So I was reading the manual to my tumbler and noticed that it says to tumble the brass after resizing to remove the lube from it. I'd never done this before and always just charged the cases and seated the bullets and not worried about the lube. They have shot great. Do you guys tumble your brass to remove the lube? Can I expect them to shoot differently or should my load that I found that shot great still shoot great?
Do you tumble your bass after resizing?
- Thread starter slowr1der
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jcwit
member
Yes I do. Pistol brass normally has no lube or if any its Pledge furniture polish or Blaster dry teflon. Rifle brass I rinse in white gas AKA Coleman Fuel to remove the Imperial case lube, then I tumble. As far as affecting performance, don't worry about it unless you're getting gobbs of it inside the case neck, which I doubt.
For the inside of the case neck I just ran my brush across the case lube pad and then ran it inside the case neck. So I doubt it got too much inside. I can't even see it on the brush really and I do several cases before I touch it to the lube pad again. I think I'm going to tumble a few and see how they shoot.
schnarrgj
Member
Yes I do tumble after sizing. With rifle brass, it is for removing the lube, which is extremely important. With the pistol brass, I just want to make sure that they are really clean.
rscalzo
Member
No. I don't require it for any handgun ammo. All the dies are carbide. For rifle ammo that has lube on it, I tumble after its loaded for an hour or so.
jmorris
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I do sort of. I post load tumble to remove lube. I lube both rifle and pistol, anyone that trys lube on pistol generally keeps lubing as it makes a difference. I don't do it right after sizing so I don't have to make sure the flash hole is clear.
R.W.Dale
Member
Yes I do unless I want to speed the process along. In which case my cases get wiped down with a 90% isopropyl alchaol soaked towl
MachIVshooter
Member
No. I'm not especially fond of digging media out of the flash holes. I always tumble before resize/deprime. That also ensures that range dirt stuck on the cases isn't going up into the dies. Carbide is tough, but tiny rocks will gouge it.
To get lube off of rifle cases, I roll them around in a towel to get the worst of it, then wipe each one by hand with those tough cloth-like paper towels.
When loading, I use gloves to prevent permanent finger print staining of the brass. For some reason that really bothers me.
To get lube off of rifle cases, I roll them around in a towel to get the worst of it, then wipe each one by hand with those tough cloth-like paper towels.
When loading, I use gloves to prevent permanent finger print staining of the brass. For some reason that really bothers me.
I'll do that for ammo I put up for hard times because I know it will be sitting for a while. I don't for normal stuff that will be shot reasonably soon. The Midway polish actually does a pretty good job of protecting the brass from fingerprints though.
jcwit
member
Change the size of your media to 20-40 grit and that is longer a problem.
Not real sure about that as silicone sand is 6 to 7 on the Moh's scale of hardness, and silicone carbide os 9 to 10 on the same scale. Have never gotten any scratches, gouges, ect. from any of the thousands and thousands of range P/U brass I have resized before tumbling or cleaning in any way. But I suppose anything is possible. I believe the abrade would never be noticed by the common reloader.
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rodregier
Member
I use lanolin/isopropanol for pistol brass case lube, and just tumble the loaded rounds at the end of the reloading process for a short while. No issues with clogged flash holes 
I'll definitely be switching to 20/40 corn cob if I can get it, but I have a lot of larger grind to go thru first...
(Not a lot of sources of such in Canada :-(
I'll definitely be switching to 20/40 corn cob if I can get it, but I have a lot of larger grind to go thru first...
(Not a lot of sources of such in Canada :-(
MachIVshooter
Member
I'm not a geologist/pedologist, so I don't know what the dirt composition is out here, if it may have quartz in it, etc. Nor have I spent a tremendous amount of time examining on a scientific level the abrasion characteristics of softer materials on harder ones. What I do know is that softer materials will wear down harder ones over time. The ratio is obscenely high, but it happens. My best example: the Carbide cutters on my lathe. While they remove many thousands of times the amount of steel that they loose of their own mass, they do loose mass as a result of friction (abrasion) with a much softer material. Likewise, those carbide dies are gonna see many thousands of cases run through them, and even the brass is wearing them down on a miniscule level. There is no extra effort in tumbling beforehand vs. afterward to reduce the chances of further accelerating that wear.
I know I sometimes exaggerate this sort of thing, or put too fine a point on it. Just my nature. Like I said, I'm not taking any extra steps here. Just putting them in a different order
jcwit
member
You are correct MachIVshooter. Thats why I phrased it the way I did. In time anything wears, and yes I understand about tool bit wear as I used to work as a machinest. I just haven't seen wear on my dies after thousands and thousands of sizings. Even to the point of resizing 3, 5 gal buckets of 9 mm & 40 S & W brass for a friend. Yes will they wear, yup, in my lifetime, I seriously doubt it. But then ?????????
There's that funny 3 letter word "but".
There's that funny 3 letter word "but".
PotatoJudge
Member
Pistol, tumble and load with carbide die set.
Pistol, tumble and load with steel dies and lube, tumble again.
Rifle, tumble, lube and load, tumble. I load good ammo but not benchrest quality, so if stuff gets knocked slightly out of round I would never notice the difference.
Best of both worlds: 357 max, tumble, load, shoot out of contender carbine. Rifle loads for the price and work of pistol ammo.
I haven't cleaned primer pockets of residue or tumbling media for years, and don't really see the need for my purposes.
Pistol, tumble and load with steel dies and lube, tumble again.
Rifle, tumble, lube and load, tumble. I load good ammo but not benchrest quality, so if stuff gets knocked slightly out of round I would never notice the difference.
Best of both worlds: 357 max, tumble, load, shoot out of contender carbine. Rifle loads for the price and work of pistol ammo.
I haven't cleaned primer pockets of residue or tumbling media for years, and don't really see the need for my purposes.
The Bushmaster
Member
Before resizing/decapping (about 15 minutes) and after (about 1 to 2 hours)...
1SOW
Member
Pistol range brass: After depriming/resizing. I like them shiny and slippery. I use grainger 20-40 corncob so no problems with plugged primer holes.
Before depriming I wash the cases using a simple formula found here to get the small rocks, mud etc. out. I rinse with the hose nozzle set on destroy.
Before depriming I wash the cases using a simple formula found here to get the small rocks, mud etc. out. I rinse with the hose nozzle set on destroy.
I've also not tumbled loads after resizing them and they have looked really grungy.
dc.fireman
Member
I didn't do it when I first started - about a year ago - but I had a propensity to use way more lube on my cases than necessary, and the result was sticky black goo on my once fired reload cases - burnt lube. So, I started re-tumbling my rifle cases, and have been re-tumbling my pistol cases as a matter of habit now. It's not a huge problem for me to use a small hardened pick to poke out the walnut from the flash holes, after which I also run the primer pocket tool through them to get any final gunk out. It seemed a little tedious at first, but truthfully, I've come to enjoy the quiet time in the basement. Sometimes my four year old son will come and sit down next to me, and he knows his job is to put the finished cases, neatly into the reloading tray. Please don't turn me in for child labor law violations...
-tc
-tc
TexasShooter59
Member
Things must be getting pretty serious - not one person made a fish-related comment!
jcwit
member
See post 11.
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