I wet tumble rifle brass with the Frankford Arsenal Rotary Tumbler (FART), without using the stainless steel pins or any other media. There's a "wet fart" joke in here somewhere...
I've been using the FA wet tumbling system for a long time and I also do not use the pins. One thing I did change was the cleaning cycle. A guy on YT rinses his brass in plain hot water first and dumps that water. Then he fills the tumbler with the usual Dawn, Lemi and hot water. The brass now tumbles with clean soapy hot water. There's a difference.
I never use stainless pins when I wet tumble. I’ve never had to worry about breaking a sizing/decapping pin, either. Range pickup brass gets dry tumbled to remove dirt, etc, then wet tumble after decapping with a universal decapper.
I wet tumble dirty brass with pins in same solution you use, leaving the primer intact so no pins get lodged in flash hole. 3 hours max. Rinse. Dry exterior with towels or use my jerky dryer if I'm in a rush with them. Decap. Neck size only (majority of mine only need neck sizing, so no lube needed). If any need FL sizing, I dry tumble to get lube off or simply spray with brake cleaner and wipe. To clean primer pockets I run them over the RCBS uniformer. Done. I keep FL sized brass separate from neck sized.
As I'm watching this, I've got my brass drying in the oven. I use pretty much the exact process as you. I also wet tumble after sizing to wash off the lube. The only time I use the pins is when I pick up range handgun brass, extra grungy, and tarnished.
I’m not sure if you talked about the huge advantage of avoiding stainless pins, no risk of damage to the firearm from accidentally leaving a pin in a cartridge, firing it, and as a result trashing the barrel. It only has to happen once in thousands of reloaded rounds. I’m using ultrasonic. I love the look of stainless tumbled brass, but I just don’t fancy separating the media
It looks like you are cleaning "after" sizing/recapping? Or are you just recapping before you size?. With AR type of brass I would be inclined to size and decapitate in one operation....thus, clean first , then size/decap.
I add a couple of drops of Finish Drying agent to my wet tumbler. Spotless.
I've been using the FA wet tumbling system for a long time and I also do not use the pins. One thing I did change was the cleaning cycle. A guy on YT rinses his brass in plain hot water first and dumps that water. Then he fills the tumbler with the usual Dawn, Lemi and hot water. The brass now tumbles with clean soapy hot water. There's a difference.
I never use stainless pins when I wet tumble. I’ve never had to worry about breaking a sizing/decapping pin, either. Range pickup brass gets dry tumbled to remove dirt, etc, then wet tumble after decapping with a universal decapper.
I wet tumble dirty brass with pins in same solution you use, leaving the primer intact so no pins get lodged in flash hole. 3 hours max. Rinse. Dry exterior with towels or use my jerky dryer if I'm in a rush with them. Decap. Neck size only (majority of mine only need neck sizing, so no lube needed). If any need FL sizing, I dry tumble to get lube off or simply spray with brake cleaner and wipe. To clean primer pockets I run them over the RCBS uniformer. Done. I keep FL sized brass separate from neck sized.
As I'm watching this, I've got my brass drying in the oven. I use pretty much the exact process as you. I also wet tumble after sizing to wash off the lube. The only time I use the pins is when I pick up range handgun brass, extra grungy, and tarnished.
I use the exact same stuff . but i add a little wash and wax car wash soap makes the shine last !
I’m not sure if you talked about the huge advantage of avoiding stainless pins, no risk of damage to the firearm from accidentally leaving a pin in a cartridge, firing it, and as a result trashing the barrel. It only has to happen once in thousands of reloaded rounds. I’m using ultrasonic. I love the look of stainless tumbled brass, but I just don’t fancy separating the media
Yes, that's one of the main reasons I don't use the pins. I don't need to launch one down my expensive custom barrels.
I use pins, but, I prefer Lemi Shine w/ a Cascade Platinum Plus dishwasher pod. Dry them in a cheap food dehydrator.
I have 2 x lyman cyclone wet tumbler stainless steel pins i use white vinegar and wash and wax Excellent results no lemi shine etc since 2016
It looks like you are cleaning "after" sizing/recapping? Or are you just recapping before you size?. With AR type of brass I would be inclined to size and decapitate in one operation....thus, clean first , then size/decap.
I decap first, then clean. That way the primer pocket is cleaned. Then I resize.
I do the same process, saves a bunch of time separating pins from brass.
Instead of Dawn try Cascade dish washer soap