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Wet Tumbling - Totally Sold !


Buckshot Bear

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I deprime first.  Not only gets the pockets clean but I have the feeling that the primers get cemented in over time and are more difficult to deprime.

 

I've bought brass that were clean but not deprimed and I had trouble with lots of cases - depriming pins punching through the primer and leaving the sides, broken pin,  etc. 

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1 minute ago, Warden Callaway said:

I deprime first.  Not only gets the pockets clean but I have the feeling that the primers get cemented in over time and are more difficult to deprime.

 

I've bought brass that were clean but not deprimed and I had trouble with lots of cases - depriming pins punching through the primer and leaving the sides, broken pin,  etc. 

 

I'd really like to deprime first, but I load for 6 people and it really adds up (CAS, IPSC, Bullseye) and depriming would just be an additional wear and tear injury on my already sore and painful shoulder and elbow.

I do get my 11yo Grandson to spend some hours with me depriming each week and the talks we have are something I really cherish.

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1 hour ago, Warden Callaway said:

I deprime first.  Not only gets the pockets clean but I have the feeling that the primers get cemented in over time and are more difficult to deprime.

 

I've bought brass that were clean but not deprimed and I had trouble with lots of cases - depriming pins punching through the primer and leaving the sides, broken pin,  etc. 

Just my experience but whenever I have a stuck primer it almost always is a result of moisture having been left in the primer pocket, leaving a bunch of corrosion that holds the edges of the  primer in the primer pocket after the decapping pin pushes the center out of the old primer.

While I have not had to buy brass for quite a while this condition most often occurred with range brass that had been wet cleaned and incompletely dried or had been picked up after some time in the elements.

YMMV

Regards

:FlagAm:  :FlagAm:  :FlagAm:

Gateway Kid

PS I dry tumble with the dryer sheet and dump into bucket outside when I separate media from brass without issues. After reading a bunch of threads on lead exposure I usually wear a mask for that process. (about the only time I wear a mask)

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1 hour ago, Buckshot Bear said:

 

I'd really like to deprime first, but I load for 6 people and it really adds up (CAS, IPSC, Bullseye) and depriming would just be an additional wear and tear injury on my already sore and painful shoulder and elbow.

I do get my 11yo Grandson to spend some hours with me depriming each week and the talks we have are something I really cherish.

 

Get a Lee APP press with roller handle upgrade and 4 tube feeder.  You'll thank me for the advice.

 

 

 

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1022385797

 

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1022927486

 

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1020023248

 

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/101300663

 

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8 minutes ago, Sedalia Dave said:

Careful with the citric acid and nickle cases. It will attack the nickle and make your brass come out dull.

 

And it only takes a few nickle cases to spoil the batch. Besides dull brass cases,  it turns the nickle cases black. 

 

Another way to get painless deprimed brass is to ask your other shooter to deliver them that way. A hand held depriming tool is not that expensive.  It takes no time at all if you're watching TV anyway.  There are several models available.  I use one often when I only have a small number to do.

 

5a5a2896de984_Shilohdeprimmer.thumb.jpg.d4236c07993898819cb900a92e553941.jpg

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I'm also in the "camp of depriming first"

 

When I get back from a match I reload all my loading blocks, replace shotgun shells and then deprime the brass.  Use an old progressive press with just the depriming pin in it.  All I do is load one, work the handle and repeat.  the shells get spit out at the other end. 

 

I can deprime 120 cases in about 10 minutes

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14 hours ago, Dream Chaser, SASS #79316 said:

Buckshot Bear….did you use the stainless pins?  If not how much of each ingredient did you use?

 

I did use the SS pins and a heaped teaspoon of Citric acid and a goodly splash of the Amoral Wax & Polish.

 

 

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15 hours ago, Warden Callaway said:

 

Get a Lee APP press with roller handle upgrade and 4 tube feeder.  You'll thank me for the advice.

 

 

 

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1022385797

 

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1022927486

 

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1020023248

 

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/101300663

 

 

Look like a good tool.

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50 minutes ago, Buckshot Bear said:

 

Look like a good tool.

 

I started a long running topic on the Lee APP press. It's 5 pages long.  Shows a lot of uses and mods.  Like sledging military primer pocket crimps. Pushing bulges out of auto cases.  Sizing bullets.  

 

l

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9 minutes ago, Kid Rich said:

Should only take 35 minutes at about 245 degrees. That's the way I do it.

kR

 

G'day KR

I'm using a food dehydrator it gets the shells to hot to comfortably hold in your hand.

 

I really don't want to have to go down the depriming first route as I'm just not prepared to add that much hassle to my reloading (I know for some its not, but for me it would be).

