Questions about tumbling

[23 Blast]

Hi all,

Just acquired a tumbler from a fellow Calgunner, and tumbled my first batch of dirty cases. They're nice and shiny now. A few questions:

1. How many times does brass need to be tumbled? A couple of YouTube videos I've found have the person tumbling cases twice - first after cleaning the brass with soap and water, and again after decapping and resizing. Is this level of fastidiousness actually necessary?

2. Tumble before, or after decapping? I was leaning toward doing it before decapping, since that would mean I wasn't putting filthy brass through my dies (like I've been hitherto doing), and while decapping I tend to use the primer pocket cleaner tool at that time.

3. Ideas for mitigating the sound? That vibratory tumbler is pretty dang noisy. Since it has to run for several hours at a time, and I don't necessarily want to be home while it's running, I'd like it quieter so curious neighbors don't feel compelled to investigate or have friendly local law enforcement do the investigating

4. Favorite media to use? The Calgunner I bought the stuff from included about half a jug of the Lyman stuff (the red colored one with Rouge in it) which brings out a pretty shine. Just want to know if there are better (or cheaper) media out there.

5. Opinions on tumbling completed, live rounds? I'm thinking this is a big no-no, unless I want a visit from the friendly fire department, but I've already made a bunch of batches with old, untumbled brass and wanted to know if it would be safe to tumble them.

[Citadelgrad87]

I tumble ammo once, before I deprime. Vibratory tumbling doesn't do much for primer pockets. Sometimes I'll briefly tumble ammo that I've had to lube, bottle necked rifle ammo, for example.

I use lizard bedding from the pet food store. It's cheap and works well but can be dusty.

I tumble in the garage with the door closed, and I use a cheap countdown timer rather than a light timer so that if I forget to unplug, it doesn't tumble three hours a night all week.

I haven't found any way to reduce noise, but try tumbling on the floor instead of a bench, sometimes this reduces the hum.

Tumbling live ammo briefly is fine. Although many claim it's dangerous, think about mil surp ammo riding all over the earth on crappy roads on army trucks, the. Shipped here and there, finally to be shipped to your door, in another truck.

Twenty minutes of finish tumbling is nothing compared to that vibration.

[_Nick_]

I can't answer every question as I'm still a novice, but I have seen people tumble live rounds. I think it's unnecessary and I also wonder if it's possible to change the OAL while tumbling. Just something I've thought about.

I hate ordering things online. I don't like to wait. I looked at my local Harbor Freight and got a box of walnut tumbling media for like 25 bucks on sale.

[MarkInFolsom]

For noise control, I use a padded kitchen mat/carpet. I place it on the garage floor, put a 1 foot square piece of 1/8 inch plywood on top of the carpet and then put the tumbler on the plywood. The plywood is to allow air flow to the tumbler motor.

[JMP]

1. How many times does brass need to be tumbled? A couple of YouTube videos I've found have the person tumbling cases twice - first after cleaning the brass with soap and water, and again after decapping and resizing. Is this level of fastidiousness actually necessary?

Tumbling is the least important thing you do; it is just to clean the cases to avoid gumming your dies, and it'll clean up brass if your cases are heavily soiled. I've taken nice clean brass out of a bolt action and just reloaded it without tumbling if I am not going to FL size.

2. Tumble before, or after decapping? I was leaning toward doing it before decapping, since that would mean I wasn't putting filthy brass through my dies (like I've been hitherto doing), and while decapping I tend to use the primer pocket cleaner tool at that time.

If it is pistol ammo ammo or you are doing just necks, it's easier to tumble first and let the die decap it when it sizes and your prep is done. If you FL size rifle, then you will probably want to tumble first so you don't gum up the sizing die, but you may want to re-tumble it do get the lube off.

3. Ideas for mitigating the sound? That vibratory tumbler is pretty dang noisy. Since it has to run for several hours at a time, and I don't necessarily want to be home while it's running, I'd like it quieter so curious neighbors don't feel compelled to investigate or have friendly local law enforcement do the investigating

Personally, I tumble outside so I don't care. If your tumbler is making too much noise, you probably put too much brass in it or you have a particularly loud model.

4. Favorite media to use? The Calgunner I bought the stuff from included about half a jug of the Lyman stuff (the red colored one with Rouge in it) which brings out a pretty shine. Just want to know if there are better (or cheaper) media out there.

Corn is probably the easiest. If you get the fine ground light color stuff, it won't plug your primer pockets and it is apparent in color when it gets dirty. Walnut is more quiet and probably cleans a bit better. If you are tumbling indoors, be aware of the dust that is especially prolific with walnut.

5. Opinions on tumbling completed, live rounds? I'm thinking this is a big no-no, unless I want a visit from the friendly fire department, but I've already made a bunch of batches with old, untumbled brass and wanted to know if it would be safe to tumble them.

You can tumble live rounds, but there isn't any need to unless you want to make it really pretty, or perhaps if you your cases have gotten grimy. For most pistol ammo this is fine. I certainly wouldn't tumble rifle ammo that is for the intention of shooting accurately, especially not BTHP bullets as your ammo will get banged around and media in your tips.

[Archon_g24]

Thanks for asking this, op. This noob was wondering about the same thing. I still have not loaded a single round and am still reading about the process.

[Fishslayer]

My routine for pistol brass

Soak in weak Lemi Shine for 2 hours. If you see pink spots throttle back on time or lemi Shine

Tumble

Load

Plain Lizard Litter (walnut) or cob media will do just as well as the expensive packaged media. Toss in a capful of Simonize Nu Finish.

