Wet Tumbling Pistol Cases - My Findings

S

smoking357

New member
After reading innumerable threads and watching all the YouTube videos I could find on the subject, I succumbed to the wet tumbling craze and bought a Harbor Freight dual drum rotary tumbler.

I've been tumbling pistol cases with 1/4 teaspoon LemiShine, a dollop of Dawn Blue, and filling the bucket with as hot water as my sink can provide. I have not used stainless steel pins. I have not decapped my shells before tumbling. I run the tumbler on a timer for three hours.

Here's what I've concluded.

Wet tumbling is far preferable to dry media tumbling. The cases come out appreciably shinier and cleaner than with dry tumbling. Post-tumbling is a snap, as I drain my tumbling buckets into a plastic mesh basket from Dollar Tree. There's no more media to shake and rattle to separate. The water drains; the shells stay in the basket, and I rinse until I'm satisfied. I pour the shells out onto a towel, and let them air dry.

No media remains inside the case to cause problems during reloading. We've all had to pick dried media out of a case or had the decapping pin smack dried media in the bottom of the shell. That problem is nonexistent with wet tumbling.

My media never wears down, as the LemiShine and Blue Dawn is always as fresh as the prior batch.

If you use the steel pins and decap prior to tumbling, your brass will come out looking like new. That's great, but unneeded with pistol loads. It's also an unnecessary bother to separate the steel pins. Carbon on the inside of your shell will never pose a problem and there's no need to clean the primer pocket with steel pins.

I would recommend wet tumbling as the best option for anyone getting into reloading pistol cartridges.

I recommend only tumbling one caliber in your drum, or extremely similar calibers such as .44 Magnum and .45 Colt.
 
People have reported corroded primer pockets when not decapping first. The moisture can stay in there.

I decap first and use the pins. Even rinse and run an extra half hour or so with Armor All Wash N Wax. Then pop em in the oven at 225 for 25 minutes. :)

Yep. It's pretty much superstition at this point.
 
turtlehead said:
People have reported corroded primer pockets when not decapping first. The moisture can stay in there.

I decap first and use the pins. Even rinse and run an extra half hour or so with Armor All Wash N Wax. Then pop em in the oven at 225 for 25 minutes. :)

Yep. It's pretty much superstition at this point.
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I'm not convinced. They use brass on ships because it doesn't corrode in the presence of seawater. If the primer pocket were subject to corrosion, we'd see it elsewhere on the brass in other vulnerable areas like the stamping or the rim.

If anyone is really concerned about water in the case, put a fan next to your drying towel, and run the fan across the brass for an hour, or so.
 
I've never had a problem with dry-media cleaning, so never saw the need for wet. I've used a Dillon large dry-media cleaner or more than 20 years. Never had a problem with packed media in cases, and never had an issue with primer pockets [clean brass with primers in place]. Wet cleaning seems to be an answer to a non-existing problem, creating issues of it's own.
 
Been tumbling for about 40 years. If you are using the right walnut shell media (Zilla Lizard Litter at Petco or Petsmart), the media is too small to get stuck in flash holes. That being said, about 5 years ago I entered into a contract to provide a guy with a Type 6 FFL (able to reload ammo and sell it) fully processed brass from brass that came off of a shooting range. There was 1,000's of them, the brass was filthy, and there was simply no way that dry tumbling was going to get them presentable. So, I bought the FART (Frankford Arsenal Rotary Tumbler). Wow! Do as turtlehead says, pop the primers out and use the pins. The pins are not a bother, they are picked up quite nicely by the magnet that you should buy for about $15. Having your brass look like new may not be necessary, but it sure is nice to look at.

Don
 
People have reported corroded primer pockets when not decapping first. The moisture can stay in there.
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This is one suspected cause of “ringers”.

I use walnut dry a bit less than wet with SS pins but use corncob most often. I did build 3 of these setups https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlZOYjmAnO0 for a business and they use a method pretty close to yours. But they dry them instantly after rinse and load them shortly after. 15 gallons of brass in each drum per load (overhead crane to load and unload them) and they have done tons of brass this way (really each skid of brass they have weighs over 2000 lbs).
 
