This may be beyond the scope of your demonstration, but I always deprime my cases before wet tumbling. The pins get in and clean the primer pockets which saves a step in the process later on. Excellent video.
@everday/ I was just going to ask that question. have been toying with wet tumbling. currently do dry, (rice and Flitz) does an awesome job with no dust, but as I get to the loads that for higher precision, need an excuse to buy more "essential equipment" lol
One thing I've learned is that it's completely unnecessary to use the pins. Sure, some of the primer pockets and inside of the case may have a little soot left over, but it shaves off SO much time not having to worry about them. I get that some people still want to use them, but give it a try if you haven't left them out. Takes some of the headache out.
I have all these products (except for the tumbler, I use a larger one made of metal). You should try wet tumbling for cleaning (SS flakes / pins + detergent + a teaspoon of citric acid) and then dry tumble for polishing (corn cob, medium granules preferable). Do NOT use cleaners/polishers that contain ammonium hydroxide! I usually do 15 min wet, 30 min dry (bottle neck cartridges, dirty semiauto pistol brass I double cleaning time). Recovering the tumbling media is usually the most time consuming part, so I streamlined my process: besides everything the did in this video, I use a large metal sifter to spread the SS media and leave in the bottom of the media drier to dry along with the brass. I only use those crappy magnetic collectors for loose pins that find their way to the floor.
I usually just have my housekeeper Maria do this being as my time is somewhat limited. She uses Fabuloso which makes the brass very shinny and smells good too.
Been using their tumbler and sifter for years with a generic food dehydrator. Dawn soap, 2lbs of steel pins and lemishine for a couple of hours and the cases are highly polished, including inside the cases and primer pockets. I've done tens of thousands of cases and the equipment is showing it's age, but it still gets the job done.
I have been ultrasonic cleaning my brass for some time now, I have an industrial unit, not the retail garbage. I tumble them in walnut media if I want to put a nice high polish on them. The Frankford media separator is really handy. To dry mine, I live in Arizona, lay them out in the sun on a towel and they dry out in no time.
Use a paint filter bag over a bucket first to get most of the water out. It’ll catch the errant pins and you can get the shells rinsed right away. Also def deprime first, and you can use a food dehydrator on AZ for half the price
I have the dryer and the larger tumbler and do use the SS pins. I do like the way it cleans and the speed. I have Amazon wall plugs that turn on for an hour, so I don’t need to babysit the units. I may look into the separator.
After 3 years using the Frankford tumbler with Dawn, I AM SOLD. I de-prime, if the brass is clean but, to protect my dies I run "range brass" through the tumbler first.
I've been using the wet system from the beginning after sizing & decap. I use a mix of lanolin & alcohol for case lube and use a little dawn, for cleaning lemishine and Woolite for the lanolin, rinse off, put in my old toaster over. Nice clean brass for trim, chamfer and neck brush..ready to prime. Brass looks like new.
I use dawn dish soap,gravel and toluene. Then I put it in an old peanut butter pretzel nugget container and ratchet strap it to my pickup tire. Drive to work and home that brass is like new. I then spread it on baking sheets and light it. Dries and anneals in one step. F Class John told me this method. That dude wins
I use a similar wet tumbling method here. We have Fairy Liquid in the UK, and I also put in a teaspoon of citric acid as a softener. Also, I always deprime and I rinse the shells after separation to remove traces of the soap etc. Drying I do on a tray in a domestic oven at just under 100 deg C.
Its nice if you have a place to get and empty water. I'd have to run up a flight of stairs to get water and again to dump the water...not sure about dumping that water into a kitchen sink. I usually fill up my bins before I clean brass...1000 pcs for 5.56 and 1500 pcs for 9, 40, or 45 brass. I get the same shine with walnut media and cap full of NuFinish car polish every dozen batches. (you have to run the media alone for 4 hours to blend the polish in and dry or it will cement inside the cases) A tumbler full of media lasts about a year. A used drier sheet tossed in will collect the fine dust and remove the static charge from the tumbler bowl.
