Tumbling riffle brass

[NorCalFocus]

i shoot matches and use premium brass and dont have any issues and ive been SS tumbling for 8yrs and tumble every time.

SS tumbling does pein the mouths a little but after sizing and trimming none of that matters...if the mouths are peined so bad its causing a problem then its from tumbling 50 or less pieces at a time....but even then sizing and trimming will fix that.

^^^

Same here.

I Wet SS pin clean my match brass as well as ALL of my other brass for the calibers I load for (22 hornet, .223, .243, .25-06, .260, .308, .30-06, .300 WBY, 221 Rem, .32 H&R, 9mm, .357, .40S&W, 10mm, .44mag, .45 colt, .45 Auto, 460 S&W mag, .480 Ruger) and don't have any issues with the cases, that includes Lapua match cases.

I also use a bench Source case Annealer and even if I SS wet clean the brass afterwards it still doesn't have enough effect to make any difference.

To be matter of fact, If you don't do a very good job of removing the out side burr and chamfer of the case after trimming, the sharp edges can and will scratch your bullets during seating along with wear on your dies.

Tumbling will smooth out those edges. make the cases smoother to finish the loading process and will help eliminate inconsistent neck tension by a more uniform case and neck without burrs.

[longrange1]

[TKCastle]

Tumble without the SS media.

Witnessed cases tumbled in Brass Juice and I quickly ordered a gallon. This stuff works like magic at half the time.

https://www.thereloadingstation.com/products/brass-juice-case-wash

[longrange1]

[racinjason233]

Has anyone ever used a vibratory dry media type with liquid?

[kcheung2]

Has anyone ever used a vibratory dry media type with liquid?

Don't think that would be a good idea. Most of that stuff is crushed walnut or corn, & after being dunked would get soft. It may not totally turn into a mush, but all the hard edges used for abrasiveness would be gone. Also, they generally float while brass sinks.

[tonyjr]

Red Mist Maker
I only reload 15 calibers and to me , I get more split cases chew up case
mouths .
Maybe 7 to 8 pounds of SS pins for a maximum of 400 cases .
I really don't keep track of weather the cases are cleaned with corn , nut or
SS pins .
I prefer corn , but there are times when 2 vibrators , 2 tumblers and a sonic
are all being used . [I have 6 nephews and 2 nieces that reload here ] and
others like the nut media .
After reload sessions the dies are taken apart and go into sonic for cleaning
[ yes I do find brass flacks in coffee strainer - I mostly use WD-40 in sonic -
cleans and lubes dies ]
I / we use a lot of range brass and toss quite a few cases into recycle .
I have tried both corn and nut in the rotary , did not like end product .

[Dragginpanda]

Has anyone ever used a vibratory dry media type with liquid?

Half a cap of NuFinish, but first I rough wash, I ss wash, deprime, rewash, and then NuFinish.

[tonyjr]

Red Mist Maker
I agree about WD-40 . I don't use as a lube , just water displacement .
WD-40 makes a penetrating oil [ I have only found in a spray can ]
that I use on guns . [ this is after cleaning with WD-40 to remove any
water . WD-40 is a dust magnet ]
As for split cases , 223 and 308s are the one [ rifle ] and 9 mm and 45
[ pistol ] and I / we get lots of range brass for them .
I have gotten to the point where I will just buy unprimed cases for the
25 , 32 , 380 , 30-06 , 44 mag , 50AE , 270 . I get the nickel cases for
the 38s and 357 . I / we have been finding a lot of 30 carbine and we
seldom shoot the 41 anymore .
I have switched to wiping down the wood stocks to synthetic motor oil
will know in a month or 2 if if collects dust in safe .
I don't do case annealing .
My nephews and nieces would rather buy another gun than another
press
, case annealing setup or even a 4 / 8 pound jug of powder .
Besides that , I don't have room in garage for the setup .
I know I / we do over lube cases [ bulges , buckles , wrinkles ] but good
reason to check cases .

[tonyjr]

The die maintance kit from RCBS was worth the money .
For the brushes .
I bought at cabelas [ now brass pro owned ] in Reno a while ago .
Not a fan of the sprays tho .

[JackEllis]

[J-cat]

Wet tumbling does not wash out headstamps. But if one was to make the mixture excessively acidic, then perhaps yes.

[bhilliker@comcast.net]

Lot's of great info----thanks all. Purchased everything this weekend I need to get started on riffle loads. Need to confer with some SME's before I pull the trigger. Hope to start this week with a few 308's that I can ops check this weekend. I'll perfect that then load a few 06's. Thanks everyone

[ar15barrels]

You posted that it "chewed up" case mouths making it sound like it destroyed the cases. If that was true then the SS wet method would not even be used by over 50% of hand loaders.

I doubt even 10% of reloaders use a wet tumbler or stainless media.
Where are these statistics published?

[ar15barrels]

Based on hand loaders I shoot with and have spoken with it is roughly about what I have had them reply to, NO this is not a actual published number.
I did forget about the sonic method, so I will revise my estimate to roughly 40+%.
It would be a interesting way to find out the actual percentage by posting a poll here or on one of the other hand loading sites to get the number.

I would hazard a guess that 2/3 of reloaders do not even use internet forums and you would be missing those people in any such survey.
Stainless/wet tumbling is a relatively new thing so you will mostly see low volume reloaders who only started in the last 10 years doing it.
The 20-50yr veteran reloaders mostly dry tumble because that's how it's been done for so long and it works.