Wet tumbling without pins

DANNY-L

DANNY-L

Active member
I was experimenting this morning with some brass that was quite dirty. I removed the pins from my thumblers and I put in 500 cases,covered with hot water,added a little dawn and about a tablespoon of lemi-shine and a 1/4 cup of white vineger. Tumbled 3 hours and the brass was super clean. It didn't have the brilliant shine as it would with the pins but still shined as good as any dry tumbling. I didn't remove the primers either as I didn't want to run them through my die with them being dirty like that. Besides I was curious as to how well it would work.
 
I wondered myself what would happen if I was to try that. I figured that just the brass rubbing against other brass in a soapy solution would probably work pretty well but just never got around to trying it.

BTW- I don't use those pins like a lot of others do. My media looks like tiny stainless steel footballs that are just small enough to fit down a .204 neck but not quite enough to fit in a .17 caliber case. Sure does make for some smooth and pretty brass.
 
I wondered about it for awhile and haven't seen where anyone has mentioned trying it. I was really surprised as to how well it worked. I was looking for it to knock off some of the crud before running them through the die,worked alot better than I thought. I doubt the inside got much attention so when I'm done I'll run them through with the pins,the primer pockets will need cleaning also. Here's what they look like before and after. The cleaned brass is also dry so this is the end result. The dirty brass is from the same batch but some that I culled.
 
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Originally Posted By: DANNY-LI was experimenting this morning with some brass that was quite dirty. I removed the pins from my thumblers and I put in 500 cases,covered with hot water,added a little dawn and about a tablespoon of lemi-shine and a 1/4 cup of white vineger. Tumbled 3 hours and the brass was super clean. It didn't have the brilliant shine as it would with the pins but still shined as good as any dry tumbling. I didn't remove the primers either as I didn't want to run them through my die with them being dirty like that. Besides I was curious as to how well it would work.

I have boiled cases on the stove with liquid Tide clothes detergent - the cases look fantastic.
 
Originally Posted By: CatShooterOriginally Posted By: DANNY-LI was experimenting this morning with some brass that was quite dirty. I removed the pins from my thumblers and I put in 500 cases,covered with hot water,added a little dawn and about a tablespoon of lemi-shine and a 1/4 cup of white vineger. Tumbled 3 hours and the brass was super clean. It didn't have the brilliant shine as it would with the pins but still shined as good as any dry tumbling. I didn't remove the primers either as I didn't want to run them through my die with them being dirty like that. Besides I was curious as to how well it would work.

I have boiled cases on the stove with liquid Tide clothes detergent - the cases look fantastic.



They do not get too hot when boiling? How long did you boil them?
 
You could boil them for a week if you wanted to, it won't hurt them. You cannot get the water any hotter than the what the boiling point is at your altitude.

Those case mouths look BEAT! What were they shot in??
 
Like I mentioned those were some of the ones I discarded. They are beat though and it is range brass. I think they were fired from AR's and I was thinking something was gouging them during ejection,the piece of the mouth is missing and not just bent over.
 
Originally Posted By: bigtommyOriginally Posted By: CatShooterOriginally Posted By: DANNY-LI was experimenting this morning with some brass that was quite dirty. I removed the pins from my thumblers and I put in 500 cases,covered with hot water,added a little dawn and about a tablespoon of lemi-shine and a 1/4 cup of white vineger. Tumbled 3 hours and the brass was super clean. It didn't have the brilliant shine as it would with the pins but still shined as good as any dry tumbling. I didn't remove the primers either as I didn't want to run them through my die with them being dirty like that. Besides I was curious as to how well it would work.

I have boiled cases on the stove with liquid Tide clothes detergent - the cases look fantastic.



They do not get too hot when boiling? How long did you boil them?

As River said.. you can boil them for a week. I boil them for a half an hour, stirring them from time to time, in a big pot.

Then I rinse them in the pot until no bubbles form in the water (that is important).

Then I roll them back an forth in a huge towel (the're called "Bath sheets", for some dumb reason).

Then I put them in the oven at 220 degrees, for 30 to 45 minutes (or until tender
lol.gif
).

I could load them right there and they would look new. It does not remove the greenish oxide from range pick-ups, but all dirt, grease, and a lot of the inside black carbon-ish ash is removed.
 
Originally Posted By: DANNY-LI wondered about it for awhile and haven't seen where anyone has mentioned trying it. I was really surprised as to how well it worked. I was looking for it to knock off some of the crud before running them through the die,worked alot better than I thought. I doubt the inside got much attention so when I'm done I'll run them through with the pins,the primer pockets will need cleaning also. Here's what they look like before and after. The cleaned brass is also dry so this is the end result. The dirty brass is from the same batch but some that I culled.


You've got lots of time on your hands!! I deprime with a Lee universal decapping die. No need to worry about running dirty brass through expensive sizing dies (I have one set, 260AI, that were almost $300). This allows for just one cleaning cycle with the SS pins...saves some time for shooting and leaves the brass, primer pocket included, sparkling inside and out!!
 
I ran 600 through the univeral decaper die and it still aloowed alot of grit to fall down to where I had to keep cleaning the ram. Thats why I did this batch like this. Besides that,I don't mind taking a little extra time doing things I enjoy.
 
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