I have all of these components + a magnet for the pins, purchased before they were sold as a kit. You have to be careful if using the pins though, because they can stick when dried, inside your brass. I also struggle with the water spots. Very annoying, from an aesthetic standpoint. That said, does a great job cleaning inside and out.
Had mine for about 6 years now. I found the best was is. First de- prime or they will hold water. Use the hottest water you can with Hornady Case Clean. About a shot and 1/4 glass worth. Tumbling for 2 hours. Then fill the sifter tub with hot water and sift the brass. This gets the case clean off, and the pins don't escape as much. Keep sifting about 2 more times with clean hot water. I use a towel to dry the brass off as much as I can. This will help eliminate water spots in the dryer. I dry mine at 120 degrees for one hour and then move the trays around. Dry for 1 one more hour. If you cook your brass to hot or to lone, they will turn more of a bronze color. I pick up a lot of rang brass. Some of that stuff is old and turned black. But if you use this method. Even it will come out looking like Factory new.
First I sonic clean the brass for five minutes with IOSSO Brass Cleaner, rinse thoroughly and then wet tumble for twenty minutes with Southern Shine Media, dawn dish soap, and a little vinegar (mixed to 4-5 on the acidity scale), then again rinsed thoroughly, and then dried. Once resized and flared I vibratory clean with walnut to remove the case lube and get a good shine going.
I have all these products (except for the tumbler, I use a off brand, larger one made of metal). You should try wet tumbling for cleaning (SS flakes / pins + detergent + a teaspoon of citric acid) and then dry tumble for polishing (corn cob, medium granules preferable). Do NOT use cleaners/polishers that contain ammonium hydroxide! I usually do 15 min wet, 30 min dry (bottle neck cartridges, dirty semiauto pistol brass I double cleaning time). Recovering the tumbling media is usually the most time consuming part, so I streamlined my process: besides everything the did in this video, I use a large metal sifter to spread the SS media and leave in the bottom of the media drier to dry along with the brass. I only use those crappy magnetic collectors for loose pins that find their way to the floor.
I have their wet tumblr and dryer. I use the magnet to separate media from brass while in water. Dawn dish soap, lemi shine, and turtle wax car wash gets the looking new.
@@BimmerDudeXi 1 or 2 drops is plenty for any normal sized tumbler. i used to make brass at one of the big ammo plants, we used 4oz for a 55gal drum of brass.
I have that same set up the problem. I see with it. It needs some plastic pins inside of it to make it turn better with the brass and the little pins, but other than that works great
The small tumbler is great but has one flaw, the brass does not tumble at all in mine. It just sits there as the tumbler rotates. I have to put a bar in there to force the brass to flip around.
How much brass and water are you using? I’ve found that about half full of brass with water filled to the bottom edge of the opening to the container (seen at 1:54) works well. -Kyle
@Ultimatereloader hey Kyle, that's my normal fill amount of brass/media and water mixed with 1/2 tbsp of dawn dish soap and 380acp brass case full of lemi shine in the tumbler. I've tried different amounts of brass 1/4 full, 1/2 full up to 2/3 full and will not tumble without putting bar to force it to tumbled.
I have used dry media for thirty years, but I also have the Frankford Tumbler & Dryer they do a great job, and I still use both methods..................no pins in the wet tumbler, just a solution
I will almost certainly buy this kit. I’ve been wanting to get into wet tumbling. It may not matter for how the reloads shoot, but I would be happier if my ammo was prettier. Dry tumbling with crushed walnut shells doesn’t seem all that effective.
Apparently the large tumbler has rubber insides? I found that with a small load of pistol brass in the small unit, you need an insert to agitate the brass. Otherwise they just sit at the bottom and don't tumble enough to get clean.
