if you are going to get them wet use the s.steel pins.
tumble in corn cob to clean before sizing
size (you do understand you are creating the problem by pulling a button thru the necks)
clean in ss pins
dry quickly to prevent tarnish
i blow dry with a hair dryer. or blow with compressed air.
in spite of rumors to the contrary you can size with a bushing without neck turning.

you want to make it as complicated as possible for less than target ammo.
stop determine what you want in the ammo and build to that..it aint this complicated.

 

Ok you got me sold on corn cob , years ago I was led to believe
that walnut did a better job of cleaning but I'l try the corn , I also
am going to try wet tumble with s. steel pins , ( I always had it
in my mind that s. steel pin tumbling would be hard on the cases )
still looking for opinons on which wet tumbler would be a good
choice for quaility , and if an air dryer is the way to go , to me
an air dryer would be simple , put in the cases and no fuss no muss
their done .still looking for opinions on good or bad air dryers

 

cheap HAIR DRYER...hand held
AND
fine ground corn cob..not pet bedding

 

how many pcs of brass at a time ?

 

100 to 150 of 7.62 , or 200 to 250 of 5.56

 

You can dry brass fairly quickly by rinsing wet brass with 99% isopropyl alcohol. The IPA absorbs the water and flash evaporates leaving your brass clean and dry.

 

so..300 pieces of 308 brass, how many gallons of alcohol to rinse? I am assuming once cases are emerged ,you strain them and recover the alcohol in its container(s). That said, how many rinses till the alcohol no longer absorbs water from cases ?

 

Thanks for the link , I've been leaning towards the same one ,
their air dryer seems like a good one as well

 

I have been using a hair dryer for many years to dry my brass, works great


Patrick

 

My friend wet tumbles with stainless steel pins. He drys with a cheap harbor freight food dehydrator. It works well.

 

I stand the wet cases, neck down, in stainless steel test tube holders I bought for next to nothing from a university property dispo. If it is warm and sunny, they dry quickly in the sun. If it is winter, I place them in front of a floor-level register and let my furnace dry them in about 30 minutes. In either case, I am free to do something else at the same time. Each holder will take 72 rifle cases, and is only about 4"x9".

I only wet tumble when the cases are REALLY dirty. A short time in a vibratory tumbler is usually good enough in most cases. And my tumbler has a solid cover, so it isn't constantly throwing dust.

 

Wet brass into metal coffee cans, into oven, set to bake (not broil) at 220 degrees F for 1 hour. This temperature will not anneal the brass. Cheaper and easier than most of the methods discussed above.

 

I've done this with brass I picked up at the range after a rain. Zero cleaning done yet. It gets exciting if there are a live primer or two in the mix!

 

Lots of good methods and input , thanks to all for chiming in

 

What is the worth of 'removing that threat'?

Over 2+ decades of moderately high volume INDOOR shooting, I am of the opinion that SHOOTING indoors has a lot higher "threat" of lead ingestion than my brass tumbler does.

Add to that finger-fondling lead bullets while manufacturing ammunition.

The other place you don't want to go is an OUTDOOR shooting range, because of lead bullets generating Lead Dust, wind stirring it up with ordinary dirt-dust, you breathe it.

Don't be downrange of those ranges either, because the wind blows it over properly lines.

I do not snort the dust out of my tumbler like it's Coke or Crank.

The "lead dust exposure" is real, yes, but it is wildly overblown for the sake of marketing and selling wet tumblers and the various magic potions you are also supposed to buy to go inside them.

You dump the lead-contaminated cleaning solution down the drain, where's it go?
The city sewer?
Your own septic tank or lagoon system?
Where does it show up after that?

When the municipality has to drain, dry, and clean out the solids from the sceptic sewer system water treatment plant every so often, airborne lead dust.
Hope you live upwind that day...........

 

Add to that finger-fondling lead bullets while manufacturing ammunition.

You touch the bullets.....during loading?.......without gloves?.........wow......you are living on the edge.

I thought nose hairs filtered out dust, so the older you get the more protected you are.......


Seriously, any dust in your lungs is bad, whether it contains lead, carbon, mold spores, ceramic or fiberglass fiber, sawdust, dirt, cinnamon, or whatever. So don't be stupid and shake the polisher up and stick your face in the bowl. And if your media is that dirty, you might want to change it out 'cause it's just getting your brass dirty. But do that outside, 'cause that's when you're going to make a big plume of dust.

 

Cinnamon in the lungs, bad stuff.

Cinnamon is a caustic powder composed of cellulose fibers, which are bioresistant and biopersistent; they neither dissolve nor biodegrade in the lungs.

Inhalation causes all manner of immediate and long term future problems.

1 study of rats examined the pulmonary effects of a single intratracheal dose of 2 mg of cellulose in 2 test groups (particle sizes, 7.6 and 4.2 μm).3 Mild multifocal granulomatous inflammation was observed 2 to 30 days after exposure. More serious consequences, such as granulomata, interstitial fibrosis, alveolar histiocytosis, alveolar lipoproteinosis, and alveolar cell hyperplasia, occurred 3 to 6 months later, and granuloma and thickened interalveolar septa with worsened inflammation and fibrotic lesions were apparent 1 year later.

 

Yes, don't chew the bullets, wash hands when done, no big deal.

 

Don't fart in the HAZMAT suit,, OMG.....

 

There are several long tons of good Info on the castboolits forum.

I am not a member, but I scour threads on occasion.