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Posted: 7/26/2015 3:54:17 PM EDT
( Poll to follow. )
This thread is for guys with progressive reloaders who shoot a lot. ( not really interested in the $30 harbor freight toy rock tumbler that I bought my daughter a few years ago to polish rocks...too small for my needs ) I've always used vibratory cleaners, but it seems like I hear lot of guys are now wet tumbling. In my world, time is money, . . . . between work, and family, I want to spend time shooting, not cleaning brass. Which do you prefer for cleaning batches of 500-1000 rounds of brass. 
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Posted: 7/26/2015 4:10:08 PM EDT
[#1]
I only wet tumble pistol brass without pins for 10 minutes.let dry. Store and load later.
Rifle I do the same, except after prep I vibratory tumble for 2 hours. |
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Posted: 7/26/2015 4:13:02 PM EDT
[#2]
Vibratory works fine. Throw in cases with corn cob and a little nu-finish, run it overnight while you sleep. The brass is ready to process in the morning.
If you are doing batches of 5k+, a wet tumbler made from a cement mixer is ideal. |
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Posted: 7/26/2015 4:35:32 PM EDT
[#3]
I'm using a vibratory tumbler with corn cob and Flitz. It works well enough for my pistol rounds where I'm not worried about primer pockets.
I'm very interested in the wet tumbling though. I typically don't sort my brass until I have most of a 5 gal bucket full. I just need the space for a concrete mixer.  |
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Posted: 7/26/2015 5:07:22 PM EDT
[#4]
Vibratory. Start, forget, remember, sift, done. No rinsing or drying.
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Posted: 7/26/2015 5:11:33 PM EDT
[#5]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
Vibratory. Start, forget, remember, sift, done. No rinsing or drying. I use an old Christmas lights timer. |
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Posted: 7/26/2015 5:28:24 PM EDT
[#6]
If time - including "enforced attention" - is an issue for you, IMO nothing can possibly beat dry tumbling. Wet tumbling addresses "bling" and does a better job on primer pockets . . . *if* you decap before cleaning.
Since you don't wet your brass, you don't have to dry it. If you forget about the last batch tumbling, no problem. You can come back in a week, a month, or longer . . . no harm done to the brass. Walnut and no additives does more than an adequate job, and after tumbling all you need is 30 seconds in your media separator before bringing it to the reloading bench. Use this Outlet Timer or an equivalent to minimize noise, dust (or tumble outside), and save electricity. |
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Posted: 7/26/2015 6:36:28 PM EDT
[#7]
Wet tumbling is relatively new in to the reloading world and does the best job bar none, however it is messy and requires a more expensive initial investment.
If I were just starting out I would strongly consider stainless steel pins, Dawn dishwashing detergent and Lemon Shine as the way to go. I've been reloading for over thirty years and have two Dillon tumblers, Dillon's media sifter and several 25lb. sacks of crushed walnut and corn cob media. I'm heavily invested in the "old school" technology that has worked very well for me. I'm not likely to change this late in the game. If really shiny is what you want a half a cap full of Nu Finish car polish added to the corn cob will bling up any brass. |
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Posted: 7/26/2015 6:55:09 PM EDT
[#8]
Sonic cleaning. About 30 minutes per batch, rinse, throw in the dehydrator. I too am strapped for time, I was wet tumbling, but I tried sonic and I think it's much better for me. I got the Hornady Magnum Cleaner on clearance from Cabelas.
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Posted: 7/26/2015 7:22:45 PM EDT
[#9]
Got a Rebel 17 tumbler and it is great and a Dillon 550B press. If I use 5.56 ammo as an example I typically have 6 or 7 thousand rounds on hand at any given time. I also have about 4 to 5 thousand rounds of brass that is ready to load on hand at any given time. Store the prepped brass in large Akro Bins separated by head stamp. Winchester brass (my favorite) in one lake city that has been swaged in another, un-swaged LC in a third and everything else in a fourth. As soon as I get home from a shooting session I decap and tumble. If I have a bunch range pickup brass that is nasty I tumble without decapping to get it more or less clean and then decap and tumble again. Then I do the rest of my prep after that, swage primer pockets and/or trim with the Dillon trimmer if needed. When one of the bins gets more or less full then I go on a marathon loading session and load a few thousand rounds. I pretty much have decent quantities for every caliber that I load for and that is pretty much how I do things for every caliber. There are a few exceptions like .338LM and .41 Magnum. For me, doing it this way keeps the quantities of brass that I am tumbling manageable while having a good quantity of brass on hand to load for when needed. Just Sayin'...