Nice Video for the product! I have original that came out and has worked well for cleaning and polishing brass. The pin’s will stick to sides and the top due to surface tension. I don’t know if the mesh end caps they sell will the fit the lite version, however they work well on mine to poor the dirty water out of the tumbler and it will be dirty!!!! For my media separator I do use clean water to see the pins in the bottom as they fall out of the brass. Rotating the brass through the water breaks the surface tension and you need several turns, most of the pins will fall to the bottom. After a few attempts you will figure out how many rotations that works. Since ‘stainless steel’ were so new on my purchase. I ended up purchasing a cheap Cabela’s food dehydrator and it work’s well. A few years later everyone came out with their own ‘Dryer’ models for drying brass. Yeah an hour or so and you’re good to go, just don’t burn yourself. O’ by the way sometimes there are still a few pins that fall to the bottom of the ‘Dryer’. It does help to have that magnet pickup device that Frankford Arsenal makes, those pins are very small to pick up by hand, which can be difficult. Then you can store them in the tumbler afterwards or buy a funnel to store in a Miracle Whip jar. Not sure of the cost, but seems to have everything to clean brass by ‘Stainless Steel Media’, unless you already have one or more of the components.
isnt the bucket with the mesh screen supposed to go IN the other bucket while separating?? then when it separates the media, pins, and water... you pull the first bucket out and it drains the water from the pins? pins remain in light gray bucket, water goes into dark gay bucket?
Doesn’t the Frankfort Arsenal Rotary Tumbler (FART for short) comes with a fine mesh sifter adapter you can put on the lid and dump the dirty water before separating the media from brass? This must be missing in the Lite version, including the timer function.
Do you leave the primers in, and press them out later? Do you have to worry about any of your media sticking inside the cases? Do you put them back in the separator after drying incase of that? What would happen if a pin stuck in a case and you loaded it?
The only place I've had pins sticking is with my 6.5 Creedmore cases, where I sometimes get the odd one with a pin jammed across the neck. I just remove it before sizing. I've never seen any stuck inside or in the primer holes on about 6 different calibres I load for.
The SS pins will clean the primer pockets surprisingly well if you manually de cap first. If doing Milsurp brass it's good practice to de cap then pocket swage or champer first. 👌
I bought this kit but haven't used it yet because some people are saying the pins can ruin the brass. What are your thoughts on those comments? Thanks.
Definitely give it a try! I haven’t personally experienced ruined brass from tumbling, some claim that wet tumbling will work harden your brass (which is not true). However, you might see some small impressions on the edge of your case mouths. It’s not much of an issue because it’ll get removed when you trim and/or chamfer/deburr. 🙂 -Kyle
@@UltimatereloaderAs silly as it sounds I would love to see a video of the pins being separated from the water and also dried. That’s the one step I cannot seem to find on TH-cam. Everyone just glosses over it.
Valid point! I did film that part but it just didn’t make it into the cut for the video (honestly, I forgot about showing it haha). I used the spout on the side to pour the water through down the drain, it worked well. I didn’t have any pins fall into the sink. It worked much better the gold pan sifter I have here at home to separate pins. -Kyle
That’s where I’m at as well. Ran a Frankford Arsenal tumbler for around 20 years, it finally gave out. Bought a Berry’s tumbler this year and love it. Very quiet, cleans well, removable bin is a plus.
There's no way in hell he actually got all the pins out with that weak, shallow rinsing. You have to fill the bottom bucket up higher with water so the brass actually goes underwater when tumbling.
I have been using dry for 37 years now and I keep it simple stupid system and from what I see with the wet system it doesn’t clean the amount of brass that I clean at one time. Would be a ok way of doing things if you have a small work space.
