Wet Tumbling My Biggest Run Of Growdy 45 ACP Brass Without Pins 

Jake Outdoors - like skipping to the end of a Star Trek Voyager episode to see the punchline... ;) :) ;) Have a great day, FC

NYfirefighter357 - Hooray for the NYFD..!! You've got a great system to get where you want to go. I'm looking at using a spinner media separator to get the pins out. We definitely don't want any pins in our 223s. Best to ya, FC

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CountryBoyPrepper - You've got that processing goin' good...We shooters of Calif. are not giving up ever, but we are rolling with the punches... Best to ya, FC

Retiredin - The pins result in cleaned primer pockets (if cases are decapped first) and shiny insides on all the cases. It is worth it to me to have good results and save the time doing the pins... Best Regards, FC

Grey Pilgrim - Well, there you go, pilgrim...fantastic. The cement mixer is the way that Jerry Miculek does his brass - but he shoots ammo by the jug. You will be able to go into business with that rig... Best to ya, FC

Nick J - That FA unit is about optimal for the needs of all but the very high volume shooters. Professional shooter Jerry Miculek runs a concrete mixer for the brass needs of a family of professional and semi-professional shooters. Have a great day, FC

Pretty much a requirement as far as I'm concerned if you use the pins. What a PITA otherwise. The pin magnet is also a Godsend.

DEEREMEYER1 - Great hearing from ya..!! Good work reclaiming that brass or it would have been wasted. That's a great setup you have there for doing huge amounts of brass... Have a great day, FC

Thorsaxe777 - I remember that cloud - Even done outdoors, it was nasty and hung readily in the air.. Have a great day, Dave FC Steve.

Yeap.. It's a long story, However I have two thumblers Tumblers Mod-140's.

Machinegreen - Thanks for posting comment, Machinegreen - and you Have a great day, FC Steve

SomeGuyInSandy - And with the pins used, the results are just a bit better especially primer pockets and the insides of all the cases. Best to ya, FC

Dave L - Thanks for posting this - encourages others to get their brass the most inexpensive way possible. Best to ya, FC

+FortuneCookie45LC reloading has been the best thing I have ever started for my shooting addiction....I mean hobby..... And in order to save the money you hope for you have to do the work! And now I'm just about to get into the casting to drop my costs even more. Scrounging brass, and getting free range scrap lead means I need only pay for the primer and powder for my 9mm rounds!!!! They will end up cheaper than even bulk .22 ammo up here in Canada!!

Dave L - When I tell new shooters at the range that a box of 50 of my 45 acp rounds costs me all of 6 cents a round or total of $3 for the box - it really amazes them. By reloading in volume, even our time spent is well returned. Plus the enjoyment factor is a plus - always good to spend our time productively. Have a great day, FC

+FortuneCookie45LC indeed, and I don't count the time to do it. It is a hobby so you can't add your time spent as a cost to it! My Lee pro 20 pot arrived yesterday and my die should be here tomorrow! Now to go to the flea market and try find a cast pot for melting scrap. And to finish constructing my I got mold I began welding up. For now I can only keep dreaming of the thousands of cheap bullets I will have!! Have a good day fortune cookie!

Dave L - Thanks for sharing your enthusiasm. Won't be long till you will have mounds of cast bullets... Good castin' to ya, FC

Rodney "The Castle Keeper" Barnes - You've got good systems in place. And that home made case lube of yours is so easy to apply. That lanolin is a good old method of corrosion resistance - makes a lot of cents, errrr sense. I should make some of that for my own use - isopropyl alcohol and lanolin mix. Just haven't gotten around to it. Good shootin' to ya, FC

DON C - OK, I should try that...Good reloadin' to ya, and thanks for posting... FC

onslaught5012 - The Lemi Shine is a weak citric acid. Plain white vinegar can be substituted - don't need much - like a couple of fluid ounces is all. Good reloadin' to ya, FC

Team Peg Leg - The cement mixer is the mega tumbler for sure..!! My little FA tumbler seems like a drop in the bucket in comparison...Good reloadin' to ya, FC

tires2burn - Good point - we are definitely better off depriming before the wet tumbling. Thanks for posting...and Best Regards, FC

tires2burn ....out in the sun with the brass......24 hours bone dry. All these people putting them in the oven. Seems like a waste of money.

gapster46 - When you run your first batch, you will be amazed...Best to ya, FC

I use wet fir my initial cleaning, load my rounds, then use Dillon vibratory cleaner with ground walnut shells and Nu Finish for final cleaning. It leaves them sparkling and slippery smooth.

