Ok, I have a Dillon 650 and being I am tumbling with stainless steel media I am tumbling with wet media and being I want it to dry out completely and not wait for a week I am running just a ECW underside die and de-priming my brass before I tumble. I am wondering if anyone else is using a progressive press and tumbling with wet media.

Are you de-priming the brass first and if so are you running a separate tool head with just the station 1 die in it and a separate tool head thats setup for loading.

 

Now let me pass this by you, if I do keep a separate tool head do you think there would be advantage in using the Dillon normal sizing die in station 1 and an ECW under-size die in station 2, I know I am over thinking this but was thinking it might be an advantage to 2 smaller steps to get it to the under-size rather than 1 larger one.

 

So what's ya think??

 

Harry

I use a lee universal decapping die so I dont scuff up a sizing die with the dirty brass and because it is effortless and fast on a single stage. I can do 500 pieces in no time! Also the obvious; you dont have to switch the dies to switch calibers.

I use a lee universal decapping die so I dont scuff up a sizing die with the dirty brass and because it is effortless and fast on a single stage. I can do 500 pieces in no time! Also the obvious; you dont have to switch the dies to switch calibers.

 

Good idea, didn't think about scuffing up the sizing die with the dirty brass. Yes it doesn't take much time, I did run the brass through the sizing and decapping die already and it took me 45 minutes to do 1000 of them, but I did have to run up stairs and get a drink and check to make sure my daughter was doing her homework or I would have been done a little faster.

 

Harry

I do knock out the primers before cleaning with the stainless media.

I use a toolhead with the Lee Decapping die on my 550B.

When I load my ammo, I just use the regular sizing/powder/seating/crimp die arrangement..

Actually I just finished knocking out a bunch of 357 for me to shoot tomorrow night at Shore Shot or CJRPC.

Universal decapping die.

 

I'm building my own wet tumbler as we speak. I'll post pics when it is finished.

Universal decapping die.

 

I'm building my own wet tumbler as we speak. I'll post pics when it is finished.

 

Pretty easy to build but I went the route of buying one. I went with the tumbling over vibrating type being I grew up with a tumbler at my fathers machine shop and am used to them. Should have kept that when he closed up the shop and I would have been able to do around 5000 40S&W's at a time over the 210 I do in a batch now.

Thanking about it I should have kept a milling machine and a lathe and EDM. ohhh yea what I could be making right now..

 

Harry

Pretty easy to build but I went the route of buying one. I went with the tumbling over vibrating type being I grew up with a tumbler at my fathers machine shop and am used to them. Should have kept that when he closed up the shop and I would have been able to do around 5000 40S&W's at a time over the 210 I do in a batch now.

Thanking about it I should have kept a milling machine and a lathe and EDM. ohhh yea what I could be making right now..

 

Harry

 

I know that the instructions say to load around 200 cases (160-180 for 45ACP), but I have found that they get cleaner faster with more cases in the tumbler. I had 220 45ACP cases clean in 2 hours. Of course i discovered that as a function of being lazy and impatient, by "overloading" it.

I tumble 500 .45 cases at a time in my thumlers model B, I just leave out a teeny bit of water and overload the hell out of it! It works....!

I tumble 500 .45 cases at a time in my thumlers model B, I just leave out a teeny bit of water and overload the hell out of it! It works....!

 

Glenn, you are my hero!

 

From now on I throw all my 45ACP cases (about 500) into the Thumlers.

Glen and Chris, thanks for the info, I did leave a little water out and loaded 250 rounds but I'll try a little bit less water and try 500 pieces .40 on the next load. I must say, this brass is crazy bright and shinny, I really like this tumbler.

 

Harry

 

 

By a little less water, I literally leave out a splash, probably 4fl oz or so. Its really nothing but I can at least pretend im not overloading it as much

 

Just gotta make sure theres SOME space between the water and the top. I believe that will help agitate.

