EverydayCarryConcealed.com also participates in affiliate programs with Clickbank, CJ, and other sites. Residue from tanning encourages verdigris. The latest content straight to your inbox plus an automatic entry to each of our monthly giveaways! This step isnt overly complicated, but can be a bit tedious. They dont work as well as a dedicated wet tumbling system, but you may want to give them a try. But youllsavemore time than you might think, as pre-washed cases must be dried before sizing. As the name implies, wet tumblers rely on the use of water during the cleaning process. The surfactant in the soap will keep all the dirt in suspended in the water, if you use enough. After reading this article you will be able to turn your spent brass into shiny casings that look like they came from the factory! This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register. Afterwards, you need to separate the tumbling media from the freshly cleaned casings. He's found time to run marathons and earn a Ph.D. in wildlife policy. The case is the only re-usable component of a centerfire cartridge. A blue-green hue, such as on the Statue of Liberty, coats copper alloys after long exposure to saltwater and weather. One example of a wet tumbler is the Frankford Aresenal Rotary Tumbler on Amazon, affectionally referred to as FART for short. An hour after applying the paste of your choice, wash off these acid plasters with warm, soapy water. First is the size of the individual casings youll be washing impact the quantity you can wash. Upending the Cyclone Rotary Tumbler drum, I began filling it. Early on in my reloading career, the only cleaning my cases got was a quick wipe before lubing to re-size. The best cases are made of brass and nickel-plated brass. This was a perfectly fine way of cleaning the brass for use, but it didnt give them that new from the store look. Regardless of whether you reload because of an ammo shortage, find it more cost effective, or just do it for fun, if you want to get truly shiny brass, heres a summary of the methodology: A reloading tumbler is a device used to spin or jostle used brass casings along with a cleaning agent and media in order to remove contaminants. In summary, if you want to get your spent casings bright and shiny like theyre new from the factory I highly recommend a wet tumbler. (Within the contiguous U.S., Standard/Ground shipping only). If you have a smaller tumbler, youll need to adjust how much of each cleaning agent you use. For example, my 24 ounce container of lemishine cost me about $12 at my local Walmart. I am a concealed permit holder (for over a decade), a lifetime NRA member, certified firearms instructor, and a firearm enthusiast. Five pounds of stainless media pins and a sample packet of Brass Cleaning Solution are also included. Its worth reading the tumbler manufacturers recommendations for how long to tumble wash your brass. Wet tumbling brass is one of the latest things in the reloading world. Allow a few more minutes than if this were a second tumbling. I keep brass out of the dirt, so the main debris is powder and primer residue. When you clean brass with a tumbler, your journey doesnt end with the tumbling cycle. Next, I carefully drain out the nasty water making sure I dont dump the reusable steel pins. Click the Go To Forum Thread link below to jump in and discuss this article and much more! A built in timer in the base can be set to run from 0 to 3 hours, shutting off automatically. Your email address will not be published. Its important to separate the brass from the dirty water as soon as possible. Feel free to experiment, but above is what I use to clean brass casings in my tumbler. I use the Hornady Digital Parts Dryer, but you can use a standard oven if thats all you have available. The large capacity drum holds up to 1000 pieces of .223 brass and features a rubber lining to protect brass and greatly reduce noise during operation. To pre-clean but avoid drying cases twice, why not dry-tumble first, then wet-tumble after sizing? While treated media (jewelers rouge in walnut-shell bits, for example) polishes faster and yields a brighter surface than the untreated corn cob and walnut Ive used, it probably wouldnt make a noticeable difference in a pre-scrub. Its a surface reaction that can prevent further, more damaging corrosion. Later, I got a small Lyman 600 Turbo Tumbler and a bag of crushed walnut shells. The number of casings you can wash at once depends on a number of factors. It was bridged in the neck of a 6.5 Redding case. The drums great capacity eight boxes of large rifle cases per batch is hard to match with a dry tumbler, though Lyman and other manufacturers offer bigger bowls than that on my old 600 Turbo. Cleaning rids cases of surface dirt, which can scratch expensive reloading dies and cause feeding glitches. However, some form of cleaning and/or polishing agent is