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Posted: 7/26/2015 8:09:30 PM EDT
[#10]
I use both the Thumlers that's in the picture and also the smaller version of the Dillon vibratory cleaner. I began using the Dillon vibratory cleaner in 1995 and the Thumler's last year. I do an initial cleaning with the Thumler's to get the ultra-crud off and clean out the primer pockets. (I've ovbiously deprimed first, but with an XL650, case feeder and a toolhead with a decap die, that's fast.) I use the vibratory to add a coat of paste wax to prevent spotting, tarnish and corrosion.
Fastest way is to just vibratory tumble, if sparkling primer pockets aren't an issue. |
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Posted: 7/26/2015 8:32:01 PM EDT
[#11]
I only wet tumble the really nasty stuff. Range pick up brass mostly. My brass takes about 30 minutes to an hour in the vibratory cleaner and then it's ready to reload.
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Posted: 7/26/2015 8:52:35 PM EDT
[#12]
I just bought the Franklin Arsenal Rotary Tumbler, available for (IIRC) $169 on Amazon. I shoot USPSA and load a lot of 9mm, .40, .45ACP, .380, and 10mm.
In the F.A.R.T., I can tumble 10lbs of brass at a time, with water filled to the top of the brass, 5lbs of pins, and still have 5lbs to spare for the maximum capacity of the drum. I bought it about a month ago, and while I still haven't found a smooth process to deal with the media/brass seperation and rinsing, I don't have a single bad thing to say about the F.A.R.T. It spins fast enough that I don't feel it needs to be ran more than an hour or 90 minutes to get the brass clean. How I typically operate it is, on a day that I'm going to be around the house all day long, I'll do batches on a 90 minute rotation. I scored a five gallon bucket filled up completely with pistol brass in May and had it all tumbled a few days after getting the F.A.R.T. |
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Posted: 7/27/2015 6:47:23 AM EDT
[#13]
http://www.harborfreight.com/18-lb-vibratory-bowl-with-liquid-drain-hose-96923.html
Harbor freight 18LB tumbler. Can go wet or dry. I use it with corn cob and nufinish and it can clean over a 1000 pcs of 9mm in 30-40 minutes...... Have a small Dillon tumbler I use with walnut if the bras is really nasty. Have no desire to decap brass in volume. YMMV |
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Posted: 7/27/2015 9:52:57 AM EDT
[#14]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
Vibratory. Start, forget, remember, sift, done. No rinsing or drying. You left off the part about living with filthy primer pockets, dirty case interiors and the requirement to individually blow each flash hole free of debris with compressed air to be sure you've removed all the corn cobs. Don't forger your OSHA approved dust mask. 
I'll stick with wet tumbling. Toss them in the drum, tumble for 2 hours, pour into a deep colander, shake out the pins and pour them into a sieve and then into a container. Pick up any strays with a magnet. Shake the brass free of most water, pour onto a towel, shake, and transfer to a metal pan. Hit them for 30 seconds with a heat gun, wait 10 minutes and do it again. Or, if you prefer, bake them in the oven on low for an hour. The whole cleanup and drying process can be done about 20 minutes, at least 10 of which is waiting when you can so something else like set up your dies. A little longer if you use an oven or clothes dryer, both of which don't require attention. Plus all the nasty stuff goes right down the drain rather than remaining mixed in with your vibrating media, getting dirtier and dirtier each batch. With wet tumbling you have no dust, beautiful clean brass inside and out, and it doesn't take hours and hours. Plus it actually cleans the cases rather than just shine up the outside. |
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Posted: 7/27/2015 10:26:35 AM EDT
[#15]
Forgot to say, the reason I went with wet tumbling in the first place was the dust. Didn't take long before I realized the vibratory tumbler needed to go outside instead of in my basement, and the dust was all over when I was changing it.
Inside, all the bad stuff goes down the drain and I can happily clean brass all winter long with virtually no chance of breathing in anything bad. |
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Posted: 7/27/2015 10:34:27 AM EDT
[#16]
I used to have two cv2001s. Finally burned out the motor on one of them. So I'm down to just one for now anyway.
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Posted: 7/27/2015 10:49:18 AM EDT
[#17]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
Forgot to say, the reason I went with wet tumbling in the first place was the dust. Didn't take long before I realized the vibratory tumbler needed to go outside instead of in my basement, and the dust was all over when I was changing it. Inside, all the bad stuff goes down the drain and I can happily clean brass all winter long with virtually no chance of breathing in anything bad. I run my vibratory out in the garage, and sift out in the driveway 
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Posted: 7/27/2015 11:04:39 AM EDT
[#18]
Vibratory is all you need with a squirt of brass cleaner in the corncob media.
