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Frankford Arsenal wet tumbler


Sgt. Hochbauer, SASS #64409

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I had purchased one of the wet tumblers and found the brass for sure came out cleaner inside than using the vibratory tumbler. But my brass did not come out nice and shiny as did my friends. Although I did have a batch or two that did come out nice and also using their solution. That said I found for the most part it was more of a pain to separate the pins and get the results I was hoping for and let it sit. I am a darksider and do try to bring a jug of soapy water with me to a match or do it when I get home. Yes I did have some green crusty brass too. I deprimed a bunch of brass and tried the FA tumbler but used distilled rather than tap water and again their solution and nothing else. What an amazing difference brass almost looked brand new. The once or twice I did have good results was probably due to using the water from my dehumidifier. Its still a pain to separate the media but what a difference.

 

Sgt H

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I got one for myself for xmass and been running two batches a day .

I use well water ,about 2oz of dish soap and a quarter of a teaspoon of lemon shine.

Run it two hours and my brass comes out super clean inside and outside and clean primer pockets.

I have been using my Dillon dry meadia separator and a garden hose , this seems to work the best for me.

The ss pins fall to the bottom of the tub ..Just pour most of the water out of the tub and then pour the pins back in to the tumbler.

I haven't used the Frankfort  end caps since the first time ,Just to big a pain.

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Do you pre-soak the BP brass in a water/vinegar solution? You should.....

What media are you using? Do you rinse it after each use?

I have used Dave Maurer's media since I started wet tumbling and never an issue.

All brass comes out looking like polished gold, inside and out.

https://shilohrifle.com/cleaning-supplies/ceramic-media/

OLG

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Try putting a magnet inside a plastic bag.  Invert and remove bag catching the pins inside the bag by turning the bag inside out.   If your using steel pins    GW

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1 hour ago, G W Wade said:

Try putting a magnet inside a plastic bag.  Invert and remove bag catching the pins inside the bag by turning the bag inside out.   If your using steel pins    GW

 

Thanks for the tip.   I got Sawmill Mary a Frankford Arsenal tumbler for Christmas.  But they didn't have the magnet in stock.  

 

I don't know why I didn't think of that. I have an automated saw blade grinding machine that uses oil to cool the grinding wheel.  I use magnets in a Ziploc bag to pull the steel grinding dust from the oil. Would work the same but I just discard the mess. 

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Make sure you remove the brass immediately after the timer times out.  I made the mistake the 1st time I used mine.  I stated a batch just before bedtime;so, the clean brass sat in the solution for 4 hours before I removed & rinsed for several hours.  It came out clean but tarnished.

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I use an RCBS media separator to separate SS pin or ceramic media from the brass. Drain off as much dirty water as I can from the tumbler drum and then dump the contents into the media separator basket.

Fill the tub with just enough water to cover the brass plus 1/2 inch.  Rotate the drum so that the brass rises above the water level and then tumbles back in.  After 25 or so revolutions Drain off as much dirty water as possible without loosing and of the pins or ceramic media. repeat two more times or until the water no longer is soapy.

Drain off as much water as possible without loosing any pins or ceramic media. Pour the media and what little water remain back into your tumbler drum for use the next time.

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The FA rotary media seperator is what I use, dump the brass and pins in, roll the handle for 30 seconds and that gets 99.9% of the pins out.

 

As for the shininess, I use a dry tumbler with walnut media and a touch of turtle wax polish and just dry tumble the completed rounds. Comes out prettier and shinier than factory and still no lead to worry about in the dry tumbling. Plus the polish basically makes it so the rounds more or less are tarish proof.

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12 hours ago, Deadshot Dan said:

Do you have to deprime the brass before running it through the wet tumbler?  What works best the steel pins or ceramic media.  Been thinking about getting one of these for a while now.

 

You do not have to deprime first but if you don't you're missing out on one of the advantages of wet tumbling.  Both types of media work very well but being able to pick up some stray media with a magnet can very handy at times.

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Sawmill Mary just opened her FA tumbler and read the directions (It's a woman thing - real men don't need to read direction or maps. :rolleyes:).  

 

What I'm hoping to gain is cleaner brass without the dust of the vibration cleaner. I pre-soak in water, soap and Lemi Shine anyway. 

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28 minutes ago, Warden Callaway said:

Sawmill Mary just opened her FA tumbler and read the directions (It's a woman thing - real men don't need to read direction or maps. :rolleyes:).  

