Wet tumble without de-capping first.

B

BondoBob

New member
I have been wet tumbling and de-capping first with a universal de-capping die. I want to shorten my process a bit by completing resize/decap/re-prime in one pull on my single stage press with a lee primer feeder attached. So, I'd leave the primers in during wet tumble.

My concern is could some water/moister be trapped between the primer pocket and spent primer if I do this? I don't want to foul a powder charge with a potential small amount of water trapped in there. I bake for 20 min at 225 after towel drying the brass.

I realize this is no problem with a dry media tumble but we can't do that due to asthma and allergies in the home.

Thanks,
 
I have been considering this as well recently. I have the frankford wet/dry medial separator. kind of like a salad spinner for my brass. that gets most of the water out. After that I usually dump them on a towel and shake them around in it. They they go in a cardboard box with silica gel to dry out for about 2 days.

I would think this process would work equally well with non deprimed cases. And will be trying with with my next batch of 9mm. I'm hoping it will be a good time saver.

We will find out in a few hours. Just put in about 1000 filthy 9mm casings.
15 min rinse, water, a 9mm case full of lemi shine, a dash of dawn and pins
1hr 30min with the frankford cleaning packets, with pins
flush with water to get the soap out
15 min with fresh water and a bit of diswhasher drying booster
then it will go media separator, towel, box with silica gel.
 
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I did it a long time ago just using the old NRA vinegar and salt solution and shaking the brass in a milk jug with brass and that solution. Leaving the primer in extended the drying time by a factor of three or so, IIRC. I think the problem is that because you leave all the primer residue dust inside the primer pocket, it gets damp and holds the water well. So figure to have to use heated drying. You'll have some leaded powder residue in that same dust, and while a lot won't come out through the flash hole, you can also figure this should not be done in a food dehydrator that you actually use for food.
 
I often wet tumble with the primer left in. It does trap a good deal of water. 30 minutes in the oven might do the trick, you might need longer. At 225°F you're not going to do any damage to the brass almost no matter how long you leave it in there. So, if you need, you can always leave them in the oven longer.

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Unclenick said:
I did it a long time ago just using the old NRA vinegar and salt solution and shaking the brass in a milk jug with brass and that solution. Leaving the primer in extended the drying time by a factor of three or so, IIRC. I think the problem is that because you leave all the primer residue dust inside the primer pocket, it gets damp and holds the water well. So figure to have to use heated drying. You'll have some leaded powder residue in that same dust, and while a lot won't come out through the flash hole, you can also figure this should not be done in a food dehydrator that you actually use for food.
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I thought salt and vinegar made a weak form of sulphuric acid. I can see the extended drying time. Running some now. curious to see how long it takes.
 
Another issue in regards to doing this is that you will get a pin trapped in some of the primers. While it may be more time consuming, you are better served (and will have nice clean primer pockets) by decapping before wet tumbling.

Don
 
USSR said:
Another issue in regards to doing this is that you will get a pin trapped in some of the primers. While it may be more time consuming, you are better served (and will have nice clean primer pockets) by decapping before wet tumbling.

Don
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true, however this could be remedied by not using pins. I have not tried it as of yet, but I will probably be trying it in the near future.
 
I’ll never wet tumble with primers intact again. It takes forever to dry. I want my loads as free of defects as possible, and damp cases would be a big one.
 
Joe-ker said:
I’ll never wet tumble with primers intact again. It takes forever to dry. I want my loads as free of defects as possible, and damp cases would be a big one.
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damp cases would be bad. I'm not overly worried about it. my rifle brass has to get tumbled again to get the lube off after sizing and it should dry fine. my 9mm have big enough case mouths, they will dry ok. I have a humidity gauge, I can afford to wait a few extra days if need be until it gets down to relative humidity levels. Its still less actual time on brass prep, just a touch more wait time. For small batches that I need right away I probably will punch primers. But for my bigger batches its easier to wash a few tumblers full and let them dry for a week or 2 if needed.
 
As many know I prep in bulk 500+ at a time . I tried leaving the primers in a few times . As UN points out dry time x3 . I let the cases dry for 3 days then started sizing/decapping , about 2/3 of the way (350 cases ) there was enough water building up it was dripping down my press ram . That and primer pockets as dirty as ever maybe worse with some , I stopped trying that and just deprime first for all .
 
Do it right the first time. Primers hide dirt and add dirt to the solution. Get them out, then tumble; otherwise the pocket will be dirty. I want my brass to look like the day it was made before I use it. I tumble after I size....every time. I don’t load pistol ammo.
 
Jerry Miculek stated he never cleaned his primer pockets, and tumbles with primers in place. Yes it looks nice. makes a difference in any other way than dry time and looks? I don't think so. Plenty of people dry tumble and get good results despite all the extra carbon inside the case that usually gets left behind. I am trying with primers in and no pins. I can afford a week or 2 of dry time if needed. Better than a full day of depriming dirty casings.

I typically prep 1000 at a time. I'm currently working through a 5gal bucket full of 223.
 
MarkCO said:
This.

And I don't use pins either. No need.
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I'm trying no pins currently, with dawn and lemi shine. 30min rinse with just lemi shine. and water. Then 90min with dawn and lemi shine. So far its working great, about half way through a 5 gal bucket of 223, hoping to finish today. It does seems the insides are not getting quite as clean without the pins though, but the outsides are looking amazing.
 
If you can find some Woolite Dark, give it a try. I use that, Lemi-Shine and cold water, no pins. It has some buffering in it that is beneficial and works a little better with cold water.

I rinse, then 2 hours with the solution, rinse, then 5 min with just cold water. Drain and dry. My dryer is a 5 gallon bucket with a 4" duct fan in the side and a 10" hydroponics bucket lid. I run a LOT at a time.
 
MarkCO said:
If you can find some Woolite Dark, give it a try. I use that, Lemi-Shine and cold water, no pins. It has some buffering in it that is beneficial and works a little better with cold water.

I rinse, then 2 hours with the solution, rinse, then 5 min with just cold water. Drain and dry. My dryer is a 5 gallon bucket with a 4" duct fan in the side and a 10" hydroponics bucket lid. I run a LOT at a time.
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I have some regular woolite on hand. Will get some woolite dark next time I'm at the store. Have the large frankford, 7qt I think. About how much woolite do you recommend adding?
 
MarkCO said:
I add about 1/3 of the cap. I guess I should actually measure that someday. Maybe 1 ounce.
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I usually eyeball my measurements too. It's good enough for my wife's cooking. I think I put in about 2oz of regular woolite. Will see how I looks in about 90min.
 
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Lol Jerry shoots pistol at 10 yards , don’t think it matters what’s going on in his primer pockets . My bet is he throws all of his charges doesn’t turn his necks shoot cheap lead bullets etc. etc.

As much as I question Eric‘s teaching skills , in this context I would listen to him way before Jerry haha .

And for even more context Jerry uses a cement mixer to tumble his brass because he does 5gal buckets full at a time . Yeah I don’t think I would decap All of those either . He also sizes them all and tumbles again .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5y_dsP3dsM
 
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He does shoot 3 gun I believe, does some 223 rifle stuff out to 500 or so, but ringing steel at that distance is not exactly precision rifle shooting.

I usually do a 15min wet tumble after sizing to get the lanolin off. For my bulk 223 that should be enough to get the primer pockets reasonably clean. I will probably deprime first on my 308 and 30-06 since those are what I am working on in my precision loads and are a LOT smaller volume.
 
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