Wet vs. Dry Tumbler

[Petrol & Powder]

My old Midway branded tumbler is still just chugging along, and that's fine by me. However, at some point in time that thing is bound to die. When that happens, I will need to make a decision - Stay will dry media or make the switch to wet media.

There are advantages and disadvantages to both.

Dry tumbling is a fairly dirty/dusty process but the casings come out dry, ready to load.

Wet tumbling requires a bit more initial outlay for equipment and you have to dry the casings after tumbling but the media (stainless steel pins) are a one time cost.

I'm sure this has been debated countless times.

Any insight is welcome.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

I can't tell you anything that you don't already know. I also have a Midway vibrator tumbler that I replaced my old Thumbler Tumbler with when it wore out after an unimaginable number of miles. I used to use the red jeweler rouge impregnated walnut media, but it's just too dusty; so I switched to the brown/tan walnut media, and sometimes the yellowish corncob media depending on which is available. I'm happy with the results-- clean and shiny. I just tumble for personal use, loading dozens but not hundreds at a time, so a different system might be desirable for those loading in greater quantity. When the Midway tumbler dies I'll likely get another of the same.

DG

[XDROB]

I made the switch to wet tumbling about 3 years ago. I did that because I wanted the primer holes cleaner without worrying about the dry media getting into the primer holes. There is a slight learning curve on how much lemishine and detergent and if you add some kind of liquid wax to keep the brass shiny after the whole process. I like the way my brass looks and goes through my Hornady LnL.

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[onelight]

I still use both. I use wet with pins for the ones I have at least a coffee can full of cases if I am doing smaller batches of 20 to a hundred I vibrate usually , so I don't have to sort out the pins on a few cases but that said the wet tumbling does a good job to with no pins it just does not get the primer pockets clean like the pins but does as well as vibrating . They both have advantages .
Buy both :grin:

[tominboise]

I have dry tumbled for years and just switched this month to wet tumbling. The finished product is much nicer and the time to process, excluding drying, is way shorter. Both have their advantages but the wet gets the nod as of now. I am a small batch reloaded - maybe tumbling between 75 to 200 cases at a time.

I built my tumbler and have about $20 in it total, not counting the SS pins.

[Petrol & Powder]

Der Gebirgsjager - thank you. I'm in no hurry to replace my current tumbler and it's not expensive to dry tumble. I think we're of the same mindset. That tumbler is nothing more than a plastic bowl, a synchronous 60Hz motor and a offset weight. It doesn't get much simpler. I'm amazed at how long that thing has continued to work. The dust is slightly annoying and I occasionally have to replace the media (although not often). Part of me says just keep doing what I'm doing.

XDROB - I'm not terribly concerned about primer pockets. I generally clean brass with the spent primers in place. I clean primer pockets on rifle brass after depriming but handgun brass just gets tumbled and reloaded without concern for the primer pocket.
I do like the idea of continuously reusable media but I don't like the idea of needing to dry brass after tumbling.
How do you handle drying the cases?

[onelight]

I use this they are sold under several names mine is from Cabelas https://www.midsouthshooterssupply.com/item/0003839555/rotary-pro-media-separator-with-brass-sorter
It is great for separating the pins from the brass fill one half with water and rotate 99.9% of the pins will be in the bottom . This idea came from a member here I wish I could recall who and it works.
Outpost also told me about using a paint filter to pour the water through to catch the pins that also is great I use both.
Use the media separator with the top half removed and a blow drier if I am in a hurry to dry the brass , but pouring it on a towel and picking up the ends to roll it around and get most of the water off then air dry is another way some guys use an oven.
If you wet tumble I think you should remove the primers first the pins clean the pockets and you don't trap water in the primer pocket.
My system may be more complicated than need be but it is still much faster when doing large quantities and the brass comes out much cleaner. But for small quantities its much more work than vibrating in my opinion .
My system is constantly evolving some of the other members may have methods that are better I always am watching for better ideas.

[shtur]

I switched over to wet tumbling about 7 years ago. I really like the results better with wet tumbling. The only extra step is setting up the cases to dry off after they are done tumbling.

[XDROB]

Der Gebirgsjager - thank you. I'm in no hurry to replace my current tumbler and it's not expensive to dry tumble. I think we're of the same mindset. That tumbler is nothing more than a plastic bowl, a synchronous 60Hz motor and a offset weight. It doesn't get much simpler. I'm amazed at how long that thing has continued to work. The dust is slightly annoying and I occasionally have to replace the media (although not often). Part of me says just keep doing what I'm doing.