I do a final rinse with distilled water to prevent water spots. Our water is very hard.

The Reloader Dude - And the results are still pretty doggone good - Best to ya, FC

Soulman1282 - The insides of about 1/3rd of the cases still have a dark look - clean, but still a bit dark. If you want all the cases to look brand new inside, pins are needed. I need to go back and annotate that to avoid misleading viewers. Best to ya, FC

bison uberti - DON C up above recommends a 10 minute hot water tumble - I've got to try that....your 5 minutes is a variation of DON's 10 - Good reloadin' to ya, FC Steve

guns3738 - Thanks for taking the time to post...Have a great day, FC

spyderxtra777 - if you want clean primer pockets and every last case interior to look shiny and new, then decap the cases with a Universal Decapping Die and the pins are still needed. If the cases are decapped, and then wet tumbled without the pins, not all of the interiors will be shiny, and the primer pockets are better, but some primer residue will still be present. Good reloadin' to ya... FC

Barn Dweller - If that were the case, we would have all our wet tumbled cases getting stuck on all our expander plugs in all our presses loading all our pistol ammo. Expander plugs are pretty much the same in what they do. The expander plug is hollow to allow the powder charge to be dispensed through it. I'm not seeing any sticking with wet tumbled brass anywhere. Unless I miss my guess, your expander plug is fairly well polished, if so, there should be any sticking. And what happens with reloading new brass that is also clean...Let me go home and check this, perhaps I've been getting the sticking also, but not noticing it...Best regards, FC

Brass that is too clean? That makes me think I'll stick to my RCBS..

I had the same issue. I polished the expander and it helped for a while then started sticking again. This is documented on the Dillon website and the recommendation is to use wash and wax instead of Dawn. I ended up switching to the orange Armor All Wash and wax and the sticking is greatly improved to the point where it's hardly noticeable. The brass is more shiny - like it's been polished. Last week I was in a hurry and washed a batch of brass with Dawn again. After 100 rounds, the sticking came back and I was reminded why I switch to wash and wax. For reference, I'm using 2 tablespoons of soap (Dawn or W&W), and 1/4 teaspoon lemishine with the Frankford Aresenal tumbler.

ej732 - That's the way it was before the dry vibe tumblers came along...we just wiped the brass off and reloaded them... Now, with the wet tumbler, we have clean, dry and polished brass to reload...much better to work with that... Happy Holidays, FC

FortuneCookie45LC Yah Ive stickily been reloading 308's, running a scotch bright over the cases while they're on the drill to size, its worked. After watching these videos, and seeing the dirty water you pour out, holy smoke! Happy Holidays to you sir!

ej732 - The sunlight didn't allow the dirty water to really show, but on other videos of mine on this FA wet tumbler, the nature of the dirty water really shows well...Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas to ya...! FC

I never clean the primer pockets on pistol rounds, only on my rifle rounds. I load pistol on a Dillon 550 which knocks out the primer on the old case while I'm loading it up, so going through the extra hassle of depriming before loading would add a completely separate step and defeat the purpose of my press. I do the primer pockets on my rifle rounds as I load way fewer of those and am going for consistency/accuracy. I do those on a single stage so the extra step of depriming is not as big a deal. All that said, I've never had an issue with dirty primer pockets on pistol brass even after tons of loadings.

Les0945 -- Brass shavings would be disconcerting for sure...I've never had that happen. But certainly, no pins works very well - that has become SOP for many wet tumblers here at the range. Without the pins, the primer pockets and case interiors are cleaned, but not as shiny polished as with the pins. The case exteriors are as shiny as with the pins. Not having to separate the pins especially in 223 is considered beneficial. I still use the pins when I want shiny case interiors and fully cleaned primer pockets. Good reloadin' to ya, FC

+FortuneCookie45LC Thanks for your reply

Hey Les I mostly wet tumble after resizing and cutting to length wildcats, knocks the wax right off and the pins make the chore of deburring much less painfull, I think that may be were the shavings are coming from is the necks if they were rough. At any rate check your case lengths prior to reloading.

