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Posted: 1/22/2021 1:37:37 AM EDT
[#1]
Wet tumbling is by far the most effective. Cleans inside and out. Primer pocket too, if you decap before tumbling.
Ultrasonic is so-so. If you're gonna get it wet, might as well tumble. Dry tumbling does great to polish the outside. I prefer it for pistol range fodder. Insides will still be dirty though. |
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Posted: 1/22/2021 2:23:31 AM EDT
[#2]
I've been using an inexpensive Harbor Freight rotary tumbler...it's been excellent. About 1lb of stainless steel pins, a dash of Lemishine, Dawn dish soap, and some hot water. Brass comes out looking better than new. I always decap before the tumble, and primer pockets are cleans also. No dust to clean up, no media to replace.
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Posted: 1/22/2021 2:30:20 AM EDT
[#3]
+3 for wet tumble with pins. I was surprised at how good it was....So much so I went back and retumbled my dry media tumbled brass with stainless steel pins just to polish them up and save having to do primer pockets.
Frankford Aresenl tumbler. Squirt of Dawn, shake of Lemishine, hot water. I tumble 3 hours or so, drain and rinse. Brass looks like new. To get the most of that get the a universal depriming die to deprime (Rather than the normal deprime/resize). Pick up off ground (Doesnt mater how dirty) Deprime Tumble Then do normal prep as needed. |
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Posted: 1/22/2021 4:50:06 AM EDT
[#4]
Wet FART or make your own wet tumbler.
Dish soap, lemi shine, armor all, water. It's still worth getting the ultrasonic for small batches of brass (2-3 handfuls), and cleaning suppressor parts. You can use bulk/cheap plain citric acid instead of lemi shine, and you can use the big cheap bottles of generic liquid wash n wax instead of armor all. |
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Posted: 1/22/2021 8:15:55 AM EDT
[#5]
F. A. R. T.
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Posted: 1/22/2021 4:19:01 PM EDT
[#6]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Wet tumbling is by far the most effective. Cleans inside and out. Primer pocket too, if you decap before tumbling. Ultrasonic is so-so. If you're gonna get it wet, might as well tumble. Dry tumbling does great to polish the outside. I prefer it for pistol range fodder. Insides will still be dirty though.  You want the bling, then it's wet tumbling. |
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Posted: 1/22/2021 6:33:16 PM EDT
[#7]
Another vote for wet tumbling but I never use pins. Been doing it for over 5 years with my FART and pins are still in original packaging. Just did about 1000 9 mm cases today. Came out shiny as photo above. I decap prior to tumbling.
Lots of online videos comparing with and without pins. Only difference is that using pins polishes inside of cases as bright as the outside. I don't care about inside being shiny. I just want it clean and the primer pockets clean. I get both without the hassle of pins. Give it a shot and I bet you never use pins. ?? |
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Posted: 1/22/2021 6:40:12 PM EDT
[#8]
Wet tumble.
With SS pins or chips after decapping. I prefer lemishine and ArmorAll Wash and Wax, but YMMV |
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Posted: 1/22/2021 6:45:55 PM EDT
[#9]
Check out Iosso, it's a liquid case cleaner, drop your brass into it for a couple of minutes, rinse, dry, reload.
You can go from once fired to loaded in an hour or less, depending on how much brass you're cleaning. |
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Posted: 1/22/2021 6:47:20 PM EDT
[#10]
FART is the best.
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Posted: 1/23/2021 1:42:31 PM EDT
[#11]
I tried them all but wet tumbling with SS pins, lemishine and car wash & wax is the winner. If you don’t use the armor car wash and wax it gets the brass too clean. When you go to flare the mouth it gets stuck, requiring extra effort to separate the brass from flaring die. The wash and wax gives it enough slickness that you don’t get “galling” or sticky brass when flaring or seating the bullet.