XDROB - I'm not terribly concerned about primer pockets. I generally clean brass with the spent primers in place. I clean primer pockets on rifle brass after depriming but handgun brass just gets tumbled and reloaded without concern for the primer pocket.
I do like the idea of continuously reusable media but I don't like the idea of needing to dry brass after tumbling.
How do you handle drying the cases?I don't do really big batches. So probably about 2/3 hundred at a time. When done from the wet tumbler I put them in a crank style media tumbler that I used when vibrating tumblering. That get most or all pins and water out. I then lay them out on a towel with a fan blowing over them. I turn them around so the air from the fan dries them out. As I said I don't do big batches and I'm not in a hurry to reload them so I just wait ( usally over night). So far I've been very happy. They are bright and shiny. Easier to find on the ground when showing outside. And as I said earlier I believe the wax helps going through the various stages of reloading them.

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[JimB..]

I like having clean brass ready to go, especially for plinking and pistol, so I have 5 gal pails for dirty by caliber and 50cal ammo cans by caliber for clean and ready to reload. When I have a dirty bucket full I process it. I do decap prior to tumbling mostly to speed drying.

Like things sometimes do it can get out of hand, at one time I had more than 30 ammo cans of 38spcl, I was giving it away by the box once I noticed. People do seem to appreciate gifts of clean brass, especially new reloaders.

[ioon44]

I use both wet and dry tumblers depending on how dirty the the brass is and I like to deprime every thing before tumbling.

[MOA]

I used a Lyman turbo tumbler for about 30 years. Got it shortly after I started reloading when I only did a few calibers. Did a pretty good job and other than the media dust, dealing with the primer pocket media debris, incomplete interiors, cost of media replacement especially if your case cleaning is a high case count. I never minded it when only doing a few hundred hangun cases. I'd just load it up turn it on and come back in 8 hours. I don't remember just when the wet/pin tumbler method started, but it seemed much simpler and more efficient than the dry media method. Now the Lyman pretty much sits in the corner looking dejected.

[Eddie17]

Wet SS pin cleaned brass, with the proper cleaning elements. Looks like new!
Been using my F.a.r.t. since it came out.
Will never go back to Dry media tumbling.

[high standard 40]

I'll never go back to dry media. I started wet tumbling a couple of years ago. Someone here mentioned 7 hours for dry tumbling. I never need more than 90 minutes wet tumbling to get brass that looks as good as, or better than, new. Far better results than I ever got dry tumbling. I can have brass cleaned and dried in less than 7 hours. However, I won't criticize anyone who wants to dry tumble. We each have methods that suit our own personal situation. For me, it's wet tumbling.

[rswink]

I want to know more about wax

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[Mal Paso]

I want to know more about wax

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Car wash n wax wax? I use Dawn to get the lube off and it fights Wash N Wax if the 2 are mixed. I tumble with Dawn, rinse the clean brass then do a final rinse in Wash N Wax that I keep in a jug and use over and over. If you powder coat Auto Wash N Wax may work for tumbling.

I used to use a dry vibratory tumbler and like my wet setup better.

[MOA]

Example of wet tumbling and S/S pins. 3 hour run time. These cases in a box for 10 years before cleaning.

https://i.postimg.cc/DZZgqR1t/20150214_080220.jpg (https://postimg.cc/zLsKNttj)


https://i.postimg.cc/FRzKNxQy/20150214_152342.jpg (https://postimg.cc/CBy04k55)

[rswink]

Car wash n wax wax? I use Dawn to get the lube off and it fights Wash N Wax if the 2 are mixed. I tumble with Dawn, rinse the clean brass then do a final rinse in Wash N Wax that I keep in a jug and use over and over. If you powder coat Auto Wash N Wax may work for tumbling.

I used to use a dry vibratory tumbler and like my wet setup better.Thanks, my brother brought me a bucket of 300BO and 30-06, buying him a classic loader for the 30-06 for XMas this year and need to make things shiney for him.

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[Gtrubicon]

Wet tumble, you will see the difference for yourself, I don’t have emergency reloading sessions, what I clean may be done a week or so prior to loading. Little lemishine, little wash n wax and then put em in a beach towel in front of a fan. They dry pretty quick. The thing I like most about wet tumble is how clean the inside of the case is, super easy to see the level of powder inside once it’s charged.

