Not new to reloading and I use a RCBS vibratory tumbler with walnut shell media, with a splash of new finish. It works pretty good. Over the last 5 years or so I've started a lot of loading for pistols. Been reading up on the wet tumblers and different media for the dry tumblers. Such as ceramic media. Looking for some tips and info on what you all use. I use a good bit of once fired brass, I have a tumbler running a few times a week.

I've never used a wet tumbler; I have good results with my Lyman
Pro 1200 vibratory tumbler and medium fine walnut media. I load my tumbler with a lot of brass at one time (couple hundred .40 or similar size), and it seems to give me cleaner and brighter brass than if I do a small batch. I suppose the cases rubbing each other add to the cleaning and polishing.

I load my tumbler up full as well. I had a bunch of untreated walnut shell I found on-line used for pet supplies it has worked well, but i'm needing more. I was going to ask what grit you
all use as well. With the walnut shell?

I've tried various methods over the years. Finally settled on a wet tumbler (cheap stone polisher from Northern Tool). Brass, hot water, a little Palmolive dish soap and a bit of one of the citric acid based dishwasher cleaners. Let it run a couple hours and the brass comes out looking like new.

Jeff
SWCA #1457

I started out with a coarser material than I use now, had a lot of issues having to dig kernels out of the primer holes. I quickly learned to clean the brass before sizing and depriming, but mainly to save my dies from scoring from grit, etc. The stuff I use now is a Lyman product, about half the size of the previous media. The pieces are about the size of masonry sand, fairly fine. It cleans well, but is rather dusty after a few uses. I'll go back to a coarser material when I use this box up.

For those who wet tumble, how do you go about drying the brass afterwards?

If the wife isn't around I turn on the oven up to a couple hundred degrees, lay the brass out on a cookie sheet, put it in the oven and turn the oven off. Repeat if necessary.

If the wife is home. . . .I lay the brass out on paper towels on the tailgate of my truck and let the sun and breeze dry it.

Both methods work although you'll likely to get yelled at less using the second method if the wife comes home unexpectedly. Good luck.

Jeff
SWCA #1457

I laid my wet brass out on an old bath towel then set a small fan to blow over it all night. No heat just the basement air. My basement is mostly finished so they were laid out on the top of a chest freezer with the fan on one end. Two speed fan set on low.

I never used a wet tumbler. Until I did. I can't believe I wasted 40 years using loud, dirty, vibratory tumblers.

I just got a cheap Harbor Freight two-drum tumbler and a pound of steel pins to try it out. I'm still using it. I just lay them out on a plastic tray (it's actually a lid to a tote) in front of a box fan overnight.

The Harbor Freight unit is fine, especially if you're mostly dealing with smaller cases. Those little drums don't hold a lot of big magnum revolver cases. If you do a lot of those you might want to build a bigger single drum out of PVC pipe ala YouTube.

Pro tip: Keep the steel pins away from your garbage disposal!

If you do go wet, don't get rid of your dry one. The large wet one's work great for cleaning large amounts of brass, but if you decide to work up a reload for a gun, it doesn't make sense to run a full load of laundry for 20 or so cases. JMO...

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Todd

Wet tumbling for me with SS pins, small squirt of dish soap and some Lemi-shine. When done, spread 'em out on a towel and turn on the fan. Perfectly dry sparkling clean brass in the morning.

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What could possibly go wrong?

I was THAT guy that scoffed at the wet method until I tried it. I had a Lortrone rock polisher that I used with dry media that I finally wore out after 30 plus years. Tried the vibrating models, including the Magnum models and no joy there either!

Went to the wet model. I don’t even use the ss pins per an RCBS rep. Water, a bit of dawn dish soap (HALF a capful is Lenny!), and a pinch of lemonshine. Careful with the ls, or the brass will have a rainbow �� hue to it! Set timer and walk away. Rinse and dry.

Bought my bride a super new, mondo sized dehrydrator as she needed a new one. Took the old one and in the winter inside that is what I used to dry the cases with. Summer, just spread it outside.

Works well for me.

