So I am a long time dry media guy with an occasional sonic cleaning for my brass. I found sonic cleaning doesn't do the primer pockets well, but neither does corn cob media. I found I need to dry lube the necks for brass with sonic cleaning but the interior does get cleaner with sonic cleaning though its more steps. I ordered pins and a tumbler the other day to try out wet tumbling. My concern is the pins will harden or overwork my 30BR? Does one deprime and then tumble or can one deprime, resize and then tumble with pins?
Stainless steel media and damage to brass?
- Thread starter the long shot
- Start date
I tried the stainless media route a few years back and gave it up, too many problems. I'm satisfied with the job the corn cob media does and use the 21st century primer pocket tool as a final step.
http://www.xxicsi.com/primer-pocket-uniformer.html
I actually ended up with two, one for large and one for small primer pockets.
http://www.xxicsi.com/primer-pocket-uniformer.html
I actually ended up with two, one for large and one for small primer pockets.
The only "damage" I see wet tumbling with SS pins is the peening of the case mouths. I just don't believe there's any hardening of the brass (or at most. . . very, very little and not worth any concern). I haven't seen any hard data supporting this hardening issue. I only wet tumble after a few firings to reduce the burnt powder build up. Otherwise, I dry tumble with medium grain rice . . . which works quite well. As for procedure order, I deprime, anneal then wet tumble (when I do wet tumbling) and then resize and trim. As for the case mouth peening, my very last operation takes care of that when I trim my cases with a Tri-Way trimmer.
If you want the primer pockets clean, then deprime, wet tumble, dry, re-size, trim and chamfer. The SS pins will peen the case mouths unless you get the magical mix between brass and pins. I have a FA mini wet tumbler, capacity is 300, so I put 300 in with the full 2.5# of pins it came with, ran it for 3 hrs. Very little to no peening on the case mouths. Reduce the volume of cases and the peening returns. But it's not bad, a very light touch up is all that is needed and move on.
topclass2017
Gold $$ Contributor
I dry media tumbled for years then purchased a wet tumbler. Right now I've gone back to dry tumbling, and here's why. I should note upfront that I'm shooting all bolt action rifles.
While wet tumbling gets the inside of case mouths cleaner, I found that the primer pockets (if cases are de-primed before tumbling...) were not appreciably cleaner. Maybe a little, but not significantly. With wet tumbling I always deprimed when I got home from shooting. Wet tumbling creates work post-tumbling - fully rinsing the cases (I used simple green as a "cleaner"), separating pins from the cases, drying both cases and pins. And with wet tumbling, you are pretty much committed to rinsing/separating when you are done to avoid having to re-tumble to release the residue that seems to reattach itself to the brass if let it sit for awhile. You can figure out how I found that one out!
Dry media tumbling. I'm trying something different for me - not depriming prior to tumbling to keep media from getting wedged in the primer pocket. It will save me a step of brass handling - I'll deprime when I size rather then when I get home. Yes, the pocket won't potentially be as clean as with wet tumbling, but as I said, I didn't feel it was all that clean with wet tumbling anyway, regardless of how long I ran my tumbler. Dry media can get packed into the case and require separation, but that's no different than with pins. And with dry tumbling I can leave the tumbled cases in the media without problems if I don't have time to separate one from the other right away without issue.
All that being said, I'll likely use the wet tumbler now and again, mostly for military brass from an M1 or M1A just because it seems to get extra dirty.
While wet tumbling gets the inside of case mouths cleaner, I found that the primer pockets (if cases are de-primed before tumbling...) were not appreciably cleaner. Maybe a little, but not significantly. With wet tumbling I always deprimed when I got home from shooting. Wet tumbling creates work post-tumbling - fully rinsing the cases (I used simple green as a "cleaner"), separating pins from the cases, drying both cases and pins. And with wet tumbling, you are pretty much committed to rinsing/separating when you are done to avoid having to re-tumble to release the residue that seems to reattach itself to the brass if let it sit for awhile. You can figure out how I found that one out!
Dry media tumbling. I'm trying something different for me - not depriming prior to tumbling to keep media from getting wedged in the primer pocket. It will save me a step of brass handling - I'll deprime when I size rather then when I get home. Yes, the pocket won't potentially be as clean as with wet tumbling, but as I said, I didn't feel it was all that clean with wet tumbling anyway, regardless of how long I ran my tumbler. Dry media can get packed into the case and require separation, but that's no different than with pins. And with dry tumbling I can leave the tumbled cases in the media without problems if I don't have time to separate one from the other right away without issue.