What I do. Quick tumbling in corn just to get clean enough. Size/decap and then do the wet tumbling. Sure there are others who do it differently but what works for you. |
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Posted: 1/23/2021 1:52:02 PM EDT
[#12]
I’ve been using a HF ultrasonic cleaner, it seems ok. I had the problem others mentioned with expanders sticking because the brass is “too clean”. I’m currently using dawn and citric acid. Will wash and wax car soap fix this issue? My current prep procedure for 9mm:
Universal decapper. Run through USC Dry with towel, lay out to air dry Lube with lanolin alcohol mix Size Mdie Run through USC to remove lanolin Dry |
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Posted: 1/23/2021 2:19:37 PM EDT
[#13]
Wet tumble with SS pins, a few drops of dawn and a pinch of lemishine. I have best results when I use a little less SS pins and a little less water than recommended, and a little more brass. Not sure why. I think the brass tumbles more this way.
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Posted: 1/23/2021 3:36:51 PM EDT
[#14]
I had the same idea before buying a FART. Researched sonic cleaning tubs and decided to buy one later if I found it necessary.
The tubs on the sonic cleaners are pretty small (2-3L) and it would take a lot of manipulation to clean the amount of brass I deal with. Maybe if you only work with a 100 cases or so at a time, but I usually wait to get 500 - 1000 in hand before cleaning. I imagine you want to use clean wash between batches of cases in a sonic cleaner. You would need to drain it at least partially before moving it to a sink to dump. The FART is an enclosed container and easy to dump the fluid. I have a laundry sink in the garage so I'm lucky, but your situation may be different. If you go with a FART, get a rotary strainer to separate the pins out and a magnet to transfer pins and pick up the stragglers. Otherwise they can be a real PITA. I do think an ultra sonic cleaner would be useful, but wet tumbling will do more cases with less manipulation. |
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Posted: 1/23/2021 11:11:30 PM EDT
[#15]
Ok - dumb question. So after you tumble the brass do you rinse it? How do you dry it?
Thanks |
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Posted: 1/23/2021 11:15:49 PM EDT
[#16]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Ok - dumb question. So after you tumble the brass do you rinse it? How do you dry it? Thanks Placed on towel moved around and the outside of case dried. I then place in a tray and they dry over night. Many different ways to dry cases. |
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Posted: 1/23/2021 11:16:32 PM EDT
[#17]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Ok - dumb question. So after you tumble the brass do you rinse it? How do you dry it? Thanks I've got a bucket I fill with water and just keep dumping into the FART. Dump dirty, refill with clean, dump dirty, refill with clean. If you use the SS pins, they sell a better filter for the end cap that doesn't let the pins fall out. Then goes into the FA media seperater then the FA dehydrator. |
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Posted: 1/23/2021 11:29:24 PM EDT
[#18]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Ok - dumb question. So after you tumble the brass do you rinse it? How do you dry it? Thanks the big FART has two end caps and they make a screen, so put a screen on one end of the drum, hose down the innards which has brass and pins in it with a garden hose or in a sink. Whatever doesn't get rinsed this way gets rinsed in the media separator which is supposed to be filled about 1/3 full of water I dry in a dehydrator |
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Posted: 1/24/2021 3:50:10 AM EDT
[#19]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Check out Iosso, it's a liquid case cleaner, drop your brass into it for a couple of minutes, rinse, dry, reload. You can go from once fired to loaded in an hour or less, depending on how much brass you're cleaning. Does that work without using a tumbler? So, just a wet process. Ooof!, just checked the IOSSO web site. $32/gallon (4800 cases). That's a penny a piece to clean. |
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Posted: 1/24/2021 8:57:36 AM EDT
[#20]
Quote HistoryQuoted: I tried them all but wet tumbling with SS pins, lemishine and car wash & wax is the winner. If you don’t use the armor car wash and wax it gets the brass too clean. When you go to flare the mouth it gets stuck, requiring extra effort to separate the brass from flaring die. The wash and wax gives it enough slickness that you don’t get “galling” or sticky brass when flaring or seating the bullet. What I do. Quick tumbling in corn just to get clean enough. Size/decap and then do the wet tumbling. Sure there are others who do it differently but what works for you. @Lakemoor how much wash and wax are you using? |
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Posted: 1/24/2021 9:25:41 AM EDT
[#21]
I own all 3 methods.