Regards, Rick Gibbs

I am moving to the idea of a wet tumbler. How do stainless steel pins improve the cleaning? I have the Harbor Freight wet tumbler, how many pounds of stainless steel pins would be recommended?

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Judge control not gun control!

Anyone tried a tumbler with pins but dry? Just wondering...

The best brass cleaner is by far the wet method. I have Franklin Armory equipment that includes everything having to do with wet cleaning. Amazing equipment!

I've tried it all over the last 50 years . Rotary Thumblers Tumbler with wet , with dry .
Vibrating unit with cat litter , corn meal , rice , grits , sand blasting media , lizard litter - all with various additives like Nu-Finish , liquid car wax , Turtle Wax Chrome Polish ...
After it is all said and done ... the best method for me (mostly handgun)
is a large capacity dry vibrating model with Midway USA brand Treated Walnut Shell brass polishing media - this stuff is treated with brass polishing rouge and is not dusty ... adding liquids just shortens the life of the media ... don't add anything except matbe a tablespoon of mineral spirits to a dirty batch but not every time (mineral spirits will evaporate and not wet the media .
Have plenty of room , plenty of media , run unit with top on , Midway Treated Media is perfect , not too wet / too dry and is the correct size .
When it stops polishing ... change it .
Worst mistake is using too small a unit and not enough media ... cases clean faster when they have room to swim around .

What I don't like about wet tumbling is the need to get the cases perfectly dry inside and out and wet tumbling leaves no prtection on the brass ... you have to treat the squeaky clean brass with something or the shine quickly turns dull and corrosion will soon set in if you aren't careful .
With the dry treated walnut media ... remove and load !
Gary

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Certified Cajun
NRA Member

I bought the stainless pins when I decided to try the wet tumbler but tried it without them first. The pins are still sitting unopened somewhere around my bench; no need for them to get the brass sparkling and certainly don't need the hassle of separating the pins from the brass.

As to the concern about wet tumbled brass "quickly turning dull and corrosion setting in;" I've been using a wet tumbler for several years now and have no experience with that happening.

Jeff
SWCA #1457

I've been loading since 1978. First "tumbler" I had was one I made from a 5 gallon bucket and a wash machine motor (using several small to large pulleys to reduce the RPM's to 7. This one used Corn cob media. It worked great for 5 years but I moved and couldn't take it with me.

The second was a Thumbler's Tumblers vibratory largest model and it would do about 600 223 brass at a time. I used it so much I burned out the motor in 4 years. It often ran 24/7 for weeks on end! I used bath fan motors but they only lasted about 6 months. I went to Lyman and RCBS vibratory with Walnut hush (shell) media. These all had bath fan motors and short life spans.

About 11 years ago I broke down and bought a Thumbler's Tumblers Rotary tumbler. (These were designed to polish large batches of rocks and were made to run weeks or even months non stop!) When I tumble normal brass I size and decap first.
2 pounds of brass,
5 pounds of stainless steel pins,
4 quarts of Hot water,
a large squirt of lemon Ajax dish detergent, and
a 1/4 teaspoon of Lem-a-shine (citric acid)
Let run 2 hours.

For brass that has been stained by sulfur based Black Powder and Pyrodex let run 3 to 4 hours max. What was blackened brass comes looking brand new INSIDE AND OUT, INCLUDING PRIMER POCKETS!

The only down side is the 2 pounds of brass limit. I gave my B-I-L my brand new RCBS vibrator.

When the Columbus PD reloaded all their training & Practice 38 Special ammo. They cleaned their brass in a rotary 30 gallon drum they made. It turned 3 RPM and used Corn Cobb media, and capacity was around 6000-8000 pieces of brass and took 1.5-2 hours.

Ivan

I’ve got an old Lyman orange ball vibrator. I shoot my cas match on Saturday, sort through my range brass bag to remove any shotshells. Sunday morning they go into the tumbler along with any practice brass from the preceding week. It gets plugged in inside my screened gazabo and I go to church. In the afternoon I separate the brass from the media with a colander. Sort out the brass into their correct containers and reload the appropriate brass for whatever guns I'm using next month. Doing BAMM/DA revolver next so I’ll need to reload .30-40 krag, ‘06 and .38-40 for my New Services.

