Tumbling Bullets

[Major Kettle Hill]

Question of the day....De-prime the bullet then tumble....or tumble the bullets then de-prime them.....or  does it really matter?

[Tombstone]

I would think you would want to tumble first, I would not want to take a chance getting medium in the firing chamber between the power and primer.

[Uncle Ethan]

I de-prime and wet tumble with stainless steel pins

[Jackalope]

Assuming you're asking about brass and not bullets..

I deprime the brass cases, then wet tumble with stainless pins.

I deprime nickle plated cases, then dry tumble.  The decapping pin in the resizing die cleans debris from the flash hole.

[Major Kettle Hill]

My bad; we am talking about brass.  I agree with Tombstone; always figured that open primer hole is a perfect trap for medium.  Reason I questioned myself, viewed many YouTube videos to narrow my choice for a tumbler.  Several of them were tumbling de-primed cases. Thought it strange, but hey I've been wrong once before LOL  Thanks for the input from valued/trusted sources.

[TN Mongo]

Jackalope,

I picked up a neat tip from Yul Lose on wet tumbling.  I've just run two batches of brass with no SS pins.  You increase the Strat-O-Sheen to one tablespoon, add 1/4 teaspoon of Lemi-Shine and a squirt of Dawn (same amount of water).

I did one batch of .32's without removing the primer (2 hours of tumbling) and they came out reasonably clean.  I did a second batch with .38's after removing the primers and tumbling for 3 hours.  I was very pleased with that batch.

I would be curious to know your results with black powder .44-40's.  I'd run them for about 4 hours.  It probably be more work to de-prime those "bad boys" because of needing case lubing.   

[Jackalope]

Hey Mongo!

I decap everything with a hand-held decapping tool prior to tumbling.

With the steel pins, a healthy squirt of dish soap (I use the yellow kind...don't know what brand), and a heaping spoonful of Strat-o-sheen (might be a teaspoon), really grungy, black powder stained 44-40 brass comes out clean and shiny in about 2 1/2 hours.  The primer pockets are also bright but the inside of the cases are slightly darker.  I don't bother with the Lemi-Shine anymore but it does smell nice.

I've wet tumbled the same type of cases prior to removing the spent primers but the brass comes out with a dull and discolored appearance.  Likewise, nickle plated brass does not do well with my cleaning recipe.

After I dry tumble brass, any bits of dry media stuck in primer pockets or flash holes are knocked out by the decapping pin when I run them through the resizing die on reloading day.

I might give the wet tumble sans pins a whirl next time.  Thanks for the tip!

[Purly]

I have always dry tumbled. How do you dry your brass after wet tumbling?

[Ocoee Red]

I have always dry tumbled. How do you dry your brass after wet tumbling?

I dry mine in the sun on a couple of old bath towels on the tailgate of my truck. I have a Frankford Arsenal dryer but don’t have to use it as long as the sun is out .
Just make sure they’re good and dry before loading again.

[TN Mongo]

Jackalope,

I've had my brass come out dull when I've accidentally gotten some nickle cases in with the brass ones.  I think I'll eliminate Lemi-Shine when my current container is empty and see what happens.


Purly,

I dry my cases with a food dehydrator that I picked up at an estate sale for $10.  They are perfectly dry in a couple of hours.  If I see another cheap food dehydrator, I'll pick it up.  Long Gulch has asked me to find him another cheap one; I'll put you next on the list.  midwayusa.com sells one drying cases, but they want about $69 for it.

[Mister Badly]

Before I got my dehydrator I put the wet brass in a bag made from 2 bath towels sewn together and shook them vigorously. Then laid them out on a dry towel in front of a fan

[Tombstone]

Jackalope, I thought I detected a hint of lemon when you were shooting last time.

[TN Mongo]

I think that was a new shampoo scent.  Spoken by a man with hair envy 

[Jackalope]

Do you really think he remembers how shampoo smells?