Tumblers

[wch]

[B]Is case tumbling really necessary?
I've reloaded for years, and when my cases get too dirty, I just wipe[/them off with a Flitz cloth and go back to loading.
Seems to me as if this is one of those "Range Myths" (as opposed to Urban Myths) that are fueled by the industry to sell products that aren't really necessary].
About the only result of all this time and money is cosmetic; if that appeals to you, go for it. I'll continue on my scruffy way.:smile:

[fryboy]

necessary? no ...nice ? yes ! it's nice to know that there's no grit on my cases that mite scratch my dies and if i had a choice between grabbing a grubby looking round and a clean one to stick in my chamber i know which one i would grab ( what about you ? ) but i have to admit that various liquid media gets the inside looking like new and less carbon deposits also translates no crud building up inside the case walls ,

[unclebill]

i tumble for 2 reasons
1 it makes it easier to see any weakened/cracked cases
2 my ammo is pretty.

[1hole]

"Is case tumbling really necessary?"

No.

"I've reloaded for years, and when my cases get too dirty, I just wipe[/them off"

I tumble but I don't delude myself about it and I had reloaded for many years before tumblers came on the market. Fact is, clean cases are clean; there's no grit to hurt anything on a clean case. For the life of me, I can't see that finding cracks or splits is any easier on shiney cases than otherwise and I don't know what weakened cases look like.

[STAR4ever]

I have expensive dies and reloading equipment so I like running clean and lubricated brass through them so that they are not having dirt and grime residue embedded in them. Once carbide on the FL sizer die is scratched, it pretty much cannot be salvaged.

My semi auto firearms also like clean brass once it is turned into reloaded ammo.

[wch]

Fryboy, I am not judging, but I am questioning.
There's a big difference.

[dragonrider]

WCH, Fryboys quote about judgement is not directed at you, it is his signature line that is always there.
About case cleaning, I don't know how many cases you clean at once but I clean hundreds at a time so one by one with a flitz (?) cloth certainly is not in the cards for me. A tumbler or vibratory cleaner leaves me free to do something else while the brass is being cleaned. Many folks want thier brass shiny, I don't care, all I want is clean, free of shooting residue. so I tumble them for less than one hour.

[wch]

My apologies, Fryboy.

[Wayne Smith]

I've used a tumbler for years after 20+ years of not using one. Now I have a tupperware container of citric acid mix in my loading room - I'm doing most of my case cleaning with that. Still have the tumbler, use it occasionally, mostly to dry the brass if I want to reload it quickly.

[cbunt1]

Necessary? Nope. Cleaning your cases? Well, I think it is...easier to ID bad cases (as mentioned above), easier on the dies, easier on the press (especially when/if you go progressive).

Me? I tumble. I feel the call of a "duty to beauty." Because I'm well known as the local "lead boolit guy" the folks at my ranges love to look at my ammo. A bright shiny case, with a well-formed cast boolit always gets the reply of "Really, you made that? The boolit too? Tell me more!"

Which leads (often) to an opportunity to bring another caster and/or reloader aboard...

So to me, my bright shiny ammo that works well, shoots accurately, and looks as good or better than factory rounds is just one more tool in my ambassador arsenal.

In short, tumbling isn't essential, but it's nice. Clean enough is good enough.

[unclebill]

"Is case tumbling really necessary?"

1 For the life of me, I can't see that finding cracks or splits is any easier on shiney cases than otherwise
2and I don't know what weakened cases look like.

1 it is for me
2 i do

[Moonie]

I have expensive dies and reloading equipment so I like running clean and lubricated brass through them so that they are not having dirt and grime residue embedded in them. Once carbide on the FL sizer die is scratched, it pretty much cannot be salvaged.

My semi auto firearms also like clean brass once it is turned into reloaded ammo.

Um what kind of gunk are you putting your cases into that is going to scratch carbide, honestly?

