That’s it...I’m tumbling pistol brass

[odfairfaxsub]

I’ll be honest, I’ve screwed up a lot of things in my life time but never a die. Shooting as much pistol brass as I have I never tumbled unless I found range pickups but my brass never for a pistol. Say what you want but it worked for 10 years and no die damage yet. Now here’s where I got smart. Needed a die and my dad had the caliber, ask to borrow it and first shell I ran up it bam!!!! Scratch. Next case scratch next one and next one scratch. Now I’m of the school I’m just going to tumble everything even if it’s just for 1/2 hour to knock off the hard stuff just a bit. Figure I can tumble when I get home from work and shut her down when I put the kids to bed. That’s pretty much what I do for my rifle work and should be sufficent for this. I just see a future problem here.

[Chad5005]

I don't care if its a 100 pieces or a 1000 pieces,i tumble everything for 2 hours to make sure they are clean,then put it up in containers or ziplock bags till ready to use,im never in a hurry and not messing up dies I forgot to add I wet tumble with ss pins,dawn and limishine

[Wheelguns 1961]

I have a timer on my tumbler, so if I forget, it shuts itself off.

[lefty o]

i tumble it all. it doesnt have to be pretty, but to feed dirty brass into your dies, and then turn around and run the same dirty stuff into your gun to me is nutz.

[mattw]

I tumble for at least 12 hours in walnut or cobb with the good orange polish and some mineral spirits. I like my brass to be really shinny!

[Wheelguns 1961]

I go three hours with walnut and two used dryer sheets. It works pretty good.

[Tom W.]

I inspect my brass before I size it, using carbide dies. I mostly shoot at an indoor range, and I'll take home whatever someone else leaves, and a lot of that I know is once fired.After resizing/depriming I'll tumble it for a while in corn cob media and some Nu Finish car polish. When it's ready I'll put it in surplus 50 cal ammo cans. But it all gets polished.

[Dale53]

I polish all of my brass. That habit was ingrained in me from my IPSC days when my 1911's put everything on the ground. I have a large Dillon Vibratory tumbler and have a timer in my utility barn where I do my casting and tumbling. I just accumulate until I have a load (I keep LOTS of brass), then tumble for three hours with Dillon's polish and ground corncobs. I have worn out one carbide die but that's after upwards of 200,000 rounds over the years. I can live with that...[smilie=1:

These days I pretty much just shoot revolvers (getting too old and feeble to bend over picking up brass:roll:). I still believe in keeping my brass clean before loading it.

FWIW
Dale53

[glockfan]

I polish all of my brass. That habit was ingrained in me from my IPSC days when my 1911's put everything on the ground. I have a large Dillon Vibratory tumbler and have a timer in my utility barn where I do my casting and tumbling. I just accumulate until I have a load (I keep LOTS of brass), then tumble for three hours with Dillon's polish and ground corncobs.
Dale53


pretty much a carbon copy of the path ive followed along the years. i like my brass very clean in and out, an old habit i'm carrying since my early ipsc years . i leave my brass getting scrubbed by the corn for 8 hours in my large dillon 2001 tumbler with a spoon or 2 of carnauba car wax,and they're exiting shiny in and out.

[Mr_Sheesh]

8 hours... 1.5-2 hours does it in my wet tumbler. I like some speed in that (Otherwise I'd be given a bad time for disturbing the neighbors here.)

[therealhitman]

These days I pretty much just shoot revolvers (getting too old and feeble to bend over picking up brass:roll:). I still believe in keeping my brass clean before loading it.

Dale, this thing is the best. You need one.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mo33XnGAVXM

[georgerkahn]

odfairfaxsub -- thanks for post, but you piqued my curiosity: what is the caliber, and brand/type (e.g., carbide?) of die. After 40 or so years loading, I've (knock wood) not yet scratched a die -- and surely do not wish to start ;) now! In winter months I use a Thumler's Tumbler slow-speed model with walnut shells and/or a Hornady ultrasonic cleaner. From spring thru fall, I use the hi-speed version of same tumbler with stainless pins, Armor-All Wash n' Wax, Lemi-Shine, and a smidgeon of Dawn. Perhaps a little OCD (can one even be "OCD" in the reloading process?), I decap all my brass on a separate press, and the primer removal is a requisite before any tumbling. Then, nothing but tumbled, decapped brass ONLY will be in contact with dies. I apply/use the Imperial/Redding wax for sizing, too. Again -- I'd love to learn your caliber, as well as die type/brand.