I'm continually surprised that people spent time, energy, and money to dry their brass with fans, dehydrators, ovens, etc. Maybe it's because I live in a dry climate but I've never needed to dry my brass. After I separate the pins from the brass, crank the handle quickly to theough some water off the brass by centripetal force. Then add 4-5 paper towels to the brass and slowly rotate the separator for a minute or so. This will get nearly all the water off the outside of the cases so you don't end up with any mineral deposits/water spots on the outside of the cases. Then dump them onto a towel and spread them out a bit and come back tomorrow to reload. Yes, it does require a little planning as I don't wet tumble the same day I reload. Another step that has really made a difference for me is after I wet tumbleand rinse out the dirty water, I put in new water and a splash of armor-all "wash and wax" automotive soap. Tumble for another 10-15 minutes and then rinse out. This will impart a very thin coat of wax on the cases that will accomplish two things. First, the cases will not tarnish over time like they do if you have super clean raw brass exposed. Second, you need the bit of lubricity from the wax when sizing handgun cases with carbide dies to avoid galling and rough-cycling of a progressive press. You will definitely still need lube to resize rifle cases, but the straight-walled handgun cases should resize with a carbide die much smoother and should prevent galling that can happen with ultra clean brass. Hope that helps someone.
Should rinse that brass with fresh water before drying. And the latch on the media separator has to be the stupidest latch I’ve ever seen. I know because I broke mine on day one 😂
Yep! I realized that in post-production haha. I typically do a rinse before drying. And yeah, I’m not a huge fan of the latch compared to the older model. My unit at home has a metal pin to hold the halves closed and I find that a lot easier to use. -Kyle
Yes, I know my train of thought is silly. 😂 What I was surprised at is that you don’t have to wait 10-20 minutes for brass to cool down if you use a food dehydrator. Having to wait for brass to cool down isn’t a big deal IMO, but it’s a nice touch (pun intended). -Kyle
I’ve used Simple Green Aircraft on gun parts before (and as an ultrasonic solution). It works great! I haven’t used it for brass cleaning though. -Kyle
Non-suppressed recycled brass why all this stuff is needed to just clean brass a tumblr with a medium would be my first choice. None of that fancy crap..
He’s making it more complicated than it needs to be. The tumbler does a great job. I just dump the brass on a big piece of cardboard and roll the cases a few times with towel then leave overnight. Most of the pins stay on bottom of tub, they make a nice magnet that picks up pins quickly.
You could! I’ve done it before but I don’t like the idea of putting fired brass in the same place where I cook food. Of course, you could use an old oven instead. The biggest possible issue is that your oven might discolor the brass, setting an oven at the lowest temp possible should help prevent that (around 180 F ). -Kyle
This may be beyond the scope of your demonstration, but I always deprime my cases before wet tumbling. The pins get in and clean the primer pockets which saves a step in the process later on. Excellent video.
@everday/ I was just going to ask that question. have been toying with wet tumbling. currently do dry, (rice and Flitz) does an awesome job with no dust, but as I get to the loads that for higher precision, need an excuse to buy more "essential equipment" lol
Been running a wet system for 8 years now. Really cleans the nasty brass left from a suppressed semi better than any dry system around
Also way healthier in the wet.
One thing I've learned is that it's completely unnecessary to use the pins. Sure, some of the primer pockets and inside of the case may have a little soot left over, but it shaves off SO much time not having to worry about them. I get that some people still want to use them, but give it a try if you haven't left them out. Takes some of the headache out.
I have all these products (except for the tumbler, I use a larger one made of metal). You should try wet tumbling for cleaning (SS flakes / pins + detergent + a teaspoon of citric acid) and then dry tumble for polishing (corn cob, medium granules preferable). Do NOT use cleaners/polishers that contain ammonium hydroxide!
I usually do 15 min wet, 30 min dry (bottle neck cartridges, dirty semiauto pistol brass I double cleaning time).
Recovering the tumbling media is usually the most time consuming part, so I streamlined my process: besides everything the did in this video, I use a large metal sifter to spread the SS media and leave in the bottom of the media drier to dry along with the brass. I only use those crappy magnetic collectors for loose pins that find their way to the floor.
I use to think that then I got a corn tumbler. Way better and cleaner
I usually just have my housekeeper Maria do this being as my time is somewhat limited. She uses Fabuloso which makes the brass very shinny and smells good too.
Been using their tumbler and sifter for years with a generic food dehydrator. Dawn soap, 2lbs of steel pins and lemishine for a couple of hours and the cases are highly polished, including inside the cases and primer pockets. I've done tens of thousands of cases and the equipment is showing it's age, but it still gets the job done.
