ordered my first wet tumbler, Couple questions

[Pizzaman1]

I ordered the Frankford arsenal lite, media pins, Frankford brass cleaner and Frankford media separator. I have never wet tumbled before so I have a couple questions. For rifle brass I will be sizing and depriming before tumbling. With cob/walnut tumbling....this could be problematic as the media would get stuck in the flash holes. Does this happen with the metal media? For pistol brass, I will be skipping the sizing a depriming step before cleaning as I use a progressive press and do not care about ultimate reliability or accuracy in my hand guns for plinking. Do I need to worry about water remaining in the primers/flashole since I wont be depriming them or will they dry out fine in warm temperatures (I will be drying in a food dehydrator). Any other considerations I should make? Thanks!

The stainless steel media should not get stuck in the primer pockets. They will , like corn cob or walnut media,stay inside the case. Make sure you remove all the pins before reloading for obvious reasons. I use the Lyman air dryer for the wet brass- works like a charm.

 

[T3ninja]

Lee universal decapper is fine. But I say it's absolutely required to decap BEFORE you wet tumble. I didn't on one batch and ended up throwing most of them away. (Hornady 223) close to 500 pcs ruined. All because the water got between the primers and primer pocket and as it dried it caused nasty corrosion and basically welded the primer in. Stupid

 

[crystalgayleguy]

I ordered the Frankford arsenal lite, media pins, Frankford brass cleaner and Frankford media separator. I have never wet tumbled before so I have a couple questions. For rifle brass I will be sizing and depriming before tumbling. With cob/walnut tumbling....this could be problematic as the media would get stuck in the flash holes. Does this happen with the metal media? For pistol brass, I will be skipping the sizing a depriming step before cleaning as I use a progressive press and do not care about ultimate reliability or accuracy in my hand guns for plinking. Do I need to worry about water remaining in the primers/flashole since I wont be depriming them or will they dry out fine in warm temperatures (I will be drying in a food dehydrator). Any other considerations I should make? Thanks!

I only had one pin get stuck inside ways in the primer pocket only a few in the neck

 

[WHITEBULL]

This is pretty much my process as well. One thing I have started to differently, especially with pistol brass, is to replace the Dawn detergent with a wash & wax automotive soap. Particularly when loading on a progressive, the belling powder funnel die tends to stick in ultra clean brass, requiring extra effort to pull the die out of the brass. When I switched to wash & wax, I found that it greatly decreased the effort required and made the whole process run smoother. As an added bonus, the wax seems to keep the brass from tarnishing over time.

Genius! No issues with wax on the inside of the necks? I'll give this a try.

 

[WHITEBULL]

I always deprime 1st with a Lee universal decapper, and have always used the Frankford cleaning solution. Its pricey but it works. 1/2 hr to 45 min is all you need. No issues.

 

[sturner]

You need to deprime first
You can put them in the oven for 5 minutes at 250
And you can use stainless steel chips also

 

[Prione]

bigedp51 nailed it. I'd also add that you don't need any fancy cleaning solution. Fill your tumbler with hot tap water, pick your favorite cheap dish soap and add a small amount of lemi-shine (less is more here - learned that lesson the hard way) and you'll be set. You will get some metal pins stuck in your brass the first few times you run it. Simply throw them away.

+1 on less is more with soap and Lemi-shine. 1/2 to 1 teaspoon depending on number of cases in a load. Too much and it will attack the brass and make them turn orange-ish.

 

[tdot]

+1 on less is more with soap and Lemi-shine. 1/2 to 1 teaspoon depending on number of cases in a load. Too much and it will attack the brass and make them turn orange-ish.

It also seems to be dependent on the hardness of the water being used. I'm in BC and I would destroy my cases if I used 1 teaspoon. 1/16 of a teaspoon is my max.

 

[Glenn Tullius]

Thanks for the tip! ill get a universal decapping die. Any recommendations on one?

 

[Glenn Tullius]

I like me Lee decapper a lot.

 

[Glenn Tullius]

I also clean with a small scoop of powdered Oxy clean, works fantastic on blackened bottle necks!

 

[Dosh]

Big, if you have a compressor, try compressed air on the cases to dry them. Well rinsed cases will not have any residue or spots. I leave them on a big tray for a day or two to make sure they're dry enough to load. Really like wet/stainless tumbling, primer pockets, and inside of cases like new.

 

[Tulsa Reiner]

RetiredSniper, "I prime and size first of course"

For the record: I hope you mean "I deprime and size first."

 

[danielesellers]

I started liquid cleaning almost thirty years ago with the RCBS Sidewinder and switched to the Frankfort Arsenal liquid tumbler when it came out. Frankfort tumblerwith the pins does a much better job. I have always deprimed first using an RCBS universal depriming die until Frankfort Arsenal came out with their hand depriming tool. I have found their tool to be a lot easier to use than a depriming die. I can sit with my family and deprime cases instead of being tied to my press. As for drying cases, I used to let them air dry on a towel over night but, now I use Hornady's air dryer. I put the cases in the air dryer for about an hour and they come out dry. I let them sit for thirty minutes to an hour and then continue with case prep.