I use 1/2# of pins per cylinder. I then weighed the fully loaded cylinders and was within the maximum weight spec they give you for the cylinders.

The pins get them super clean in about two hours. Without pins not quite as shiny, but clean enough. It seems somewhat dependent on how much brass you put in if you're not using pins.

It is a bit of a hassle separating the pins. I found some kind of weird kitchen plastic container that had a basket that fit inside. I dump them in and stir vigorously with my hand while raising the basket up and down.

There's a youtube video of a guy that built a cylinder out of PVC pipe. But he drilled a lot holes in it. He dumps them in the pvc unit over a bucket and then tumbles them with a cookie sheet under the whole unit to catch the pins.

A colander doesn't work well for me, the holes are too small for my pins. If you can find the right thing to help separate the pins it goes quick. I sometimes find a pin or two in my drying rack, so you do want to be sure they get separated. If you shake them up dry you'll find any that made it through.

I switched over to wet tumbling with stainless pins several years ago. The result is sparkling cases inside and out, clean primer pockets too. The resulting gunk in the bottom of the tumbler is surprising. One difficulty, is that this method leaves cases squeaky clean - literally. They squeak and drag on the expander plug. I learned that adding a dose of auto wash and wax to the solution cures that trouble. Others use One-shot to lube cases before they start loading.

I bought a Lyman wet tumbler, and the case dryer, along with Lyman’s brass polish. I deprive then tumble and dry. Works really well!

Along with doing wet for the brass for reloading, I'll toss in brass hinges, aluminum and brass cabinet handles, faded SS forks and spoons.
When I need to clean small steel parts I do that dry as the water will continuously create a rust layer. Works well on small steel automotive parts.

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I like to shoot, not fondle. So I tumble so I can reload without scratching everything up.
I've been using a vibratory cleaner for 20+ years and it has served me well. I switched to Harbor Freight blast media about 2 years ago when I started reloading .223. NuFinish liquid paste and used dryer sheets gives me pretty brass. I'm happy, because I like to shoot, not fondle.

For wet solution get yourself a gallon of the concentrate solution that HVac guys use to clean coils on AC units. A gallon will last years and much cheaper than buying case cleaner solutions in 4 & 6oz bottles.

There are companies that sell kits for wet tumbling. The kit I bought included a Thumbler's rotary tumbler, 5 pounds of pins and a media separator. The quantities involved are dependent on the volume of the tumbler. Just over one gallon volume will do 2 pounds of brass with 5 pounds of stainless pins. A little dish soap and citric acid go a long way!

Ivan

I use the harbor freight dual drum tumbler and stainless chips. Two hours running with dish soap and hot water, drain that, one hour with cold water and a pinch of lemishine, then I dry in a toaster oven for 20 minutes at 250. My wife calls it easy bake brass,lol.

I’m a scavenger, so the leftovers from the range can be rather nasty looking, comes out shiny and the chips don’t get stuck in primer pockets. I figure it saves from possibly scratching a sizing die.

It doesn’t do a massive amount of cases, each drum will hold about 80 223’s, or 45 460 magnums. Plenty for me.

I use both wet and dry tumblers. The dry rotary tumbler with crushed walnut shells will polish the outside of the cases to perfection, however, there is usually what I would call a 5 O'clock shadow left on the inside of the case. Doesn't hurt anything and is my usual method. The wet method I use ceramic media, dish soap and one teaspoon of cream of tartar. The brass will appear to be as new without a smudge anywhere. I find the ceramic far easier to use than the steel pins. Shooting BPCR Silhouette, the cases are wet method for certain.

In the warm months I put brass in the hot sun in loading blocks all day. One day is enough when the temp gets around 90. In the winter I put the brass in the blocks and set them near the fireplace. The dry wood heat has them dry very quickly. I mostly use the wet for real dirty stuff or my cast bullet rifle brass. They get real gummy with all the lube.
The vibratory tumbler is for small batches and routine not to bad dirty stuff.

Nobody's fondling. Wet does a better job, there's no dust, and it's a whole lot quieter. That's all.

