Primers not going BOOM turns out to be operator error.

[Cholla]

A while back I was telling a few here that I had a few CCI LRP not working in some 45-70 loads I worked up. I was very frustrated as I had 60 more that I loaded and was afraid they wouldn’t go boom. 
I finally got around to pulling a few of the cases that ftf. I was mystified because the primer was clearly decomposed, and the powder was clumped up and sticky.

I let the cases sit open for a few days due to my work load. When I came back to them, the powder was flaky, as it was supposed to be. I pulled another and it was clumpy but it dried within a few hours. I initially thought resizing lube had contaminated the powder and primer. After seeing the powder go from clumping to loose and flaky, I think I still had water from wet tumbling in them.

I shook the rest and could hear the powder shifting so I think they’re good. I have since added time in the oven at 170 degrees to all my brass processing if I need it soon. Lesson learned. 

Edited April 25 by Cholla

[Hoss]

3 minutes ago, Cholla said:

A while back I was telling a few here that I had a few CCI LRP not working in some 45-70 loads I worked up. I was very frustrated as I had 60 more that I loaded and was afraid they wouldn’t go boom. 
I finally got around to pulled a few of the cases that ftf. I was mystified because the primer was clearly decomposed and the powder was clumped up and sticky.

I let the cases sit open for a few days due to my work load. When I came back to them the powder was flaky like it was supposed to be. I pulled another and it was clumpy but it dried within a few hours. I initially thought resizing lube had contaminated the powder and primer. After seeing the powder go from clumping to loose and flaky, I think I still had water from wet tumbling in them.

I shook the rest and could hear the powder shifting so I think they’re good. I have since added time in the oven at 170 degrees to all my brass processing, if I need it soon. Lesson learned. 

I used to use the oven. But my wife fussed about it. I bought one of these. 
happy wife = happy life!

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1020626313?pid=758312

 

[Eyesa Horg]

Keep your eyes open for a food dehydrator at tag sales etc.

[Cypress Sun]

2 minutes ago, Eyesa Horg said:

Keep your eyes open for a food dehydrator at tag sales etc.

 

My gal picked up two of them at church rummage sales for $5.00 each. One of was used but still had box and directions, the other was unused in original box with directions. I don't have a water based rotary tumbler, they are going to get used for dried meats and jerky.

 

I realize that garage sales, rummage sales and the like are more numerous around my location but I see dehydrators at thrift stores and garage type sales all the time. Something to keep an eye out for.

[Eyesa Horg]

 My dehydrator is over 20 years old and only takes an hour and a half to dry the brass. I do empty the water out of them first!

[The Original Lumpy Gritz]

Don't wet tumble with the fired primers in place

[Matthew Duncan]

42 minutes ago, The Original Lumpy Gritz said:

Don't wet tumble with the fired primers in place

You can wet tumble with primers in place BUT it will take noticeably longer to air dry.  Been there and done that.

[Cholla]

I generally remove the primers when doing rifle cases. I have not gone to that trouble for pistol brass. So far no stuck primers.

1 hour ago, The Original Lumpy Gritz said:

Don't wet tumble with the fired primers in place

And you really don't want to wet tumble with the new primers in place.

[Cholla]

3 hours ago, Hoss said:

I used to use the oven. But my wife fussed about it. I bought one of these. 
happy wife = happy life!

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1020626313?pid=758312

 

I have a convection oven I use for PCing my bullets.

[Silver Creek Jack]

2 hours ago, The Original Lumpy Gritz said:

Don't wet tumble with the fired primers in place

THIS!!

[Cold Lake Kid, SASS # 51474]

5 hours ago, Eyesa Horg said:

Keep your eyes open for a food dehydrator at tag sales etc.

 

Thanks for the idea.

I stopped using my Sonic cleaner because it took so long for the cases to completely dry.

DUH!

[Eyesa Horg]

7 hours ago, Cold Lake Kid, SASS # 51474 said:

 

Thanks for the idea.

I stopped using my Sonic cleaner because it took so long for the cases to completely dry.

DUH!

I started using mine years ago when I was using that nasty Trail Boss powder. My brass was so black that the vibratory tumbler just polished the black soot! So I started soaking them first in a 50-50 mix of Simple Green. Then into the dehydrator for an hour and a half, then vibrate another hour and a half. Came out nice and shiny! Going to wet has given me nice clean brass, but not quite as shiny as the corn cob with polish did! Good Luck!

[Kid Rich]

I wet tumble with spent primers in place. In the winter they go into the oven at 245 for at least a half hour. Summer time back yard in the sun, it doesn't take long. The brass will be very hot to the touch. I haven't had a stuck primer for at least 6 or 7 years. I recently tumbled about 10 gallons of brass in a two week period.

kR

PS I have wet tumbled with Dawn and Lemi Shine a few brass inadvertently with live primers everyone went bang when dried out.