After I wet tumble and separate the pins; open basket and take my blow dryer to the cases. I blow dry until the cases feel dry. Afterwards, lay the cases out on a towel to air dry. Apply the blow dryer some more. Air dry. I decap usually the same day or the next day. I use magnet to ID pins that may have escaped separation process in cases on towel. A few slip through, but always on the look-out for any deficiencies throughout the reloading steps. Cases look good.


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I'm not following (and it's not the first time). Why would you decap after tumbling when decapping before is just as easy? That way the primer pocket gets clean - whether you think that's necessary or not, it sure looks nice. :)

I've never tried the magnet thing. I tumble in a separator for a minute or two and that seems to be good. When I've done .223 brass it takes a longer tumble to get all the pins out.

On drying, I always rinse with cold water last and then spread them out. I think it helps quite a bit with spotting. I don't get any spots from brass touching while drying and it doesn't take much longer to dry. Not sure if I figured that out or read it somewhere but the idea is likely not original. I've also got a food dehydrator that I use occasionally, but my process doesn't really depend on being able to use the brass the same day so most often it's just fine to dry on a towel.

If I'm reading correctly, the OP doesn't use any media for tumbling. I did that once (accidentally, forgot to pour the pins in) and it worked ok. If I'm going to go through the trouble to tumble the brass I might as well add the media since I already own it and have the brass clean inside and out. If a guy wanted to space out his purchases and just get the tumbler first and maybe add pins later, I think this is a reasonable approach.
 
I always decap either at the range or when I get home with a Lee Universal and let the decapped cases marinate in a detergent mixture for a day or so before tumbling using either the wet or dry method. It can really cut down on the time neded in the tumbler
 
I considered all the dimensions of wet tumbling before I undertook this project. I compared the results from various methods and made a cost/benefit analysis. I'm very happy with the way things are turning out.

LBussy said:
I'm not following (and it's not the first time). Why would you decap after tumbling when decapping before is just as easy? That way the primer pocket gets clean - whether you think that's necessary or not, it sure looks nice. :)
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Loading pistol is meant to be fast. If you're reloading pistol cases the right way, you're doing it on a turret press or a progressive. You decap and resize at the same time then move onto charging. Fast, easy, seamless, and you don't have to wonder where you are in your workflow. I don't like any procedure that adds time. I don't like segmented workloads where I have to check if a stage in a process has been completed before proceeding. I don't like having multiple inventory locations. I have bins for clean brass and dirty brass, by caliber. I grab some shells from the clean bin, load, and hit the range.

My advice is most directed at people who want to get things done quickly and easily and don't care to chase diminishing returns. I've seen home reloaders who turn out more industrially perfect ammunition than Hornady. My loads are just as accurate.

On drying, I always rinse with cold water last and then spread them out. I think it helps quite a bit with spotting. I don't get any spots from brass touching while drying and it doesn't take much longer to dry. Not sure if I figured that out or read it somewhere but the idea is likely not original.
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That method works just fine for me.

If I'm reading correctly, the OP doesn't use any media for tumbling. I did that once (accidentally, forgot to pour the pins in) and it worked ok. If I'm going to go through the trouble to tumble the brass I might as well add the media since I already own it and have the brass clean inside and out.
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Not for me. That adds a lot of time, expense, and labor for a negligible payoff. A lot of extra work, extra expense, and an extra component to store just to get a clean case interior simply isn't worth it to me.

If a guy wanted to space out his purchases and just get the tumbler first and maybe add pins later, I think this is a reasonable approach.
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For pistol, I say the pins can be skipped, altogether. Too much work and expense just to have a clean case interior. Clean case interiors don't affect ballistics, one darn bit.

Now, I don't shoot F-Class rifle, so I can't speak to what works best in that world.