 

If the shells come straight outta' of the wet tumbler and then into the dryer and dried.....I'm thinking that should stop any stuck/perforated primers? Anyways.....that's what I'm hoping for.

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When it's summer here in AZ I just dump them on a towel in the backyard and they get hot enough that they will burn your hands if you pick them up. A food dehydrator will work fine, all you are doing is drying them before they start to corrode.

kR

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1 hour ago, Buckshot Bear said:

What's the chance of primers being problematic if the cases are dried with heat for a couple of hours?

 

In 30,000 plus cases, I can count on one hand the number of primers I have had stick in a case after wet tumbling. Dry mine in the sun

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If you're going to reload them reasonably soon, I doubt if you'll have any problems.  

 

I like to have clean primer pockets because there seems to be less build-up of primer ash around the press.  In fact, we even hand prime before getting to the press. 

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I've noticed (I read the hint here somewhere) that running the wet tumbler for 20 minutes and pouring out that filthy black water and then refilling with clean water and additives for X amount of hours gets the brass more brilliant like gold pieces.....I can concur that's what I've found.

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10 minutes ago, Warden Callaway said:

If you're going to reload them reasonably soon, I doubt if you'll have any problems.  

 

I like to have clean primer pockets because there seems to be less build-up of primer ash around the press.  In fact, we even hand prime before getting to the press. 

 

Rifle cartridge's I could bother for, but I just can't be bothered for XXX amount of thousands of pistol cases. Sort of defeat the idea of the Dillon XL 650 for me.

 

Amazed at just how BLACK the water that comes out of the tumbler is. No wonder that dust in my dry tumbler used to sting my nostrils :( 

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I use a frankford arsenal hand deprimer while I watch TV.  Anyone I load for I ask that they get one and bring cases to me deprimed.  The tool is about $40.  I load on a dillon 650 and it is nice to not have to worry about the spent primer catch filling up.  I also know my primer pockets are clean.  As for my mixture I use 2 tablespoons of wash and wax and 1/4 tsp or a 9mm case of lemishine.  You want to be careful with how much lemishine/citric acid you use. 

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Looks amazing, if you are okay with depriming first. In my quest to use entirely progressive loading, minimum lever pulls, I went back to dry tumbling right from the gun, and doing really well with a blend of polish and mineral spirits along with small pieces of unused dryer sheets. About three hours tumbling gives me the shine I like to see. The mineral spirts effectively reduced run time and kept the polish from staying in sticky blobs, less need to run for priming the media. I am not sure about the chemical actions with this.

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7 hours ago, Sherrick13 said:

I've been wet tumbling for several years now.  I dry in the sun or just in my house.  Never had a problem with stuck primers.  

 

THIS^^^

 

In over 30K plus rounds wet tumbled, I can count on one hand the number of stuck primers I have encountered.

 

BTW this includes range brass that has been out in the weather for who knows how long.

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10 hours ago, Sherrick13 said:

I've been wet tumbling for several years now.  I dry in the sun or just in my house.  Never had a problem with stuck primers.  

It depends on what you mean by "stuck". You know best what your experience has been, but what I saw was a case lowering to be primed, and the spent primer was still in place, with the decapping pin not retracted nor broken. Went away after going back to dry tumble and no prewash.

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2 hours ago, Roscoe Regulator said:

It depends on what you mean by "stuck". You know best what your experience has been, but what I saw was a case lowering to be primed, and the spent primer was still in place, with the decapping pin not retracted nor broken. Went away after going back to dry tumble and no prewash.

 

Stuck to me means it either breaks the decapping pin or pushed it up to where it has to be reset.   It literally has never happened to me once with wet tumbled cases.      

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4 hours ago, Smokin Gator SASS #29736 said:

Other then your grandson none of the others you're loading for will put in some time to assist in their ammo being loaded for them?

 

There all family members and would if I asked, but I'm retired and like to do things on my own time.

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3 hours ago, Buckshot Bear said:

 

There all family members and would if I asked, but I'm retired and like to do things on my own time.

Totally understand. At some point they'll need to learn to reload. I have the same thing wanting my son in laws and grandsons to learn before I'm gone.

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20 minutes ago, Smokin Gator SASS #29736 said:

Totally understand. At some point they'll need to learn to reload. I have the same thing wanting my son in laws and grandsons to learn before I'm gone.

 

The daughter in laws aren't real keen, but my two sons are Smokin Gator and have done a lot over the years, its more of a time thing for them as they are so busy. I have a massive investment in my reloading gear, its lucky that they both live just minutes walk from me. I feel bad for other members of the club that ask and I have to say no to. In the end, its best to reload for oneself but I can understand its a big outlay for someone brand new to shooting centrefire especially after just buying all the guns and other gear.
Hope you're enjoying your Winter over there.

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