I am now a wet tumbler.

[Panfisher]

Well I joined the we're tumbling (cheapskate version) club. Purchased a Harbor Freight dual tumbler, and from Stainless Tumbling Media 2 lbs of SS pins and some lemishine. Ran a couple batches of dirty 22-250 cases and have some .223 in now. They do come out pretty and ckean. Amazing how much dirt comes off. Biggest down side so far is the HF doesn't have a lot of capacity but will do for me. I will still use my old Lyman 600 to clean off the case lube from re-sizing and put a final polish on them. Once I get the back log of 223 cases caught up, the smaller capacity should be just fine. So far I like it.

[Smoke & Recoil]

If you're a handy-kinda-guy.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1-gallon-bra...item3cf1b8c24d

[mikld]

Keep your eye out for a large plastic jug. I had some protien powder in a large jug that now holds 100+ 45ACP cases with appropriate media (did some yesterday and counted ). Fit well on my dual drum HF tumbler.

[Panfisher]

I will end up making some sort of a large single container, just because I can't have it all factory, or I risk losing my "hillbilly engineer" certification.

[Nick_C_S]

Your path is similar to mine.

I started with the Harbor Freight unit - just to see if SS pin tumbling is right for me, without making a big investment.

It is right for me, so I did end up getting the big Frankford Arsenal unit - love it.

I like to dry vibra-tumble, size/decap, flair, then wet tumble in SS pins. This is a great system for those of us who want shiny clean brass - inside n out - and are willing to take a little extra time to do it.

There are other methods and other approaches (including to not bother cleaning at all), and none are any better than others. It's just all personal preference. But speaking for myself, I like clean brass. It's a personal pride thing, I guess. I do it for me. I like my finished rounds to look like factory. Not to mention it makes a good impression at the range and competitions too

[the led farmer]

Originally Posted by Panfisher

...Biggest down side so far is the HF doesn't have a lot of capacity but will do for me...

You can make a single tub with some 4" ABS pipe with a screw on cap super easy to increase volume. I used a three sided plastic ruler for an internal agitator

[9mmSkeeter]

I've always looked at tumbling as kind of ocd. I just use solution in a bucket with a mesh bag, things come out clean and pretty. Of course I don't really care too much what my brass looks like, it just has to be useable and not charred

[Panfisher]

Pipe I have access to and is probably going to be my first attempt. Although the first thing I may make might me an electro magnet. Large landscape spike, some coated copper wire, couple of clips and a 9 volt battery. I have some good strong magnets but hey are almost too muvh. The little pins are tough to remove from it and if you release them to fall into the cannister too close to it they leap right back onto it. Also going to start bringing the canisters into the house to rinse, hydrant water is COLD. Going to try warm water if nothing else my fingers will like it. I agree it's some OCD involved, the cases are plenty clean enough to load and shoot with just a dry tumble, but the cleaned ready to load cases are getting stored in zip lock bags until I need them and I like shiny ones.

[the led farmer]

It's definitely not a requirement, and I've loaded plenty without so much as a rinse off.

But if your gonna do it, wet tumbling is the bee's-knees

[IllinoisCoyoteHunter]

SS pin tumbling is great for many reasons. The biggest reason it is great is because there is not dust. Dust from vibratory tumblers has lead. Not the best to breathe in.

It also gets the brass much cleaner, faster. Now does it really have to be sparkling....no. But, the cleaner the brass, the easier it is on your dies.

I built my own stainless tumbler using 8" PVC. I have 2 drums, the larger one can hold around 1250 223 cases comfortably with room to spare. The smaller one is used mainly for tumbling spent 22 lr cases used as jackets for 223 bullets. The stainless pins are superb at getting almost all of the residual priming compound out of the cases. Plus, it cleans the cases extremely well before they are put in expensive swage dies.

The "no-dust" reason was enough for me to invest in this type of tumbler.

[jaguarxk120]

I like the SS pins because they get the brass clean inside. The other types just polish the outside and inside is still black. The added plus is primer pockets come clean too.

[mudlark]

Welcome to the wet side. Your lungs will thank you.

m

[Panfisher]

I have heard many times about dust from vibratory cleaning, bust I have been dry tumbling for over 20 years and never noticed any dust issues. Mostly with an old Lyman 600, but I keep the lid on it and recently keep strip of dryer sheets in it. Was not unusual for me to leave cases in it for 3 days straight or more at times
My loading is in a different structure from my house and sometimes I forget. But boy was they shiny!