Re your scratches, it is often NOT the scratch (e.g., "dent") which is a problem scratching your inserted cases, but the "moved" metal from the scratch now making a raised burr adjacent to it. If you were to turn, say, a piece of broom-stick, or sufficiently sized hardwood dowel to just barely fit in the die; chuck it into a drill press chuck, and insert the die to the now spinning dowel which you had liberally coated with plain-Jane tooth-paste -- it may be sufficient to remove said burr and restore the die to, hey!, even better than new functioning. Whatever, wood as a tool shouldn't affect functioning diameter, and tooth paste is barely abrasive enough to work down the raised burr. In machine work -- many years back (now I'm retired) -- we did this with success on hi-speed steel dies. (We used Squibb brand tooth-powder mixed with a few drops of tap water). Never tried it on a reloading die -- but, it might just work.

geo

[odfairfaxsub]

George, you might be right. It’s a old old old rcbs die for 44 mag. Almost could be considered aluminum in weight. I’ll be honest it might be aluminum w steel parts it might be steel. I’m going to throw more info tonight as to the construction of it.

[Pb Burner]

I have scratched a die, but RCBS replaced for free. Even so, since then, I never resize fired brass that has not been tumbled, ever. I tumble with corncob at least an hour before sizing and because I lube all brass before sizing they get another hour in the tumbler after sizing. A timer for the tumbler is money well spent, imo.

[DerekP Houston]

i tumble it all. it doesnt have to be pretty, but to feed dirty brass into your dies, and then turn around and run the same dirty stuff into your gun to me is nutz.

same here, I always toss brass in the tumbler, if I can't remember it doesn't hurt to clean it again....

[Uncle Grinch]

I have a timer on my tumbler, so if I forget, it shuts itself off.

Now that’s a simple but good idea. I’ve got a timer we used to use on our outdoor Christmas lights that will be perfect. Need to put it with my tumbler so I won’t forget it.

[dh2]

I tumble every brass case every time I load it, I use a timer 4 hours or so, it is in the shop so no one will hear it.

[bedbugbilly]

I mostly shoot 38s - Colt Short, Long & Special. I don't own a tumbler - probably should. When the brass gets dirty, I use a "poor man's cleaner'. I de-prime it and toss it in a clean 5 gallon bucket of hot soapy water. Let it set for a while and then I have a 1" "stirring dowel stick" that I swirl it around in the bucket with. After and hour or so of sitting in the hot soapy water, stirring it every ten minutes to mix the brass around, I rinse with hot clean water. Then I rinse the bucket, fill it with hot clean water and put in some powdered citric acid - let it sit of ra while, sir, sit, stir and so on. I then take it out and rinse it and spread it out on a towel to dry for a day or so. It's not nice shiny brass like the tumblers do but it does clean it up nice. So far, I've never scratched a die. My bottleneck rifle brass though, I do the above with after every shooting.

[osteodoc08]

Take the die apart and chuck up an old brass brush in a drill. Wrap with cotton flannel or cotton patch and smear with flitz. Wear a leather glove and hold onto the die and run the flitzed patch in the die to polish it. I’ve also installed the die upside down in a single stage press to try and hold it still as well.

I’ve taken up STM and have been happy. A bit more work but oh so shiny.

[dvnv]

Could be a non-carbide die...did you lube the cases?

[Ateam]

I have a two stage process; A lyman turbo vibratory on a timer which cleans all my range pickup which can be really muddy/dirty/full of gravel. After a go in that for an hour or so (behind the shop to keep the dust away from the house), I bring it in the house and it either gets stored or run through the ss wet tumble for use.

[NyFirefighter357]

My brass always goes for a spin in my F.A.R.T.

[Mr_Sheesh]

Only down side to my tumbler (which has a timer) is that the solution I have in it, really needs to be decanted off the brass once the timer stops; It's loud enough that I can hear it stop, though. Just can't start it and go camping or something.

[JMtoolman]

I just sent a 50-70 sizer that scratched the first brand new Starline case put into it. Yes I had cleaned the die before using it for the first time. I tried polishing it out several times with steel wool wrapped around a brush. Didn't do a thing, still scratched cases. After forty or so case costing a $1.50 each, I broke down and sent it to RCBS yesterday. The toolman.

