Since I recently wrote a review on the Frankford wet/dry case separator, I thought I should probably write on for their wet tumbler as well. I bought one of their tumblers two years ago and have learned some things that should come in handy for anyone just starting out, or considering going the wet tumbler route. When I got my tumbler, the first thing I found was the sample of washing solution they had included has leaked out inside the packing box. So much for using that! I read a lot of posts on various homemade formulas and came up with the following which has worked well for me: good squirt of Dawn dish soap, teaspoon of Lemi-Shine, a good squirt of Armor All Wash and Wax. Why two soaps? I’ve found that Dawn does a superior job of cleaning, while the Armor All leaves a coating on the cases that make resizing easier, especially without lube. Lemi-Shine is a citric based acid that aids in giving the brass that “like-new” shine. I also get the best results using distilled water, even though our water is triple filtered. Distilled water is cheap anyway. Using the above solution, I fill the tumbler with cases, add the solution along with the 5 pounds of stainless steel pins and tumble for 2 hours. I’ve seen people post they only tumble for an hour, and others who say 3. Your mileage may vary, just saying what has worked for me. Here’s a bit of an odd note: the first time I used the tumbler, it leaked. Not a lot, but I was concerned. I used a plastic hammer to tighten the end caps a tad more and the leak stopped. It hasn’t leaked since, so perhaps there was debris from manufacturing or the seal wasn’t seated, who knows?

Before I go on with the rest of the process, I’ll take a minute to rate the tumbler itself. Like other products Frankford makes, this was well engineered. Unlike some of their other products though, this was also very well made. The drum is lined with rubber to quiet down the process, though you’ll still want to run this in another room if you’re trying to concentrate on something else. Not that the tumbler is that noisy, but combine its noise with that of the motor that spins it, you’ll most likely want to be elsewhere. Frankford includes two sets of end caps, one clear plastic set (so you can watch the brass like a washing machine window, though I’m not sure why you would want to) and a pair of strainers. More on the strainers when I get into my tumbling process. You can get a cheaper set up via Harbor Freight, but I’m not sure it’s worth it as I’ve not used the one they sell. The Frankford model should last a lifetime however, so in that respect I’m not sure it’s worth the few bucks you might save.

Like the tumbling formula, you will see a lot of posts on how people tumble their brass. I tried a lot of different methods and this is what has worked best for me. As I stated, I add everything to the tumbler and let it run for 2 hours. After removing the tumbler from the base unit that spins it, I replace one of the end caps with one of the strainer caps and dump the water into a 5 gallon pail that had a paint strainer stretched over the opening. The strainer catches whatever pins get dumped out. Both the pail and strainer came from Lowes, though Home Depot or Menard's can hook you up as well. Then it’s off to the Frankford wet/dry media separator. As I noted in my review of the separator, I fill it partially with clean water to help rinse the cases. It doesn’t seem to matter whether this water is distilled or tap, but of course that will depend on the state of your tap water. After rotating the drum several times (do NOT do this without putting the cover on), I pour that water and pins through the same paint strainer. Put the drum back in the separator without any rinse water and rotate it vigorously in both directions to remove the last of the pins. Then I take the drum out of the separator and head to the shower, where I put the drum inside the top half of the separator, which contains a large wire screen, open the drum and give the brass a thorough rinse, mixing the brass by hand to make sure each case gets rinsed and the last stubborn pins get washed away. Failure to properly rinse will result in case discoloration from the soap and Lemi-Shine residue. Like the rest of the process, you can read about a thousand ways of drying the brass afterward. During the winter, which is when I do most of my reloading, I simply leave the brass on a towel in front of the heater in my den. In the summer, I do basically the same, only using a portable fan instead of the heater. If you are in a hurry, you can use other methods. One is to use an food dehydrator, which circulates air (some also have heaters). I tried one and it was a PITA. Some put the brass in an oven, set on warm for a half hour or so. I’m not warm (pun intended) and fuzzy about this method. Ovens aren’t great at regulating low heat, and I’ve seen lots of posts about discolored brass, though this may have been caused by improper rinsing. Plus I’m not sure if doing this repeatedly will have any effect on the longevity of the brass.

Here’s what I’ve found in using the various methods to clean brass:

Dry Tumbling: The easiest method of cleaning, short of giving the brass to someone else and having them do it for you. That’s the good part. The not so good part is the contaminates, including lead if you are using lead bullets or older primers, stays in the dust that covers the shells, and can get in the air if you tumble without the lid. Nor will this process clean out the inside of the shell or the primer pocket. Another more sinister problem is people using this process have reported elevated levels of lead in their blood. I have no idea how many cases you would have to clean for this to become an issue, and perhaps it only effects those reloaders who process tons of brass. Still, I’ll err on the side of caution.