I use wet tumbling first. I dont bother with pins because I usually tumble large quantities and it doesn't appear to make any difference in my setup (cement mixer). I prefer wet tumbling at this point because the "media" is free and it does not cause lead contaminated dust that I could breathe in. Also if you have muddy brass it doest screw up the media since you just toss it anyways. The downside is drying time. To dry I put the brass in a full size towel and the hold the corners and move it up and down like you are polishing a bowling ball then spread it out in front of a box fan. After sizing I dry tumble in walnut with a little car polish. I prefer dry here because wet can take the oily sizing lube and leave a film on everything using the wet method at this point. Also since its already clean the media lasts a loooong time and lead exposure from dust is less. I dont bother with sonic for brass I use it for gun parts. This is due to volume and it only does a good job on the ones closest to the bottom/center. |
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Posted: 1/24/2021 9:29:01 AM EDT
[#22]
Like noted above, if you're going to get them wet, go all the way. I just can't see an ultrasonic cleaning cases that great, especially in large quantities.
It just occurred to me that my SD/ES problem from another thread is possibly because I only dry tumble. The inside of the cases, being mixed numbers of firings, have different amounts of fouling in them. Maybe I need to wet tumble and get the inside of those cases cleaned out. |
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Posted: 1/24/2021 10:28:02 AM EDT
[#23]
I guess I am the one and only person who does not like the FART or pins.
They leave your brass sandblasted looking from all the sharp edges on the pins, even after running the pins for hours by themselves to "break them in" as recommended by people online. When I dumped out the water, it had a metallic flake look to it, and there was brass powder in the bottom of the bucket. No I did not run it too long. Even after running for less than a hour, the insides of the cases were not clean, but the cases were getting sandblasted and there was metallic particles in the water. Not only does it sand blast the brass, it also peens/beats up the case mouths. In the picture, the center case was fired from a semi auto, then tumbled in a regular vibratory tumbler with green corncob. The two on each side were fired from a bolt gun, then done in the fart with ss pins.  The cases, you can also feel the difference. The ss pin cleaned cases are noticeably rougher feeling than corncob cleaned brass. I have since switched to a hornady 2L sonic cleaner and use the rcbs solution (had the best reviews). When I have cases that are tarnished or very dirty, I sonic clean them, rinse, dry out, then tumble in green corncob. They all look brand new and have no damage to them, unlike ss pins. Otherwise I clean in green corncob after firing to keep them clean. I have bought some brass from people on here and I can always tell when they uses ss pins, as the brass has the same sandblasted appearance to it. |
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Posted: 1/24/2021 12:50:25 PM EDT
[#24]
Quote HistoryQuoted: I guess I am the one and only person who does not like the FART or pins. They leave your brass sandblasted looking from all the sharp edges on the pins, even after running the pins for hours by themselves to "break them in" as recommended by people online. When I dumped out the water, it had a metallic flake look to it, and there was brass powder in the bottom of the bucket. No I did not run it too long. Even after running for less than a hour, the insides of the cases were not clean, but the cases were getting sandblasted and there was metallic particles in the water. Not only does it sand blast the brass, it also peens/beats up the case mouths. In the picture, the center case was fired from a semi auto, then tumbled in a regular vibratory tumbler with green corncob. The two on each side were fired from a bolt gun, then done in the fart with ss pins. https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/46775088905_0c193138a2_b.jpg The cases, you can also feel the difference. The ss pin cleaned cases are noticeably rougher feeling than corncob cleaned brass. I have since switched to a hornady 2L sonic cleaner and use the rcbs solution (had the best reviews). When I have cases that are tarnished or very dirty, I sonic clean them, rinse, dry out, then tumble in green corncob. They all look brand new and have no damage to them, unlike ss pins. Otherwise I clean in green corncob after firing to keep them clean. I have bought some brass from people on here and I can always tell when they uses ss pins, as the brass has the same sandblasted appearance to it. I'm not seeing the same issues with pistol brass I'm wet tumbling but haven't done rifle yet. Wonder if there's a root cause for the sandblasting effect
I'm cleaning brass that's been reloaded 3 or 4 maybe more times, never decapped, primer pockets never cleaned, and the crud has built up such that on my recent 45ACP project I had fight to get the primer to seat flush. This was with brass that's only been dry tumbled not wet with pins. After that I may run future loads without the pins |
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Posted: 1/24/2021 12:51:38 PM EDT
[#25]
The only time my brass gets that sandblasted appearance (and ive done it a few times ) is when ive added too much lemishine. It will also change the color.
