, dish soap & water to get the worst off, dry, de-prime, then wash again to get primers pocket clean with the pins.
 
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