Same...but I have a Harbor Freight tumbler and some YT PVC pipe hacks I have been using with a $5 yard sale dehydrator.
I have been ultrasonic cleaning my brass for some time now, I have an industrial unit, not the retail garbage. I tumble them in walnut media if I want to put a nice high polish on them. The Frankford media separator is really handy. To dry mine, I live in Arizona, lay them out in the sun on a towel and they dry out in no time.
what a slick way of cleaning brass
I use this same setup except I use an old food dehydrator to dry my brass and use Lemme Shine and Dawn dish soap. Love the way my brass turns out.
I wet tumble, then drop the wet cases into the dry media for a nice drying and polishing. Much faster than the dehydrator method.
Use a paint filter bag over a bucket first to get most of the water out. It’ll catch the errant pins and you can get the shells rinsed right away. Also def deprime first, and you can use a food dehydrator on AZ for half the price
I have the dryer and the larger tumbler and do use the SS pins. I do like the way it cleans and the speed. I have Amazon wall plugs that turn on for an hour, so I don’t need to babysit the units. I may look into the separator.
I always rinse once first then dry
You forgot the part of the video where you spend your time getting it to quit leaking out the end :) (I have the same setup, works great!)
Pre-coat your gasket with a bit of solution on both sides first before screwing on the top to prevent leaking.
After 3 years using the Frankford tumbler with Dawn, I AM SOLD. I de-prime, if the brass is clean but, to protect my dies I run "range brass" through the tumbler first.
I've been using the wet system from the beginning after sizing & decap. I use a mix of lanolin & alcohol for case lube and use a little dawn, for cleaning lemishine and Woolite for the lanolin, rinse off, put in my old toaster over. Nice clean brass for trim, chamfer and neck brush..ready to prime. Brass looks like new.
I use dawn dish soap,gravel and toluene. Then I put it in an old peanut butter pretzel nugget container and ratchet strap it to my pickup tire. Drive to work and home that brass is like new. I then spread it on baking sheets and light it. Dries and anneals in one step. F Class John told me this method. That dude wins
I use a similar wet tumbling method here. We have Fairy Liquid in the UK, and I also put in a teaspoon of citric acid as a softener. Also, I always deprime and I rinse the shells after separation to remove traces of the soap etc. Drying I do on a tray in a domestic oven at just under 100 deg C.
Its nice if you have a place to get and empty water. I'd have to run up a flight of stairs to get water and again to dump the water...not sure about dumping that water into a kitchen sink. I usually fill up my bins before I clean brass...1000 pcs for 5.56 and 1500 pcs for 9, 40, or 45 brass. I get the same shine with walnut media and cap full of NuFinish car polish every dozen batches. (you have to run the media alone for 4 hours to blend the polish in and dry or it will cement inside the cases) A tumbler full of media lasts about a year. A used drier sheet tossed in will collect the fine dust and remove the static charge from the tumbler bowl.
I started with ultrasonic but it dont get brass as clean as a tumbler. That’s a great starting kit.
I have all of these components + a magnet for the pins, purchased before they were sold as a kit. You have to be careful if using the pins though, because they can stick when dried, inside your brass. I also struggle with the water spots. Very annoying, from an aesthetic standpoint. That said, does a great job cleaning inside and out.
Flip one of your separator handles around do the arr opposite each other and it will work out better.
Maybe it's just me, but I would probably dump the initial dirty water before attempting to sift the brass from the media first.
Thank you
Had mine for about 6 years now. I found the best was is. First de- prime or they will hold water. Use the hottest water you can with Hornady Case Clean. About a shot and 1/4 glass worth. Tumbling for 2 hours. Then fill the sifter tub with hot water and sift the brass. This gets the case clean off, and the pins don't escape as much. Keep sifting about 2 more times with clean hot water. I use a towel to dry the brass off as much as I can. This will help eliminate water spots in the dryer. I dry mine at 120 degrees for one hour and then move the trays around. Dry for 1 one more hour. If you cook your brass to hot or to lone, they will turn more of a bronze color. I pick up a lot of rang brass. Some of that stuff is old and turned black. But if you use this method. Even it will come out looking like Factory new.