All that being said, I'll likely use the wet tumbler now and again, mostly for military brass from an M1 or M1A just because it seems to get extra dirty.
NorCalMikie
Gold $$ Contributor
I have seen "gold dust" around the edges of the tumbler drum so the pins WILL wear the brass. With that in mind, I'll wet tumble with the SS pins "once in a while". If the brass is real dirty, more often. The rest of the time, dry cob, no additives. Brass doesn't come from the factory with polish on it so no need to add it now.
I have also used rice with good results. Not hard on the brass.
Stuck pins? Just another chance to get a real good look at your brass. I HAVE picked cob out of primer pockets more than once so it's just another step in the process. Ultrasonic? Tried that. Takes too long and didn't get brass THAT CLEAN or as clean as I expected. I'll pass.
Resize and deprime, dry clean, wash in soapy water if needed, dry in warm oven, inspect real good, load and go shooting.
I clean primer pockets if needed with the Crocogator. Prime while watching the tube in my soft chair.
www.brownells.com/.../cleaners/crocogator-primer-pocket-cleaner-prod32935.aspx
Better to find damage/defects in brass NOW, rather than at the range.
I have also used rice with good results. Not hard on the brass.Stuck pins? Just another chance to get a real good look at your brass. I HAVE picked cob out of primer pockets more than once so it's just another step in the process. Ultrasonic? Tried that. Takes too long and didn't get brass THAT CLEAN or as clean as I expected. I'll pass.
Resize and deprime, dry clean, wash in soapy water if needed, dry in warm oven, inspect real good, load and go shooting.
I clean primer pockets if needed with the Crocogator. Prime while watching the tube in my soft chair.
www.brownells.com/.../cleaners/crocogator-primer-pocket-cleaner-prod32935.aspx
Better to find damage/defects in brass NOW, rather than at the range.
jepp2
Gold $$ Contributor
I process a lot of brass. Long time dry media tumbler. Always unhappy with primer pockets and case interior. So I started wet tumbling. I shoot a lot of brass fired in gas operated guns. Couldn't be happier with the clean pockets and case interior. But you do lose the carbon in the case neck. There are ways to deal with that.
I have seen zero evidence of work hardening of the brass. If I run my tumbler full, I get very little peening even tumbling for 4 hours. However If I run it mostly empty with larger rifle cases, the mouth get beat up pretty badly. Nothing a quick twist on the chamfer tool will not correct.
I'm different than most, in that I dry tumble my wet tumbled brass to dry it and put a polish finish on it. Does both in the tumbler. Really retards the oxidation of the cases after tumbling. Beware of getting all the pins out.
I got the FA wet/dry media separator, and it makes getting the pins out/separated fairly easily. I do use more water in the tub when the brass is in the rotating basket to submerge all the brass and float the pins free. I also alternate the baskets' direction with abrupt stops to shake those pins free. I've not found a pin inside a case while processing any brass so far.
I de prime first with a Hand fe primer so the pockets get clean and yes it was slightly pinging over the Case mouth but after resizing when you chamfer that will be corrected
I agree with everything you say 100% I do the same just thought I was a little on the extreme side but I noticed if you load rounds and let them sit the brass oxidizes fingerprints appear etc. the dry media does a nice job of polishing and preserves your brass from corroding or oxidation also this is a picture of brass I have cleaned the one on the left is dry media the one on the right is wet tumbling
I first de-prime and clean the primer pockets with a non-adjustable uniformer. Next, clean the outside of the necks with ScotchBrite. Then wet tumble for only an hour. Don't overdue the brass load. There may be some very, very light peening which goes away when I chamfer. Not sure why a lot of people get upset with a little peening as long as it is not heavy. Any hardening of the brass is just a very thin surface layer. I anneal before resizing.
So, here are pics of some .308 range brass I pick up and processed using wet tumbling with SS pins and resizing and uniforming all (including turning the necks, as one can probably tell). . .
Wet tumbling gets them clean like new inside and out.
There is a thread, with photo , where the case mouth is peened , making the neck wall thicker.
Turned neck using bushing die.
http://forum.accurateshooter.com/threads/case-mouth-doughnut.3983036/page-2
Turned neck using bushing die.
http://forum.accurateshooter.com/threads/case-mouth-doughnut.3983036/page-2
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I anneal, lube, size, wet tumble, rinse, dry, prime, chamfer/deburr, then load. In that order. Had a huge problem before with the case mouth mushrooming (it's not peening), chamfer/deburr takes care of that. Also, I soak the brass for a couple hours in the cleaning solution before tumbling, and only tumble for 30 minutes.
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