Ultrasonic: The second easiest and by far the fastest method of cleaning brass. You make up your mixture (even store bought cleaner is a concentrate and requires mixing) pour it and the brass in the machine and let it run. Typical time is between 15 and 30 minutes. It does a good job cleaning inside and outside the case, including primer pockets if the primers have been removed ahead of time. Although ultrasound does clean well, it doesn’t polish well. Nor will it leave any coating on your cases to aid in resizing, but spray lube will take care of that problem. Ultrasonic cleaning will only do smaller batches of brass, unless you buy the Hornady behemoth at around $400. One plus for this process over the others is you can also use the cleaner to clean other things, such as gun parts and jewelry (helps sell the wife on the need to buy one).

Wet Tumbling: This is the best method to get brass that looks as good as new. Period. That being said, it’s also the longest and most labor intensive. Add that it takes pretty much as long to do 200 cases as it does 2,000, and doing small batches will probably best be done ultrasonically, followed up by a quick run through a media tumbler with a bit of polish added to make the cases shine and help with resizing. But if you want super clean brass that takes little to no lubing to resize, wet tumbling is the best way to go. The actual time start to finish (minus the drying part) is probably under 2.5 hours, and for 2 of those, you can go do something else.

Because of the added effort and time, wet tumbling isn’t for everyone, but then again, what is? Some guys claim to get equally good results wet tumbling without the stainless pins. I’m not sure I believe that, and certainly don’t believe it cleans out the primer pockets or case innards as well. I figure if you’re already doing the wet method, leaving out the pins is kind of dumb and defeats the purpose. In that case, I’d probably go the ultrasonic route instead. I’ve also read about people claiming to get pins stuck in the flash hole of the brass. So far, I’ve not had this happen, though I understand you can buy larger pins to mitigate this problem. I’ve seen several people state that wet tumbling cases with the primers left in can cause problems later on. One theory is if you let the cases set, the primers have a chance to corrode, making them more difficult to extract. Maybe this can be thwarted by fast drying and then reloading, I don’t know. For myself, I don’t see why you wouldn’t want to deprime first, but again, that’s me. But the purpose for this write up was to review the Frankford wet tumbler and I can say without reservation, that I would recommend to anyone who doesn’t shoot 5,000 rounds a week. For those guys, use a Harbor Freight cement mixer (seriously!).

One last note: Frankfort also sells a magnet for picking up runaway pins or transferring pins from the separator back to the tumbler. Yes, the stainless pins are magnetic and yes, you will have runaway pins. Take my word for it, the magnet is a must. Besides, it’s cheap in the grand scale of things, running well under $20.

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So many S&W's, so few funds!!

Good review, thanks.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

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Improvise, Adapt, Overcome

I've been using one form of dry tumbler or another for more than 30 years.

I decap my brass prior to tumbling.

I use a lid on my tumbler.

I also live within sight of a lead re-reclamation plant that has since been closed down by the state for lead pollution, so I have been exposed to environmental lead contamination from that source for so long that I am required to regularly get tested for elevated lead levels in my blood and hair.

Yet, I have never had elevated lead levels.

Unless you can cite to definitive, scientific studies that correlate dry tumbling with elevated lead levels in people's blood, I suggest we not contribute to any lead poisoning hysteria by positing a causation that may not exist - and which, if it exists, may be easily controlled by simply following the manufacturer's directions included with the equipment.

What I cited came from other people's posts. I'm merely repeating what they reported. Perhaps they shoot more than you do, or perhaps you shoot less lead bullets than they do. It could also be different primers, as again, I've read the older ones were a major source of lead in tumbling. There's no hysteria in my post, just reporting of what I've read. For more reading, you may wish to Google "dry tumbling and lead exposure". One person stated he had his tumbling media (which had been used for cleaning 1,200 45 ACP cases twice) tested for lead and it came back over 50% higher than the amount in which the EPA would call for remediation (622.5ppm vs 400ppm).

From the State of Illinois Health Department:

Hysteria? I don't know. I only know the old axiom I was taught at a very early age: better safe than sorry.

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So many S&W's, so few funds!!

Lots of great info, thanks for the review!

I have one, use it, and it is wonderful.

Thanks for the review!

Nice write up! One comment:

First, I have Thumblers (2), one about 35 years old and 1 about 15. You are correct about making sure you have the lid is on tite. What a mess you can make! I have several Franklin products and find most everything they make good quality and value.

You mentioned that you didn't understand why anyone would do a wet tumble without the pins. Here is the reason I don't use the pins. I have tried both ways and find that the use of the pins adds several addition steps to the tumbling process (very labor intensive) and the only gain(I can see) is clean primer pockets. I don't use a progressive loader so as I handle every case anyway, it is easy to clean the few cases that I check that appear to have excessive crud in the primer pocket.

Back in the day (in the last century) I was shooting 20,000+ 38 special mid-range loads a year. I wet washed my cases with just soap and water(nobody ever heard of lemishine back then). My cases were just sooty and dusty from being ejected on the ground and the plain washing worked fine. Fast foreword to about 5 years ago and I started to read about the pins. I gave them a try with the above results. The key to the pretty cases is the LemiShine. If you feel that you get better results with the pins, good on you. I weighed the labor involved and felt I was better off skipping the pins. It works for me. If you like the pins, OK. Doesn't make either of us wrong, just different. Thanks again for the great write up and keep up the good work!