Goodbye corn cob media. Hello Franklin Armory wet shell processing system.

[usmcm16a2]

Folks,


After growing tired of dealing with the mess of corn cob media. Tired of poking the media out of the primer hole. Tired of the dust. The filth, it gets into everything, all over the garage. A2

[Randy99CL]

A video I watched mentioned that the dust from dry tumbling fired brass puts a lot of contaminants into the air that you really don't want to breathe.

[Six5x39]

I told myself I will upgrade once my old hornady tumbler breaks , darn thing is still going strong .

[RiverRider]

I've been running the stainless media system for several years. If you want like-new clean brass, it can't be beat. There are down sides, but not too serious IMO.

[NugginFutz]

I've found you can run without the SS media unless you really want the primer pockets clean, but even then, there is no mess like either corn cob or walnut.

I strongly suggest the media magnet. I also recommend using something like the dairy cup shown here, to prevent the magnet from getting waterlogged and internally rusted. It also makes separating the media from the magnet a trivial task.

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[lrgrendel]

[usmcm16a2]

Nuggin, LR,

I purchased the magnet, where do you get the Lemi Shine? I just ran my first load, 500 Grendel brass for 3 hours. Brass is squeaky clean. Do you folks run the brass through the Frankfort or your system once you full length resize your brass to get the lube off? A2

[NugginFutz]

Nuggin, LR,

I purchased the magnet, where do you get the Lemi Shine? I just ran my first load, 500 Grendel brass for 3 hours. Brass is squeaky clean. Do you folks run the brass through the Frankfort or your system once you full length resize your brass to get the lube off? A2

I get the Lemi Shine from the local grocery store, by the dish detergents and laundry soaps.

To degrease after sizing, I'll just run it through the Frankfort for 20-30 minutes without media. Rinsing is important, or the residue will dry on the cases. I use my media separator for this. Fill the bottom with enough water to immerse the cases. Spin/rinse. Repeat.

[NugginFutz]

Don’t forget the Lemi Shine and Dawn dish soap!!

+++1

[cb4017]

I bought one of the Frankford wet tumbler setups last year. I haven't used my vibrating tumbler since. I normally don't bother using the SS media unless the brass I'm cleaning is unusually grungy. The only extra step is depriming the brass before putting it in the tumbler.
Deprime the brass. Throw it in the tumbler with water, Dawn and LemiShine then run for 3 hours. Rinse and lay out to dry.

[TropicalVibe]

I got a FA wet system for Christmas last year. I have only used it 3 or 4 times. Each time has been with SS pins. Maybe I am doing something wrong, or my detergent is not working (FA solution 3 cap full), but I get a much better shine from my tumbler with Lyman green media. I have been using this in the same tumbler for about 20 years. This thing just wont die.

I like the clean primer pockets, but the wet system seems to be much more work compared to dumping a batch of brass in the green media for a few hours then spinning it in for a minute in the media separator. Also, not dust from the green media.

I will continue to use it for rifle brass.

[Sticks]

I've upped my game to an ultrasonic cleaner (works good on the bolts too). Three 9 minute cycles and they are clean. Rinse and put in the oven for an hour on the warm cycle. Lube and size, Then they go in the vibratory with walnut and a cut up dryer sheet - little to no dust or static. I need to get more car polish (non ammonia) to get the shine back. Have not had a problem with media in the flash hole.

Removing the lube is by far the biggest hassle.

[fdbyrne78]

I used an ultrasonic cleaner for quite a while. I liked the results, but not the limited batch size. I went to the wet tumbler more for capacity than anything else.

One piece of advice. Be careful with cleaning the BCG in the ultrasonic cleaner. I thought I was being smart trying to deep clean my phosphate coated BCG. That BCG is no longer phosphate coated. It still works, but I went with a nitride BCG on my Grendel build for that reason.

[Clarence]

TropicalVibe,

I had that problem, too.

If the brass is dull-looking after using the steel pins, you have either used too much Dawn or not enough Lemishine.

Soap is a base; citric acid is an acid. The acid produces the shine, but only if the mix is slightly acidic. It's tempting to use an extra squeeze of Dawn, but that swings the mixture over to the basic side and makes the dull cases.

Clarence

[StoneHendge]

I've upped my game to an ultrasonic cleaner (works good on the bolts too). Three 9 minute cycles and they are clean. Rinse and put in the oven for an hour on the warm cycle. Lube and size, Then they go in the vibratory with walnut and a cut up dryer sheet - little to no dust or static. I need to get more car polish (non ammonia) to get the shine back. Have not had a problem with media in the flash hole.

Removing the lube is by far the biggest hassle.

I do it in reverse. Fired brass goes into tumbler with corn cob media. I have free electricity so it runs all day. One shot spray lube and size/deprime in one step. Rinse with hot water in sink in ultrasonic tray to get some lube off, drop in ultrasonic cleaner and run a number of cycles with temp at 144. The lube gets suspended in the solution. Rinse with hot water, roll on old towel/sheet to get majority of moisture off then let air dry in a tray lined with paper towels. Gets the pockets clean enough for all but the most anal hand loads.

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