Don Eime - It's just too good a way for any serious reloader to not give strong consideration to it.... Best to ya, FC

Mobow72 ....best reload tool I ever bought..the Arsenal is super tough stuff.

David Tabor - really is no ratio - you fill up the drum and put in a pinch (1/4 teaspon) of Lemishine. plus a teaspoon of Dawn. But the rinse of the cases after tumbling is also very important for good results. A garden hose or spigot run on the top and draining from the bottom into a big 5 gallon bucket works well. Rinse for 15 seconds, invert and rinse again, and then a third time. Good reloadin' to ya, FC Steve

Justin Gentry - Smoke comes from oil in the bore but only the first round or two. What makes our shots smoke are the retardants that are used to control burn. Don't know how much smoke you are getting, but there is definitely some smoke when I shoot 4064. I do not suspect bad burn of your charge. Perhaps switching to CFE 223 might be in order - it's supposed to be clean burning and low smoke... But 4064 is a good wide range powder, don't give up on it yet. Tactical situations dictate low smoke and also low muzzle flash. The CFEs are supposed to also have low flash as well as the copper handling... I haven't tried the CFEs yet, but they are on my get list... Best Regards, FC

+FortuneCookie45LC thanks for the info. the barrel is dirty. so no oil. it has a cloud about 3-4 feet that floats away. no wind conditions. I was just making for sure everything was okay. thanks for the quick reply.

Justin Gentry - That cloud is appropriate. We used to get more than that when we shot our lubed cast bullets - the lube added to the smoke = reason many competitors switched to plated bullets and then powder coating more recently = lower smoke....Have a great day, FC

Jeff Henderson - Didn't notice that...you guys don't miss a thing..!! Best to ya, FC

Dirty ground range stuff. quick wash down get dirt and rocks out. Deprime next and pin tumble. It's a lot of work but I now have a 5-gallon bucket over half full of usable 9mm brass. The hard part is running through the sifter to get shells sorted and rocks and crap removed. Good news no money spent just relaxing time used.

It is interesting how you can develop strategies even for hobbies! I used to wet tumble, dry the cases, de-prime/resize, wet tumble and dry 😓. Now I pick up the brass, sort by caliber and separate the dirty from the clean brass. The cleaner brass gets de-prime/resize then wet tumble and dry. The dirty brass I save it in a bin until it is worth spending a free whole day for the extra steps.

Eric White - I do run a hair dryer on the brass so that it is almost too hot to hold. But even so, with that big jug of brass, I'll perhaps get two or three primers that will corrode a bit and not deprime in my progressive - not a real problem. The primer pockets do get cleaned a bit, but without decapping, they will not get as clean as we would like - however, I never cleaned pistol brass primer pockets at all for many years anyway... Best to ya, FC

Thank you for the information. I've heard that if not de-primed first there could be some residue moisture in the primer pocket thus causing the new primer to fail. I'm going to try a small batch of 100 or so and see what happens, I'm in Georgia so it gets pleeeenty hot here to dry out the brass :-) Thanks again for the great vids.

Eric White - If you intend to reload that brass immediately, residual moisture could pose a problem. There are dehumidfier units that are available to dry the brass or the hot sun or hair dryer is still a good option. The the brass could be stored for a week or two before loading. Moisture will not be a problem. You might get one or two stuck primers caused by corrosion, but nothing really problematic. If you want clean dry primer pockets, best to decap and then wet tumble with the pins. Will also clean the insides of all the brass to new condition. Hail the great state of Georgia..!! As an aside, if we want our reloads to be showroom finish - best way is to 1) pick up brass that is on concrete so excess dirt is not included; or shoot a revolver or bolt gun so cases never hit the ground 2) run those cases through the resizer die first - that decaps and sizes the cases of course but then the wet tumbling will polish any signs of the resize operation also. Without outright dirt, carbide size dies will cause no scratches to the brass. 3) load powder coated bullets so no lube will be introduced. 4) hit the finished rounds with a bench lathe rag wheel with jeweler's rouge. Our reloads will shine like jewelry. Best to ya, FC