First I sonic clean the brass for five minutes with IOSSO Brass Cleaner, rinse thoroughly and then wet tumble for twenty minutes with Southern Shine Media, dawn dish soap, and a little vinegar (mixed to 4-5 on the acidity scale), then again rinsed thoroughly, and then dried. Once resized and flared I vibratory clean with walnut to remove the case lube and get a good shine going.
I have all these products (except for the tumbler, I use a off brand, larger one made of metal). You should try wet tumbling for cleaning (SS flakes / pins + detergent + a teaspoon of citric acid) and then dry tumble for polishing (corn cob, medium granules preferable). Do NOT use cleaners/polishers that contain ammonium hydroxide!
I usually do 15 min wet, 30 min dry (bottle neck cartridges, dirty semiauto pistol brass I double cleaning time).
Recovering the tumbling media is usually the most time consuming part, so I streamlined my process: besides everything the did in this video, I use a large metal sifter to spread the SS media and leave in the bottom of the media drier to dry along with the brass. I only use those crappy magnetic collectors for loose pins that find their way to the floor.
Other that inspecting each case with a light, how can you be certain no pins remain stuck within the cleaned cases?
I have everything but the dryer...... I need one... but towel and fan drying does the trick too...
I have their wet tumblr and dryer. I use the magnet to separate media from brass while in water. Dawn dish soap, lemi shine, and turtle wax car wash gets the looking new.
@@JohnThomas-vd8zg I do the dish soap and lemi shine but not the car wax. How much of it do you put in it?
@ cap full so about 1 oz at most
@@BimmerDudeXi 1 or 2 drops is plenty for any normal sized tumbler. i used to make brass at one of the big ammo plants, we used 4oz for a 55gal drum of brass.
Also a fruit dryer from your local second hand shop is a good option.
.... as is a $5 toaster oven.
@ I process way more brass than that and What’s’er’name doesn’t like me using the big oven for gun stuff.
@ plus the dehydrator is fast enough and uses a lot less energy.
Wet tumbling without pins is way to go unless you got really dirty range brass...prob gonna go to dry tumbling for my match brass.
I have that same set up the problem. I see with it. It needs some plastic pins inside of it to make it turn better with the brass and the little pins, but other than that works great
So, can you make beef jerky with that dryer?
The small tumbler is great but has one flaw, the brass does not tumble at all in mine. It just sits there as the tumbler rotates. I have to put a bar in there to force the brass to flip around.
How much brass and water are you using? I’ve found that about half full of brass with water filled to the bottom edge of the opening to the container (seen at 1:54) works well. -Kyle
@Ultimatereloader hey Kyle, that's my normal fill amount of brass/media and water mixed with 1/2 tbsp of dawn dish soap and 380acp brass case full of lemi shine in the tumbler. I've tried different amounts of brass 1/4 full, 1/2 full up to 2/3 full and will not tumble without putting bar to force it to tumbled.
I have used dry media for thirty years, but I also have the Frankford Tumbler & Dryer they do a great job, and I still use both methods..................no pins in the wet tumbler, just a solution
I have all this I love it
I just use rice, works for me, seems like a good thing if your into wet systems
I will almost certainly buy this kit. I’ve been wanting to get into wet tumbling. It may not matter for how the reloads shoot, but I would be happier if my ammo was prettier. Dry tumbling with crushed walnut shells doesn’t seem all that effective.
Try add a couple tablespoons of brass polish or Nu Car Shine liquid car wax. I use both.
Apparently the large tumbler has rubber insides? I found that with a small load of pistol brass in the small unit, you need an insert to agitate the brass. Otherwise they just sit at the bottom and don't tumble enough to get clean.
Nice Video for the product!
I have original that came out and has worked well for cleaning and polishing brass. The pin’s will stick to sides and the top due to surface tension. I don’t know if the mesh end caps they sell will the fit the lite version, however they work well on mine to poor the dirty water out of the tumbler and it will be dirty!!!!
