Wet vs dry

[4t5]

No not dog food, case cleaning in a vibratory tumbler.
Tired of the dust, and of the corn cob media getting stuck in the flash holes, along with different calibers getting locked together I decided to go wet.
Emptied the media and put in the brass and enough water to cover, and stay well below the center hub, a teaspoon of Dawn dish detergent, ran it for an hour. The newer brass came out shiny, grungy 9mm brass I recently found from over 3yrs ago, was clean but not shiny , I ‘m good with that.
Some people also add lemon juice in to shine the brass, but I’m good with how it worked.
Some 32 cases were stuck in 38 cases , but unlike the dry media were easily separated, and were clean.
Primer pockets were “muddy” ,I will clean the pockets before the next bath , or run it longer next time.
If you have a vibratory cleaner and want to try wet cleaning, but don’t want to purchase a wet tumbler and steel pin media , give this a try , when it’s running , it looks very much like a sonic cleaner , I think you will like it.

[GunnyMack]

I thought about trying this method! Seems to have worked for you. I wonder if the stainless pins were put in the tumbler if that would cut down on the mud?

[4t5]

I’m sure the pins would
Since it didn’t cost me anything, I’m happy. The brass was still wet, and I used a q tip to clean the primer pockets, 1 q tip and frequent dipping in the soapy water was all, put a towel and brass in a vinyl shopping bag and shook to remove as much water as possible, they are now on a tray atop the boiler until tomorrow. I did rinse before drying.

[Bill in Oregon]

I have been using the pins, but of course they do nothing to prevent stuck cases -- and the pins themselves occasionally get stuck, two at a time, in primer holes. But they give me much cleaner brass than the old walnut/corn cob vibratory tumbling did. I bought a jug of ceramic media a while back but haven't used it yet. I do use a squirt of Dawn, a half tsp or less of lemishine and a capful of Armorall car cleaner/wax in the water.

[Ray]

All dry flies become "wet" and sinking after being sodden for a while and this has been a problem since izaak walton first tied a bit of yarn onto a bare fishhook.

[Rimfire McNutjob]

I've been doing the ultrasonic thing ... which is wet of course. A bit louder than I would like but it does clean well if you've got a heated tank and plenty of strong transducers to deliver the energy.

[cas]

I hate dry tumbling.


But I hate wet tumbling even more.
I'm pretty sure there's still brass in my wet tumbler at the moment. It's possible it's been there for close to a decade.

[Bronco]

Brass prep is the least enjoyable part of reloading, at least for me!
It is interesting to see the various methods used that different people use to accomplish this task with the least discomfort.
I have had a Thumbler Tumbler since the mid 60's, 1960's that is . I do large batches of brass like 300 30-06 and similar size lots. I tried the sonic method but found I could only do smaller batched. I did not like the dry media in the tumbler and went to wet. It was pretty good! I had never worried about the primer pockets so it worked for years. Then I bought a Lee hand press with a universal depriming die, no reason for change. and started depriming while watching TV or sitting outside, doing something akin to whittling
I finally added the steel pins to the wet mixture and have stayed with that. It is more of a hassle and I would not do it for small batches of brass. I add a little Simple Green, 1/4 cup to the water that just covers the brass in the tub and let her run for about 45 minutes. After separating pins and rinsing off brass they come out looking like new unfired brass, inside and out including primer pocket. Not that I ever had an issue with the primer pockets before.
Not the best method , just the one that make clean brass and makes the process for me the most tolerable.

[Griff]

Earlier this year I bought a Frankford Arsenal wet tumbling kit that was on sale at Midway. Since I shoot a lot of BP rounds, I tend to decap before tumbling, either dry or wet. With the wet and using the pins I find my brass comes out shiny, inside and out, including the primer pockets. I've reloaded for years dry tumbling and decapping on the press. I habitually cleaned primer pockets on rifle brass, a little less so on pistol brass. I quit primer pocket cleaning on pistol brass as soon as I got my first progressive, maybe even before when quantity was more important than absolute quality. I'd always read that clean, uniform primer pockets were required for accuracy and reliability. When my focus was on hunting or target shooting for group size, or shooting with the pistol for PPC, ASC or Bullseye, I didn't shoot nearly as much as I do in cowboy action... and accuracy was far more important. Having a large (to some) supply of cases for each cartridge I load for, (least is for the .32-40 and even there I have a couple hundred), a few thousand each of 45 ACP, 45 Colt, Cowboy45Special and .44-40 means I don't really ever need to reload for each coming shoot. I can put it off until the weather's good. Which means I can wait to tumble brass also. I can decap a few hundred cases in a couple hours or less, put them in the wet tumbler with the pins, a little dish soap and let it run for 3 hours out in the garage and have bright, shiny brass, which gets spread out over a couple of cookie sheets topped with paper towels and place in the oven for an hour at 170ºF! Segregate the brass by chambering and reload when I feel like it. And a ffew hours later can have that ammo loaded, ready for use. Most of the places I compete at are grassy or have wooden platforms, so brass recovery is spotty at best. I feel pretty lucky to get 90% of my rifle brass returned. Having bright shiny brass helps. So, I vote yes for the wet cleaning and with a brass media separator, get the pins out of the brass is not difficult. I've never had pins stick in primer pockets, and the few that make it to the open, fall right out when sorting to await getting reloaded.