One of the things

[S.A. Boggs]

That I dislike about wet tumbling is having to separate the steel pins from the brass. Recently I did some tumbling sans the pins, the result was no major difference in the "shine" of the brass.
Sam

[Allen]

Best I remember you have the Frankfurt Arsenal tumbler. If so I believe it comes with a pan like a plastic colander with bigger holes that let the pins through but not the brass. I place my colander type pan on top of a 5 gal plastic bucket, dump the contents of the tumbler into it and stir with my hand and spray with the garden hose. What's left in the pan is the brass and maybe a half ounce of pins. I dump this into a plastic pan (oil change plastic pan from Dollar Tree stores), shake and dump into the colander pan again. I repeat this 2 or 3 times to retrieve all the pins. A magnet works well to pick up the loose pins and those that may hit the ground. Your system may be far better but this is what works for me w/o much effort.

You say you wet tumble w/o the pins and everything comes out clean as well? I don't see the primer pockets getting clean this way (a major reason to wet tumble over dry media tumbling) but it sounds good otherwise.

[Sunray]

Brass doesn't need to shine. It needs to be clean. Never liked the idea of wet tumbling or cleaning. Adds a step.

[lyman]

Brass doesn't need to shine. It needs to be clean. Never liked the idea of wet tumbling or cleaning. Adds a step.

I understand the pins do a good job inside and on flash holes, and the primer recess,


like you, I have not seen a need,

my brass is tumbled a bit, then sorted and primed,

have not had a problem yet, and media is cheep

[Allen]

The SS pins are permanent and clean way faster than the dry media. Sometimes on very tarnished brass, the dry media will not clean it. I like to clean the primer pockets and flash holes so this is the route to go for that. I have always used the dry media till about 5 years ago when I discovered the pins and wet tumbling.

As far as shine goes Sam loads for others and sells them if I'm not forsaken so buyers are going to want that new looking shinny ammo.

To each their own. There's been a lot of discussion about this in the past.

[lyman]

The SS pins are permanent and clean way faster than the dry media. Sometimes on very tarnished brass, the dry media will not clean it. I like to clean the primer pockets and flash holes so this is the route to go for that. I have always used the dry media till about 5 years ago when I discovered the pins and wet tumbling.

As far as shine goes Sam loads for others and sells them if I'm not forsaken so buyers are going to want that new looking shinny ammo.

To each their own. There's been a lot of discussion about this in the past.

not to argue, but dry media, with or without a squirt or 2 of cleaning fluid (not brasso, i use the dillon stuff sparingly ) will clean tarnished brass,

it will not polish the brass, (clean, but stained, and still works as it should)

[Roadkingtrax]

not to argue, but dry media, with or without a squirt or 2 of cleaning fluid (not brasso, i use the dillon stuff sparingly ) will clean tarnished brass,

it will not polish the brass, (clean, but stained, and still works as it should)

Hey Lyman, I dropped you a PM.

[togor]

I'm with Sunray on this. Some guys also overdue it with the lube.

[S.A. Boggs]

50 years ago I started cleaning my brass by boiling it on Mom's stove [and her pot] using liquid soap and time boiled. It got the dirt out but the brass didn't look too hot. I decided to buy a rock tumbler with crushed walnut and rouge. I got it clean polished and dusty, so I switched to crushed corncob. This was my favorite way to polish and I upgraded to the vibratory tumbler to < the time to polish. I got tired of the dust from the corn cob so I again switched to the liquid method...much better and the brass is much cleaner. I use corn cob to clean the lube off of my 5.56 ammo.
Sam

[lyman]

Hey Lyman, I dropped you a PM.

email sent , let me know if it does not go thru,

your pm box was full,