Does tumbling the brass actually make a difference?

[SafeguardTactical]

OK, maybe I haven't been clear on what I do...

• I used to wash and dip in jewelry cleaner my brass
• Today, I got into the habit of simply sticking a brush inside the case and give it a good five twists
• I also chase the primer pocket and hole

Here's what it boils down to...

• I think I already have my charges VERY accurately measured
• I also have the bullet very precisely seated
• Will cleaning the brass benefit accuracy or will maintaining as high level of concentricity help more?
• Is not tumbling the brass dangerous from a pressure perspective?

Here is my opinion.

Cleaning brass can improve accuracy but the benefit would be so minimal that you won't notice the difference for an average shooter. Also, there are times when I reloaded ammo without tumbling the brass and it was fine. At minimum, you want to use a brush and clean inside the casing. And for pressure? As long as you are not using max charge, you should be OK.

However, I think tumbling your brass is a good safety measure since you can spot the tear and crack on the brass.

It seems like you have a system that works for you. Don't worry so much about clean brass and concentrate on improving your shooting techniques. There are far more important thing to worry about than cleaning your brass.

[frt96]

I tumble all brass now, but when I was starting out I was broke.
I cut the legs out of a old pair of jeans and sewed one end shut. Throw brass in there and tie shut with kite string. wash and dry with shop towels and work clothes. The brass came out as clean as a tumbler just with a satin finish instead of polished.
My better than factory super shiny rounds are no more accurate than my satin finished washing machine rounds.

[Abenaki]

I have been reloading since the mid 70's........I have never tumbled any thing.
I just give them a good wipe down with a rag. Never had any problems.


I have been thinking about getting a stainless steel set up for tumbling.


Take care
Abenaki

[johnny1290]

I held out till the bitter end on a tumbler. The problem was with removing case lube. I use graphite now on the neck, probably don't #need# to tumble, but its purty and my hands get less dirty and possibly easier to spot case splits or cracks.

[sdkevin]

Cheap is not where I'd cut corners when my fingers are wrapped around, my face behind, something that goes boom.

Tumblers and walnut are inexpensive.

[Sunday]

A tumbler is a nice thing to have. Clean shiny brass is a pleasure to work with.

[milotrain]

If all I shot was bolt guns maybe I wouldn't tumble (that's a lie, I'd still tumble). With a DI gas gun? Tumble. I used to not, I used to clean by hand. Not worth my time. $46 for a tumbler, $10 for zilla bed, $10 for nufinish. I've run around 10k of brass through this process and still have half a bag left. Brass comes home from the range and goes in the tumbler, tumbler is on a timer, 1 hour on per 24hours. I usually get back to my garage by the friday following a weekend at the range. 5 days/hours of tumbling makes it pretty with very little investment of time on my part.

[Germz]

You said you dip your brass in jewelry cleaner. If its ammonia based, I wouldn't use it. Ammonia weakens brass

[mjmagee67]

Safety the #1 reason I tumble, It is easier to inspect clean shinny brass.

[dwightlooi]

Speaking of tumblers... has anyone used the Ultrasonic fluid based brass cleaners?

[oddjob]

My opinion and my opinion only..........

"Does tumbling the brass actually make a difference?" Probably very little in my type of shooting, but for another shooting discipline it may. I clean brass to save my dies from getting scratched up. In the long run it is probably cheaper to clean brass. As others have mentioned its easier to see defective brass when they are clean.

Reloading depends on the type of rifle/shooting you play. I have friends who shoot hi-power rifle and long range metallic silhouette. They weigh each load, check each round for over all length (OAL) & etc.

I shoot USPSA 3-gun and I load volumes. I don't check every round (except for a big match and thats only to see if it fits the case gage).

FYI.....I use a vibrating tumbler with walnut media and a large pack of BB's to clean. Then I use another tumbler with straight walnut to just clean off the lube.

[drdarrin@sbcglobal.net]

No you don't need to tumble your brass but you do need to clean any crud off it, like lube. Without a tumbler, it's slow and your fingers get sore after a hundred rounds or so, but its doable.

It's easier to inspect shiny brass for imperfections, IMO, but it isn't absolutely necessary. The first 20 years I reloaded, I didn't have a tumbler and my 30-06, 357 and 44 Rem Mag rounds shot just fine.

[nothing4u]

I don't use a tumbler but I do use an ultrasonic with a few drops of dishsoap. My brass is not bling bling but dull looking inside and out. I full length size. Bump the shoulder. 003-.004 back, trim to length, slight chamfer on the mouth. This is my hunting ammo 5 shot group with 165gmx at 100yd out of a r700 5r w/ 5.25lb trigger. This is acceptable minute of deer/pig ammo for me. I've got no reason to neck turn, neck size, uniform primer pockets and flash holes, stainless steel bling bling clean. But I can't see it hurting these groups either.

[Wrangler John]

OMG, not tumble brass? Heretic! The main reason for tumbling brass is to make it dizzy until it experiences amnesia thereby forgetting the last crappy load you stuffed in it. If it remembers, you'll experience fliers.

Back when a McDonald's gut bomb went for less than a buck, there were just lapidary tumblers known as Thumler Tumbler, and an oxalic acid bath called Case-Brite. My wife worked at Micro Sight so she brought me home a new Thumler Tumbler as a present. It came with some sample rocks and polishing media. The rocks went into the trash, and corncob media replaced the lapidary stuff. I used it for about two decades. It was slower than the 25 cent dryer at the laundromat.