[bmortell]

I do both now. after sizing wet tumble with pins and citric acid. then roll them around in a towel then dump them in my cleaned dry tumbler with clean corn cob and a bit of nu finish car wax. its certainly more work but im someone that wants things to look perfect even if its more time and no measurable performance gain. but im happier now, feels good to start with perfect looking brass and a thin protective coating to prevent tarnish. loading pretty cases is just more enjoyable than dark dirty cases.

[1hole]

I started reloading decades before any kind of tumblers were available. I freely admit I can get as attracted to gimmicks as anyone so I got a Lyman 1200 shortly after they arrived, then I went through the standard fastination with glittery cases ... but I didn't notice any improvement in accuracy or case life. So, when ultrasonics came out I just had to get one, you know, to get spotlessly clean and shiny cases inside and out but, honestly it was a PITA compared to the vibrator and again, no measurable improvement in anything. So, I got a roller and some pins; it's much faster than the electronic gadget but it was still messy and left wet cases to be dried.

Bottom line, I've finally gone back to the 40+ year old Lyman 1200 vibrator but with no metal polish at all this time. It's on it's third motor but I can repair it again if I ever need to. It still works fine with a minimum of fuss I and I've gotten too old to still be interested in useless frills. I gave the wet roller away and use the Ultrasonic to clean small motor carborators - it's really good for that!

[Petrol & Powder]

So, It seems to me the consensus is with SS pins and wet tumbling you get very clean cases but more work in the process. Most people are de-priming the cases before tumbling and you must always dry the cases after tumbling.

With dry tumbling your have the dust and dirt BUT the cases don't need to be deprimed or dried. They can come out of the tumbler and go right into the press. Seems like a little less work.

I don't need or want super shinny brass; I just need reasonably clean brass. I'm starting to lean a bit more towards dry tumbling.

[rswink]

This is my pattern:

1) Shoot and collect brass
2) Deprime on a Lee universal deprimer
3) Sort for cleaning and store them in plastic jars
4) When jar is half full I have enough to run a load in the morning
5) Wet tumble with pins and a drop of Dawn in the Harbor Freight tumbler(s), I have a single and a double that I got for free.
6) Rinse them in cold water. Dry them on paper towels on a air fryer rack that started to look "gross" in the oven at 225 for an hour. Vent the oven door and turn off the oven.
7) After work I place them in quart zip lock backs by caliber for case prep.

After case prep they go through the same pattern but this time they get Lemi Shine and Dawn to remove the oil. Then a Rinse and dry to be stored in gallon zip locks to be loaded.

Thinking seriously about this waxing idea as it might help them in the final storage.

But, I batch things, I am either:
A) Decapping and sorting
B) Initial clean and caliber sorting
C) Case prep by caliber
D) Final clean and storage
E) Reloading and storing
F) Firing time

Oh, and the cases are stored in metal strainer bowls while greasy. Ziplock stuff is always dry.

And I always welcome comments privately or in public as I don't think this pattern is ever finalized.

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[bmortell]

"wet tumbling" you must always dry the cases after tumbling.

With dry tumbling your have the dust and dirt

the way I described after the wet tumble I just put the wet cases in the middle of a bath towel and grab the ends and roll them back and forth inside to dry the outside and any drops of water besides a bit of wet surface inside gets absorbed by the towel. I then dump them right in the dry tumbler and the bit of wet insides gets dry by the corncob and the bit of moisture and the nu finish car wax in the media makes em come out dust free and tarnish protected. I figured I already have a dry tumbler and media so why not dry them, polish them and tarnish protect them all at once since I would be waiting for them to dry anyway.

so I removed the drying only downtime from wet tumbling and the dust problem from dry tumbling by the wax application/polish/drying step. but of course im going for maximum appearance, so its more work than dry tumble only. but if you decide you want higher effort high reward then I feel that is an efficient way.

[bmortell]

262547
The 2 on the left are new untouched starlines from the bag, and 2 on the right are 3 fired pin tumbled then dry tumbed in nu finish a half year ago in december. New cases are tiny bit more golden colored and tumbled cases bit whiter luster.

[lightman]

The above post have pretty well covered it. I use both the wet method and I dry tumble, depending on my mood, the volume that I need to tumble or how dirty the brass is.

I dry tumble in a large Dillon tumbler with corncob media sprinkled with mineral spirits and liquid car polish. The mineral spirits help keep the dust down and the cases come out looking good.