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Posted: 7/27/2015 11:16:45 AM EDT
[#19]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
I run my vibratory out in the garage, and sift out in the driveway http://www.brownells.com/userdocs/products/p_749005411_1.jpg Quote HistoryQuoted:
Quoted:
Forgot to say, the reason I went with wet tumbling in the first place was the dust. Didn't take long before I realized the vibratory tumbler needed to go outside instead of in my basement, and the dust was all over when I was changing it. Inside, all the bad stuff goes down the drain and I can happily clean brass all winter long with virtually no chance of breathing in anything bad. I run my vibratory out in the garage, and sift out in the driveway http://www.brownells.com/userdocs/products/p_749005411_1.jpg I bought that same separator for my wet tumbler. |
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Posted: 7/27/2015 12:42:19 PM EDT
[#20]
I have a sonic(hornady) and a SS pin setup(Frankfort). The SS setup works the best for me, I only use the sonic to clean gun parts now(which it does a great job of).
Rifle: I clean with no pins, dry, size/decap, then pins, dry, and load. It's a bit of work, but I'm very happy with the results. Pistol: clean no pins, dry, load. I'm lucky that my laundry room is right next to my reload room in my house. Our dryer has a shoe platform thing or shirt I'm not sure what it's for. But I put it in, lay a towel over it and pour my brass in. Set it for 40 min and it's usually very dry. If it's a rare dry warm day here, I put the brass outside on a sheet pan to air dry. |
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Posted: 7/27/2015 1:22:24 PM EDT
[#21]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
I'm lucky that my laundry room is right next to my reload room in my house. Our dryer has a shoe platform thing or shirt I'm not sure what it's for. But I put it in, lay a towel over it and pour my brass in. Set it for 40 min and it's usually very dry. If it's a rare dry warm day here, I put the brass outside on a sheet pan to air dry. Speaking of dryers... has anyone tried a mesh bag to put brass in and let it tumble around? I could see that working much better, and much faster. The only downsides would be if the mesh isn't dense enough to contain the brass, and the expectation of the wife for me to help with laundry if I'm using the dryer 
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Posted: 7/27/2015 2:21:38 PM EDT
[#23]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
Speaking of dryers... has anyone tried a mesh bag to put brass in and let it tumble around? I could see that working much better, and much faster. The only downsides would be if the mesh isn't dense enough to contain the brass, and the expectation of the wife for me to help with laundry if I'm using the dryer Quote HistoryQuoted:
Quoted:
I'm lucky that my laundry room is right next to my reload room in my house. Our dryer has a shoe platform thing or shirt I'm not sure what it's for. But I put it in, lay a towel over it and pour my brass in. Set it for 40 min and it's usually very dry. If it's a rare dry warm day here, I put the brass outside on a sheet pan to air dry. Speaking of dryers... has anyone tried a mesh bag to put brass in and let it tumble around? I could see that working much better, and much faster. The only downsides would be if the mesh isn't dense enough to contain the brass, and the expectation of the wife for me to help with laundry if I'm using the dryer It's been my experience,( since April 1992 ) to do as little gun stuff in her kitchen and laundry room as possible. 
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Posted: 7/27/2015 2:36:20 PM EDT
[#24]
Quote HistoryQuoted:...I suggest a dehydrator from HF. Takes about 30-45 minutes. Cost about $25 depending on a coupon. dryflash3, What are your thoughts on dry vs wet ? |
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Posted: 7/27/2015 3:25:50 PM EDT
[#25]
I used a Dillon vibratory tumbler for years. It still works. I decided to try wet tumbling to get really clean cases. I like it.
If time was an issue I would abandon wet tumbling and go back to the vibratory tumbler. In my case it is not. All my case cleaning is done outdoors. I dry my cases in the Arizona sun. It is free, and quick. |
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Posted: 7/27/2015 4:13:28 PM EDT
[#26]
Quote HistoryQuoted: dryflash3, What are your thoughts on dry vs wet ? Quote HistoryQuoted: Quoted:...I suggest a dehydrator from HF. Takes about 30-45 minutes. Cost about $25 depending on a coupon. dryflash3, What are your thoughts on dry vs wet ? I've been wet tumbling brass cases for about 3 years now. I only dry tumble/walnut to clean steel cases. I still use my dry tumblers with corn cob to remove sizing lube for all cases that I use lube on. Makes no sense to me to wet tumble to remove lube, as my cases are already clean from the first wet tumble. |
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Posted: 7/27/2015 7:19:41 PM EDT
[#27]
If you're looking to do quantity, I'd look nowhere other than BigDawg Tumblers
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Posted: 7/27/2015 8:39:06 PM EDT
[#28]
One of the main reasons I went with wet tumbling (Frankford) is that I found the primer pockets in my .45's were so filled with crud that I believe it was contributing to a poor seal of the primers in the pockets......leading to breech face erosion in my 1911's.
