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Posted: 6/10/2018 10:03:19 AM EDT
[#1]
Why stop it?
Set it for 3 hours and forget it regardless of how dirty or clean the cases are going in. Dump once and be done. |
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Posted: 6/10/2018 10:07:51 AM EDT
[#2]
We all probably tumble brass a lot longer than we "need" to. That goes for wet as well as dry tumbling. The purpose for tumbling (in my mind) is to get cases "clean" (i.e. free of debris and foreign matter) in order to be kind to your sizing dies. The fact that clean brass is pretty to the eye (shiny) is a side benefit. Brass is clean enough for your sizing dies long before it is "get the sunglasses" shiny but who dosen't like shiny brass?...
I dry tumble so I actually tumble twice in a reloading cycle. Once before sizing and then again after case prep is complete to get the sizing lube off the cases. My first tumble is relatively short as I reload for bolt action and my cases aren't very dirty to start out with. My second tumble is a bit longer to do a good job of removing lube / brass whiskers and produce "pretty" cases... Although I have never and will never tumble loaded ammunition just to make it pretty (and yes, I DO know that manufacturers do it). |
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Posted: 6/10/2018 10:14:25 AM EDT
[#3]
3.5 hours.
I could probably get away with less. |
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Posted: 6/10/2018 10:32:44 AM EDT
[#4]
I used to let mine run for three to four hours. I started noticing some case mouth peening so I backed off considerably.
I found that one hour would get cases plenty clean enough. If you looked at the cases closely, you might see a tiny bit of residue in a primer pocket every now and then but not much. |
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Posted: 6/10/2018 10:39:29 AM EDT
[#5]
An hour or so. I don't obsess about the time, and I don't over tumble for hours and hours. I toss the batch of solution when I'm done, reuse is silly.
Same with vibratory tumbling in walnut. I tumble for 30 minutes to an hour, or a little more if I forget or I'm busy, and I don't use additives that cause the media to get clogged with crud. 8 to 10 minutes to delube in reasonably clean corn cob. 15 minutes in walnut, which I consider to be second choice. What I'm missing with wet tumbling is a method for separating brass and pins without letting pins bounce out of the strainer. Guess I need a box to contain everything, and a cover for my rotary separator. I consider delube in a solution in a rotary tumbler to be silly and waste of time, especially if pins are used, too. I could possibly consider dumping the brass into a container with a soap solution, and then letting it soak a while when both tumblers are tied up, but that would be my last choice because the brass has to be rinsed and dried afterwards. |
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Posted: 6/10/2018 12:53:29 PM EDT
[#6]
1.5 hours for me, that's when the primer pockets are clean on most stuff I wet tumble. Might go up to 2 hours if I'm tumbling a large (1200+) batch of 9mm.
I typically clean multiple batches once I break out the wet tumbler and only do it 2-3 times a year, so there's usually another batch waiting to go in. I keep the time short enough just to get the job done to my satisfaction just to keep the process moving along. |
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Posted: 6/10/2018 1:32:47 PM EDT
[#7]
Two hours. There's no scientific reason behind that number, it was just a number i tried and the brass came out shiny. After reading this thread I think i'll try shortening that time to 90 minutes next time to see the results.
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Posted: 6/10/2018 1:40:40 PM EDT
[#8]
Full loads of filthy brass take longer to get clean than smaller loads of less dirty brass. I haven’t done any real data collection on this, but a half load of 9mm I just shot gets clean with only a couple hours tumbling - and I could probably shorten that if I took the time to interrupt the process and check how clean the brass has gotten.
I haven’t had issues with cases bashing into each other in a negative way, so I’ll keep at my practice of using a timer to run full loads of really dirty brass for 4 hours. On the other hand, if I have a bunch of brass to clean, I may push it to less time, but I’ll be paying close attention to how well each batch gets clean before I actually dump it out for the next batch. |
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Posted: 6/10/2018 2:19:27 PM EDT
[#9]
I deprime then run thru a soap/pins for 2 hrs do all of my prep work including annealing then run them thru corncob for 2 hours... been pretty happy with the results...