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Posted: 1/24/2021 1:33:25 PM EDT
[#26]
I have the red tumbler that was the hotness before the Fart tumbler, forget the name of it. So a reduced capacity and I don’t measure so my guess is I use 2 tablespoons. I just eye it. It’s just cleaning brass you can’t really go wrong. I dry them on a towel in front of a box fan.
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Posted: 1/24/2021 1:35:03 PM EDT
[#27]
27 years with my Dillon CV-500, corn, walnut and some Dillon polish and I feel no need to switch to wet tumbling of any type.
Chris |
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Posted: 1/24/2021 2:03:03 PM EDT
[#28]
@Trollslayer
Yeah, you just throw the brass into the solution for a minute or two and then take it out. Rinse and repeat until the solution isn't good anymore. So, you could do thousands of pieces with just a little bit of the solution. I never bought it straight from the company, always used a 3rd party as it was cheaper. |
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Posted: 1/24/2021 4:39:44 PM EDT
[#29]
Quote HistoryQuoted: @Trollslayer Yeah, you just throw the brass into the solution for a minute or two and then take it out. Rinse and repeat until the solution isn't good anymore. So, you could do thousands of pieces with just a little bit of the solution. I never bought it straight from the company, always used a 3rd party as it was cheaper. According to the info posted on the company's web site, a gallon ($32) is useful for only 4,800 cases - 1,200 cases per quart. 
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Posted: 1/25/2021 12:11:03 AM EDT
[#30]
Here's a comparison of what dry tumbling and wet tumbling does for you.
On top is freshly wet tumbled. Inside cases are clean, as are the primer pockets. Clean primer pockets is a bonus. All it takes to clean a primer pocket is to decap the case and wet tumble. Without wet tumbling the effort to clean a primer pocket would be to decap the case and use a primer pocket cleaning or uniforming tool. That's extra work. Multiply that by the number of cases you have and that's a LOT of extra work. On the bottom are cases that have just been dry tumbled. This is how I rolled all these years and this was acceptable. Now knowing that gunk can be removed bugs me that it's there in the first place   Attached File |
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Posted: 1/25/2021 12:31:25 AM EDT
[#31]
Quote HistoryQuoted: I guess I am the one and only person who does not like the FART or pins. They leave your brass sandblasted looking from all the sharp edges on the pins, even after running the pins for hours by themselves to "break them in" as recommended by people online. When I dumped out the water, it had a metallic flake look to it, and there was brass powder in the bottom of the bucket. No I did not run it too long. Even after running for less than a hour, the insides of the cases were not clean, but the cases were getting sandblasted and there was metallic particles in the water. Not only does it sand blast the brass, it also peens/beats up the case mouths. In the picture, the center case was fired from a semi auto, then tumbled in a regular vibratory tumbler with green corncob. The two on each side were fired from a bolt gun, then done in the fart with ss pins. https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/46775088905_0c193138a2_b.jpg The cases, you can also feel the difference. The ss pin cleaned cases are noticeably rougher feeling than corncob cleaned brass. I have since switched to a hornady 2L sonic cleaner and use the rcbs solution (had the best reviews). When I have cases that are tarnished or very dirty, I sonic clean them, rinse, dry out, then tumble in green corncob. They all look brand new and have no damage to them, unlike ss pins. Otherwise I clean in green corncob after firing to keep them clean. I have bought some brass from people on here and I can always tell when they uses ss pins, as the brass has the same sandblasted appearance to it. I only had the case mouth peen was when the drum wasn't filled completely to the top. I thought the increased agitation would be a good thing. Well it wasn't... After a 3 hour tumble the mouths were visibly peened. I completely fill the drum now and haven't had that issue since. |
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Posted: 1/25/2021 1:00:01 AM EDT
[#32]
Another vote for wet tumbling.