[Fox84]

I went wet. I like the pockets and inside the case as shiny as the outside. It makes it easier to see if I have powder in a case.

[mikld]

Hey Panfisher, didn't you know you can get "Black Lung" and your whole family will die of lead poisoning when you clean cases in a wobbler? Yep that evil lead, no matter how infinitesimal, will destroy your mind and wobbling/tumbling releases all that poison into the air, contaminating the whole neighborhood.

Jes kidding...

[Longshot4]

Well I am becoming a believer of the wet tumbling because the inside of the cases get cleaned well. All though the cost has been discouraging. A one Gal. A plastic bottle or plastic pipe looks easy. The tumbling is what I find will be a challenge. If only I had a small wind mill. In Michigan we might call the technology (upper tech.)

[Smoke & Recoil]

@ Longshot4
Hey, get up around Mason county and you'll have all the
wind mills you'll ever need.

[imagunnut]

Keeping my buzz bucket for polishing live rounds. Love my pin tumbler, get's 'em CLEAN, pockets and all and NO dust. Damn pins can get all over the place though, package delivered with bag broken open in box.

[kealil]

I went wet. I like the pockets and inside the case as shiny as the outside. It makes it easier to see if I have powder in a case.

This was my main reason for wet tumbling. 90% of my load rounds are 38 or 357. Trying to see the loads of Bullseye for 38 with black case walls was….difficult.

[Kframe]

Originally Posted by imagunnut

Keeping my buzz bucket for polishing live rounds.

There is certainly no unanimous consensus about this, but you may want to be aware that some resources advise that vibratory tumbling of live ammunition *may* create an overmax condition in some ammo.

You can Google a few keywords and find many discussions about this, it's up to you to decide if the odds/stakes are in your personal favor.

Just to get you started though: http://bulletin.accurateshooter.com/...n-loaded-ammo/

Tests run some years ago by a commercial entity did indicate that potentially dangerous changes in powder charge burning characteristics do take place after PROLONGED periods in either a vibratory or a tumbling cleaner.

The key word here is prolonged. Many manufacturers of ammunition do a final cleaning of their product either by tumbling or a vibratory process before boxing it for shipment. In no case is this allowed to exceed more than just a couple of minutes. The intent is not so much to “polish” but to remove any traces of contaminants which might in time leave marks on the finished product. There seems to be a consensus among the ammunition manufacturing engineers that a minute or two of vibratory cleaning has no discernable effect on burning rates, especially for loads that are compressed, or nearly so. However, all have emphasized the need for EXTREME CAUTION not to overdo the process.

They also pointed out that there is a considerable difference in effect on the powder charge depending on whether the process is by ‘tumbling’ or ‘vibrating’. It would appear that tumbling has less effect on the powder than vibrating, though this is mostly a matter of degree. The admonition to use EXTREME CAUTION to insure that the process never exceeds a couple of minutes applies equally to either process.”

[schmellba99]

Tumbling live rounds for 10 or 15 minutes to knock the lube off is not going to make any discernable difference in the powder burn rate. Your ammo gets more vibration than that on the delivery truck from the factory to the distributor, then from the distributor to the store, then from the store to your home then from your home to the range or lease or ranch or marsh or wherever. And that's just ammo you buy at the store that wasn't dropped from airplanes into combat zones, or run across the desert in deuce and a half trucks with zero suspension left.....

[Longshot4]

Have you ever had a container of different size parts or objects. If you shake the parts you will see the larger parts grouping on the surface and the smaller parts group on the bottom. That isn't some thing I want my powder to do.

[the led farmer]

Originally Posted by Longshot4

Have you ever had a container of different size parts or objects. If you shake the parts you will see the larger parts grouping on the surface and the smaller parts group on the bottom. That isn't some thing I want my powder to do.

That's why powder granules are made in a uniform size, and even assuming you used a stick powder and cut off some some pieces in the powder hopper smaller than the rest they would settle during normal transport to and from the range anyway

[chiefr]

If you into BPCR, wet tumbling is a must.

[Panfisher]

I still dry tumble to remove the sizing lube but I do it before priming.