Wet tumbling- what is the Australian magic mix?

[Jarhead]

Hi All!

The bad news......for the 2nd time in as many months, my dry brass tumbler stopped working .

The good news- the vendor- who is great by the way- has run out of dry tumbler replacements and has agreed to send me a wet tumbler. I was planning to upgrade to one anyway so this is good. I will likely receive a very cheap one but can learn what to do and not to do with it before I throw a few hundred at a quality tumbler.

But being new to wet tumbling, I want to get the right wet mix. All of the articles I read are US based and they use Dawn and Lemi-Shine in the water with the stainless pins..

OK, so hoping to hear from the experienced wet tumblers.........

What are the Australian equivalents?

Also,

My method with the dry tumbler was to first clean, then decap and neck size at the same time with a lee die that does both.

I have read about wet tumbling and everyone seems to have the brass decapped when wet tumbling. That means I will need to decap, tumble, then neck size. Does anyone tumble with spent primers in place?

How do I decap only? Can I modify one of my dies (Lee full length size or Lee neck size) to do it or do I need to get a universal decapping die?

[TassieTiger]

These work very well for under $100.

Personally - I don’t know that the liquid recipe is as important as the abrasive medium / liquid change outs.

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Hot-5KG-220 ... SwrAFcCg2F

[Madang185]

1 Litre of clean water, 1 teaspoon Acetic Acid and a teaspoon Cream of Tartar plus an unscientific squirt of convenient detergent.

Cases get X2 eight minute cycles in a Jewelry cleaner. Good enough for me but I admit not perfect. Clean inside and out. Cheap and affective

[Jarhead]

Thanks Tassie.

That was a fast post.......I found this photo of you from a recent Western Action competition......

QDM.png (76.1 KiB) Viewed 13654 times

They are sending one of these....

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Atac-Pro-Rotary-Brass-Case-Tumbler-220V-Max-3Kg-kd-6808-KD-6808/114293252822?_trksid=p2485497.m4902.l9144

....anybody have experience with them? Been keen to know how many tumbles they have in them before you need a new one......I am not expecting much quality out of an $80 unit......

[Jarhead]

Thanks Mandang,

2 x minute cycles is fast! Do you change the liquid out in between?

Why is is not perfect? Would a longer run be better or is it a problem with tarnishing later?

[TassieTiger]

I have one and a few friends as well - still going after years of use.
I generally put mine on forward reverse timer for 60 mins and let it do its thing.
I used to have a ultrasonic - and an expensive Hornady wet tumbler - these units are much better.

They come with spare belts and spare seals - I’ve never had to replace mine. For under $100 - can’t go wrong. I’ve also used mine for raw sapphire and ruby tumbling, they work well.

[on_one_wheel]

I run a very mild, luke warm mix of citric acid and laundry powder with my stainless pins.

I find that if it's luke warm, as it cools it creates a slight vacuum which helps the o ring seal.

Once cleaned, I rinse with water, then rinse again with HOT water and automotive wash & wax to keep the brass from tarnishing.

I blow dry my cases with compressed air to get 90% of the drying done.

[Jarhead]

Hey Tassie,

Is yours a KD6808 (3kg) or a KT-2000? Did it come with stainless media? The media in the photo looks like shot not pins......

One_wheel,

Do you decap them first?

[TassieTiger]

Hey Tassie,

Is yours a KD6808 (3kg) or a KT-2000? Did it come with stainless media? The media in the photo looks like shot not pins......

One_wheel,

Do you decap them first?

Mine looks exactly the same - the media is crap steel Shot and will rust after 1st use. I now use stainless pins, bearings, shells, few other secrets lol. If you’ve not used a tumbler before, You will be pretty happy with results.
If you know a builder Or someone who uses a lot of rivets - start asking them to keep the pin bodies lol.

[on_one_wheel]

One_wheel,

Do you decap them first?

Absolutely, then I trim (if necessary) and chamfer after tumbling.
I also anneal every after 3 firings, I do that after tumbling too.

[marksman]

l have a rebel 17, 17 for it will hold 17 pounds, a bit exy but does a lot of cases at once,
l've always used the lemishine and any dish detergent with great results
it is better with this recipe not to use hot water as when it drys it will dull the shine, l have tried it
it is better to decap the primer IMHO so you clean out the primer pocket, if you dont you may get corrosion in the pocket that you will have to clean out

l have seen results from different ways of wet tumbling that l would be happy with that are different to how l do it

[deanp100]

Use less acid rather then more and build up until you find the spot. Too much and your brass turns pink. I also rinse in a car wash and wax to reduce tarnishing.

[on_one_wheel]

Use less acid rather then more and build up until you find the spot. Too much and your brass turns pink. I also rinse in a car wash and wax to reduce tarnishing.

True... I find a teaspoon of citric acid in 2 litres of water is adequate. You definitely don't need much.

[wanneroo]

Lemishine is just citric acid. You don't want to overdo it with citric acid.

I use Hornady's case cleaning solution along with stainless steel pins and Lemishine.

I always decap now prior to cleaning. I do brass in big batches so I have a hand deprimer so I'll just have a bucket of brass and decap 50 or 100 at a time and move onto something else. When the day comes I have a thousand or two of decapped brass, then it's time to clean and reload it.

Might as well get the primer pockets clean is my thinking.

I rinse thoroughly in distilled water and then dry in a Frankford Arsenal brass dryer.

I think using car wash waxes and all that stuff is pretty pointless and I'm cautious about putting anything on the brass that could interact with powder at some point. A lot of these car care products have all sorts of chemicals in them these days. To me all you need to do is dry well and store in a sealed container with desiccant. I've had cleaned brass stored that way for years with no issue with tarnishing.