My wet tumbler is a "Big Dawg" and I use a cap full of liquid automotive wash and wax and a 9mm case full of LemiShine. Cases come out looking better than new and they look that way inside and out, including the primer pockets.

I run my wet tumbler for 2 hours where I run my dry tumblers for 12. The wet tumbler will clean stained and dirty cases that the dry tumbler will never get clean. It takes about the same amount of time to separate the pins as it does to separate brass from dry media. But you do have to dry the cases. In the summer I use the hot sun to dry the brass and in cooler weather I use the kitchen oven. I plan to buy a food dehydrator for drying brass.

[oldhenry]

Most of it has been said.

I have 2 Midway dry tumblers & can't remember the last time I used them. I have a Lortone tumbler that I bought from Paul Jones in the 80's that I originally used for dry tumbling: it was designed for rock polishing (as in HD).

I now use the Lortone for wet tumbling only. The formula I use came from a forum member (wish I could remember who to give credit).

To 1 gal. water: add 1/4 ts Lemishine & 1 cap full of Armorall "Wash & Wax". I deprime & scrape primer pockets with a Herter tool (circa '65). I don't use pins. I cover cases with 1" of above mixture & tumble for 2 hrs. & rinse.

Drying: (with wife approved towel) pour cases in middle, make a "hammock" with cases in center & roll them back & forth 10-12 times. In summer I put the towel/cases on my front porch & the Georgia sun will dry those puppies quickly. In cooler weather: put cases in old Midway colander (the big one) & place under a goose-neck lamp. They be dry in 1 hr.

[1hole]

Just a couple of thoughts about case cleaning:

Contrary to a lot of people's beliefs, dark, discolored tarnish on brass is not "dirty". Polishing it off is purely cosmetic and does nothing helpful to a reload.

On the other hand, green "fungus" on brass is corrosion, not tarnish. Corrosion is much like rust on steel, it can be removed but it thins/weakens the brass so green cases should be tossed.

[MOA]

As 1hole stated, discolored brass does not effect shooting much. I like my brass nice and clean cause it helps me spot any anomalies like a shiny ring around web area where case separation likes to occur, also on necks where splits occur. Primer pockets should always be cleaned before new primers are inserted. Wet tumble with pins with a nice hot water rinse then tossed into a cotton pillowcase and cases tumbled for 60 seconds gets all the water off the outside and what is left inside dries very fast under a fan. Any case with deficiencies like cracks or splits is now easily spotted and can be tossed. Yup, I've done thousands of cases now and will never go back to dry tumbling.

[dragon813gt]

For me time is the more valuable than anything else. Second to that is results on target. So I don’t bother w/ wet tumbling 99% of the time. It takes to long due to the many steps required. And there is no positive result on target. If the rounds shot better I would be willing to take the time, but they don’t.

I can throw a very dirty batch of range pickup brass in a tumbler, full of crushed walnut treated w/ Nu-Finish and mineral spirits, and it let it run overnight. When I wake up in the morning it’s clean and ready to go. This whole process takes about five minutes at most. And the brass stays shiny thanks to the Nu-Finish. For brass that is mike and I’ve been shooting an hour is enough time for cleaning.

I understand people wanting the brass to be sparkling. But I’m not one of them. My Grandfather used to just wipe cases off and go about reloading them. All he was concerned about was not damaging the dies.

[Petrol & Powder]

I think I'm leaning towards staying with dry tumbling.

I agree with dragon81gt and 1hole, I want the brass to be reasonably clean but I don't need super, "see my reflection in the case" clean.
The extra work of de-priming, separating pins from cases and drying; doesn't add anything to the performance of the reloaded ammo. And the de-priming step means every case must be handled one more step then normal.

I sort cases by cartridge type, dump them into a dry tumbler, separate when done, and reload. If it were not for the fact that some casings annoyingly nest inside of other larger casings, I wouldn't even bother sorting them until after they were cleaned.

Wet tumbling does appear to produce exceptionally shinny cases but I'm not sure it's worth the extra steps to complete the evolution, at least not for me. Perhaps if I had more time it would be more attractive to me.

[Martin Luber]

Where does one find Lemishine and Nu Finish? Thanks

[Martin Luber]

Oh, and has anyone tried to use a small Harbin Freight cement mixer for tumbling? Think I could fit a plastic 5 gallon pail in it as a liner/ bowl.Thoughts?