 

What I'm hoping to gain is cleaner brass without the dust of the vibration cleaner. I pre-soak in water, soap and Lemi Shine anyway. 

you are both going to love it,,,,,

 

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2 hours ago, Dee Mak Jack, SASS #55905 said:

Thanks guys.  Your post have convinced me that I do not need a wet tumbler.  I just throw mine in some walnut shell media and when done dump into container.  No rinsing etc etc etc

I gave up dry for wet when I had my blood tested for lead.  No more lead dust floating around.  Inside of cases are cleaned.  No concerned about where a safe place would be to dump the contaminated tumbling media.

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We shoot a lot of BP blanks Reenacting and I picked up an FA wet tumbler, about a year ago and IMHO it is the only way to go

 

I deprime 1st.' then I use a little Dawn dish soup and a splash of Vinegar

 

Makes the brass look almost as good as new

 

I do wash my pins between each batch

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15 hours ago, Deadshot Dan said:

Do you have to deprime the brass before running it through the wet tumbler?  What works best the steel pins or ceramic media.  Been thinking about getting one of these for a while now.

Yes-

OLG

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3 hours ago, Dee Mak Jack, SASS #55905 said:

Thanks guys.  Your post have convinced me that I do not need a wet tumbler.  I just throw mine in some walnut shell media and when done dump into container.  No rinsing etc etc etc

Hope you're wearing a dust mask when do'n the separating........;)

Lots of lead in the dust/media.

OLG

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I use a Lyman wet tumbler with a cap of their solution.  Run two hours---rinse in the separator then dump into a Rockford arsenal media separator.   Brass comes out looking like new.   I do not de-prime first.   Tried that----brass is so dirty it just made a mess of my case feeder and case feeder tube.  If I had room for a second press I might run a de-prime only set up but limited on space.  Every now and then I'll have a run where I might jam a half a dozen primers but that is because I find myself gripping the handle on the 650 as opposed to staying light and smooth when priming..  I'd be interested in ideas on de-priming and mitigating the dirt problems on the press?   What'cha all doing for that??

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Went wet -  ain't going Back!

 

Got a Black Friday deal on a F/A set up.

Cleaned all my brass I had stored up in about 8-9 batches. 

Just... Water-Dawn-LemiShine (No Media).

Looks like Santa's jolly elves cleaned all my brass by hand.

 

As clean as this method gets the brass using Dawn dish soap, Its necessary to lube the 

cases prior to reloading.  A good spray with "One Shot" and I'm back to the presses.

Gonna try the Amor-All car wash recipe soon to see if that helps lube the brass a little 

 

I could tell from the first batch that this is a "much" cleaner way to reload, no dust and debris from the 

dry vibrator method and my priming station on my Dillon is much cleaner.

 

Go Wet....you wont regret !

 

BB

 

 

 

 

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I have  hand de capper but I load so much that took way to much time.   I'm generally loading a few thousand rounds a month, 9, 10, 45 and now 45LC.   Hand de-capping would take forever.   But---you are correct---that is one way to do it.

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16 minutes ago, Blackface Charlie said:

I have  hand de capper but I load so much that took way to much time.   I'm generally loading a few thousand rounds a month, 9, 10, 45 and now 45LC.   Hand de-capping would take forever.   But---you are correct---that is one way to do it.

 

It really don't take any time at all if you do it while you're watching a movie or waiting for supper. 

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58 minutes ago, Warden Callaway said:

 

We use a tool to deprime brass.  

 

5a5a2896de984_Shilohdeprimmer.thumb.jpg.d4236c07993898819cb900a92e553941.jpg

 

Howdy Warden like the looks of the black decapper better than the frankfurt, just wandering if these are available for sale?  I take it they don't do any damage to the rim of the brass.  Thank you.

 

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Dry tumble your brass as you normally would do.  Then wet tumble the same brass.  If dry cleans your brass why is the wet water so dirty?  I figure the cleaner my brass the less wear and tear on my dies.

 

No it isn't a requirement to Deprime if you wet tumble.  I Deprime unless it my SASS reloads.  I use a Harvey Deprimer.

 

https://harveydeprimer.com

 

 

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3 minutes ago, The Original Lumpy Gritz said:

What I use.

OLG

Howdy Lumpy,  Just saying i was going to  get a lee hand press to deprime to go the wet route anyway.  Would the hand press be suitable to do small batch loading for say 45-70.

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3 minutes ago, Hillbilly Drifter said:

Maybe but it works just fine nonetheless 

Felt the same as you, till I got into BPCR loading. 

Went 'wet' with rotary and ceramic, will never go 'dry' again.

DD-YES, would be great for that, it takes STD size dies and shell holder.

I just use a universal de-caping die and change shell holder as needed.

Make sure to keep the hand-press's pivot points oiled.

OLG

 

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