One thing I've always hated about dry tumbling is the loud-as-heck racket the brass makes when you're shaking the media out of it. Each brass case is essentially a bell and has its own resonance. There's at least as much separating to get all the steel pins out of the brass. I'm glad to leave media separating and the cacophony associated with it in my mirror. The method I use has no media, and my shaking is about 15-30 seconds of rinsing with cold water.
 
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smoking357 said:
If you're reloading pistol cases the right way, you're doing it on a turret press or a progressive. You decap and resize at the same time then move onto charging.
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Gotcha. I use a Lee Turret (saving up for a Dillon) and I prefer to bulk prime before going to the turret. So I deprime, clean, prime and then store my brass till I reload it. The Lee priming system on the press is not bad, I just prefer the Ergo-Prime and doing that while watching TV.

Reading your process; I would be concerned about moisture remaining in the primer pocket area, but I have no data to back that up. Just a suspicion.
 
LBussy said:
Reading your process; I would be concerned about moisture remaining in the primer pocket area, but I have no data to back that up. Just a suspicion.
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I have considered that, but I give the brass a good drying time, and it sits in bins for a good bit before I get around to reloading it.

Plus, water has hydrogen. If there is any water around, the powder will ignite the hydrogen for extra rocket boost.

:)
 
If you're reloading pistol cases the right way, you're doing it on a turret press or a progressive.
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Uh, "right way". Hardly. Fast way, yes. I teach metallic cartridge reloading (both handgun and rifle), and the NRA specifies that we use a single-stage press. I guarantee you that for every guy loading handgun ammo on a progressive press there are 10 guys or more reloading on a single-stage press. Not trashing progressive presses as they are great for high volume reloading, just the concept that they are required if you want to reload "the right way".

For pistol, I say the pins can be skipped, altogether. Too much work and expense just to have a clean case interior.
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You are deluding yourself regarding this. First, most guys are using the Frankford Arsenal Rotary Tumbler which is an excellent and affordable piece of equipment, and the pins come free of charge with the tumbler. Too much work? It takes me 2 minutes to remove the pins from the bucket after the brass has been rinsed, and deposit them back in the tumbler. That you prefer not to use pins is all well and good, but there is no "work and expense" involved in their use.

Don
 
I always de-prime before cleaning. My objective is to reload correctly and accurately with each step. But if you just want plinking ammo and fast so be it. Progressives are very good at being fast. There is no specific right way.
 
I love thread's like this. Seem's everyone has a way to clean case's weather they are wet or dry, pin's or not and additives or not. Strange thing is everyone of them seem's to work! I dry tumble with cob and nothing in it. Usually ready to load case's about 1 1/2hrs after it goes into the cleaner! It seem's to me that what a lot of people really want are shiny brass case's as opposed to just clean!
 
zipspyder - "correctly and accurately..." I don't know of a single, large manufacturer that produces match grade ammo that loads on single stage machines. The idea that a quality progressive press is somehow less accurate is simply untrue. In fact, there has been no real evidence to prove weighed charges is any more accurate than thrown charges. Early on, Ken Oehler would off a free chronograph to anyone who could produce a load that shot a 10 shot string with a SD of 1. He never gave away a chronograph.

LBussy - why wouldn't you clean before decapping? The entire purpose of cleaning is to not scratch your dies and make the loading process easier. Why would anyone want to add an additional step to reloading. The more steps, the more room for human error - the biggest cause of loading issues.

To be honest, I think the entire cleaning process is over exaggerated. I clean my single shot and pistol cases about every 3 or 4 loadings. I guess it is just a product of getting older and my own experience. I just don't see a great deal of difference [if any] between loading a case that has been fired a couple of time and a "clean one."
 
@Northof50 - we were not talking about a large manufacturer were we so I have no idea how you came up with that statement? What I meant was I go as fast as I can accurately and safely. It's not about SPEED for me. You also assumed that I meant progressive presses are not accurate, which again I never said any such thing. There are a lot more steps to go wrong with a progressive doing multiple cartridges at the same time but if you are careful then they work just fine.
 
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