Does anyone here not tumble brass?

bhhacker said:

Am I in the minority with this? I'd like fresh looking brass but if it's just for me and not for resale, it seems like I'm just adding an extra cost per round to make it look pretty.

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We all clean our brass according to what floats our boat. If what you are doing is satisfactory to you, then keep doing it.

I like my brass clean and shiny so I can see defects easier and my finished product looks like something I can be proud to tell someone that "I built those" But does it make them shoot any better, probably some, but very few of us are good enough of a shot to be able to point it out.

But if you don't so much as even dry tumble them, I would say, "YES", you are in the minority around here.

Yes you are in the minority. In wheel and bolt guns It probably does not matter. When my uncle taught me to reload, about 50 years ago, he just wiped off his brass. He did get a dry tumbler in the late 80's.

For years I didn't. Then I bought a tumbler.

My competition semi autos I just pick the brass up and dump it in the collator on one of my progressive presses. Sometimes I tumble after loaded. Sometimes not.

I have three tumblers and rarely use any of them.

I don’t tumble it.

I wet scrub it until it’s surgically clean, then I polish it to a glorious, perfect shine. Brighter, and more golden than a mirror.

My handloading equipment and firearms are kept in a similar manner.

After crafting and spraying two built-ins, I’ll be placing concrete tomorrow.

I like my hobby clean and well organized.
Gleamingly clean and perfectly organized.
(Even if I do confuse threads sometimes...)

But, we all have a way. Yours works for you. Mine works for me. A man cannot walk another’s path.

I just clean it. Don’t own a tumbler.

Rifle brass I rarely tumble. I usually wash it in hot soapy water, but that's it.

Handgun brass I do tumble, but for the first several years of reloading I didn't even do that.

If you shoot wheel guns or bolt guns and your brass never hits the ground then you dont neeeeed to scrub shiny clean. If your shooting any type of auto and reliability matters then getting them clean matters to that reliability and that can really matter depending on the situation. I treat all my brass the same and every piece could be put under glass at zales.

You're probably in the minority, as today it seems shiny, glossy brass is necessary. But when I started reloading most did not shine their brass, just cleaning (one of the first reloaders I met had a ammo can full of brown 45 ACP reloads). I reloaded for 12 years before I got a tumbler and had no ruined or scratched dies or marred chambers and I just wiped each case with a solvent dampened rag as I inspected it. Today sometimes I'll tumble for a shiny case, but more often than not that is just for my 45 ACPs and 30-06s so I can see them easier in the dirt where I shoot...

bhhacker said:

I uh....might be disgusting but I've never tumbled anything I've reloaded. The brass looks ugly and I'm sure I have to clean the dies more often but I clean out the primer pockets before seating.
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So you would just pick brass out of the dirt and load it? Okay.....to each his own.

I wipe it off twice. Once before and once after reloading it.

I think i ruined a carbide sizing die by not cleaning the shells enough, I never could get that die clean enough to not leave deep streaks during sizing. Started dry tumbling with walnut , noise and dust were a problem. Harbor freight ultrasonic seems to work fine for the small number i reload.

I tumble clean all my brass... I HATE separating the media from the brass!

dcarr said:

I think i ruined a carbide sizing die by not cleaning the shells enough, I never could get that die clean enough to not leave deep streaks during sizing. Started dry tumbling with walnut , noise and dust were a problem. Harbor freight ultrasonic seems to work fine for the small number i reload.

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Try Montana Extreme Copper Killer in you carbide die. Just keep your nose back away from it, its 10%
Ammonia. If there is copper galded in the die, that stuff will bring it out.

Try cleaning it with

I used to not tumble brass. Now I do. I like tumbling better. But..I can admit to saying they really do not look that dirty and I am in a hurry and just loading up again.

I let my brass soak for twenty minutes in hot water with dish soap and a splash of white vinegar. I then give them a good wipe with a scotch brite pad and give the neck a quick pass with a small brush. Rinse real good and dry in my toaster oven on 325 degrees. Super shiny brass doesn't help bullets go down range any better than mine.

I tumble most of the stuff I load but some of them, like my benchrest cases I wipe off and brush out by hand.

Sometimes I also use a sonic cleaner, so they are not tumbled either.

I just use hot soapy water, rinse and then let them dry. A little carbon residue on the brass Doesn’t hurt anything and makes resizing a little easier.

I dump my brass into the tumbler when I come home; half corn cob, half walnut; turn it on for 2 hours or so depending on volume and done.

I let the tumbler run while I’m not home now, but for the longest time I didn’t tumble. I would literally hose my brass off with a water hose and dawn dish soap in a bucket that had a couple holes drilled in it. It wasn’t pretty but it washed the crud off. Shaking the bucket mixed it up so that crud generally didn’t settle in the cases.

Never have I tumbled any of my brass rifle or handguns. The ONLY time I do any major cleaning other than wiping clean, if any have carbon on the outside I throw them in a milk jug and when there's enough I rinse them in vinegar and water and dry them. Tumbling is just to ME a waste of time and MONEY.

Soapy water with vinegar works pretty well for me. I own tumblers but have gone to doing this more often than not.

I’ll usually run a dry tumble overnight. I’m VERY dirty media.... I need new cob but it works. I love the shine.