For my media separator I do use clean water to see the pins in the bottom as they fall out of the brass. Rotating the brass through the water breaks the surface tension and you need several turns, most of the pins will fall to the bottom. After a few attempts you will figure out how many rotations that works.
Since ‘stainless steel’ were so new on my purchase. I ended up purchasing a cheap Cabela’s food dehydrator and it work’s well. A few years later everyone came out with their own ‘Dryer’ models for drying brass. Yeah an hour or so and you’re good to go, just don’t burn yourself. O’ by the way sometimes there are still a few pins that fall to the bottom of the ‘Dryer’. It does help to have that magnet pickup device that Frankford Arsenal makes, those pins are very small to pick up by hand, which can be difficult. Then you can store them in the tumbler afterwards or buy a funnel to store in a Miracle Whip jar.
Not sure of the cost, but seems to have everything to clean brass by ‘Stainless Steel Media’, unless you already have one or more of the components.
isnt the bucket with the mesh screen supposed to go IN the other bucket while separating?? then when it separates the media, pins, and water... you pull the first bucket out and it drains the water from the pins? pins remain in light gray bucket, water goes into dark gay bucket?
Doesn’t the Frankfort Arsenal Rotary Tumbler (FART for short) comes with a fine mesh sifter adapter you can put on the lid and dump the dirty water before separating the media from brass? This must be missing in the Lite version, including the timer function.
yeah, you have to buy that separately with the Lite.. i just ordered the Lite last night and even had to order the pins too..
I always dump dirty water out and run clean water, shake, dump repeat until water dumps clean then empty brass.
I love my Lavabossoli LEM from 🇮🇹
Do you leave the primers in, and press them out later? Do you have to worry about any of your media sticking inside the cases? Do you put them back in the separator after drying incase of that? What would happen if a pin stuck in a case and you loaded it?
deprime first, and the pins clean the primer pockets.
The only place I've had pins sticking is with my 6.5 Creedmore cases, where I sometimes get the odd one with a pin jammed across the neck. I just remove it before sizing. I've never seen any stuck inside or in the primer holes on about 6 different calibres I load for.
Do you guys remove the the spent primers first before the tumble wash? Or does that even matter?
The SS pins will clean the primer pockets surprisingly well if you manually de cap first. If doing Milsurp brass it's good practice to de cap then pocket swage or champer first. 👌
What’s the MSRP ?
I bought this kit but haven't used it yet because some people are saying the pins can ruin the brass. What are your thoughts on those comments? Thanks.
Definitely give it a try! I haven’t personally experienced ruined brass from tumbling, some claim that wet tumbling will work harden your brass (which is not true). However, you might see some small impressions on the edge of your case mouths. It’s not much of an issue because it’ll get removed when you trim and/or chamfer/deburr. 🙂 -Kyle
@@UltimatereloaderAs silly as it sounds I would love to see a video of the pins being separated from the water and also dried. That’s the one step I cannot seem to find on TH-cam. Everyone just glosses over it.
Just use dry media.
One thing I do is rinse the brass before I dry it. This video skips that.
Hmm, didn’t show removing the pins from the dirty water in bottom of sifter base. Guess they didn’t quite figure that out with this system. 🤷♂️
Valid point! I did film that part but it just didn’t make it into the cut for the video (honestly, I forgot about showing it haha). I used the spout on the side to pour the water through down the drain, it worked well. I didn’t have any pins fall into the sink. It worked much better the gold pan sifter I have here at home to separate pins. -Kyle
wet tumbler YES!!! others NO
Just shake media out and let dry over night with fan or a few hours in the hot sun.
Looks like a nice setup, the real estate needed for all that is a no for me
That’s where I’m at as well. Ran a Frankford Arsenal tumbler for around 20 years, it finally gave out. Bought a Berry’s tumbler this year and love it. Very quiet, cleans well, removable bin is a plus.