I was either going to toss a 1000's of .45 brass or hand clean the pockets. Not gonna happen. Now I don't have to worry about the possible effects of poorly seated primers on the breech faces, although I'm leaving room for other arguments of causation of which there are a number. |
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Posted: 7/28/2015 3:24:09 AM EDT
[#29]
it depends on where the brass comes from. i used to get my brass from an indoor range and it never saw dirt or water so it was never tarnished. Threw them in a tumbler and a couple of hours later it was ready to load. i no longer has access to that supply and now rely on outdoor brass at the range. sometimes they are really tarnished and has dirt on them. i need to wash and rinse them and dry them before dry tumbling. the tarnished ones never get clean though even after hours in the tumbler. even though the tarnished ones looked funny they loaded just fine.
if you must have squeaky clean brass go wet. If you just want working brass dry is good enough. this in just my experience. |
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Posted: 7/28/2015 4:54:12 AM EDT
[#30]
Quote History........ snip ..........
Speaking of dryers... has anyone tried a mesh bag to put brass in and let it tumble around? I could see that working much better, and much faster. I wouldn't recommend that because I imagine the brass would take quite a beating. In the past I've put a couple hundred rounds in a mesh bag and trapped the draw strings of the bag in the dryer door as I closed it. The bag then was hanging inside the dryer up against the door but not spinning around with the drum. It worked great, made the brass nice and dry, but didn't subject it to any abuse. Plus it was quiet. Now I just shake it in my big colander, give it a quick spin in an old salad spinner, and dump it into a towel. I grab each end of the towel to make a sort of hammock shape and by raising and lowering opposite ends I slid the brass back and forth in the "hammock" for 30 or 45 seconds. Then it's into a big metal pan for a short blast from my heat gun. There are a few more steps, but the job is done in less time. Either way is fine. |
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Posted: 7/28/2015 10:51:34 AM EDT
[#31]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Vibratory. Start, forget, remember, sift, done. No rinsing or drying. Or decapping prior to tumbling. |
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Posted: 7/28/2015 10:55:26 AM EDT
[#32]
Quote HistoryQuoted: You left off the part about living with filthy primer pockets, dirty case interiors and the requirement to individually blow each flash hole free of debris with compressed air to be sure you've removed all the corn cobs. Don't forger your OSHA approved dust mask. Quote HistoryQuoted: Quoted: Vibratory. Start, forget, remember, sift, done. No rinsing or drying. You left off the part about living with filthy primer pockets, dirty case interiors and the requirement to individually blow each flash hole free of debris with compressed air to be sure you've removed all the corn cobs. Don't forger your OSHA approved dust mask. Wow, I guess I've reloaded the last few hundred thousand rounds wrong. |
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Posted: 7/28/2015 12:14:03 PM EDT
[#33]
I've been reloading 45ACP since i was in highschool in the early 1980's
I've never had any trouble with 45 primer pockets used to run 10,000 + rounds a year in IPSC, and later [cough] IDPA 3rd generation 1911 nut here, have my Grandfathers WWI 1911 |
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Posted: 7/28/2015 1:45:51 PM EDT
[#34]
Both options work. Vibration cleaning works, and it's cheap. I didn't like the fact that they brass still felt dusty, and there was a lot of dust liberated when you tumbled them. After a reloading session my hands would come out gray/black from the dust that was still on the brass. I didn't like the fact that I could smell the dust for the next day or so. Whether it did anything really other than the smell, I'm not sure. I really didn't enjoy that part of cleaning brass at all. Wet tumbling works as well. It's not as cheap, but the brass comes out squeaky clean, all the dust that would have been liberated when you tumble them goes down the drain instead. That being said, it adds quite a few steps. You need to get water, you need to mess with the pins, you need to dry the brass, you need to play with how much dawn/lemishine etc. It's definitely not as easy as just turning on the vibration cleaner and tossing in the brass with some polish. That being said, I only wet tumble now, I even went back and wet tumbled all the brass I had that was "clean" by vibration cleaning. The extra work isn't that bad honestly, I think I decapped and wet tumbled for a few days and I was caught up. Honestly decapping isn't too bad as all the range brass I have gets tossed into a coffee container or ammo can, when I decap I basically sort at the same time. If vibration cleaning has worked for you, perfect no problem. |
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Posted: 7/28/2015 1:59:04 PM EDT
[#35]
Vibratory for volume and wet for precision.
