Wet tumbler on the cheap

[AndyC]

1,000 grungy 9mm brass cases arrived today:



So I decided to experiment and bought one of these:



Turns out each drum holds about 200x 9mm cases, so I added hot water, a dash of Dawn dish-detergent and a pinch of Lemi-Shine into each drum (no pins). I ran the gadget for an hour to get a baseline, et voila:

[Omega]

If you add pins, the insides will come out just as clean.

[RogerDat]

You may want to get a line on a spare drive belt. Check the unit but I think there was one of the rock tumbler units that was known for having a poor belt so you wanted to have a replacement on hand. Also the replacement was better quality.

[recumbent]

Looks good the insides too.

[AndyC]

It came with a few spare belts - as for pins, the juice isn't worth the squeeze; I want cases decently clean but I don't need them to look brand-new.

[RichBaxter]

I have been using one of these for about 8 years. I use pins and am careful not to overload it and have not had any belt problems, though I have a spare. Hope yours works as well as mine has.

[jim147]

When I started years ago, I used just boiling water with a few flakes of laundry detergent added. Rinse in hot water to help dry.

Since I had room, didn't take long for the wife to not wanting me doing reloading and case cleaning in the house. Exspecially cleaning black powder in the sink.

[XDROB]

Sorry but I love my shiny brass. Have been wet tumbling with SS pins for about two years. Squirt of Dawn, half tablespoon of Lemishine and two capfulls of Armorall wash and wax. With as hot as I can water out of the tap. Then I keep them in Folgers plastic coffee cans (their plastic now) sorta air proof.

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[Omega]

It came with a few spare belts - as for pins, the juice isn't worth the squeeze; I want cases decently clean but I don't need them to look brand-new.

I was the same way, until I noticed that even after cleaning, my primer holes on some of my range brass was a bit clogged, and sometimes crud would build up un the insides. After you get the pins, you'll ask yourself why you waited.

Left pile before pins, right pile after, the three cases in the middle are the opposite.

[MUSTANG]

I made a tumbler jar out of a 3" gray PVC Pipe. Found the rubber drums resulted in nasty black water after tumbling.

[Brassmonkey]

I'm glad you had good results but $60 for china junk is cheap?

[Mmacro]

Cheaper than the ammo or reloading company's expensive Chinese junk, produced in the next town over, sold with their logo glued to the tumbler.

[William Yanda]

Hope u used a discount coupon at HF.

[MrWolf]

I have the same one and got extra belts with it. Had it for a long time now and haven't used it since moving out here four years ago. I do use pins and grabbed one of those releasing magnets for the pins. Not sure if they let you use the coupons anymore on Chicago equipment.

[AndyC]

I wish I had a coupon (Ron White - "a coupin!") but it was payday, so what the heck

[mdi]

O.M.G!! You actually was able to wet tumble some brass without a special, hi-tech wet tumbler and just use water, soap and citric acid for less than $$$$?

Nearly 35 years ago I got one of the HF tumblers in the pic, and used it quite a bit until I "improved" it. Got another one that has been trouble for many years. When I experimented with wet tumbling this is what I used. For my normal dry tumbling (corn cob blast media 14-20) I have made some larger drums that will hold several hundred 9mm cases and a few boxes of 45 ACP (I haven't counted them). I have made drums from 6" PVC, 5 lb. protein powder jars, and various plastic, screw on lid jars. Haven't needed to repair my HF dual drum rotary in the hundreds (thousands?) of hours of operation...

[AndyC]

That's good to hear

O.M.G!! You actually was able to wet tumble some brass without a special, hi-tech wet tumbler and just use water, soap and citric acid for less than $$$$?

I know, right?

I just did an experiment and ran some .45acp brass (about 70 cases fit in each drum) for 30 minutes instead of an hour - brass isn't as shiny-clean as running an hour but totally useable:

[GARD72977]

I quit using pins for most of my cleaning. Makes things much easier

[kevin c]

Years ago a commercial caster and reloader explained that my factory new brass was sticking badly in my expander dies because it was so squeaky clean inside the case mouth. The soot in a fired case acts as a lubricant making expanding and case mouth flaring much easier and smoother.

At least in my pistol brass and my dies, I find that pin cleaned brass acts the same as new, so I skip the pins. Easier going through the press, and the "dirty" case and primer pocket interiors don't seem to matter in my loads.

[TyGuy]

I’ve been using the same tumbler with hot water, Lemishine, and little football shaped SS beads. I typically do one drum at a time to be easier on the motor and belt. I also have SS chips that I plan on trying soon.