usually added to the tumbler along with the cleaning media. The rotary tumbling action combined with the stainless steel media and liquid cleaning solution gets brass cleaner on the outside than vibratory tumbling methods. These All information is provided "as is" with all faults without warranty of any kind, either express or implied. Shiny casings are pretty to look at. Growing up the son of a Marine, I was raised to be prepared and adaptable to overcome life's challenges. In addition, the tumbler comes with a pair of unique sifter pans which makes separating pins from the cases a breeze! If you found this article helpful, then please like, share and comment to help others in the community. It's not a more-is-better deal. I expected it would need another 50. At a certain point the soap falls out of suspension with the water and sticks to the pins, bringing the carbon with. Ditto the pins. Cartridge brass is strong, ductile and corrosion-resistant. Another, more thorough tumble with water, solution and pins, should yield new-looking brass in less than an hour. But they didnt sparkle. Neither The High Road nor any of its directors, members, managers, employees, agents, vendors, or suppliers will be liable for any direct, indirect, general, bodily injury, compensatory, special, punitive, consequential, or incidental damages including, without limitation, lost profits or revenues, costs of replacement goods, loss or damage to data arising out of the use or inability to use this forum or any services associated with this forum, or damages from the use of or reliance on the information present on this forum, even if you have been advised of the possibility of such damages. The store will not work correctly in the case when cookies are disabled. For the Franklin Rotary Tumbler, washing time depends on the number of cases your are cleaning. An alternative: Skip the 15-minute pre-wash. Re-size, then tumble in the water solution with pins. The drum features a large end cap to allow easy loading and unloading. Wet tumbling brass strikes me as the most efficient way to retrieve their original brilliance. Thats like running a dry rag over your sedan once a year. I prefer to decap my brass casings up front to ensure my primer pockets are good and clean. Required fields are marked *. Live The Armory Life. The small stainless pins easily slip inside cases and into primer pockets to provide superior cleaning action in these areas. So, whether it's setting up and maintaining your EDC bag, laws on concealed carry, or refining your medical kit we tackle the hard questions. After a couple of hours in the vibrating tub, a box of aging 06 cases emerged with a dull glow. However, you first need to clean dirty brass in order to use it for reloading. An hour later, both went onto baking sheets and into an oven, on low.. However, I do think that Lemishine is a fairly cost effective solution for producing shiny brass. How Many Casings Can I Wash In My Tumbler? I re-sized the 6.5 and 06 cases. For this pre-clean exercise, I emptied a box each of dark, fired 7mm Dakota and .375 H&H cases into the modest tub of my Lyman Turbo Tumbler. But if youre going to clean your brass casings with a tumbler then it should be functionally clean as well as aesthetically pleasing. Regardless of how many cycles you plan to run brass through your tumbler, at some point youll need to deprime your casings. Now if your pins are dirty when you stop (bass dull film) you did not use enough W&W. Tumblers clean casings and prep your brass for the reloading process. Rinses of warm water cleaned the drum and released pins clinging inside the cases. Instead, the Lyman Cyclone comprises a base with two rollers that support a polymer drum. Therefore, I can only wash a quantity of brass that doesnt exceed 30 lbs when combined with both the tumbling media (5 lbs of steel pins) and water. Skip to the beginning of the images gallery, CLICK HERE TO REQUEST YOUR 2022 LYMAN CATALOG. At this point, youre approaching the final stage where youve finished cleaning your brass with a tumbler and need to dry it out. There is no pre-heating necessary for the digital parts dryer, so I dont believe you need to preheat the oven, though feel free to if you are overly cautious. I can deprime my brass while sitting in front of the TV and watching a movie. Pins? For comparison, the copper jackets on bullet jackets are typically made of gilding metal: roughly 95 percent copper and 5 percent zinc.). Many of my friends and family are former or active duty military, and I have consulted with them on many of the topics I cover in this blog over the years. Product prices mentioned in articles and videos are current as of the date of publication. The first caught the cases; the second caught the pins. Its actually more expensive to buy the soap. He has hunted worldwide, worked as a big game guide in the West and, with African