Frankfort Wet Tumbling

[Lawdog Dago Dom 925]

Starting to take a shine to this wet tumbling (pun intended). Used 2 ounces of brass juice, pinch of Lemi Shine and a drop of blue Dawn. No pins. 3 hour tumble. This was 223 brass I found that was fired around 1985. It was in a paper sack in dad's basement.

[Warden Callaway 2,431]

That remains me.  I have a batch in the Frankford Arsenal tumbler about ready to take out. 

[bgavin 440]

Midway has a sale on the Frankford platinum model right now.
They also offer free shipping, again right now.

[Warden Callaway 2,431]

1 hour ago, bgavin said:

Midway has a sale on the Frankford platinum model right now.
They also offer free shipping, again right now.

 

Check close on the free shipping.  Often items on sale don't qualify.  

[bgavin 440]

I did just that... been playing the Midway Shipping Game for a long time.
The whole order (Dewey stuff, Starline brass, etc) and the tumbler are free shipping.

Midway won't honor that with bullets or ammo.
We can't buy ammo in CA anymore from Midway, so this is a non-problem.

 

[McCandless 1,257]

On 10/6/2019 at 5:21 PM, Lawdog Dago Dom said:

Starting to take a shine to this wet tumbling (pun intended). Used 2 ounces of brass juice, pinch of Lemi Shine 

 

 

Which Lemi Shine product?  I looked them up and found over a dozen different Lemi Shine thingys.

[Tequila Chase 189]

@McCandless  this is the one I use Lemi Shine.  Remember a little goes a long way, I use maybe a 1/4 teaspoon in a Frankfort.

[Warden Callaway 2,431]

2 hours ago, Tequila Chase said:

@McCandless  this is the one I use Lemi Shine.  Remember a little goes a long way, I use maybe a 1/4 teaspoon in a Frankfort.

 

And I hear if you really don't need it unless you have hard water.  We have hard water so I've always used it. 

 

Also, it's readily available at your local stores where dish soap is sold. 

 

 

 

Edited October 12 by Warden Callaway

[Sgt. Hochbauer, SASS #64409 54]

I have had a love hate relationship with this tumbler since I gotten it. The last batch I did was the first time I used a bit of the Lemi Shine......what an amazing difference that it made. My results have previously been clean but dull brass. Not that the dull brass makes any difference especially since I shoot BP. That said I am still not getting rid of my dry tumbler.

[Lawdog Dago Dom 925]

11 hours ago, Tequila Chase said:

@McCandless  this is the one I use Lemi Shine.  Remember a little goes a long way, I use maybe a 1/4 teaspoon in a Frankfort.

 

Yep. That's the stuff.

[Dusty Devil Dale 306]

22 hours ago, McCandless said:

 

Which Lemi Shine product?  I looked them up and found over a dozen different Lemi Shine thingys.

Yul Lose has been advising us for some time to also use Strata-Sheen.  Wow!  I ordered some from Rio Grande and tried it yesterday on some .38s, using it with two drops  of Dawn and a half-teaspoon of Lemi Shine (no SS rod media).  Fantastic results, both inside and out.  

Thanks to YL for some great advice.  Try it.  Yul like it a lot! 

[The Original Lumpy Gritz 5,257]

Best to deprime before a wet tumble. 

OLG

[Yul Lose 4,327]

1 minute ago, The Original Lumpy Gritz said:

Best to deprime before a wet tumble. 

OLG

I never deprime and have never had a problem. That’s why god created sizer dies with decapping pins.

[The Original Lumpy Gritz 5,257]

3 minutes ago, Yul Lose said:

I never deprime and have never had a problem. That’s why god created sizer dies with decapping pins.

If you deprime first-The primer pocket comes out as clean as the rest of the case. 

OLG

[Yul Lose 4,327]

7 minutes ago, The Original Lumpy Gritz said:

If you deprime first-The primer pocket comes out as clean as the rest of the case. 

OLG

If I ever run into a problem where my primer pockets aren’t clean enough I’ll do it. I haven’t had that problem yet. I’m looking for less work not more. Lots of other things I’d rather do than deprime brass that doesn’t need to be deprimed before I reload it. If I’m going to deprime my primers I might as well start using the steel pins or ceramic media, no ain’t gonna happen I’m trying to get out of work. Nice try but no cigar.

[The Original Lumpy Gritz 5,257]

4 minutes ago, Yul Lose said:

If I ever run into a problem where my primer pockets aren’t clean enough I’ll do it. I haven’t had that problem yet. I’m looking for less work not more. Lots of other things I’d rather do than deprime brass that doesn’t need to be deprimed before I reload it. If I’m going to deprime my primers I might as well start using the steel pins or ceramic media, no ain’t gonna happen I’m trying to get out of work. Nice try but no cigar.