Not that I'm disagreeing with you about clean cases, I much prefer them myself but I've never managed to scratch carbide, this from a guy that broke ball bearings as a kid, ask my parents :)

[fryboy]

Fryboy, I am not judging, but I am questioning.
There's a big difference.

no apology needed but it is accepted , as dragon rider stated it is my sig line and it's meant at no-one in particular and the world in general , while i could use about anything for a sig line i chose this one for obvious reasons , granted it is about deeper than many realize but it's also very truthful , many people judge things/people and dont even realize it let alone even understand why they form the opinions they do , but it's not for me to judge and my sig line confirms this [shrugz] it was a long time before i had a sig line here , i really like the one i use at another site but ...that one really applies to what we do with our choice of clean/polished/prepped/whatever brass ....

back on topic , while i agree that carbide is hard to scratch i actually have more steel dies than carbide ones , a piece of grit say caught in the neck can and will imbed it's self on a steel expander ...this will then scratch every case neck that i size as long as that grit is there and some grit is very very hard , the same principle also works on the outside - even more so if using lube ( and who doesnt use lube with steel dies ? ) even carbide dies are usually just a carbide ring set into a steel body , i'm a poor boy ..dies cost money and are a tool and the better i take care of my tools the longer they will last and the better results i will achieve with them , but as always that old saying applies YMMV ( your mileage may vary )

[462]

To me, tumble cleaning bras is all about taking care of my reloading equipment...not just the brass, but dies, presses and guns. I haven't scratched a die, but have bought used ones that were. They can be fixed, but why cause the problem, in the first place?

[Chicken Thief]

This is funny!

Yall talk about the outside of the case ant it being purty. I'm a magpie for shiny brass myself, but think of the crud and whatnot that will grow inside a brass shell with 10-15 shootings and no cleaning?

Thats why i tumble.

Myhttp://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm153/Chickenthief/Blandet/Smilere/2c.gif

[unclebill]

, this from a guy that broke ball bearings as a kid, ask my parents :)

hahahah!
thats a good one!

[Hip's Ax]

When I return from the range my rifle brass gets deprimed and goes in walnut and polish to get the grunge off, then into plain corn to clean off any walnut and polish residue.

After resizing with spray lube they go back into the tumbler to remove the lube.

After the brass is completly processed it goes in the tumbler with corn and polish then plain corn and my process is complete.

I rarely work in batches of less than 100, more often than not I will be working with up to 500 even 1000.

So some steps have a reason like grunge and residue removal but the final stage is to get them nice and shiny. I like the way it looks and they are easier to find in the grass after firing. I always seem to lose one or two though. :(

[Pieter C. Voss]

Schuetzen shooters often breech seat their bullets and load a charged case behind the bullet. It is commonplace to use the same case dozens, even hundreds of times with no cleaning. If any "crud" builds up inside the case it is not apparent from the results on the target--1/2 MOA is not uncommon for a proven match winner.

[jcwit]

Necessary? Nope!

Necessary to wax my car? Nope! Do I step back and admire my car after I'm done? YUP!

I my mind, basically the same, sorta akin to pride.

[nes4ever69]

cleaning 100 and more pices of brass is easy with a tumbler. besides nice, clean, shiny brass looks nice.

[Chicken Thief]

Schuetzen shooters often breech seat their bullets and load a charged case behind the bullet. It is commonplace to use the same case dozens, even hundreds of times with no cleaning. If any "crud" builds up inside the case it is not apparent from the results on the target--1/2 MOA is not uncommon for a proven match winner.

Ya bet ya!
And the trend is evident here:
http://www.6mmbr.com/index.html
Snoop around and indifferency regarding case cleaning is the "norm" right?

[6bg6ga]

I will probably get knocked down for my reply but I think that clean cases help with accuracy. I seem to get a tighter group with clean bass over dirty. It can't hurt by any means and its kinda nice to load the gun and still have clean hands.

[1hole]

" Once carbide on the FL sizer die is scratched, it pretty much cannot be salvaged."

That's really not so and it's virtually impossible to scratch carbide unless you do it with a diamond.

What happens when carbide sizers are used unlubed on cases that are too clean is the two dry metals rubbing under pressure gall, in which the softer metal adheres to the harder like it's welded. The galling starts microscopically but builds with each successive case until scratches get large enough to actually damage cases. The galled brass can be removed fairly easily tho.

I make a die cleaning lap out of a wood dowel rod by tying a strip of snug fitting 3M Scotchpad (green) pot cleaner around it on one end. Chuck the other end in a drill motor and spin the lap in the die until the brass has been cleaned away.

There's no need to be concerned about changing the dimensions of the sizer, only a diamond lap can do that.
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" I don't know what weakened cases look like. --- i do"

Bill, would you care to elaborate on what weakened cases look like, in some 46 years of reloading I've never even heard of that one. [Of course the incipient head seperation stretch ring is well known (or used to be) but the current craze of tumbling eliminates that warning sign.]

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No one has ever suggested reloading "dirty cases" but I can't imagine ammo that has been reloaded to be so dirty that I could dirty my hands chambering it. ??

[DCM]

[QUOTE=wch;1146178][B]Is case tumbling really necessary?

