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It's all you guys fault!


DeaconKC

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You all were bragging so much on how great wet tumbling is, and my ancient vibrating tumbler has seen better days, so I went and got a rotary tumbler. Used it the first time today...it was great! Oh my goodness, how pretty the brass is! Didn't even have the Lemishine stuff, just some Blue Poly carwash, wow. It's out drying in the sunshine right now.

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Once you go wet you never go back. I think that’s how it goes.

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I drain my brass, then into the dry tumbler it goes. About 5 minutes & its dry. YMMV

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Yusta B is spot on. Walnut wicks all the water out of the primer pockets and dries the cases. Just throw them in the old tumbler for a little bit.

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6 minutes ago, Barkeep Casey said:

Yusta B is spot on. Walnut wicks all the water out of the primer pockets and dries the cases. Just throw them in the old tumbler for a little bit.

Dang. Had I know this, I wouldn’t have bought the dryer. Do you have to change the media often?

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Before you go out and buy Lemi-Shine see if you actually need it.  Unless you’ve got hard water I don’t see much of a difference with or without.  BTW I got 2 quarter size rare earth magnets stuck on a small piece of steel, works for those pesky pins.

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I sometimes get discoloration when I leave the wet brass in the sun to dry...they dry spotless and quicker in my food dehydrator.  And then my jerky is also shiny but slightly Dawn-tasting.

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10 minutes ago, Diamond Jake said:

I sometimes get discoloration when I leave the wet brass in the sun to dry...they dry spotless and quicker in my food dehydrator.  And then my jerky is also shiny but slightly Dawn-tasting.

^^^^^Yep^^^^^

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to add another twist to this process I've switched over to SS chips.  The don't get caught in the brass and I think they do a quicker job.

+ it was something else to buy for the hobby/sport/obsession

 

https://www.facebook.com/southernshinemedia/

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Ha.  None of the Above.  Toss my brass into the shop sink with water and some Whit Vinegar.  Soak for Half Hour.  Rinse.  Put it onna cookie sheet in into the small oven for an hour at 180 - 190 degrees.  Ready to load.

 

PS:  I Dont shoot that heathen smokeless stuff.  BP and Subs only. 

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3 minutes ago, Colorado Coffinmaker said:

 

Ha.  None of the Above.  Toss my brass into the shop sink with water and some Whit Vinegar.  Soak for Half Hour.  Rinse.  Put it onna cookie sheet in into the small oven for an hour at 180 - 190 degrees.  Ready to load.

 

PS:  I Dont shoot that heathen smokeless stuff.  BP and Subs only. 

 

Do this. I even switched to nickel shells for my bp sub loads. The pressures are low enough that I haven't split even one yet. Wash...Dry...Reload.

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If you dry tumble wet shells you will sometimes get clumps of media stuck in the bottom of the shells. Not a good idea. I just put mine on a  towel out in the sun for a few hours, then dry tumble.

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I second the dehydrator, 45 min. at 160 deg. Ready to reload.  SCJ

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On 4/6/2021 at 11:57 PM, Springfield Slim SASS #24733 said:

If you dry tumble wet shells you will sometimes get clumps of media stuck in the bottom of the shells. Not a good idea. I just put mine on a  towel out in the sun for a few hours, then dry tumble.

I've been cleaning this way for several years now. I don't have this problem. It may be because I deprime first, or I use Zilla Desert Blend (fine) walnut media or that I make sure the media is always dry when I start. I clean .45 Colt, .38 Spl, .357Mag, 9MM and .32 H&R Mag this way without getting any clumps in cases. I also check every flash hole & case for cracks/splits after drying. .556 however is a totally different story. :(  YMMV

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49 minutes ago, Yusta B. said:

I've been cleaning this way for several years now. I don't have this problem. It may be because I deprime first, or I use Zilla Desert Blend (fine) walnut media or that I make sure the media is always dry when I start. I clean .45 Colt, .38 Spl, .357Mag, 9MM and .32 H&R Mag this way without getting any clumps in cases. I also check every flash hole & case for cracks/splits after drying. .556 however is a totally different story. :(  YMMV

I try to remove as much liquid from the cases as possible by straining and then I throw them on a big towel and rub them down to dry them a little more. Then into the walnut media for a 20-30 minute run. I do not de-prime prior to cleaning and the walnut will wick any moisture out of the spent primers/primer pockets. I have never had walnut media lodge in a case as long as it is a straight wall case and you pull the cases out of the walnut immediately after running. If you let it sit overnight without opening the lid of the vibratory cleaner it will want to gum up. 

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I always run my cases through a Lee Universal Deprimer die when I get home from a shooting session.  I seldom have more than 100 cases, so even on a single stage press it doesn't take very long.  Then I put them in a plastic container and wait until I have enough for a full batch in my wet tumbler.  The de-primed cases drain and dry quicker and the primer pockets are nice and clean.

 

Sometimes, if I want to reload some brass and don't have enough empties to get a good batch in the tumbler, I run them through the sonic cleaner instead.  I don't care if the brass isn't shiny, as long as it's clean.

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I have had really great results so far using the tumbler with stainless pins. What kind of results have you folks had running the tumbler without pins?

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50 minutes ago, DeaconKC said:

I have had really great results so far using the tumbler with stainless pins. What kind of results have you folks had running the tumbler without pins?

Great - depending on what you want. Flash holes are clean-er, not sparkling.Cases - outside - pretty much same as with pins, inside - clean enough. I do use Lemi Shine & Dawn. Not worth it for me to use pins unless I have some really groaty (scientific term) brass.

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1 hour ago, DeaconKC said:

I have had really great results so far using the tumbler with stainless pins. What kind of results have you folks had running the tumbler without pins?

I've only run a few batches without pins.  Outside is clean and quite shiny, but not as new-looking as with pins.  Primer pockets still have a little residue in about half of them, and some cases have some buildup inside.  I'll probably still use pins if cases are range pickups, Black Powder, or otherwise gunkier than normal.  I'll use without pins when it's from smokeless.

 

 

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