[TassieTiger]

I tried 2-3 drops of olive oil in my last mix to see if it would prevent tarnishing. Hindsight - not the smartest thing to do, but live and learn.
It had no detrimental impact that I could see Or feel - but I ended up lightly hitting cases with A degreaser after regardless, (just in case)so it was pointless.
But I try tiny differences in recipes all the time...

[Jarhead]

Thanks everybody for the great response!

You folks are the best!!!!!

This is what I have decided to try out......(All the volume measurements are in case sizes- because most of us will immediate recognise the volume, it is appropriate and hey- why not!?l)

1. Armor All Wash and Wax - 3 x 6.5 Creedmoore casefuls . This is a low foam detergent with a small amount of Carnuba wax to prevent cases tarnishing.
2. Citric acid powder - 1 x 22LR case - this is the ain acid ingredient in Lemishine and I did not easily find a liquid version.
3. Cream of tartar -1 x 22LR case - weaker acid salt that came recommended.
4. 1kg stainless steel pins (1.2mm diameter x 5mm long). The 1.2mm pin diameter should prevent pins getting stuck in the flash hole as one will fall through and two are too big to fit. This should work with both standard 2mm flashholes and Lapua's 1.5mm flashhole.
5. 1/2 kilo brass- approx 2 20mm vulcan cannon casefuls.
6. Hot Tap water to just cover the load.

We will see how well this works. I am worried because this is almost the same recipe as my wife's Lemon Meraunge pie. Maybe we will discover something new!

[Madang185]

Jarhead, that's 2 X 8 minute cycles, change liquid when black, depends on case condition. Usually leaves some black in the primer pockets. Hence not perfect.

[Jarhead]

Thanks Mandang185!

[Gamerancher]

I use a squirt of whatever dish detergent is under the sink, half a teaspoon of citric acid, (found in the baking section at local supermarket-costs about $2, lasts months) and enough warm water to cover the cases and stainless pins by about an inch when horizontal. I use the slowest setting and one way for about an hour, check cases, perhaps another 1/2 hour if needed. It is important to get them out soon after they're finished and rinse in clean water. Leaving them in the dirty solution for extended period leads to tarnishing. I use the same process whether I'm tumbling pistol, rifle or cases from my big-bore black powder rifles. I've found it important not to overload these tumblers weight - wise. The slower speed stops cases beating each other up.
I de-prime all of my rifle cases prior to tumbling using a Lee universal de-priming die in a hand held press. I don't see the point in using a system that will clean primer pockets and not doing that. ( Although I can't be f#@ked doing it for small pistol cases, 9mm are just too finicky. )
I tumble my brass so that it is clean before running it through my reloading dies, clean cases = no crud in my dies.
I don't see any point in tumbling them afterwards. I wipe down every cartridge after loading as I inspect them with a cloth towel, so that gets rid of any residual lube. This can become tedious after a hundred rounds or so, but it satisfies my O.C.D tendencies when it comes to reloading.

P.S. I dump the rinsed cases onto a towel and roll them around to dry the outside after rinsing, that way I don't get water-spots as they dry. ( What was that I said about O.C.D?) 10 minutes in a warm oven in a baking pan will dry them out quickly if you need to load them straight away otherwise, I just leave them in the sun or near the fireplace on the towel.

[Jarhead]

Thanks Gamerancher!

[AZZA'S HJ47]

Aussie sapphire burnishing compound for the win stuffs golden

[Jarhead]

Thanks AZZA'S HJ47!

I did see that advertised. Do you know what it is comprised of? How it works?

[Jarhead]

Hey all,

Anyone know where I an get a kilo of 1.2mm x 5mm stainless pins for less than $100 in Australia?

I can get 5 pounds from the local GS for $130. I don't need that much......

[AZZA'S HJ47]

Southern Shine Media in the states is what you want simply the best stuff.

[Blr243]

AZZA. Have you been getting any more red deer? I can’t get enough Time off to do a decent cent q trip at the moment so think it would help me to go locally to Somerset and look. For a meat hind or a dingo but I just cat even seem to do that .... a hunt is long overdue. I need to brush up on my deer breeding knowledge to because I don’t want to be shooting pregnant hinds or hinds with fawns at their feet

[marksman]

the reds will be pregnant but at the moment they should be in family groups before the males go there own way, a good time for a spiker
l have got some decent reds around kilcoy

thought l'd put up a pic of what my cases come out like to set a standard

[on_one_wheel]

Hey all,

Anyone know where I an get a kilo of 1.2mm x 5mm stainless pins for less than $100 in Australia?

I can get 5 pounds from the local GS for $130. I don't need that much......

I found some cheap pins on EBay.
The ends were cut rough as if cut to length with side cutters but their doing the job perfectly.

[TassieTiger]

the reds will be pregnant but at the moment they should be in family groups before the males go there own way, a good time for a spiker
l have got some decent reds around kilcoy

thought l'd put up a pic of what my cases come out like to set a standard

Do they stay that shiny MM? Or tarnish up ? - they look better than some of the brand new win cases I’ve purchased...

[marksman]

they usually stay like that for 1 firing, when they get used or age does dull them, l only clean them like this usually after first prep

[Larry]

Chuck or at least put aside any media that you get with the ebay Chinese tumblers they will rust as already said. I found some Lyman tumbler pins on ebay and they have been great for several years in water nearly all the time may help.
I use a really good squirt of cheap dishwashing detergent and 1/2 teaspoon of citric acid. Risnse out well with cold water until the tumbler is running clean non soapy water out the top. dont worry about any bi carb or other anti acid methods that some people recommend clean cold water does the trick. Dry with towel then put in case to keep them separate and dry for as long as possible. if you dont dry with towel or let them touch each other you will get spots and blemishes rather than shiny spick and span.