1st malfunction and squib.

K

kmw1954

New member
Very sad to report this though fortunately no one was hurt.

We were at the range firing 9mm when the wife stopped me with a jam. The gun would not load the next round and go into battery. We stopped shooting and I field stripped the gun and sure enough a squib stuck in the beginning of the barrel. We closed up and went home.

I started to investigate the box she was shooting from and it was one I had just finished loading. So I pulled a few apart and found 2 that the powder was clumped together and looked wet. WTH!

I had just recently started wet tumbling my brass and these were the last I had done. I also know that these had been sitting in the open for about a week before I had loaded them. Now I am afraid to continue this practice. This could have been disastrous if the bullet had been further down the barrel and she didn't notice the misfire.

I have been wet tumbling with the primers still in so I suppose it could be that the water was trapped in the spent primer.

So if nothing more, a word of warning to others who are just starting this practice of wet tumbling.
 
This is one of the hazards of wet tumbling as you have obviously found out. As advice Ill tell ya that my wet tumbling procedure is as follows, once out of the tumbler I use the media separator to get the pins separated, then I spread the cases on a towel to dry in open air for a day or two depending on ambient temps, then I run them through the separator again, this shakes up any water getting it to dry faster. If it summer Ill toss a cookie sheet of brass out on the walkway. Then the brass sits for many weeks. This has eliminated amd moisture issues. YMMV Best of luck to ya.
 
I too wet clean and like it a lot, easy to spot defective cases etc. Any my ammo looks all nice and pretty. lol
That said, I always decap before I clean. That way the primer pockets are nice and shiny too. It also helps get the water out of the cases. YMMV
 
AVirginian, I am loading on either a turret press or a progressive press with the whole intention of reducing the number of times or steps it takes to complete a round.

I understand many deprime in a separate step and then also go one to prime in another separate step. Sorry but to my way of thinking that is completely defeating the whole purpose of a turret or progressive press. Doing that one might as well stay with a single stage press.

I will be rethinking my drying method.
 
Wisconsin, and its November, you obviously aren't putting cases on the side walk to dry:D
Got a radiator heater? Wood stove in the garage?

I bought a big toaster oven from goodwill for $12, with the right pan you could probably do well over 1000 9mm cases in one.

Or just mail your brass to Arizona for a week. :p
 
After separating the media pins I lay my cleaned wet brass on a towel and shake them around a bit to get any excess water out, then throw them in a cheap $20 food dehydrator for a few hours and they come out perfectly dry.

I do however deprime prior to wet tumbling. With Lee’s universal depriming die it doesn’t take all that long to run a batch through the die prior to cleaning, and there are several benefits to doing so.


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I wet tumble. I lived in Florida and the humidity was so high that on cool mornings dew would form on the brass even without wet tumbling. I always dryed them in a warm toaster oven before a morning reloading session. You can get water even dry tumbling depending on the weather. Wet tumbling just increases the chances of loading a wet case. By the way I tried to detect the water by weighing the finished round. Sometimes I could and sometimes I couldn't.
 
Not much to add to what already has been said-- but redundancy adds up------decap before wet tumbling is the only way to go.

The first batch I wet tumbled I did not decap. It's unreal how long it takes even when placing them out in the sun. I even made a rack so they were neck down thinking that would help but the fact is they get "air locked" with the primer in.

So I got a cheap press and lee uni decapper.

Plus your primer pockets get cleaned when you tumble after decapping.

Happy trails.
 
Hmmmmm, what's all this nonsense about tumbling and washing? I have only been reloading for 61 years and never washed nor tumbled brass. Size them and punch out the primer and inside size the neck in one operation into the sizing die, then check for length, trim if needed, then prime, put in the powder and seat bullet. Who cares if the brass has a dark color? The gun has no eyes. It won't even know. ;) Oh, a little steel wool works wonders if you have a brass that really needs cleaned up.
 
Jamaica, you are lucky man. Cost people clean brass to make it run through the dies easier, avoid misfire due to dirt blocking the primer hole, have more accurate resizing and bullet seating. Dry medium is normally used but in recent years solution cleaning and sonic cleaning with stainless steel needles has gained in popularity.
 
Cause I live i the north west and pick brass off the ground, which means its muddy. It pretty much has to be washed.
 
When I first started reloading, I didn't do anything to clean my brass beyond removing obvious dirt and grime. I started after I discovered that brass with a uniform surface made for a more thorough visual inspection.

So, today, all of my brass is decapped, washed in a weak acid and detergent solution, rinsed thoroughly, dried and tumbled in walnut media prior to inspection. In 40+ years - clean or not - I haven't had a mishap, but since I have started cleaning my brass I've found imperfections that could have been a problem and removed them from the reloading stream.
 