The Lemi Shine soak isn't really necessary but cuts down on dust & makes your media last longer. Cuts tumbling time way down as well.

[stilly]

I can't answer every question as I'm still a novice, but I have seen people tumble live rounds. I think it's unnecessary and I also wonder if it's possible to change the OAL while tumbling. Just something I've thought about.

I hate ordering things online. I don't like to wait. I looked at my local Harbor Freight and got a box of walnut tumbling media for like 25 bucks on sale.

For noise, do you have a large cardboard box that you can place over it? Maybe even make a wooden box? that just gets placed over top of the whole unit? I imagine have a store cut you some cheap plywood, maybe even line it with sound deadening foam (you can get it on ebay "egg crate foam") and see how much of the noise it cuts back... I tumble with water so it is really not that loud, but kinda soothing.

Tumbling live rounds? I do not, but I did and the one I tumbled in water fired anyways, even after being tumbled in hot Citric acid water for 1 hour...

But you can most certainly tumble loaded ammo.

[12yak]

I use a Lee decapping die before tumbling since it does nothing to resize any case, just pops the primer out. After that, I use a wet tumbler with steel pins to clean the brass and the primer pocket in one step. I haven't ever used a dry tumbler so I have no comparison but wet tumbling seems pretty quiet. Quieter than the clothes dryer in the same garage.

[GovGeek]

Tumbling live ammo briefly is fine. Although many claim it's dangerous, think about mil surp ammo riding all over the earth on crappy roads on army trucks, the. Shipped here and there, finally to be shipped to your door...
Twenty minutes of finish tumbling is nothing compared to that vibration.

Those rounds aren't bumping into each other bullet to primer like they can in the tumbler, are they? I'd argue that tumbling is perhaps more aggressive because... Physics. However, I'm not a pansy as I dry tumble the lube off after making ammo, too.

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[GovGeek]

I wet tumble using a Thumbler's Tumbler Model B and stainless steel media, soft water, Dawn, pinch of lemmishine

Then I dry the brass in the oven at 145 degrees (indirect convection). I'll let them cool naturally overnight.

And then (no and then! Movie humor) I'll load them into my progressive which decaps, form, prime, powder, check, seat and crimp. I have a custom lube setup as well.

Lastly, I'll dry tumble in fine walnut in a vibratory tumbler, both from Harbor Freight (which isn't that noisy in my opinion)

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[sirgrumps]

1. How many times does brass need to be tumbled? A couple of YouTube videos I've found have the person tumbling cases twice - first after cleaning the brass with soap and water, and again after decapping and resizing. Is this level of fastidiousness actually necessary?

Based on my personal experience with pistol brass, only once.
Corn cob media, a splash of mineral spirits, with nu finish liquid car polish and torn up used dryer sheets.

2. Tumble before, or after decapping? I was leaning toward doing it before decapping, since that would mean I wasn't putting filthy brass through my dies (like I've been hitherto doing), and while decapping I tend to use the primer pocket cleaner tool at that time.

Almost no dry method will clean out primer pockets. Plus, unless you are doing super high precision target shooting, it probably doesn't make a difference if the primer pockets get cleaned.

3. Ideas for mitigating the sound? That vibratory tumbler is pretty dang noisy. Since it has to run for several hours at a time, and I don't necessarily want to be home while it's running, I'd like it quieter so curious neighbors don't feel compelled to investigate or have friendly local law enforcement do the investigating

Do smaller batches. I have a big Dillon tumbler and only fill it to half of the max number of cases recommended based on it's capacity. It really reduces the noise.

4. Favorite media to use? The Calgunner I bought the stuff from included about half a jug of the Lyman stuff (the red colored one with Rouge in it) which brings out a pretty shine. Just want to know if there are better (or cheaper) media out there.

You can get corn cob blasting media from Grainger, 40 lb bag $40. You want the courser grit, 20-40.

5. Opinions on tumbling completed, live rounds? I'm thinking this is a big no-no, unless I want a visit from the friendly fire department, but I've already made a bunch of batches with old, untumbled brass and wanted to know if it would be safe to tumble them.

You can tumble live ammo, but remember, it's a LOT heavier, so substantially reduce the load on your tumbler.

[sirgrumps]

For noise, do you have a large cardboard box that you can place over it? Maybe even make a wooden box? that just gets placed over top of the whole unit? I imagine have a store cut you some cheap plywood, maybe even line it with sound deadening foam (you can get it on ebay "egg crate foam") and see how much of the noise it cuts back... I tumble with water so it is really not that loud, but kinda soothing.

Use caution when placing something around the tumbler. Remember, the motor is air cooled. Overheating it will kill the bearings.

[foxtrotuniformlima]

For pistol brass I just tumble once.

Brass gets tumbled in its once fired state - no deprime, cleaning, etc.

Tumbling is done in garage on a timer - usually 4 hours.

I tumble in crushed walnut shells I get from the feed store to which I add a bit of Nu-Finish car polish or Car Aroma Metal Magic.

[Win231]

I tumble after resizing. I use the smaller particle corncob media & it cleans the primer pockets. I don't see the purpose of wet cleaning. I add a capful of "Berry's Brass Bright" to the media & cases come out like new after 90 minutes. It is noisy & I do it outside - easier to sweep up loose media.