Brass appearance

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K3

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OK, how pretty does everyone like to get their handloads to look?

Personally, all I do is tumble after sizing and trimming just long enough to get the One-Shot and little bits of brass off. I don't care how shiny it is. About 20 minutes and I'm good.

Others?
 
I tumble before sizing to get all the crap & crud off.

Saves wear & tear on the sizing die, and they seem to size easier.

1224.jpg
rcmodel
 
I tumble before sizing to get all the crap & crud off.

Saves wear & tear on the sizing die, and they seem to size easier.


rcmodel
Click to expand...

Well, yeah, I'll do that if the brass is really dirty. Maybe I ought to run it through for 10 minutes before sizing, even new brass?
 
I got a tumbler and use it.

Haven't bought any cleaner yet. Looking at Flitz.

After reading on here, I tried rice as media. It gets stuck and is very slow to clean out of brass. I will try some corn cob next.

I chamfer the neck inside and out.
 
Tumble new or used brass for at least 15 minutes before resizing. Always resize new brass incidently. After resizing/decapping tumble for at least 1 hour...Works for me...
 
Right now, my procedure is this:

Lube & size
Check case length and trim
Chamfer in and out
Clean Primer pocket if fired
Deburr flashhole
Tumble
Prime
Load away

Am I out of order? It doesn't seem like I am, and it doesn't conflict with my references. My loads are way more accurate than any factory ammo I have shot, and I've never had reliability issues with it. It could certainly be more accurate, I have no doubt of that.

I should probably make step 1 tumbling, thus I will tumble my brass twice. I have to tumble it for a little before loading b/c I don't want any case lube or little specks of brass around.
 
I tumble in walnut until the brass is shiny like from a factory box (not *BLING*), but not long enough to lose the heat treating marks on the neck area of rifle cartridges.

Justin
 
More than one person has accused me of being rich firing all that factory ammo.
Their jaws hit the ground when I tell them "no all this is reloaded by yours truly"
 
I routinely tumbled fired brass overnight or all day while I am at work. I guess I could wire up a timer, which I have, but I just never have. I know, they have em that you just plug in. I have one of those as well. No excuse.

Anyway. I tumble it after firing. Size and prime it. Then reload it. If it has lube on it, I tumble it for about an hour or so after loading.
 
"...I chamfer the neck inside and out..." Just rifle brass after trimming. Handgun brass gets 'belled'. No need to chamfer it.
Brass needs to be clean. Not shiny. An hour or so in a tumbler is plenty. No polisher i srequired.
Doesn't matter what the media is, but you can buy crushed corn cobs or walnut shells by the 50 pound bag in most pet supply shops for under $20.
 
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To K3

If you tumble your brass right before you prime it, having to check the flash hole is a real problem.

I bought some 9's that were tumbled/polished with a new primer and had to check the flash hole for "tiny" pieces of media.

Don't know for sure if that would cause any problems----didn't want to take any chances.

UJ
 
I tumble all fired brass 4 hrs when I get back from the range.
After all case prep, (resizing, trimming, chamfering/deburring, cleaning/uniforming primer pocket) I tumble again for 2 hrs before priming and loading.
 
I just drop them in my vinegar water mix for about 5 minutes and then polish with a little NU Finish. Just cleaned 175 .45 in about 1 hour but then again I'm retired.
 
I like my reloads to look as good or better than factory, so ...

First I deprime (not size).

Then ultrasonic cleaner: Suspend 2 Liter Kimax beaker, filled to 1 liter with ~2 tblsp of citric acid powder, 4-5 drops of dish soap, & water. Insert cases (~75 45 ACP’s or ~30 7MM Rem Mag’s). Run Ultrasonic for 7-8 min. strain & dump cases into another beaker of hot water w/~1tbsp baking soda. Agitate & let soak ~5 min. Drain & dump into beaker of distilled or R.O. water let soak for ~2 min. Strain & let dry. With pistol cases, I usually have more to process, so I dump the citric acid solution after ~5 uses, or when the primer pockets start to not look absolutely clean, whichever comes 1st. I have a 6 liter ultrasonic cleaner, so I can process two beakers at a time.

Then 1-2 hrs. in vibratory tumbler w/ corncob & ½ capful Nufinish & ½ capful mineral spirits - plus2-3 paper towels, cut into ~1.5" squares (or a couple of used dryer sheets - which I never seem to have). Actually, I only add Nufinish every 4th or 5th load, but mineral spirits every load.

The ultrasonic gets them squeaky clean, inside & out. Tumbling adds shine & the Nufinish/mineral spirits keep them from being too dry, as the ultrasonic leaves them completely clean, but hard to size/seat.

When done, the brass looks better than new – but of course it’s not.

I don't worry about any media which might be lodged in the flash hole - the primer punch knocks 'em out when I resize.

Citric acid powder does’nt have a yucky smell like vinegar does & when neutralized w/baking soda doesn’t seem to have any bad effects on the brass. I wouldn’t recommend leaving them in any longer or heating the cleaning solution, though – it seems to be a pretty aggressive cleaner. I have tried vinegar instead of citric acid (vinegar/water ~50/50, but I think the citric acid mix works better & is way cheaper. The citric acid is very cheap if bought in bulk(~$6 for 2 lbs). It’s used in baking & soap making, easy to find.

Just remember it IS ACID. Be careful not to spill it & clean everything that might have come in contact with it. Also, store it carefully. It will corrode steel very effectively.
YMMV
 
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