I don't take chances on ruining my dies so I clean ALL of my brass.

I don't necessarily polish it, but it does get cleaned.

It certainly makes it easier to spot defects in cases.

Necessary would be a personal call.

[unclebill]

" Bill, would you care to elaborate on what weakened cases look like, in some 46 years of reloading I've never even heard of that one.
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No one has ever suggested reloading "dirty cases" but I can't imagine ammo that has been reloaded to be so dirty that I could dirty my hands chambering it. ??

it makes it a lot easier for me to spot tiny cracks/spilts that are forming.
no i dont have a magic technique for spotting things that havent happened yet.

:wink::kidding:

[Rio Grande]

Most responses I think show a bias toward self-justification after spending $.

Tumbling cases is fine if you like it, but totally unnecessary.

[unclebill]

Most responses I think show a bias toward self-justification after spending $.

Tumbling cases is fine if you like it, but totally unnecessary.

i got my thumblers vibratory tumbler for free.
i love it.
pride in workmanship you see.



sparkling cases make me happy.

[Skipper488]

:kidding:It's prettier

[1hole]

"Is case tumbling really necessary?"

Okay, certainly it's necessary. If we don't shine our cases, rifle bolt handles will rust and front sights will fall off. "Dirty" cases will soon destroy dies, shell holders and powder funnels. And, silly stuff like groups aside, how could we prove to others on the line our pride and expert reloading skills if people didn't gasp in happy astonishment when they see the gaps between their teeth in the mirror shine of our cases?

Sure, brass case reloading was done for about a hundred years before anyone realized shiney cases are a necessity. But those old guys? Sheesh, all young guys know they hardly knew what they were doing, just spending a lot of effort getting better powder, primers, bullets and designing/making loading tools like standardized dies, strong and easy to use pressses, semi-auto primer systems, in-line seaters, excellant powder measures and tricklers, neck turning tools and bullet concentricty gages, magnetically damped highly sensitive and accurate scales, hand cranked case trimmers, etc, but they couldn't get it right cause they didn't understand the emotional hazards of using "dirty" old cases over and over!

Only after some younger guy found that crushed corncobs and metal polish could make brass really purty - or something seriously important like that - did reloading really start to roll! ;)

[mold maker]

I clean and polish my brass, same as I do my guns. I wash and wax my 73 Chevy truck too. It's a matter of pride.

[prs]

I much prefer liquid tumbling in the Thumblers rotary. The only media I use is enough hot water to barely cover the brass, a dib of liquid detergent, and dose of ciric acid. Rinse in clear water and spritz with case lube while stilll wet. AIr dry in orange sack. Then again, I shoot black powder mostly.

prs

[klcarroll]

Yes, I tumble clean all my brass! .......Mainly because I pick up most of my brass at the range, and I rarely sit down to reload anything less than a 1000 round batch.

Under those circumstances, the "Flitz Cloth" approach stands right next to "Mental Masturbation" in terms of practicality.

Kent

[woodyubet]

I clean all my brass. It's just a matter of pride for me. Besides the treadmill tumbler is just fun to use.

[bumpo628]

I clean all my brass. It's just a matter of pride for me. Besides the treadmill tumbler is just fun to use.

You mean like this one?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yv1M_wnqges

I made this rotary tumbler out of an old treadmill. The front panel speed control lets you vary the speed depending on the weight in the cans. You can remove either can while it's running to check on it too.

The treadmill was free and I use walmart corn cob bedding material that costs about $2 a bag. So, tumbling doesn't have to cost a lot.

[zardoz]

I like to craft the shiny brass myself.

Last go around with the 9mm and 40 S&W cases, I put in tumbler with walnut and nufinish overnight, deprime and size, then did a hot citric acid bath, then back into the tumbler with 20/40 corncob and nufinish. That brass is so shiny beautiful, and the insides and primer pockets look like new from the factory.

Better than factory new, now that I think about it.

[woodyubet]

You mean like this one?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yv1M_wnqges

I made this rotary tumbler out of an old treadmill. The front panel speed control lets you vary the speed depending on the weight in the cans. You can remove either can while it's running to check on it too.

The treadmill was free and I use walmart corn cob bedding material that costs about $2 a bag. So, tumbling doesn't have to cost a lot.

It would be nice to reconfigure the old treadmill but it's still in use for us fat people,so I had to come up with something different. It's had some major redesigning since this photo but it works exactly the same........It really does work good for me and the media is cheap enough..............Dollor Store Rice.

http://www.castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=94878&highlight=tumbler&page=2

[DCM]

It would be nice to reconfigure the old treadmill but it's still in use for us fat people,so I had to come up with something different.