I feel very blessed because my most recent squib was actually what felt like a normal round. It hung up and I kept trying to load the next round. Checked the magazine, looked at the bullet seating depth, etc. Tell you the truth if that bullet made it an inch further I might not have a hand. It was 45 acp.
 
understand many deprime in a separate step and then also go one to prime in another separate step. Sorry but to my way of thinking that is completely defeating the whole purpose of a turret or progressive press. Doing that one might as well stay with a single stage press.
Click to expand...

Funny how I use a single stage and deprime and reprime and size at one time.
 
"...could have been disastrous if..." Not as horrible as you'd think. Except you'd need a new barrel. The next bullet would hit the first, bulged the barrel, sent 'em both down range and the slide would lock.
"...sitting in the open for about a week..." Takes 15 minutes in your oven set on 'Warm" and a cookie sheet. No may or may not be dry.
"...squib stuck in the beginning of the barrel..." Tapped out with a brass rod and a plastic mallet. Ammo is suspect though.
 
Wet, stainless steel pin tumbling is a great way to clean your brass INSIDE and outside. But it DOES require some extra attention. First, it is best to deprime them with a decapping die of some kind. This allows not only the primer pockets to get cleaned, but it helps speed up the drying process.

I then dry my cases in a food dehydrator...in batches. This only takes a couple of hours. You can use the oven at 190 degrees on a cookie sheet for about 2 hours, but some folks frown on that. However, it does work.

Then you lube, size, prime etc as usual with clean brass. I also have a dry media tumbling drum... It has its issues too like stuck media in the case or pieces of walnut shell lodged in the flash hole. I inspect each case quickly before going into the case feeder on the XL 650 if I have dry tumbled them. If they are wet tumbled, no inspection needed after being dried in the food dehydrator.

Hmmmmm, what's all this nonsense about tumbling and washing? I have only been reloading for 61 years and never washed nor tumbled brass. Size them and punch out the primer and inside size the neck in one operation into the sizing die, then check for length, trim if needed, then prime, put in the powder and seat bullet. Who cares if the brass has a dark color? The gun has no eyes. It won't even know. Oh, a little steel wool works wonders if you have a brass that really needs cleaned up.
Click to expand...

I also pickup range brass that has sat in the mud for days/weeks/months or longer. There is no amount of steel wool scrubbing or soaking that will get all the Mississippi mud out of those cases, or the mud daubber nests. Which is where the wet tumbling really shines (shameless pun;) ) It will make the brass not only look brand new, but get any grime out of the inside of the case in just a few hours.

But, the down side is the fact that you have now added another step or two in the process. It adds up quick, decapping, tumbling, drying, sizing, trimming etc. Some folks think that trimming to a uniform length on bottle neck cartridges is a waste of time, some think checking ogive length consistency is a waste of time, some guys do not re-check their load with a new lot of powder.

@KMW1954...I recommend you decapp first, then wet tumble, then either let them set for a long time or get a cheap toaster oven, food dehydrator etc which echos what others have said. In the end you will not want to stop wet tumbling, but it does add some steps.
 
I de-prime and hand prime before using my LCT press . I just remove the decapping pin/rod from the sizing die . The reason I do is because the first couple times I wet tumbled with primers in it took over a week for the primer & pockets to dry . I once only waited 3 days and started depriming . It only took a few cases to where there was water drops running down the press arm .

Is that ideal ? no . A complete waist and defeating the purpose ? That's a bit of a stretch .
 
I also concur that when wet tumbling, decapping should be performed first. The cases should be wet tumbled without spent primers. This allows for several functions: it allows the pins to clean the carbon from the pockets, and also allows for better and faster drying of the wet cases.

To dry the cases, I use the media separator. With the cases still in the squirrel cage, just throw in a dry towel. Agitate briskly for about 30 seconds. This agitation throws moisture out of the cases both from the flash hole and the mouth, and the towel absorbs the moisture. Repeat with a second dry towel, and 99% of the moisture is removed from the cases. What's left is very minor dampness in the pockets which dries up in 15-30 minutes of exposure to dry air.

No ovens, heaters, dryers, etc., ever needed for fast drying of cases.....

Bayou
 
Actually I do have and use a toaster oven as I'm only doing a couple hundred at a time.

I was setting the oven at 175 with the timer set for 30min.. I would leave them in there until cool to the touch. These were then left on the pan until I loaded them. These also were loaded back in July while I was recouping from my Open heart surgery and it gets about 85* un the room until I turn the fans on.

So thank for the comments and will think some more on this. I certainly don't want another incident.
 
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