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Don't worry about me. Nothing to see here. Just move along.
Seriously, the SS pin setup rocks. If I had more time I'd use it exclusively, but time is an issue with me so I don't have the time to go through the tumble, separate, dry ritual for every batch, and the batches are small! Two/three pounds of brass isn't a lot, but the results are spectacular!
I use the Lee universal decapping pin. I've only broken the pin when depriming a sneaky bearden primed brass that snuck in, otherwise the pin just pops up and I have to reset it.
I deprime before I do anything else (well, I sort, then deprime).
When I despair, I remember that all through history the ways of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants, and murderers, and for a time they can seem invincible, but in the end they always fall. Think of it--always.
How do you dry? I don't use SS yet, and I don't have a vibratory tumbler either, currently I use ultrasonic. Its cheap and it gets the brass clean enough, but its not sparkly.Originally Posted by AB
To dry brass, I either wrap it in a towel and shake it, then lay it in the dryer (my dryer has a sweater shelf you can put in) and let it do the work, or I put it in the oven at 170.
When I despair, I remember that all through history the ways of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants, and murderers, and for a time they can seem invincible, but in the end they always fall. Think of it--always.
I shake it in a towel, and then set the brass in a small room on a wire mesh rack with a ceiling fan and a dehumidifier.
I used to bake it at 180 (oven's lowest setting), but I noticed the brass took on a dark color rather than the shiny bright yellow I wanted. I have a sweater rack for my dryer as well, and I might give that a try!
Here's my method, I have only done a couple batches but I like it. Not sure if I'll do pistol brass til I get a separator. I size/decap (if it's dirty brass I'll tumble in walnut first to keep from scratching my dies) with Imperial die wax then wet tumble.
I split a 2-lb media refresher kit into the 2 drums of a harbor freight tumbler, put 1 spoonful (regular teaspoon from the kitchen) of Dawn in and basically filled it with brass. I got 40pcs of 30-06 brass per drum.
**I have to note that I have a water softener, and lemishine is supposed to help soften the water. I only used my softened water and Dawn soap. I filled the drums with cold water, and rinsed in warm water.
I used the laundry sink (nice and roomy) and just rinsed the suds out after tumbling by letting the water run into the drum, tilting the drum a bit until the suds were gone. Then with the drum full of clear water I grabbed 1-2 at a time and swirled them in the water to dump the media (the cases have to be underwater for the media to reliably come out).Then I made sure each case was rinsed well- I had maybe 8-10 cases with 2 pins stuck in the flash hole, out of 2 batches, not bad.
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I just laid the brass on a towel, folded it over and rolled them a few times to dry the outside, and left them to air dry a few hours. They look great! This particular brass was not too dirty, it was already tumbled in walnut a while back but you can see the difference ESPECIALLY on the inside of the case on these pics.
Jeez. That's clean brass.
Yeah, I don't have the patience for any of that.
"It does not take a majority to prevail, but a tireless minority keen to setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men." - Father of Our Revolution, Samuel Adams.
I may be found dead in a ditch, but by God, they will find me and my rights in a PILE of brass.
"Sure you can trust our government. Just ask an Indian."
"Extremism in the defense of Liberty is no vice. Moderation in the pursuit of Justice is no virtue." - Barry Goldwater
Oh yeah and wait to trim/chamfer til after wet tumbling, the pins will peen the edge of the case
Ok, I'm going wet now,
Deprimed 454&22tcm brass in separate tubs for first run
Little bit of dawwn soap and lemishine.
I unnerstand now why its not for everyday, well unless you had a
Plastic cement mixer to be able to do a decent amount at one time.
3 tubs is less than what would fit in the dry tumbler.
I'll not use it for pistol brass, and how much I'll use it for other brass time will tell,
As dry tumbling is more convient. And does not require depriming
For small batches of multiple calibers, or old dirty brass, or maybe match ammo, or magnum ammo
Where you want clean primer pockets, I can see the appeal.
I think I like it better for match brass, oh its clean alright,
But for the effort involved, I'm glad I have the dry setup, that gives production.
Last edited by mapper; August 15th, 2015 at 08:43 PM.
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