By the way, just an idea. My wife gets a little annoyed with brass all over the dining room table drying. So this season I retired a couple of those front lawn seasonal blow up figures. BING! Idea. I cut off the figure and saved the air blower. Going to use it to make a drying box.

By the way, just an idea. My wife gets a little annoyed with brass all over the dining room table drying. So this season I retired a couple of those front lawn seasonal blow up figures. BING! Idea. I cut off the figure and saved the air blower. Going to use it to make a drying box.

 

I had a few friends who made it their mission to drive up on people's lawns and mow over the ridiculous inflatables. That was years ago, but I'm sure others out there have picked up the slack. It may save some tire tracks on your lawn.

To all who recommended the Lee universal de-capping die, fantastic recommendation, I ordered one and it got here a few hours ago, I set it in my press and fired up the case feeder and went to town, blasted through all my 9mm I had on hand and have 400 tumbling right now. Oh and to update the first post, I just finished inspecting all the .40 I did and I didn't do 1000 in an 45 minutes, it was just a few pieces under 800, so it was a little slower than I thought but I think that's still respectable.

 

Again, thanks for the recommendations, and for anyone that's looking at tumbling wet with SS and your going to de-cap your brass prior to tumbling, the Lee universal die is great, and for the price, I over ordered but I did pick up a dozen extra de-capping pins. To the folks that recommended this to me, if you ever get in a pinch and need a replacement pin let me know, I'll be keeping extras on hand.

 

Harry

Harry, why are you popping primers beforehand?

 

For 40 cal, I just use the Lee Dies, which do a very nice job with getting rid of buldges, and follow it up with a factory crimp die. No need to undersize... although I am sure it would be a tad more effective.

Harry, why are you popping primers beforehand?

 

For 40 cal, I just use the Lee Dies, which do a very nice job with getting rid of buldges, and follow it up with a factory crimp die. No need to undersize... although I am sure it would be a tad more effective.

 

He's tumbling with stainless steel, which requires the cases to sit and dry afterwards. Dry time is drastically reduced with no primers in the cases.

Maks, yup what Jon said, I am tumbling wet and wow, you should see the primer pockets, the brass look better than brany-new..

 

I am using the EGW (Lee) under-size die, a few people that have helped me with the Dillon really spoke highly of the under size die over the Dillon die so I went with there advise,

 

Seat and crimp die are Dillon for now and may just stay that way being I'll be putting together a separate tool head with dies and powder drop ready to go for other calibers or Major and Minor setups. I was thinking about something like the Redding Competition Die that you can adjust a lot easier and more accurately than others but I figured setting up separate tool-heads for each caliber it would have been a waste of money.

 

Harry

One thing I have noticed lately is that steel tumbling media weakens the case mouth on shells. I had cleaned a set of 45ACP brass and some 357 brass recently. I let both tumble for more than the specified 3-4 hours. The 45ACP I probably had running for near eight hours because I got stuck doing errands.

When using the powder die station for my 357 brass, I noticed that some cases did not bell correctly. A section of the rim would actually fold or crimp inward a little. I threw these pieces of brass out and initially assumed it was because they had been shot a few times. In my experience though, 357 brass lasts a long time unless you are going really hot. I then loaded up some 45ACP brass and noticed the same thing, but a lot more frequently. Considering I usually get a dozen or so loadings before I toss 45ACP brass, I knew something was up. I backed out the powder die to produce less bell, so the incidents decreased enough to proceed.

I guess my warning is that you shouldn't overdo it in the tumbler, and that you should pay careful attention to the belling.

The 45ACP I probably had running for near eight hours because I got stuck doing errands.

...

I guess my warning is that you shouldn't overdo it in the tumbler, and that you should pay careful attention to the belling.

Dude, get one of these ASAP!

 

http://www.amazon.com/Woods-59377-Digital-Appliance-Settings/dp/B000IKQRTU/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1321461664&sr=8-2

 

Was just about to say that. Ive tumbled for an hour and 15 and they are super clean. 4 hours is unneeded in my opinion.