I like that Idea! I think if you add a roller just off of the end and put the drum between the belt and it you would be golden!

You could walk and tumble brass at the same time.

[Skipper488]

I like that Idea! I think if you add a roller just off of the end and put the drum between the belt and it you would be golden!

You could walk and tumble brass at the same time.

Better yet take the motor off of it and make it people powered, it'd be more incentive to excercise. :redneck:

[woodyubet]

I'll get a bycycle for the human powered stuff. SHE, makes me remove the tumbler so she can walk on HER treadmill nightly. I'm going to try some different media one of these days but I doubt anything will leave the cases as slippery as the rice........

[HighHook]

Every week i go shooting in the hills i pick-up 5-6 times the brass i shoot. Its been laying in the dirt and sand and some hardly i can read the head stamp.
First thing i do returning from shooting is toss it in the tumbler and let it do its job.

[David2011]

As long as we're talking about polishing, if you haven't heard yet, Drillspot.com has a good deal on corn cob media. They will sell you 40 pounds of Econoline corn cob blasting media for about $23-$26 delivered to your door. Deliver time is 2-3 days in my experience. The grits are fine and really, really fine. In numbers that's 14-20 and 20-40. The 14-20 is the "coarser" of the two and I haven't had any get stuck in flash holes.

I'm just a satisfied customer; no commercial interest.

David

[bumpo628]

I'll get a bycycle for the human powered stuff. SHE, makes me remove the tumbler so she can walk on HER treadmill nightly. I'm going to try some different media one of these days but I doubt anything will leave the cases as slippery as the rice........

I've always thought about using rice before. Works good huh?
I'm currently using corn cob bedding material from the Wal-Mart pet section. It's only about $2 for a giant bag. Rice is pretty cheap too, plus there happens to be plenty in cupboard. Next range trip I'll have to give it whirl.

[Crash_Corrigan]

I have been cleaning my brass for almost 20 years with two vibratory tumblers. The down side is the noise and the mess. Also the dust generated inside the tumbler is loaded with nasties from the primers and will not make your breathing any easier.

Replacing the media is a nasty job but necessary. Recently I bought a Thumbler's Tumbler and using Dawn, water, and citric acid my cases are really much cleaner.

With the vibratory cleaners there was a fine dust on the brass after processing that required a rinse in water.

Now I deprime all cases with a Lee Universal Decapping die and throw the cases into the tumbler. After a few hours they are clean inside and out and there is not a speck of black stuff inside the primer holes. When I hand prime these cases it is much easier and the primers slide into the holes with nary a problem.

There is also a pride issue here. After all the money I have spent on reloading gear and such over the years I probably have over $10,000 invested into making ammo for 22 different guns.

When I take out a box of ammo and place it on the shooting bench it is so bright and shiney that you almost have to put on sunglasses.

So I will continue to process my brass in the Thumbler and I will also continue to clean and polish my 2007 Triumph Speedmaster Motorcycle until it hurts to look at it. I am proud of my Triumph and I am proud of the ammo I have learned to make for my guns.

I make no apologies. My ammo looks better than the stuff you pay big bucks for at the gun store. My Triumph makes any HD look like a piece of ****.

[jcwit]

With the vibratory cleaners there was a fine dust on the brass after processing that required a rinse in water.



Sounds like you might've been using to much polish. I've never had that problem.

However you won't have that problem with the method you're now using.

[bbqncigars]

Some cut up USED dryer softener sheets added to the vibe will kind of soak up the fines. The sheet pieces will be real dark from the fines the first few times you use them. Always use fresh pieces for every batch. I do this with untreated walnut that has a wee bit of mineral spirits added for case lube removal. This is after the cases are deprimed and wet tumbled in SS media w/Dawn and a wee bit of Lemishine added.

[Malcolm]

Before I could aford a tumble I use cornmeal & a cloth bag I would put them in the dryer they made a lot of racket but it worked.

[Mike Kerr]

Most of my reloading is done in volume so I really appreciate my tumbler. However, with rifle cases I sometimes just wipe off the necks on about 30 -40 cases to load a quick batch - makes me feel thrifty.

Regards,

:smile::smile:

[jcwit]

What is it with folks using their cloths dryer to polish brass? Do not people think about the lead residue in the cases thereby contaminating future loads of cloths that the whole family wears.

But then we'll get all excited about minute amounts of lead in toys from china.