[fast ronnie]

The only die that ever gets a dirty case in it is a de-capping die before ss wet tumbling. I will never put an uncleaned case in my dies. Soaking in water only does part of the job. Ultrasonic cleaners do not help to remove burrs on the cases. They get the brass clean, but don't finish the job.
I used to use walnut shell in a thumler's, but after switching to ss pins, will not go back.

[BK7saum]

It sounds like your die is probably a STEEL die and not a Carbide die. I am not sure that you have scratched the die, but maybe embedded a piece of brass and grit onto the inner die surface. I have had this happen on a couple of occasions from lack of lube and resizing cases that weren't super clean. Just chuck a bore mop or chamber brus in the drill, cover with a cotton or flannel patch with a liberal coating of JB Bore Paste or Flitz and spin the mop or brush for 30-seconds to a minute. Lube and size a piece of clean brass and see if the "scratch" on the brass is gone.

This works on steel or carbide dies, but carbide dies are less likely to hold embedded brass and grit.

Good luck. Double check your die construction and give this a try.

[BK7saum]

And sometimes you can embed/transfer brass onto a steel die from a clean, but not properly lubed cases.

[stubshaft]

After 54 years of reloading, I bought a tumbler last year for sh!ts and giggles. I've shot IPSC, PPC and other events where brass regularly hits the ground. Not to mention High Power rifle and their assorted shooting environs. I have never worn out a sizing die, damaged a chamber or had a problem with dirty brass. I have better things to do with my time. Dirty brass was a way of life for Ackley, Keith and host of others.

[lefty o]

After 54 years of reloading, I bought a tumbler last year for sh!ts and giggles. I've shot IPSC, PPC and other events where brass regularly hits the ground. Not to mention High Power rifle and their assorted shooting environs. I have never worn out a sizing die, damaged a chamber or had a problem with dirty brass. I have better things to do with my time. Dirty brass was a way of life for Ackley, Keith and host of others.

it only takes once!

[oldpapps]

Interesting....
I started loading, heavy, back in 1973 when I was shooting PPC. Before that I loaded mostly rifle stuff, started in 1963.... Oh boy, I'm old!
Anyway, being a young COP, I didn't have a lot of cash and would scrounge as much brass as I could to load. Some of that was some nasty 'Star' brand re-load stuff. I think they lubed with motor oil... I had regular steel sizing dies and quickly learned about scratching. I quickly started cleaning in a rattle tub.
Now these many years later I have progressed to wet tumbling with stainless steel pins, everything.
I punch the old primers first and clean them all. I like having clean primer pockets when I load.
Clean brass and no damage to dies are great. I recommend it to everyone.

Load with care and enjoy,

OSOK

[charlie b]

I am another who has spend a few decades reloading 'dirty' cases, rifle and pistol. Every now and then I would put all my brass in a big bucket and wash it with laundry soap just to get all the accumulated grit off of them. I never ruined a die. Never got a case stuck in a die. And I never cleaned a primer pocket or trimmed a case (except for wildcats).

FWIW, I love the person who came up with carbide dies for straight wall cases :)

Recently I broke down and got an ultrasonic cleaner. I use it for cleaning other stuff but it does well on cases too, so after a day at the range I toss the brass in the 'bath' for about 30min. It is kinda weird for me to have reloads with shiny cases :)

[RED BEAR]

I wash all brass in Citric acid before sizing. Most of my dies are steel so I hand lube all of them and inspect and only tumble after sizing.

[cwlongshot]

Same here,
I bring it home and sort, rang brass just goes in 5gal bucket. The "good" brass (That I count the loadings before becoming range brass) goes in baggies but ALL goes in tumbler before it gets loaded!

Only stuff I really wash, is unknown sourced brass or super dirty/brass off a muddy range.

CW

[high standard 40]

All of my brass, rifle or pistol, gets handled the same way. I use a decapping die first, then use a wet tumbler with S/S pins before any case enters any one of my loading dies. It reduces the chance of scratching a die and I have found that really clean primer pockets reduce the force needed to seat primers. I use a hand priming tool and I get a much greater feel for correctly seating a primer once the primer pockets are cleaned well. Everyone has their own standards to adhere to when loading ammo. To each his own.

[BHuij]

I tumble it all. The vast majority of my brass is range pickup. It's covered in dirt and gunk. I'd rather toss it in the wet tumbler for a few hours (takes me 2 minutes to get going) and let it dry on a towel overnight than feed my dies and guns gritty rounds.