Professional Hunters, hosted more than a dozen safaris. Generally, I wash my brass for 3 hours regardless of how many cases I put in the tumbler. In an effort to give my reloaded ammo a new look, I took the Lyman Cyclone Rotary Tumbler for a spin. It is also the most expensive part of a load. Oops, there's been an error. My name is Mike and my goal is to provide you with all types of information for your everyday carry needs. Set the oven or your parts dryer to 140-160 degrees and dry your casings for 1 hour. To my surprise, the cases looked like new! In general, discoloration does not harm the case. My cleaning concoction isnt the be all end all of recipes. Deprime brass casings before loading into the tumbler to ensure clean primer pockets. Some people prefer to wash their brass before de-priming and then again with an exposed primer pocket. and opinions expressed on this website are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the Afterwards, youll put your casings into your parts drying tray or the oven. Its a worthwhile step if cases are gritty. Not to mention its portable. My tumbler is capable of cleaning up to 1000 casings at a time. Can You Shoot A New Gun Straight Out Of The Box. This site (EverydayCarryConcealed.com) is owned and operated by Graphite Designs LLC, a limited liability company headquartered in Virginia, USA. Tightening the lids on the rubber gasket, I laid the drum on its drive wheels, set the timer for an hour and left the drum spinning like a hamster cage. You must have JavaScript enabled in your browser to use this website. Nevertheless, they are a necessity if you are going to reload your own ammunition unless of course you begin with shiny casings you purchased. Ok, but how many casings can I wash at once? These got no pre-cleaning. Wet tumblers use steel pins as the cleaning media. If this is still too expensive, Ive read that you can also use citric acid which is the active ingredient in Lemishine. In theory, you dont need to invest in a wet tumbler as kitchen remedies for brightening cases abound. However, for anything above 500 casings, the recommended wash time is 2-3 hours. EverydayCarryConcealed.com is compensated for referring traffic and business to these companies. For the best experience on our site, be sure to turn on Javascript in your browser. But after loading all, plus 5 lbs. Other people claim a paste of lemon juice and baking soda performs well while others prefer a paste made of equal parts salt, vinegar and flour. Flitz, Frankford, and Lyman make these types of products. Its called verdigris, from the modern Frenchvert de gris, meaning green of grey. Youll see it on cartridge cases stored in leather belt loops. You should clean the inside of the case to remove powder and primer residue that can foul your barrel and impair ignition. JavaScript seems to be disabled in your browser. Lymans Cyclone wet tumbler with stainless pins in cleaning solution gave me dazzling results in less than an hour. All rights reserved. Over the past 40 years, Wayne van Zwoll has published 16 books and nearly 3,000 magazine articles on firearms, optics, ballistics and big game hunting. Not that youd want to rub a case hard enough and long enough with WD-40 to find its brilliance. This is the tumbler that I use to clean my spent casings for reloading. Decap Brass Casings For Clean Primer Pockets, Alternative Cleaning Agents For Tumbling Brass, How Long To Wash Brass Casings With A Tumbler. Next, you will want to rinse the brass to remove any lingering suds or residue from your cleaning solution. certified instructor prior to handling any firearm and be sure to read your owners manual. The stainless steel media has no head and no point that might damage the brass. I personally believe wet tumblers are superior for cleaning brass, but to each their own. My tap water was kind to the cases, as they did not spot. Overfilling your tumbler can result in brass that isnt as clean and shiny at best, or a broken tumbler at worst. EverydayCarryConcealed.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. However, you should monitor your brass and ensure you move to the next step in the process in a timely manner to produce the cleanest brass possible. Use distilled water; itll prevent spotting, a colleague had advised when sharing a wet tumbling brass recipe. Cases dark with age can perform like new. Next, I dump the brass into the bucket and rinse with clean water. As an alternative to dry tumbling, wet tumbling brass can provide you with shiny cases youll want to show off on your next trip. Just one pin had to be dislodged with a pick. Can You Clean A Gun Without Taking It Apart? A 110v motor on a timer drives the rollers, rotating the drum. I shook the brass dry and spread it on towels. Sorry, an error occurred and we could not sign you up. Instead of using my press, I use the Frankford Arsenal Hand Deprimer tool.