Wet tumbling here too. Dawn detergent, and a smidge of Lemi Shine. I don't use the pins either. After a thorough rinse and and a shoe shine dry in a large towel then it all goes into a food dehydrator at 115F and set the timer for 6 hours. Come back tomorrow and empty.
.223 range brass before and after, dehydrator:

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After citrus & 2 drops of Dawn in water, shake in plastic container. Rinse. Now place in boiling water, stir, dump in colander, stir to drain. Will dry faster.

I have both a dry 1200 and a FART, the larger model. I used dry for many years and the dust and media stuck rifle cases was a pain.

A couple years ago at my birthday I thought I would try wet with my BD discount. I wanted to give all the options a fair go so the first batches I did had no pins. They were better than dry but then I threw in the pins and there was no comparison. I was sold. I don't run brass until I generally have a red plastic can full.

I put hot water just a bit over the brass, a 9mm full of lemi- shine, a good squirt of Dawn and a capful and bit more of Armorall car wash and wax.

My brass sparkles which wasn't my main goal, I just couldn't handle the dust. I have developed my system and it works for me and I will not go back to full-time dry tumbling on a regular basis.

Been reloading for 41 years now. Have always used treated corn cob media in a vibratory tumbler for cleaning. Works well with straight wall pistol cases.

Since I live in a semi-arid state I seldom use my drier. If I'm in a rush (cuz Zombies and other assorted riff-raff) then 45-60 minutes gets them warm and dry.

Dry corn cob for me w/Nu Shine! A few years back I bought 200rd of 32 H&R brass over the internet. They arrived bright and shinney with old primers. I went to the press and started to reload them! Sometime during the process, I broke a decapping pin! After inspecting the case I found a SS pin wedged in the 32 brass! I am now the owner of about 30 SS pins and one broken decapping pin, and neither do I have a use for! I can only imagine how much trouble these pins would be in rifle brass! Yes, corn cob media sticks in the rifle brass but it is much easier to remove than a stuck SS pin! To each their own and I will stick with the process that worked for me for 40+ years!
jcelect

First I put all brass in a media separator removing debris. Next, I add brass to 1 gallon of hot water mixed with 1 tablespoon liquid dawn,1 tablespoon of liquid tide and 2 tablespoons lemon shine. Agitate (1-3 min.)and drain. Rinse with clear water until soap free. Lay on a towel in the sun and dry.
Then dry tumble in a mix of corncob media and red tufnut. I run my tumbler 1-2 hours. Pour from tumbler to media seperator, once satisfied with media separation, pour in a clean bucket and add zep aerosolv. drain and save aerosolv. Finished brass looks like new and ready to reload. I am a bit anal about my brass processing. I also sort and throw away any brass that is not a major brand name manufacture.

"Two tablespoons" of Lemishine...? WOW!

I use but a quarter of a teaspoon in my Thumlers...

Cheers!

P.S. But colt22man is using a gallon of water to begin with, and I imagine his liquid solution lasts for many batches...?

I do multiple batch's of brass cleaning with my gallon solution. Brass comes out so clean you really don't need to tumble, but old habits are hard to break.

Ultrasonic unit, resize and deprime, dry tumble in treated walnut shell, trim, prime, load, shoot, repeat. Simple. Aint all that work fun??

An advantage to using the Nu Shine Car cleaner/wax is it leaves the cases very slippery! I use Carbide resizing dies in all my pistol rounds and it most definitely makes them resize much easier and I'm sure it reduces the ware on the dies!
jcelect

So I found walnut shell media for sand blasting at Harbor freight Went with the coarse they had fine also. Added some Nu finish and its working good. The 25lb box set me back $30.00

Why not just take 20 or so cases out of a big batch and save the rest for later??

I started with a dry tumbler and it worked fine, but for shiny, like new brass, stainless pins in a wet tumbler is a miracle. It also doesn't have all that dust in the air. So now I use both.