 

Get's me out of household chores......

I found it very beneficial for match grade ammo in both BP and 'white' powder.

I use ceramic media for all case cleaning now.

OLG

 

 

[T-Square 40]

is ceramic media better than stainless?

I'm about to buy the rebel 17 - do I get ss or ceramic media?

what about media separators ? no, im not building one, midway USA has several that fit in a bucket.

Edited October 13 by T-Square

[Yul Lose 4,327]

18 minutes ago, The Original Lumpy Gritz said:

 

Get's me out of household chores......

I found it very beneficial for match grade ammo in both BP and 'white' powder.

I use ceramic media for all case cleaning now.

OLG

 

 

Knock yourself out. I’m not building match grade ammo so clean primer pockets ain’t big on my reloading radar. I used to use ceramic media for case cleaning also but one day I tried it without the ceramic media and it was like I had this big WOW moment when I emptied the cases out of the tumbler and they were just as bright and shiny as if I’d just opened up a new box of Starline 44-40 brass but the dang primer pockets weren’t as clean so I knew immediately that some folks were gonna think my brass cleaning method was sub par and I said to my self “Yul, if SASS ever starts having primer pockets cleanliness inspections you’re gonna fail”. So I’m pretty sure that any day now the ROC is gonna come out with this edict that when you show up at any SASS sanctioned match you have to turn 5 loaded rounds over to the sign up police for them to hammer out the bullets, measure your powder type and amount and punch out your primers so that they can see how clean your primer pockets are. PWB is gonna pin a thread outlining the exact process to be followed in this primer pocket inspection campaign. 
 

Anyway OLG, I ain’t going to start depriming my cases before I clean my brass without steel pins or ceramic media because somebody gets their jollies by depriming brass, I don’t, I’d rather make sawdust or something. I equate depriming brass right up there with getting a root canal, something I’m doing on Tuesday and I’ll let you know which I enjoyed more, depriming 500 brass cases or getting a root canal.

 

So now you know there is a line in the sand, those that do deprime before they clean and those few that don’t. 

Edited October 13 by Yul Lose

[Yul Lose 4,327]

14 minutes ago, T-Square said:

is ceramic media better than stainless?

I'm about to buy the rebel 17 - do I get ss or ceramic media?

what about media separators ? no, im not building one, midway USA has several that fit in a bucket.

If you do it my way you don’t need a media separator. Mine is home to cobwebs and lizards.

[The Original Lumpy Gritz 5,257]

29 minutes ago, T-Square said:

is ceramic media better than stainless?

I'm about to buy the rebel 17 - do I get ss or ceramic media?

what about media separators ? no, im not building one, midway USA has several that fit in a bucket.

Ceramic is easier to separate from the cases.

I use a Dillon case separator.

Yul, best of luck with that root canal. 

OLG

[Dusty Devil Dale 306]

1 hour ago, Yul Lose said:

I never deprime and have never had a problem. That’s why god created sizer dies with decapping pins.

Agree.  I don't deprime either.

In fact I think I might like a little crud on the pocket sides to sort of lubricate and seal when seating the new primers.  (Better than scraping away brass).  As long as flash holes, are clear, I've never had any problem. 

 

And a decapping die doesn't enlarge the primer pocket diameter like tumbling media can.  People will dispute that, but If it's getting shiny and abrasive media of any kind is being used, material of some kind is being removed.  If the SS or ceramic or abrasive additive media has a Mohs hardness greater than that of the brass, then some brass is going to be scratched away, especially during very long tumbling sessions when I  get distracted and forget that I have a batch running.  

I can tell you that in jewelry making, you never tumble the ring or other casting for clean up before you set the stones.  If you do, there is too little edge metal left to do the stone setting work, even with Platinum.  

Edited October 13 by Dusty Devil Dale

[Warden Callaway 2,431]

Well, I just use water, Simple Green and Lemi Shine.  Decap brass before the wet tumble in the Frankford Arsenal for one hour. No pins.  Didn't see how it's going to enlarge any primer pockets.

 

 

140 C45S shot yesterday loaded with BlackMZ.  After one hour in Frankford Arsenal with just Simply Green and Lemi Shine. 

 

The secondary reason I like decap and clean before reloading is the I don't get all the carbon crap from the dead primers messing up the Dillon 550B.  

 

The first reason,  Sawmill Mary hand primes all the cases with an RCBS priming tool.  She can inspect the cases as she's going along. She finds any that the pocket us loose or case crack, etc. Never a high primer.  

 

 

 

 

Edited October 13 by Warden Callaway

[Dusty Devil Dale 306]

3 hours ago, Warden Callaway said:

No pins.  Didn't see how it's going to enlarge any primer pockets.

Agree.  Without pins or other media, pocket enlargement isn't going to happen.   Nothing gets in there to abrade the brass.