I built mine out of an old treadmill and made a PVC drum for it. 10 pounds of brass, 10 pounds of SS pins, 2 gallons of water, 1/2 teaspoon of lemishine or citric acid, a drop of dish soap (or a 1/4 tsp if de-greasing after processing). 1.5 hours. Separate with dillon cm2000 case media separator, rinse with distilled or RO, or DI water. Spin as much water as you can out, then spread out to air dry or throw in a 200 oven until dry. Crack the oven door a few times to lest the moist air out. |
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Posted: 1/25/2021 2:02:21 AM EDT
[#33]
I no longer use S.S. pins when I wet tumble. While S.S. pins did a better job in bringing out the bling, skipping them resulted in a clean case without the hassle from the pins.
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Posted: 1/25/2021 8:19:53 AM EDT
[#34]
I use the Lyman tumbler with 5lb of pins, brass is all decapped with a universal die before tumbling. Always fill it all the way full with water and add a dash of dawn and a .45 auto case of lemishine. This is dependent on your water chemistry. The only time I've gotten a sandblasted look was when I first started and used too much lemishine or perhaps ran them a bit too long. I usually tumble for an hour to 1.5 hours, rinse out the nasty water and refill with just clean water, then run for a few more minutes. Dump into a crank separator and then onto a towel or into an old dehydrator.
As for case mouth peening, it does happen, and is the reason I trim, deburr and chamfer after tumbling. Not a huge deal for blaster rounds but consistency is key and I want them all as close to identical as possible. After the cases are cleaned I am wearing nitrile gloves during every process, overkill for sure but no oils and no tarnish. With regards to fine brass flakes in the water note that the pins can remove any loose flashing remnants present around the flash hole. |
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Posted: 1/25/2021 9:14:28 AM EDT
[#35]
So what is a good wet tumbler to get? Looking for a good price on the tumblers and SS pins?
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Posted: 1/26/2021 7:40:54 PM EDT
[#36]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Another vote for wet tumbling but I never use pins. Been doing it for over 5 years with my FART and pins are still in original packaging. Just did about 1000 9 mm cases today. Came out shiny as photo above. I decap prior to tumbling. Lots of online videos comparing with and without pins. Only difference is that using pins polishes inside of cases as bright as the outside. I don't care about inside being shiny. I just want it clean and the primer pockets clean. I get both without the hassle of pins. Give it a shot and I bet you never use pins. ?? I stopped using pins as well, the insides get plenty clean. Squirter of car wash and a pinch of lemishine. |
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Posted: 1/26/2021 10:13:40 PM EDT
[#37]
Quote HistoryQuoted: So what is a good wet tumbler to get? Looking for a good price on the tumblers and SS pins? Get the large Franklin Rotary, whole thread on it https://www.ar15.com/forums/armory/Frankford-Arsenal-wet-tumbler-thread-FART-chime-in-if-you-have-one-/42-438761/ |
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Posted: 1/26/2021 10:16:44 PM EDT
[#38]
I dry tumble walnut to clean corncob to polish I use nu-finish car polish, or turtle wax quick, simple, and good enough, because in a few days it will be on the ground again. |
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