Ammunition & Hand Loading > Cartridge and Shotshell reloading
Stainless steel wet tumbling
bkoenig:
I got tired of dealing with dust and residue from tumbling media on my cases so I decided to give wet tumbling a try. I've read a lot about it online and everyone raves about it. I had an old junky Harbor Freight rock tumbler and I ordered 5lbs of stainless steel media from Buffalo Arms http://www.buffaloarms.com/Detail.aspx?PROD=164066.
I put in maybe 1/2 lb of the stainless steel pins, a squirt of dish soap, and a squirt of lemon juice, and filled it up the rest of the way with water and .223 cases. After tumbling for about 2 hours I opened up the tumbler and I was very impressed. This is the cleanest I have ever gotten my cases - they look almost new inside and out. Another big plus is the media doesn't stick in .223 cases like walnut shells does. It just slides right out. You do have to rinse them a couple of times to get all the dirty water out, but that's easy to do. Just pour off the water leaving the cases & media behind, refill, swirl it around, and repeat until it runs clean.
The greatest thing about this is that I don't have to worry about the lead reside from the dust that you get from regular dry tumbling. It's all just washed down the drain. There is one drawback, and that's the need to dry the cases after you're done. I purchased a cheap aluminum foil roasting pan and I plan to just set them in a warm oven.
My little rock tumbler doesn't have much capacity, maybe just 50 cases or so. I figured if I liked the results I would step up to something bigger, and Cabelas has a rotary tumbler for around $160 that they say can hold 250 .30-06 cases. I'll probably go with something like that. You can't use a regular vibratory tumbler for this, it has to be a rotary tumbler.
If you're thinking of getting into reloading I would definitely recommend going this route. The setup costs aren't all that much more than dry tumbling, and it's so much cleaner and has nicer results that for me it's no question which is better.
wallace11bravo:
Have you tried ultrasonic cleaners?
bkoenig:
I haven't, but I've heard good stuff about them as well. It would be interesting to see a comparison between the two.
wallace11bravo:
It's all I've used. Never messed around with tumblers. Works well for me, use distilled water and the Hornady solution, 3x 8 minute cycles, dry upside down, brush out the necks.
unfy:
I'd be curious to see some before / after pics, a long with how long they were tumbled ?
This goes for both the wet tumble and sonic cleaners!
I don't do any shouldered rifle reloading at the moment, but I can definitely see physical media getting stuck inside the case / causing problems. I know on pistol brass, they'll inevitably get a piece of media stuck in the flash hole at the bottom of the case....
Any extra info / gotchas / procedure stuff concerning the sonic would also be welcome. How long have you had it ? Any quirks develop ? Any considerations ? Traditional tumbling (dry or wet) is pretty straight forward and not a 'new' technology. Ultrasonic stuff... I'd be curious how the machine handles after a year or three etc.
Edit:
The thought of buying media only once and it last a lifetime is very intriguing btw :)
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