Soap/pins/2 hours....  Attached FileFinal cleaning before loading..corncob/2 hours..  Attached File |
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Posted: 6/10/2018 3:31:58 PM EDT
[#10]
With straight wall handgun cases, 2 hours with the primer still in, then 15 minutes in walnut to dry them.
With bottle neck rifle case, .357sig and 30 carbine (ie anything I lube to resize,) 15 minutes with pins, lemishine and dawn, then 15 minutes of walnut to dry them. After decapping and resizing, 2 more hours wet and another 15 minutes in walnut to dry. I like bling. 15 minutes is enough to get just about anything clean enough to resize. |
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Posted: 6/10/2018 5:20:05 PM EDT
[#11]
An hour, maybe an hour and a half max. I built my tumbler out of 6" pvc and it agitates fairly well.
 Attached File |
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Posted: 6/10/2018 5:39:54 PM EDT
[#12]
My brass is deprimed, mostly clean (no gobs of dirt in the cases) and I wet tumble for ~1 hour with detergent and lemishine only, no pins.
Rinse and clean, hot water and synthetic wax and tumble for another 15-20 min. Let the cases air dry (no rinse after wax is added) and reload. |
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Posted: 6/10/2018 6:04:52 PM EDT
[#13]
I set the timer for 2 hours on my FART and sometimes check after 1.5 hours to see how they are doing.
I find that 90 to 120 minutes gets my brass plenty clean. I deprime first and tumble with lemi shine, SS pins and armor all ultra car soap. |
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Posted: 6/10/2018 6:39:53 PM EDT
[#14]
I throw them decapped in the Sonic Cleaner (One Shot) for 25 min and Wet Tumble (dawn and minimal Lemishine) them for an hour max.
Inside and outside is shinny and spotless. Then put them in a dehydrator for 30 min Max (depending on how much brass) 2hr Total Time (Nickle plated brass is 1 hr max, wet tumble) |
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Posted: 6/10/2018 7:10:36 PM EDT
[#15]
Set the FART to 3 hours here
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Posted: 6/10/2018 10:17:09 PM EDT
[#16]
I set timer for 4 hours, works great for me.
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Posted: 6/10/2018 10:46:18 PM EDT
[#17]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
3.5 hours. I could probably get away with less. Fill the brass half way full of the drum, then water all the way. I use Thumler's Model B tumbler to do 4-500 9mm each batch. |
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Posted: 6/10/2018 11:27:16 PM EDT
[#18]
it depends how much i put in my FART. If i just load it up about 1/2 way, then i can get away with 3 hrs. but if i try to do 1k 556 brass or alot of pistol, ill run it for 3 hours with just pins/water, drain, fill it up with water then add the soap/lemi shine and go another 3 hrs.
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Posted: 6/11/2018 9:09:10 AM EDT
[#19]
The FA tumbler came with 5# of pins. Got another 5# for a total of 10# of pins. Only use it for .223 brass doing 8# of brass at a time. Run for only 1 1/2 hour. This allows getting 32# of brass wet tumbled and sun dried in 1 day.
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Posted: 6/11/2018 9:36:23 AM EDT
[#20]
Hmmmmm... I am sort of surprised at all the different answers.
The questions were asked about why not just set it for 3 hours and let it go, and why bother dumping the dirty water and replacing? First off, I tend to process a lot of brass at once. This weekend for example, I did 8 loads of .40 S&W and 4 loads of .45 ACP. That is a crap ton of brass! That's 36 hours of tumbling if I let them go for 3 hours. As far as dumping the dirty water and replacing it with fresh, I did not do that this weekend due to the number of loads I processed, but I have noticed that by doing this, the brass comes out cleaner. This weekend I ran my loads at about 1.5 hours or so, and the brass is beautiful. I think I will change to this time for most of my runs. I might need to see if I get the same results with my rifle rounds. |
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Posted: 6/11/2018 5:57:04 PM EDT
[#21]
I've been letting it run for 4 hours or more, mainly because most of my brass is from suppressed semi autos and is funky.
After reading this thread I may play with the time to see if I really need 4 hours. |
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Posted: 6/11/2018 7:45:15 PM EDT
[#22]
2 hours in a two second squirt of Dawn, drain water, refill.