There's no way in hell he actually got all the pins out with that weak, shallow rinsing. You have to fill the bottom bucket up higher with water so the brass actually goes underwater when tumbling.
I have been using dry for 37 years now and I keep it simple stupid system and from what I see with the wet system it doesn’t clean the amount of brass that I clean at one time. Would be a ok way of doing things if you have a small work space.
I'm continually surprised that people spent time, energy, and money to dry their brass with fans, dehydrators, ovens, etc. Maybe it's because I live in a dry climate but I've never needed to dry my brass.
After I separate the pins from the brass, crank the handle quickly to theough some water off the brass by centripetal force. Then add 4-5 paper towels to the brass and slowly rotate the separator for a minute or so. This will get nearly all the water off the outside of the cases so you don't end up with any mineral deposits/water spots on the outside of the cases.
Then dump them onto a towel and spread them out a bit and come back tomorrow to reload. Yes, it does require a little planning as I don't wet tumble the same day I reload.
Another step that has really made a difference for me is after I wet tumbleand rinse out the dirty water, I put in new water and a splash of armor-all "wash and wax" automotive soap. Tumble for another 10-15 minutes and then rinse out. This will impart a very thin coat of wax on the cases that will accomplish two things.
First, the cases will not tarnish over time like they do if you have super clean raw brass exposed.
Second, you need the bit of lubricity from the wax when sizing handgun cases with carbide dies to avoid galling and rough-cycling of a progressive press. You will definitely still need lube to resize rifle cases, but the straight-walled handgun cases should resize with a carbide die much smoother and should prevent galling that can happen with ultra clean brass.
Hope that helps someone.
Quit using pins yrs ago and switched to SS chips they’re easier to separate and do a better job in the primer pockets
Should rinse that brass with fresh water before drying. And the latch on the media separator has to be the stupidest latch I’ve ever seen. I know because I broke mine on day one 😂
Yep! I realized that in post-production haha. I typically do a rinse before drying. And yeah, I’m not a huge fan of the latch compared to the older model. My unit at home has a metal pin to hold the halves closed and I find that a lot easier to use. -Kyle
Surprisingly, 160-degree air leaves cases warm to the touch? You don't say!
Yes, I know my train of thought is silly. 😂 What I was surprised at is that you don’t have to wait 10-20 minutes for brass to cool down if you use a food dehydrator. Having to wait for brass to cool down isn’t a big deal IMO, but it’s a nice touch (pun intended). -Kyle
Lemme shine and simple green. No need for the pins.
I’ve used Simple Green Aircraft on gun parts before (and as an ultrasonic solution). It works great! I haven’t used it for brass cleaning though. -Kyle
And you know what? The dryer will even dry beef jerky !
That’s a lot of equipment and time spent just to clean brass.
None of this stuff is new. I've had all of these products for years now.😂
Non-suppressed recycled brass why all this stuff is needed to just clean brass a tumblr with a medium would be my first choice. None of that fancy crap..
I’d rather watch this guy then fohawk
You call it effortless
What a pain in the ass, I just use dry media, don't really care if the brass isn't totally clean.
Ditto. Been using dry for years and can't imagine what significant advantage this process has for 99% of shooters
@@Gnarly_Marley The 6.5 guys on youtube came to the same conclusion.
@@Gnarly_Marley It means you are not aerosolizing heavy metals. If you aren't already, get regular lead testing.
He’s making it more complicated than it needs to be. The tumbler does a great job. I just dump the brass on a big piece of cardboard and roll the cases a few times with towel then leave overnight. Most of the pins stay on bottom of tub, they make a nice magnet that picks up pins quickly.
@@tdj5245 The tumbler stays out in the garage, too noisy inside anyway. Never thought of it that way though.
Why not use a cooking oven??
Yes, I’m a Newbie…..🥴
You could! I’ve done it before but I don’t like the idea of putting fired brass in the same place where I cook food. Of course, you could use an old oven instead. The biggest possible issue is that your oven might discolor the brass, setting an oven at the lowest temp possible should help prevent that (around 180 F ). -Kyle