Drawback to wet tumbling before depriming.

[maillemaker]

So yesterday I finished wet tumbling all my used brass for my .45ACP. It came out looking great.

Unfortunately, when I deprimed some, the primer pocket is wet! Obviously I can't run these through a progressive reloader as it will deprime and then prime and charge a bullet with a wet, gooey priming pocket!

I'd hate to run them all through my progressive reloader just to deprime them, but I might have to.

I was thinking of perhaps baking them in an oven at 100 degrees or something to try and cook the water out.

What do you think?

Steve

[jepp2]

Most ovens don't have a setting for 100 degrees F. So you will have to "cycle" the oven to maintain that temperature.

It will take a LONG time to dry the water at 100 F. This is because the moisture is trapped in a small cavity with only the flash hole for it to escape. I would run the oven at 200 F (near the boiling point of water) to flash the moisture much quicker. Still well below the annealing temperature, but you don't want to go too high. Set them with the base down and open end of the brass up.

[snuffy]

The title of your thread should just end right after "drawback to wet tumbling" Is that it's WET! Oh, and it takes much longer than dry tumbling because it's wet, you have to allow time for them to dry.

As for a 100 degree oven, yup, that will work. Just don't ever use that oven to cook food again. The lead in the cases just might contaminate anything cooked in it,(lead styphonate),(it's in the spent primers).

[SL1]

That way, the primer pockets get cleaned, too.

SL1

[maillemaker]

Darn, I had not thought about lead contaminating the oven.

Well, right now I have all my boxes of brass sitting in front of a space heater.

Steve

[mete]

Deprime first ! Then boil in water with detergent. Then dry . Annealing starts about 450 F .At 100 F it takes a long time to dry !! Much faster above 212 F . I put them in a collander at 350 F.

[lon371]

Could you put the brass in a cloth bag then toss in the clothes dryer?

Lonny

[maillemaker]

Old clothes driers can make good tumblers - I used to use an old gas one to tumble my chain maille armour. Don't hook it up to gas (obviously) and the motor runs on standard 110.

I don't think it would be a good idea to tumble bullets in a drier meant for clothes, though, as you will get lead and soot all in your drier that will be coming off on clothes you run through it.

Steve

[uzimon]

hair dryer

[zippy13]

+1 to uzimon
A hair dryer works great to desiccate the nooks and crannies of black powder revolvers that have been washed in water -- why not wet primers, too?

[wncchester]

Best move would be to use a vib. tumler and dry media, they'll be ready to use when you take 'em out.

[demigod]

Why wet tumble in the first place? Are the cases muddy or something?

[jepp2]

hair dryer

If you happen to decide to go the hair dryer route, recognize the duty cycle of most hair dryers doesn't allow for extended operation. Most are designed for the short cycles of drying a person's hair. If you leave them on for extended time periods, they will burn out.

[demigod]

Not to mention the absurdity of blow drying small arms brass.

[lon371]

Honey can I barrow your hair dryer to dry my brass I think I will not be asking that LOL

Lonny

[rattletrap1970]

I put my brass in a drawstring military laundry bag after ultrasonic cleaning it. Then I put it in the dryer with a half dozen old towels that I keep in a tote just for this purpose. The extra towels keep the bag from beating up the dryer and keeps the noise down. Works very well.

[maillemaker]

Why wet tumble in the first place? Are the cases muddy or something?

I like the idea of wet tumbling because I saw a post about it here and it turned out great. Also, soap is easier to buy locally than corn cob or walnut media.

Also, wet tumbling cuts down on lead dust.

Steve

[Adamantium]

The thing is though brass doesn't need to be perfectly polished, just clean. Sometimes people take presentation beyond the point where it actually helps. For years I didn't even tumble, I just washed the brass in my sink with soap and scrubbed it with a green scrubby pad. Worked perfectly fine.

If wet tumbling is what you want, I'd recommend with others to de-prime and let dry before moving on with the reloading process.

Also unless you live way out in the country most if not all pet stores sell both corn cob and walnut media.

[jepp2]

Also, soap is easier to buy locally than corn cob or walnut media.

50 pounds of corn cob for $22 delivered. You will spend more on soap cleaning the amount of brass that amount of corn cob will clean.

[demigod]

Also, wet tumbling cuts down on lead dust.

But gives you a bunch of lead contaminated water to dispose of. I'm sure you're not running that down the drain.

[maillemaker]

50 pounds of corn cob for $22 delivered. You will spend more on soap cleaning the amount of brass that amount of corn cob will clean.

Where do you buy it?

But gives you a bunch of lead contaminated water to dispose of. I'm sure you're not running that down the drain.

Good point. Right now it's sitting in a bucket in my shop. But it all has to go somewhere. Either down the drain or cob off to the landfill.

I guess one possibility is to leave the bucket outside for the water to evaporate, and then dump the remaining residue in the garbage.

Steve

[vladan]

But gives you a bunch of lead contaminated water to dispose of. I'm sure you're not running that down the drain.

Lead contaminated media ends up on landfill or in furnace polluting air... how's that different?

[demigod]

Good question. I don't know which one is least offensive.

[maillemaker]

I'd say the landfill would be somewhat better.

Landfills are usually lined with a giant plastic liner to prevent bad stuff from leaching into the water supply.

Dumping lead contaminated water into the sewage system is going to send it back into waste water treatment, and ultimately back into our water supply.

I don't know if lead is effectively scrubbed by waste water treatment.

One would hope that, being heavy, it settles out rather quickly.

Steve

[lon371]

I'd say the landfill would be somewhat better.

Landfills are usually lined with a giant plastic liner to prevent bad stuff from leaching into the water supply.

Where do you live that they line the Landfills? Louisville Ky - Washington county Indiana, Clark county , Scott county all do not that I know of. Although probably not a bad idea. Couple years ago there was one landfill that got in trouble, it was discovered there was underground caverans below it.

Lonny