@Chris Knez how do you make sure your brass is pin free? I was thinking for once fired brass I have about 20 000 cases of 9mm once fired I've collected. Not that nasty stuff laying on the ground for months n years. I was thinking everyone in a while run the tumbler with pins. But for sure once I get to the dirty stuff I'd use pins. How do you seperate the pins? I only have experience with the pins that come with the frankford arsenal tumbler

@Chris Knez I thought there were different size pins. And no I'd probably process then in batches of 5000

@Chris Knez I tried without pins and with. Obviously with pins looks new, but the one with out pins wasnt bad either. I put a little vinegar and backing soda for 15 min run then rinsed and used dish soap for n hour. It cleaned up the inside pretty well just not shiney.

He didn't, but if you want nice clean inside and out primer pockets included de-prime. I de-prime always now and my brass always looks brand new inside and out.

Ghost Shadow - I've been looking at the Frankford Arsenal brass dryer - for $50+ it ises 160 degrees air movement. Those convection ovens are the same cost. Have a great day, FC

Yea but with the oven after the brass is dry you can throw in a small pizza.

Ghost Shadow - ;) :) ;) FC

Sean O'Brien - One teaspoon of Dawn and 1/2 teaspoon of LemiShine (some say to use 1/4 teaspoon Lemi). Best to ya, FC

Roha Waha - The rouge is among the very finest grades of iron oxide or the like - abrasives that are so fine that they polish the brass. And unfortunately, it is red in color. Congrats on getting the FA wet tumbler. We both should have gone to that many years ago. It is the healthiest way to clean and polish brass + the results are excellent. Doing 3K cases actually requires that dryer. If we are only doing 750 - 1000 rounds of brass, a hair dryer actually works OK. Dry brass is very important - or we will get some undesired corrosion. No matter our experience, there is always more to learn...thanks to you, readers now have intel to not have to learn something the hard way... much appreciated FC

Never put any kind of oil on the inside of cases. Petroleum lubricants kill powder and primer compound. That's why primer manufacturers recommend soaking unwanted or damaged primers in oil to deactivate them. Don't overthink things. Stick to the reloading instructions in RELOADING MANUALS and you'll be fine.

Mr. Tolly - There are always priorities on resources and timing...Have a great day, FC

apfelsnutz - The HF tumbler is used by quite a few reloaders...works well for small loads of brass or for polishing gemstones. Have a fine day, FC

I believe GRODY is the correct way.

I spell it grody :-D

starbuck1776 - OK that...not having pins to deal with especially with 223 is a big advantage. Best to ya, FC

Phil Smith - Yes, there is also a video out on doing the "soak" method. But the tumbler works faster and better with the pins - with hot water and the Lemi Shine / Dawn, the cleaning cycle can be reduced to 20-30 minutes. The tumbler acts like a washing machine. Important thing is we get away from the unhealthy dry tumbling. Have a great day, FC

FortuneCookie45LC Good to know FC! I'm still on the fence with the sonic cleaner... I saw many good reviews about it, but I'm quite skeptical. I also experienced already the cases in my washer, but it was ok when I was doing small batches only... now I'd like to do larger batch. To be honest, even thought about having a dedicated washer (since we can find some for 150 bucks, so even cheaper that most tumbler in my area). Just some thoughts :)

Phil Smith - If you want to do big batches of brass, the Frankford Arsenal Wet Tumbler is the one you want. The sonic units don't process many cases at once. The only way you can beat the FA is with a cement mixer. Best to ya, FC

Jim Tau - You don't need to fill the whole tumbler...we can do 1/2 loads just as readily, and the tumbler drum is definitely easier to handle... Have a great day, FC

I have the FA Wet Tumbler and the Lyman dry media tumbler. It is a wash as to which is better. The only advantage the wet tumbler has is cleaning the primer pocket and flash hole when using the pins. But what a pita it is to separate the brass and pins.

gman77gas - For a while I thought that was the way Wisconsiners do things - the robust way..!! Best to ya, Gary - FC Steve