When I come home from the range, I dump my brass into a bucket. When there is enough to justify a tumbling session, I wet tumble them without the pins. Just hot water and Dawn. This way, they are clean so I don't dirty up my dies. I bought a case dryer from Hornady. When they're dry, I quickly lube and de-prime and expand. Wet tumbling gets them so squeaky clean they need to be lubed. I put them in a bin for another day.

When the mood strikes, it's time for the stainless pins. The pins get the primer pockets and inside of the case clean. Same deal after they're done. Into the case dryer they go.

When they're dry, a quick dry tumble with some crushed walnut and Nu-Finish car polish to slick them up. Then prime them while watching TV and dump them into the bin, ready to be loaded.

It sounds like a lot but it isn't. The tumblers do all the work. Separating the pins is a bit of a chore, but a media separator and a magnet gets them all.

I just like to have shiny and clean brass. I only do this routine maybe 3 times a year on a Saturday. It's no big deal to me.

When I clean my brass, I use the same walnut and nu finish media.

But I don't usually clean my brass very often. I get 2 or 3 uses out of 9mm brass before cleaning. And I do it for cosmetic reasons; I don't believe brass needs to be "clean."

I use nickel plated brass for .45 ACP. After firing, I put the brass on an old bath towel, ball it up and roll it around. That's all the cleaning it has ever needed.

One big exception: .223 brass out of my AR-15. It always comes out really dirty, requiring cleaning after every use.

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I've still got it made.

How much Nu Shine do you use?

I had a lyman wet tumbler and it really works well .

I try and separate my brass at the range, usually shooting all I have of one caliber, then sweeping them up and bagging them. I’ll usually have a few extraneous cases mixed in, but it makes it so much easier than sorting hundreds of mixed calibers. I store them in gallon size plastic dollar tree containers by caliber and when I get a full one, I run them through the wet tumbler without pins in hot water with a little dawn detergent. That gets enough crud off to deprime and resize without damaging the dies. When tumbling with or without pins, I never mix calibers. They tend to nest together and not get clean inside and out. I don’t even mix .38 and .357mag, for example because I don’t want to have to separate them again. I deprime with a Lee AP press and universal decapping die and I can easily do 1K cases in an hour. Easy peasy and you never have to touch a spent primer. After depriming, I run them through the wet tumbler with pins this time and clean hot water, dawn, and a half teaspoon of Lemishine for three hours, which is the max setting on my Lyman tumbler. You don’t want to overdo the Lemishine or you’ll get dingy looking cases, not the bright shiny new looking ones. When done, I rinse them well, separating as many pins as I can and spread them on an old towel and put them out in the sun for a few hours. I’ll mix them around a bit every couple of hours to help them dry. I usually let them sit in an open pan in my garage for a few days before I reprime to make sure they’re really dry. I reprime the clean cases with a hand primer and store them. That way I have several thousand primed cases ready to reload with whatever powder charge and bullet I want to use.

Lee APP - YouTube

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USS Brewton FF1086
SWCA#3597

IDK, I get peoples attraction to something new ( and I've looked at it myself) but .......I'm doing what the OP is doing now and not in a hurry to fix what isn't broken. My brass comes out clean and shiny in one short step with minimal waste/use of media.
Enter the engineer in me here:
-Wet tumbling means another investment in equipment and supplies.
-Then it adds complexity and time in the process with the need for separate operations in cleaning then drying.
-Lastly, there is the getting rid of the byproduct with each use. ( I can bag walnut after 6 mos use and toss it in the trash. I'm not dumping wet toxic sludge into my $35K septic system weekly.)

I'm just not sold that wet tumbling is "better" or worth the added hassle. Your mileage may vary.

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Dave

I use the RCBS rotary with SS pins. I also use the Lyman seperartor pans. Along with Frankfort arsenal magnet. Still have my vibrator tumbler for small batches. Plenty of sunshine in S/E Texas for drying outside.

You said in the OP cleaning brass. I don't tumble. I use the old formula, one cup vinegar, two cups water, 1 T salt and one t soap. It seems to work well. I lay it out to dry on a cafeteria tray.

Last time I sized about 1K of 9mm brass while it was still wet. Afterwards my dies got cleaned with WD-40. It actually worked pretty well. I was loading on a single-stage press.