[The Original Lumpy Gritz]

16 minutes ago, Kid Rich said:

I wet tumble with spent primers in place. In the winter they go into the oven at 245 for at least a half hour. Summer time back yard in the sun, it doesn't take long. The brass will be very hot to the touch. I haven't had a stuck primer for at least 6 or 7 years. I recently tumbled about 10 gallons of brass in a two week period.

kR

PS I have wet tumbled with Dawn and Lemi Shine a few brass inadvertently with live primers everyone went bang when dried out.

If you remove the primer, before case tumbling. 

You will also clean the primer pocket, which leads to easier and more uniform primer seating. 

[Kid Rich]

Just now, The Original Lumpy Gritz said:

If you remove the primer, before case tumbling. 

You will also clean the primer pocket, which leads to easier and more uniform primer seating. 

I haven't needed to do that.

The only rounds I do that on is LR rifle loads and then only once in every 5 or 6 firings.

[The Original Lumpy Gritz]

Just now, Kid Rich said:

I haven't needed to do that.

The only rounds I do that on is LR rifle loads and then only once in every 5 or 6 firings.

Do it every time. 

The target will tell you to do such, trust me.

[Kid Rich]

Just now, The Original Lumpy Gritz said:

Do it every time. 

The target will tell you to do such, trust me.

 

2 minutes ago, Kid Rich said:

I haven't needed to do that.

The only rounds I do that on is LR rifle loads and then only once in every 5 or 6 firings.

 

[Matthew Duncan]

6 minutes ago, The Original Lumpy Gritz said:

If you remove the primer, before case tumbling. 

You will also clean the primer pocket, which leads to easier and more uniform primer seating. 

Agreed.

 

On mission critical reloads I remove primers before case tumbling.  I don't consider SASS reloads as mission critical. 

[Captain Bill Burt]

1 hour ago, Kid Rich said:

I wet tumble with spent primers in place. In the winter they go into the oven at 245 for at least a half hour. Summer time back yard in the sun, it doesn't take long. The brass will be very hot to the touch. I haven't had a stuck primer for at least 6 or 7 years. I recently tumbled about 10 gallons of brass in a two week period.

kR

PS I have wet tumbled with Dawn and Lemi Shine a few brass inadvertently with live primers everyone went bang when dried out.

This is pretty much what I've been doing for several years now with no problems.  The only difference is that I sun dry them even in winter.  There's probably a geographic element to that.  The Georgia sun seems to be able to take care of drying them even during the winter.

[Cheyenne Ranger, 48747L]

Here in The Republic, we have plenty of Sun--free, too.

 

If I wet tumble too late in the day the brass comes inside under a ceiling fan for the night.

 

have plenty of brass so don't need to use the wet ones in a hurry

 

 

[Kid Rich]

5 hours ago, Captain Bill Burt said:

This is pretty much what I've been doing for several years now with no problems.  The only difference is that I sun dry them even in winter.  There's probably a geographic element to that.  The Georgia sun seems to be able to take care of drying them even during the winter.

AZ sun does also, just takes longer.

kR

[Abilene, SASS # 27489]

Heehee, never had any of those problems vibrating in corncob and walnut.  My lead levels are okay.  It ain't broke so I ain't fixing it.  Sorry, couldn't help it. 

[Warden Callaway]

Evolved to depriming as soon as I get home.  Got a Lee APP Press I use for some. Hand held deprimer for others. In the Frankfort Arsinal wet tumbler.  I just spread out on old bath towel and let dry. I'm seldom in a rush to reload so it may be a month or more until I get to it. 

[Nostrum Damus SASS #110702]

If you use a progressive press with a case feeder, it is so simple and so fast to deprime dirty brass before wet tumbling that you really need to have a good reason to NOT deprime before wet tumbling.  You get cleaned primer pockets, which can't be a bad thing, plus it easily cuts the drying time of the pile of cleaned brass by more than half, more like by two-thirds -- no matter how you do your drying.  Just have a tool head that has only a single decapping die of your choice -- I use a Lee Universal Decapper -- in the first position.  Then go at it as fast as you can cycle your press!  You'll deprime 300 cases in about five minutes.  Five well-spent minutes.

[Go West]

Too many steps with wet tumbling for me.

1.5 hours dry tumbling with dead primers using paint thinner and Nu Finish car polish. Separate the media and it's ready to go in case feeder or storage containers. 

[Rye Miles #13621]

I don't and never will use wet tumbling. An hour or so with corn cob media and Brasso or Dillon case cleaner or others work just fine! I'm not obsessed with brand new looking brass. As long as it's clean it's fine!

