450Bushmaster.net

ok.. so you plan to use your dry tumbler as your brass dryer.

have never tried that - i just usually keep it simple since i have the dehydrator.

i also clean my brass in large batches and basically make a day of it when i do.. runnin the tumbler and dryer pretty much all afternoon across several calibers. its enough to keep me busy for a hot minute with tha tstep and not running those peices of equipment for small batches here and there.


i'll be following your process to see how it works out

OK, here’s the difference between a final polish with the corn cob media and going straight out of the wet tumbler to be dried and then to be loaded. The cases that were not run through the corncob media as a final polish have already started to tarnish. This is what they look like after 10 hours.

Texas Sheepdawg wrote:OK, here’s the difference between a final polish with the corn cob media and going straight out of the wet tumbler to be dried and then to be loaded. The cases that were not run through the corncob media as a final polish have already started to tarnish. This is what they look like after 10 hours.

8DC12BDB-BC38-4EDC-AC35-76BAB0131D25.jpeg

+1

Wet tumbling gets the brass so clean, tarnishing has nothing to prevent it. I too vibrate my wet tumbled cases once they're dry, in corn cob media with 5 drops of Nu Finish car wax. You don't want to over-do it. That stabilizes them in my peanut butter jars that I keep them in, in my basement. If I'm going to resize them as soon as they come out from drying from the wet tumble, I don't bother with the corn cob / Nu Finish vibrate as the Imperial sizing wax leaves a little bit still in place after vibrating it off in clean corn cob anyway. Brass seems to be stable after resizing.

Hoot

I use to sell a tarnish inhibitor that was a simple. Once polished and dry you dip the brass and allow to dry. Sold lots until a major gun company gave us a cease and desist order for the company name “Premium Brass”. My partner and I thought about rebranding but it never went through. I could easily produce 55 gallons of it if needed but I still have a few quarts of the stuff I use. It shut down brass sales too. I think we have a few 55 gallon drums of raw brass and a couple cleaned. Should go for a premium now.

Texas Sheepdawg wrote:OK, here’s the difference between a final polish with the corn cob media and going straight out of the wet tumbler to be dried and then to be loaded. The cases that were not run through the corncob media as a final polish have already started to tarnish. This is what they look like after 10 hours.

8DC12BDB-BC38-4EDC-AC35-76BAB0131D25.jpeg

I had brass that would tarnish that quick, so I starting testing a few things. What I came up with is wet tumble with just soap for 2-3 hrs to get them mostly clean. To dry, I use a towel, roll them around, pat them dry, then spread them out on another clean, dry, towel. During the summer, I stick them in front of a fan. During the winter I throw them in front of an air register. I'll then resize, and throw them back in the tumbler with soap and Lemi-shine for about an hour. I use a pinch of it. Anymore and the brass starts to tarnish quickly. I always rinse the crap out of the brass, then put it through the separator. I give it 2 washes because I use RCBS water based lube. Works good, but couldn't stand leaving it on brass. When I first started wet tumbling, I started with the recommended amount and noticed bad water spotting and brass would tarnish very quickly. Had some brass from one manufacture that turned a rose color (not good). So reducing the amount of Lemi-shine helped a lot, and then reducing the exposure time also helped.

I've thought about getting a vibratory tumbler to polish the brass afterwards, just haven't got around to it. Probably will when I start mass loading for storage. For the most part I'll prep brass a day or two before I load. If it's a little tarnished, I'll just load it, if it's really tarnished, I'll run it through the wet tumbler a little bit. I have some brass that are slightly tarnished after sitting in the open air for months, so not a big deal.

I ran some various caliber cases through my process as listed above and watched to see if they would tarnish after several days. After about 3 days of just sitting in a tray in my gun room the brass stayed very bright and white and didn’t get dark. So I’m sold on the final process of a run through my corn cob media tumbler for about five hours. The only difference I see now by using the wet tumble with the stainless media is that even the insides of the brass stay really shiney. I now have another Franklin wet tumbler that is twice the size of the first one you see in the pics in the OP. I’ve also got more stainless media so I should be good to go. Now to decap the rest of my 556 and 9mm brass so I can get them ready for loading.
Edit: I am however rethinking the decapping and sizing process. Once I test something late this weekend, I may modify my process to do the sonic first then decap only then put it in the wet tumbler before resizing. I don’t know yet.

Texas Sheepdawg wrote:...snip...
Edit: I am however rethinking the decapping and sizing process. Once I test something late this weekend, I may modify my process to do the sonic first then decap only then put it in the wet tumbler before resizing. I don’t know yet.

Seems redundant.

I too, have an ultrasonic cleaner. It did a good job before the FART came along. IMHO, the FART does it one better. For the 450b, the biggest selling point for the FART was that it got the inside of the necks immaculate, which is the basis for good neck tension (our arch nemesis). Lately, the ultrasonic cleaner mainly gets used for lawnmower/snowblower carburetors, BCA's and other cleaning tasks where disassembly is not desirable. For the record, I have both SS pins and SS chips. The pins sit in a peanut butter jar now, as the chips work faster.

Hoot

FART = Popular forum acronym for Franklin Arsenal Rotary Tumbler

I just use a lee universal decapper to knock the primers loose. then resize after they've been washed


perks of a progressive with a case feeder - i dont feel bad running a cycle with just a single decapping die in there and nothing else going on. the hornady case feeder can run 500 or so cases per hour so not too bad on the clock.

Yeah, I’m starting to totally rethink my cleaning process. This stainless steel media really does the job. I found about 500 rounds of 9mm that I had already cleaned and resized with the old corn cob tumber and the ultra sonic and I put them through the “FART” as you put it, Hoot, and let it run for about 2 hours. When I dumped the water it was a nasty dark grey and the insides of those cases are now spotless. Now I’ve got to trim them and throw them in the corn cob step and they will be ready to prime.

Man this brass cleaning is keeping me busy. LOL.