Then I bought a vibratory tumbler, wow, it was fast! Now I use Hornady's One Shot Case Lube or their Unique for real tough case forming, and either spray the inside of the necks, or use a brush to apply the Unique inside the neck for drawing down or expanding up. Some times I just apply a dip of Imperial Dry Neck Lube when neck sizing. All that slickum has to come out, so I just tumble them in corncob. They come out cleaner than a colonoscopy patient at the admitting desk.

I used to always tumble brass scrounged from the range I worked at, but gave up using scrounged brass, too many variables. But this is an essential step for you guy that are scroungers - you know who you are.

There is no value in trying to remove the coating of carbon inside the case, it doesn't hurt anything. I found the carbon left on interior case walls has much less effect on accuracy than double vision from a hangover. Case walls? Does a cylinder have walls, or something else?

So, I recommend buying a cheap vibratory tumbler - a Lyman is a good value http://www.lymanproducts.com/lyman/t...in-tumbler.php and they cost less at any online retailer. Then get some corncob media and tumbler brass polish. I don't recommend the stainless steel media - waste of time and money - and you have wet brass to dry. Wet brass smells worse than a wet dog, but better than wet gym shorts left for a weekend in the gym bag. Same with the sonic cleaners. I bought one, and found it slower than the 25 cent dryer mentioned earlier and maybe as slow as the express line at Safeway. Also avoid the coated walnut shell media as it will leave a red rouge polish on all your case head stamps and interior places you can't reach.

That is all.

[stilly]

The Lee Reloading book says you shouldn't tumble brass as it removes the carbon that can help make resizing easier, they say to simply use a bit of steel wool to clean up cases. I did this when I first started reloading and had fine results. I now run everything through the tumbler twice, once to clean and once to remove case lube.

That is interesting. I have never tried tumbling with steel wool and shells. Something new to give a try to...

OMG, not tumble brass? Heretic! The main reason for tumbling brass is to make it dizzy until it experiences amnesia thereby forgetting the last crappy load you stuffed in it. If it remembers, you'll experience fliers.

Back when a McDonald's gut bomb went for less than a buck, there were just lapidary tumblers known as Thumler Tumbler, and an oxalic acid bath called Case-Brite. My wife worked at Micro Sight so she brought me home a new Thumler Tumbler as a present. It came with some sample rocks and polishing media. The rocks went into the trash, and corncob media replaced the lapidary stuff. I used it for about two decades. It was slower than the 25 cent dryer at the laundromat.

Then I bought a vibratory tumbler, wow, it was fast! Now I use Hornady's One Shot Case Lube or their Unique for real tough case forming, and either spray the inside of the necks, or use a brush to apply the Unique inside the neck for drawing down or expanding up. Some times I just apply a dip of Imperial Dry Neck Lube when neck sizing. All that slickum has to come out, so I just tumble them in corncob. They come out cleaner than a colonoscopy patient at the admitting desk.

I used to always tumble brass scrounged from the range I worked at, but gave up using scrounged brass, too many variables. But this is an essential step for you guy that are scroungers - you know who you are.

There is no value in trying to remove the coating of carbon inside the case, it doesn't hurt anything. I found the carbon left on interior case walls has much less effect on accuracy than double vision from a hangover. Case walls? Does a cylinder have walls, or something else?

So, I recommend buying a cheap vibratory tumbler - a Lyman is a good value http://www.lymanproducts.com/lyman/t...in-tumbler.php and they cost less at any online retailer. Then get some corncob media and tumbler brass polish. I don't recommend the stainless steel media - waste of time and money - and you have wet brass to dry. Wet brass smells worse than a wet dog, but better than wet gym shorts left for a weekend in the gym bag. Same with the sonic cleaners. I bought one, and found it slower than the 25 cent dryer mentioned earlier and maybe as slow as the express line at Safeway. Also avoid the coated walnut shell media as it will leave a red rouge polish on all your case head stamps and interior places you can't reach.

That is all.

Although you have quite a way with words. I disagree with your facts in the last paragraph. Maybe things have changed since when you wet processed brass.
I think that in order to perform the job correctly you MUST have the proper tools for it. IE a decent OVEN and a metal basket work great. I have a free standing range and MOST people have a range of some sort at their house/mobile/tent/apartment and the next thing you need to get is a metal basket that they sell for $12.00 at Lowes in the storage section where they have the closet stuff- Here, this is the item: CLICK HERE! Once I get done taking my brass out of the rotating bath (after 1 hour the power cuts out and it stops) I rinse it out for about 2-4 minutes in a deep sink and then put the brass into that bin I provided a link to and it will hold OVER 800 .223 shells AND fit nicely inside my oven. Turn the oven on for 25 minutes at 200 degrees and then let the shells cool down and you are ready to load them. This whole process takes UNDER 2 hours. I do not know what a vibrating tumbler takes as far as time is concerned, but I heard thigns like all night long in some cases. Plus those things are NOISY. Damn, my thumler can roll all night long and I can even carry on a conversation while being a few feet from it. The best thing about having a rotating tumbler though is that if I WANT to process brass with dry media I can. OR if I want to use pins I can. Either way, the resizing SHOULD knock out any walnut media from the flashhole. I do not have corncob though. I have a large bucket of crushed walnut media but I have not used it yet. I will use it when I need to clean and polish my .223 shells. or maybe not. I dunno.