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Posted: 7/28/2015 2:52:28 PM EDT
[#36]
you can cut down on the dust by putting a few used dryer sheets in the media
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Posted: 7/28/2015 3:22:46 PM EDT
[#37]
I built myself a wet tumbler. I use it for when I'm doing high volume only. 1k 223 or 2k 9mm at a crack. I keep my vibratory tumbler for smaller batches of calibers I don't shoot as much and tumbling off lube.
Wet is so much faster for large volumes even if it takes more work. 2-3 hours wet for 1k cases in the tumbler, then maybe 30 minutes of work separating and rinsing in a media separator, then laying them out on cookie sheets in the oven to dry (though now I'm definitely going to use my dehydrator, never occurred to me). So regardless of the amount of work, I can have 1,000 cases ready for the press in an afternoon. To do that with the vibrator, it's 2-300 cases at a time overnight. Takes 3-4 days, and I have to inspect flash holes. But to do 100 precision rounds in a caliber I have maybe 500 pieces of brass for total? Way easier to tumble dry overnight and load the next day. |
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Posted: 7/28/2015 5:20:30 PM EDT
[#38]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
you can cut down on the dust by putting a few used dryer sheets in the media It doesn't really help that much. I tried. I am quite cheap but dont regret the wet tumbling purchase. As mentioned both work. If you don't mind the dust, stick with vib cleaning. |
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Posted: 7/28/2015 5:22:38 PM EDT
[#39]
...
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Posted: 7/29/2015 12:24:30 PM EDT
[#40]
I haven't gotten into wet tumbling yet.
For really dirty cases, I use crushed walnut hull for 2 or 3 hrs. Then corn cobb media to put a bit of a shine on them. |
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Posted: 7/29/2015 1:37:31 PM EDT
[#41]
I vibrate. I'll throw the brass in the tumbler one evening and just leave it running ~24hrs until I get back to it.
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Posted: 7/29/2015 2:31:17 PM EDT
[#42]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
you can cut down on the dust by putting a few used dryer sheets in the media I never found that to help that much. |
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Posted: 7/29/2015 4:29:54 PM EDT
[#43]
I've found used dryer sheets or paper towels can soak up a lot of dust
i also add a few drops of car wax into the corncob media,...let it run for about 5mins before pouring in the brass i think when you let it run too long, it grinds the media to dust ( wears out the motor faster too ) |
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Posted: 7/29/2015 4:56:53 PM EDT
[#44]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
I've found used dryer sheets or paper towels can soak up a lot of dust i also add a few drops of car wax into the corncob media,...let it run for about 5mins before pouring in the brass i think when you let it run too long, it grinds the media to dust ( wears out the motor faster too ) yep a couple dyer sheets a little wax and 800pc of .223 brass in corn cob , set timer for 2 hours , never seen a need for more then 2 hours and 1 hour tumbles are fine for the next several times it's reloaded |
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Posted: 7/29/2015 4:57:47 PM EDT
[#45]
Been using a Dillon vibratory cleaner since I started and while I have the time for wet tumbling, I don't have the inclination to change. Too messy, too many steps, too much hassle for me. Besides, what I have works and works well. I don't want bling for brass, I just want it clean. Dillon, walnut lizard litter, and a bit of cheap liquid auto polish have worked well for 10s of thousands of rds so far so why change?
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Posted: 7/29/2015 8:35:45 PM EDT
[#46]
I use a RCBS sonic cleaner for 2 hours (primers removed), dry over night, tumble in corn cob for 2 hours. Gets close to the wet tumbling folks. Works for me.
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Posted: 7/29/2015 9:34:45 PM EDT
[#47]
Wet tumbling is not a big deal after you get your stash built up.
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Posted: 7/29/2015 10:45:46 PM EDT
[#48]
I use the big HF vibratory tumbler with commercial grade media blasting corn cob (I am not sure of the grit) that I get in 50# bags. get clean shiny cases after about an hour, and the grain size of the corn cob I use I have zero issues with stuff stuck in the cases or the primer holes.
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Posted: 7/29/2015 11:12:54 PM EDT
[#49]
I do both vibratory to remove case lube before wet tumbling.
Vince |
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Posted: 7/30/2015 12:39:00 AM EDT
[#50]
I rarely ever use me dry tumbler anymore. I built my wet tumbler and the finished product is so much better. My pistol brass runs through the dies much easier than when I was dry tumbling. It almost feels like it has been lubed. A lot of people complain about having to wait for the brass to dry but I use a cheap food dehydrator to dry my brass so it's easy.
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