Two second squirt of Wash and wax, 40 cal scoop of Lemi-shine for another hour Shiney |
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Posted: 6/11/2018 10:15:54 PM EDT
[#23]
1 hour in the FART, Lemishine and Armor All Wash-N-Wax. No SS pins for me, plenty shiny after the hour.
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Posted: 6/11/2018 11:34:25 PM EDT
[#24]
4 hours if really dirty, 2-3 if not.
I decap before tumbling. |
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Posted: 6/11/2018 11:54:27 PM EDT
[#25]
I use the Harbor freight rotary rock tumblers. I have two double units. I usually run them for 2 hours.
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Posted: 6/12/2018 12:01:51 AM EDT
[#26]
I run the harbor freight tumblers. As I usually wait until I have a pretty decent batch of brass they are pretty full when I run them.
4 hours with a squirt of dawn, teaspoon of lemishine and a handful of pins. I'm usually tumbling while I'm doing something else so letting it go longer doesn't bother me. |
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Posted: 6/12/2018 1:05:33 AM EDT
[#27]
I still use a Harbor Freight dual tumbler with a 4” PVC tube for the container.
I fill it 3/4 full of brass, a pound of pins, a good dose of Dawn, a small amount of Lemishine and water almost to the top. One hour for deprimed brass does a good job. I lube all brass, even pistol, for sizing. After loading I toss it in walnut media for about 15-30 minutes. ETA: I use walnut only because it’s available in large quantities and cheap at Harbor Freight. |
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Posted: 6/12/2018 1:09:13 AM EDT
[#28]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
An hour or so. I don't obsess about the time, and I don't over tumble for hours and hours. I toss the batch of solution when I'm done, reuse is silly. Same with vibratory tumbling in walnut. I tumble for 30 minutes to an hour, or a little more if I forget or I'm busy, and I don't use additives that cause the media to get clogged with crud. 8 to 10 minutes to delube in reasonably clean corn cob. 15 minutes in walnut, which I consider to be second choice. What I'm missing with wet tumbling is a method for separating brass and pins without letting pins bounce out of the strainer. Guess I need a box to contain everything, and a cover for my rotary separator. I consider delube in a solution in a rotary tumbler to be silly and waste of time, especially if pins are used, too. I could possibly consider dumping the brass into a container with a soap solution, and then letting it soak a while when both tumblers are tied up, but that would be my last choice because the brass has to be rinsed and dried afterwards. |
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Posted: 6/12/2018 1:31:46 AM EDT
[#29]
3-4 hours in my HF rock tumbler. Really depends on what else I have going on. Even though I have the FART, I still use the HF 95% of the time just because I usually only load in small batches.
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Posted: 6/12/2018 7:42:54 AM EDT
[#30]
Usually 3 to 4 hrs. I only wet tumble really nasty brass that is either range pickup or my brass that I screwed up and left sit after picking it up with sweaty hands/fingers (had a case of big dog slobbers in a can of brass once, too).
I go out with the dogs in the morning, fiddle with them for a bit (talking/petting/combing and a treat or two, then back into the pen) and then I set up the wet tumbler, turn it on and go in the house or run errands. I come back around 12 or 1 o'clock (to let the dogs out of the pen again) and open everything up and put the wet brass in the vibratory cleaner with walnut shell media to finish drying it out. Then I set up a new batch (if I had that much to clean) for the wet tumbling and go back in the house for 3 or 4 hours. I repeat the dog walk/petting and removal of the wet brass to put in the vibratory cleaner again. On a good day I get a couple batches of brass cleaned up like new. I'm always amazed at how black looking brass comes out shiny as new. |
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Posted: 6/12/2018 9:48:58 AM EDT
[#31]
Quoted:
How long do you all run your wet tumbles for a load full of dirty brass? Depending on what you're using for your weak acid, how much acid you're using, and whatever other ingredients you might be adding to the tumbling solution, after an hour or two you've entered the realm of diminishing marginal returns. |
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Posted: 6/13/2018 8:31:19 AM EDT
[#32]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
Depending on what you're using for your weak acid, how much acid you're using, and whatever other ingredients you might be adding to the tumbling solution, after an hour or two you've entered the realm of diminishing marginal returns. |
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