[2A-Jay]

I wet Tumble with Pins, a Dash of Lemishine, rinse and separate the pins with my FA Media Separator. Put the clean wet brass in a Dehydrator to dry. Not worried about saving time. Empty the water out of the Media Separator collect the pins with a Media Transfer Magnet. Usually do between 200 and 300 cases at a time. Just part of my Reloading ritual.

[Targa]

Dry tumble for me. One hour in the tumblr with crushed walnut, separate media, get to reloading. Cases get clean enough for me.

[jaysouth]

I use citric acid from amazon. 5 lb is around $15. All brass gets washed in hot water and citric acid. My good brass(norma, LC LR, Lapua, etc) gets decapped and wet tumbled. 9mm brass for the grandkids and AR-15s gets thrown into a dry tumbler with walnut hulls, Dupont chrome polish and a teaspoon of mineral spirits. Then tumbled OUTSIDE for 2-3 hours. Insert a dryer sheet (bounce) to keep the walnut hulls clean. Most of this brass will not be picked up and is not for precision shooting or hunting. By using the dryer sheet and a drop of mineral spirits, the dry tumble medium will last for years and years. I have only been wet tumbling for a year and still developing protocols for successful use. I have lost a lot of steel pins.

[rswink]

I have a large ring magnet over the sink drain, have seen a few rods on the magnet but I don't usually see them at all.

My routine works for me since most of my steps are done while I am doing other projects and my drying time is while I am at work. Most everything else is for my weekend time. So, I just bag things up. Makes more sense for me than annoying my wife with the tumbler running. (She hated that noise)

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[murf205]

I've tried to justify a wet rig for a while now and even tried dry tumbling with a double handful of pins thrown into the corn cob media, which btw, had no apparent benefit. But after 3hrs in my Lyman 1200, this is my results and they will work for me. I think I will save the $ in my meager stash for a S&W 25-2 when I find one that they don't want my first born as a down payment!262581262582262583 If I didn't already have a tumbler, I would probably get one but these are results. This brass is over 10 yrs old and the necks didn't quite get as shiny as the body of the case but if I need to, there is always Flitz.

[Froogal]

I have dry tumbled for years and just switched this month to wet tumbling. The finished product is much nicer and the time to process, excluding drying, is way shorter. Both have their advantages but the wet gets the nod as of now. I am a small batch reloaded - maybe tumbling between 75 to 200 cases at a time.

I built my tumbler and have about $20 in it total, not counting the SS pins.

"Excluding drying" Whatever works for you, but with dry tumbling, there is no drying time, and IF there is even the slightest hint of moisture still in the casing when the powder goes in, you will have a "fail to fire".

[tominboise]

"Excluding drying" Whatever works for you, but with dry tumbling, there is no drying time, and IF there is even the slightest hint of moisture still in the casing when the powder goes in, you will have a "fail to fire".

True enough. Drying time is an hour or less, but I am not in that big of a hurry to go from cleaning to loading. If I am, I don't clean them at all other than wiping before i resize. But it's all good. Like everything in life, there is no perfect answer.

[Half Dog]

Like many others I use both. I usually wait until I have many to reload before I run a batch.
I’ll dry tumble dirty brass. That will help keep my sizing dies clean plus I’ve had stuck primers if I wet tumble first and let the brass sit, for quite a while.
I’ll wet tumble after sizing and the brass looks great.

[RKJ]

I've got a Lyman 1200 that I put away because I started wet cleaning. I use a HF dual tumbler that holds around 30 308 or 30/06 sized brass or a bunch of pistol brass. I use Lemon juice from Dollar tree (about a 1/8 cup) and a squirt of Dawn. It runs for 3 hours usually, then into a (again) Dollar tree wire basket inside a large dish pan. That drains the water and separates a lot of the pins. Then I vigorously shake to remove the water and pins (Oh, I do deprime rifle and bigger pistol before hand, But, that's just me as I like sparkling clean primer pockets. It does help getting the water out though.) I put them on a old towel in front of a box fan. It doesn't take a lot of time and I like my brass sparkling and this does it for me. To each his own.

[lightman]

Where does one find Lemishine and Nu Finish? Thanks

I don't see where you ever got an answer. If you did, I'm sorry to have missed it. You can get both at Walmart and probably any other bigger discount store.

I recently ran out of ArmorAll Wash and Wax and not wanting to make a trip to Walmart (30 miles away) I looked at the local parts store. To my surprise it was only a few cents higher than Walmarts price.

A lot of volume reloaders use a cement mixer to tumble brass. I don't, so I can't help much on that.