Got to use my new wet tumbler yesterday.

[MUP]

I've gotten into the habit of wiping the cases off then wiping the neck area with a cotton swab. I found a spot of lube inside a neck once so I do a quick swipe with the swab now just to be sure it's clean. It would not be a bad idea to re-tumble if you had the time. But I'd make it a quick one, just enough to wash the cases out.

 

[DaveB]

Okay, you have some steps out of order, at least IMHO.
1. Decap with universal die.
2. Measure four or 5 random pieces of brass and be sure they are not over the max length.
3. If over max length or close to it-say .009-trim to min length and chamfer case mouth inside and out.
4. You can postpone the chamfer pending how much peening you get from SS tumbling.
5. I never mix brass sizes in the tumbler. In the tumbler, some water, brass, purple stuff or dawn, pins, secure both ends, set timer, tumble.
6. I just happen to mix water cleaner brass and tumble with no pins for 20 minutes. I used to shake the container but went to tumble for 20. Dump everything into the tool you use to separate brass from pins. I then rinse the tumbler to remove all dirt. This cleans nearly all the dirt and grime.
7. Into the tumbler go the pins, brass, water, cleaner.
8. Tumble for anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours or more.
9. I use a 5-gallon drywall bucket and dump the tumbler contents into the strainer thing and then crank the strainer back and forth until the pins stop falling.
10. I take a goodwill towel (special purchase from them), spread it on the driveway or patio and dump the brass on the towel and spread it around, one layer thick.
11. When the brass is dry I lube the brass, FL size, prime the brass, and place aside. My FL dies have had the decap pin removed.
12. I get my magnet and clean up the pins.

I rarely tumble any brass until I have need of it---meaning--- my loaded stash is one mag from gone. Then I will load the recipe I know results in the most accurate and fastest round until I am out of brass or component...which has not happened since 2010. The reason for this is to keep track of the number of times I reload a given caliber of brass. I have, generally, 400+ pieces of brass for every rifle.

I no longer weigh my brass or bullets. If you are into 400+ yard shooting, you may want to start.

Case prep is, or can be, kind of boring. When working with the clean brass I look for cracks in the mouth, any indications of bulging with my magnums,
any indication of case separation. If I even think I find a crack I tend to go back over everything already done. To break the monotony as soon as I feel I need a break I will stop for the day or at least 3 or 4 hours.

My Browning A-Bolt 30/06 is coming up on its 5th reload cycle and trim #2. The 243 Remington 700 ADL is down to 18 loaded rounds. Both of these have been receiving attention for past month or so. Loading will start o/a Labor day.

 

[Mausermeister]

Best to deprime first. For rifle brass I like to size and trim first if it is not too dirty. Fill with water and add a good squirt of Dawn and a dash of Lemishine. Let it run for a couple of hours. Use the grate cap to dump water and shake pins into a clean bucket. Fill with clean water and dump water and more pins into bucket 2 or 3 more times. If you pour off water from bucket between dumps, you also rinse pins as you go and can just pour off water and dump back into tumbler. Now dump brass into rotary media separator on same bucket and spin to get the last few pins out. Spread brass on crate paper on an old cookie sheet and put in 200 degree oven for about an hour.

 

[Antler Daddy]

wet tumbler sounds like a really wild woman

 

[fairchaser]

Y'all are going to way too much trouble with media separators. My pins never leave the tumbler and therefore don't end up on the floor. Rinse with cold water a few times and with some water still in the tumbler, reach in a grab a few cases. Swish them around with the case neck down which removes any pins and place them in a food dehydrator or dry them naturally with the case mouth down. Takes literally less than 5 minutes for a 100 cases. No magnets, not separators, no loose pins.

 

[MUP]

My hands are too big to reach down into the mouth of the tumbler.

 

[MUP]

I just pour the contents of the tumbler into a 5 gal bucket, with strainer cap on the tumbler, shake well, then pour the cases and few pins left inside them into another 5 gal bucket with a few inches of clean water in it, then do as you did by picking the cases up and swishing them around to make sure they're are no pins left inside. Potato pototo.

 

[Omega]

I thought I posted my method before but a quick search couldn't find it, so here it is.

First, I decap the brass with a universal decap die, so the pockets can get cleaned out, and taking the crimp out later isn't as messy.

I then tumble for one hour in warm water with 1/4" tbs citric acid (lemishine) and a tbs of dawn. It takes all the crud out. I first used pins, but got some chips because I had one get stuck in the neck. Hope the chips will take care of that, we will see, as I haven't used them yet.

After I tumble, I pour most of the water out into the sink as seen above. Then I pour the entire contents into my media separator and spin it in a slow methodical method which gets all the pins to drop down into the bottom.

After that, I pour out as much water out of the bottom of the separator then use the magnet to take them out and place them back in the tumbler for another batch.

After I separate the brass and the pins, I spread the brass out onto an old towel and allow them to air dry.

After they dry out, I stored them in boxes or bags depending on the number in that batch (I separate headstamps). But now I found some plastic ammo boxes in the tool area of Walmart so use them now.

 

[Mausermeister]

I first used pins, but got some chips because I had one get stuck in the neck.

I've had that happen, but only with 270 cal.

 

[Omega]

I've had that happen, but only with 270 cal.

This was a 25/06, the only one in the batch of 30/06, caught in the lead edge of the neck.

 

[nso123]

This was a 25/06, the only one in the batch of 30/06, caught in the lead edge of the neck.

That's the only cartridge I have a problem with pins sticking in. They are the perfect length for the neck diameter.