Edited April 26 by Rye Miles #13621

[Nostrum Damus SASS #110702]

37 minutes ago, Rye Miles #13621 said:

I don't and never will use wet tumbling. An hour or so with corn cob media and Brasso or Dillon case cleaner or others work just fine! I'm not obsessed with brand new looking brass. As long as it's clean it's fine!

Not obsessed either.  But I had trouble with the "As long as it's clean it's fine!" part when I did dry tumbling, especially on the insides of the cases.  And the mess that dry tumbling itself made while separating the media from the brass, while wet tumbling makes none whatsoever.  To each his own!

[Springfield Slim SASS #24733]

But dry tumbling will never get the primer pockets really clean, especially if you shoot BP. I used to have a few high primers in a batch, now I never do if I tumble with the primers out at least eve4y 4 times. Don't do it all the time, don't need to. I load for 4 of us in the family who shoot, so the fewer problems I have with ammo the better.

[Hashknife Cowboy]

I gave up on the wet process, I went to mixing these dry at a 50/50 mix and tumble brass dry.  Works great for me.  This even gets the BP brass clean and shining.  I use the Hornady Vibratory Tumbler, set it on a timer and walk away.  .

 

[Gateway Kid SASS# 70038 Life]

Just so I am clear, if I wet tumble it takes roughly the same tumbler time as dry cleaning, I have to deprime separately to facilitate quicker drying time, or p!$$ off SWMBO by using her oven or buy a dehydrator to help out, and if I miss the sun because I don't start till later in the day (or its a cool cloudy day) I have to bring it inside under a fan to continue the drying process, and I have to dispose of nasty looking water/detergent/shining agent everytime somewhere (not sure I like the idea of dumping it into the sink and then into the city system), and the next time add more of those cleaning agents, (plus worry that I didn't let my cases dry enough and have rounds that don't go boom with no way to check until I pull the trigger) and I have to collect some kind of metal pins or ceramic media for the next use, all to have pretty new looking outsides of the case. Plus when I get around to reload, depending how I deprimed, I sometimes have to run the case through the sizer again or deal with potential neck dings or media left inside the case.

OR--------

I can use dry media (sometimes with rouge to polish), vibrate things for a couple hours then dump shells into a separator outside, (sometimes I wear a mask sometimes not) spin it a minute or two and put cases away till I need them? And maybe change the media once every year or so. Then reload as usual.

Let me think on this......

BTW the ONLY time you will see the clean inside of the case is when you reload them, and I doubt that the minute amount of residue in there will affect a cowboy load, as far as cleaning primer pockets (for cowboy loads) I have cases that have been shot four or five times a year, some going back to 2008 and generally you can feel if there is a problem with the primer pockets being dirty enough to cause a problem, at which point I toss them in any case. Much more likely to encounter a split long before a bad or dirty primer pocket IMO. Except for hunting/long range ammo I have never actually cleaned a primer pocket. BTW I use a slightly different procedure when doing precision long range or hunting ammo but that is a subject not asked.

Regards

    

Gateway Kid

[Snakebite]

I certainly learned a good lesson about not getting cases dry a few years back at Winter Range. I use the Sun in the summer and the oven the rest of the time. Wife shoots too, so I don't get any flak from her about using the oven. 

[Sgt. Hochbauer, SASS #64409]

I tried the wet tumbling and yes it did get the brass nice and shiny....but there was to many steps to doing that and wifey hated finding the steel pins all around the laundry room. That said I sold the wet tumbler and back to dry. I shoot real BP and after soaking and rinsing off my brass I either lay the cases out on a towel and let them dry in the sun. My suggestion to use the oven was vetoed so will use an old toaster oven that we had to dry things out. I honestly have no issues shooting brass that is clean and has some stains vs shiny and bright brass. 

[Nostrum Damus SASS #110702]

No one has mentioned my actual reasons for wet tumbling.  Making prettier shiny brass isn't one of them.  Maybe I'm being OCD about it, and if so, that's fine.  That dark stuff when I look inside dry-tumbled brass is not as smooth as bare brass, and it has some thickness, even if only a little.  Do I want more friction between the plug of my expanding die and brass?  No.  Do I want burnt powder residue build-up on the plug of my expanding die?  No.  Do I want any increased risk of having a case getting stuck on an expanding die?  No.  Do I want my expanding die to expand the case diameter any more than than happens with steel-on-clean-brass contact?  No.  Is there a way to prevent any of these things, even if the risks are very small?  Yes -- wet tumbling. 

Edited April 27 by Nostrum Damus SASS #110702
brain fart mixing up expanding and sizing dies

[Snakebite]

I like wet tumblers. 

Edited April 27 by Snakebite

[Cholla]

Having just spent a half hour poking Lyman grit out of the flash holes of a hopper full of 7mm REM Mag and 7 PRC, not to mention the dust clinging to all my brass that I had to wash off, I am reminded again why I went to wet tumbling.