Wet Tumbler

[Tempe.243]

+1 on the Frankford Arsenal with pins. Did some homework before buying it and it did well on the bang/buck calculation. It has done well on my first couples runs.

 

[FishfinderAK]

Anyone ever have brass turn pink when wet tumbling?
Ran a batch this weekend and 6 of the 24 case heads turned pinkish.
This was with a couple drops of Joy dish soap and a few pinches of Lemishine.

 

[Ratbeetle]

Too much lemishine will turn the brass pink. A little goes a long way.

 

[FishfinderAK]

Anyone ever have brass turn pink when wet tumbling?
Ran a batch this weekend and 6 of the 24 case heads turned pinkish.
This was with a couple drops of Joy dish soap and a few pinches of Lemishine.

 

[FishfinderAK]

Sorry for the repeated posts! Not sure why that happened.

Hmm maybe too much Lemishine.

Still fine to reload and fire this brass though?

 

[Pengilly]

I use a Thumler's Tumbler Model B with a shot of dawn dish liquid and a spoon of lemi shine and stainless Steel Pins. 25 mins tumbling and It works like a champ.

Yup !

 

[robtattoo]

Dual Drum Rotary Rock Tumbler

Amazing deals on this Rotary Tumbler Dual Drum at Harbor Freight. Quality tools & low prices.

www.harborfreight.com

I use one of these cheap crappers. It'll run 100 long action or 130 short action cases at a time & works perfectly. I forego the lemishine for a drop of dishwasher rinse aid.

 

[Shrek]

The Frankfort Arsenal tumbler has worked great for me. Buy extra pins and use them to fill the tumbler up fuller than the supplied amount when tumbling smaller amounts of brass. This will keep necks from peening. A tiny pinch of Lemishine is all that’s needed. I lube the clean necks with dry graphite so neck weld from clean necks isn’t an issue. I also coat all my bullets with hBN.

 

[cornfedkiller]

Dual Drum Rotary Rock Tumbler

Amazing deals on this Rotary Tumbler Dual Drum at Harbor Freight. Quality tools & low prices.

www.harborfreight.com

I use one of these cheap crappers. It'll run 100 long action or 130 short action cases at a time & works perfectly. I forego the lemishine for a drop of dishwasher rinse aid.

I have very limited experience, but I have been using this one for a few months too and have no complaints. I just have the single drum unit though.

 

[wind gypsy]

I have very limited experience, but I have been using this one for a few months too and have no complaints. I just have the single drum unit though.

Can also confirm this works just fine. It is slightly more cumbersome than using the frankford arsenal one but I like how it spins slower.

 

[TRD1911]

That’s right. The carbon inside the neck is your friend. It acts as a lubricant giving you consistent seating pressure, neck tension, and bullet release.

I seat my bullets using an arbor press with a dial indicator that measures seating force. On new brass or SS tumbled brass seating bullets requires a lot more pressure and generally “pops” into place. Bullet jacket damage can occur as well as “cold welding” between the bullet and brass.

My practice is pretty simple. At the range on freshly fired brass I run a nylon brush in the necks and wipe off the outside with something like a scotch bright pad or krazy cloth. The carbon is much softer shortly after firing. (Carbon can scratch your dies) I remove lube or wax from sizing using corn media or lately been trying rice. Works well and doesn’t get stuck in flash hole. This only takes about 30 minutes.

I have a guy anneal my brass everything 3rd firing and he uses SS pins to clean. What I do then is use Imperial Dry Neck lube on a q-tip to lubricate the inside of the necks.

Welcome to reloading. It’s a very rewarding Hobby. There’s a lot of great info on AccurateShooter forum.

This residual is why I use both as well. I first deprime and stainless clean the cases in a Thumler, dry in dehumidifier then imperial sizing wax and toss them in my vibratory tumbler for a bit to clean the wax off. I've found that there is much less resistance in this process than twice cleaning with stainless

 

[rhusby28]

The Harbor Freight Dual Drum Tumbler is all I have ever used. It works good for reasonable batches. The new Frankford Arsenal Lite tumbler looks good as well. I like to use Southern Shine stainless media with Armour All Wash and Wax and Lemishine.

 

[PA Hunter]

I use a Harbor Freight stone tumbler with stainless pins little lemme shine and dawn. Two hours and dirty shells are like new.

 

[ICEMAN86]

I use a Harbor Freight stone tumbler with stainless pins little lemme shine and dawn. Two hours and dirty shells are like new.

I run the same setup. I got the ss pins off eBay for a good price. I’ve turned old nasty brass that has sat in the weather into bright, shiny brass that looks like new. Then I throw it in a dehydrator.

 

[muddydogs]

(Carbon can scratch your dies)

Carbon is not going to scratch steel dies.

 

[FishfinderAK]

I use a Harbor Freight stone tumbler with stainless pins little lemme shine and dawn. Two hours and dirty shells are like new.

I just received my Harbor Freight tumbler.
What your recipe? How much dish soap, lemi, pins, cases per batch? 2 hours?

THANKS!

 

[cornfedkiller]

I just received my Harbor Freight tumbler.
What your recipe? How much dish soap, lemi, pins, cases per batch? 2 hours?

THANKS!

Pins probably cover about 1/2" across the bottom of my tub, about 35-40 6.5 cases per batch, teaspoon of dish soap (eyeballed), and a pinch or two of lemishine, warm water.

My shells aren't that dirty, so after an hour, they are shiny as can be.

When its done, I rinse with cold water.. dump a bunch of the water, refill, dump, refill, repeat. Then dump the pins out of the cases while they are under water, that way the pins won't stick inside them. I put my cases on a cookie sheet and bake them at 200ish degrees for 15-20 mins to dry them.

 

[FishfinderAK]

Awesome info
Thanks!