Does anyone here not tumble brass?
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.308 Norma
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Might be a "Texas thing" - I've never noticed them. On the other hand, I seen posts on THR about folks having a hard time finding brass that their auto-chuckers flung into the grass or leaves. Try finding it under a foot of snow! Sometimes that's a SE Idaho thing.
I have never tumbled a single piece.......but I do run em through my ultrasonic
Lafitte
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I usually don't tumble nickel plated rifle brass, everything else gets a trip through the walnut shell stuff. Usually about 2 hours. I doctor the walnuts shells with a bit of car polish.
Lafitte
Lafitte
pairof44sp
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I have yet to clean any brass. It's just for shooting in revolvers, so I'm not sure there is a need.
An employee at the range called me, "The guy with the greasy ammo," because my ammo is usually covered in soot and paraffin.
wbm
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I'm pretty old to reloading, but I've yet to wash any of the brass that I've reloaded too.
lordpaxman
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When I started it was just .22-250, and that was back in the day when kids could buy guns. I didn’t have the cash to get a tumbler so all brass was just wiped clean. Nowadays I do use a FART and believe it or not I washed that old .22-250 WW brass, looks like new again.
I thought nowadays you can’t say if you are or aren’t in a minority.... you just...
I thought nowadays you can’t say if you are or aren’t in a minority.... you just...
David Hoback
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I always tumble....even add brass polish to the media. I am meticulous. Besides it making the cases so much easier to see cracks, imperfections which could cause issues(I only have ONE eye to see after all! I’ll take any help I can get!), it’s also something I take pride & enjoyment in.
I enjoy reloading as I do repairing, modifying & building firearms. LOL! Probably more than I do shooting in fact.
I know...I know. But then, I’m disabled..I don’t drive. So, I don’t get to shoot much anymore. I sincerely enjoy all aspects of reloading. I find it absolutely relaxing. As it’s a task I enjoy, so to, I enjoy performing said task to the best of my ability. Being blessed with the ability to reload ammunition that not only looks brand new but also performs better than anything I can purchase, IS reason to praise my Father Above. As it is by His Grace alone I am able to do what I do, despite my disability’s. I can understand how some might think of reloading as repetitive WORK! Boring..time consuming...NOT SHOOTING, LOL! It’s quite easy to overlook things as a blessing. But if you look at it closer, it becomes quite clear to see God’s Grace at work through our hands. Or... HAND, in my case.
I am meticulous. Besides it making the cases so much easier to see cracks, imperfections which could cause issues(I only have ONE eye to see after all! I’ll take any help I can get!), it’s also something I take pride & enjoyment in. I enjoy reloading as I do repairing, modifying & building firearms. LOL! Probably more than I do shooting in fact.
I know...I know. But then, I’m disabled..I don’t drive. So, I don’t get to shoot much anymore. I sincerely enjoy all aspects of reloading. I find it absolutely relaxing. As it’s a task I enjoy, so to, I enjoy performing said task to the best of my ability. Being blessed with the ability to reload ammunition that not only looks brand new but also performs better than anything I can purchase, IS reason to praise my Father Above. As it is by His Grace alone I am able to do what I do, despite my disability’s. I can understand how some might think of reloading as repetitive WORK! Boring..time consuming...NOT SHOOTING, LOL! It’s quite easy to overlook things as a blessing. But if you look at it closer, it becomes quite clear to see God’s Grace at work through our hands. Or... HAND, in my case.
Riomouse911
Member
I toss my empties into the vibratory cleaner, fire it up and let it buzz for a couple of hours.
I separate with a colander/bucket thing I got from midway and run them through the dies.
If the primer pockets are filthy I’ll twist the Lee cleaning tool in them a couple of times and all is set.
They’re not always spotless, but they are clean.
As was posted several times above about tumbling brass; you either do or you don’t do, the choice is wholly up to you.
Stay safe.
I separate with a colander/bucket thing I got from midway and run them through the dies.
If the primer pockets are filthy I’ll twist the Lee cleaning tool in them a couple of times and all is set.
They’re not always spotless, but they are clean.
As was posted several times above about tumbling brass; you either do or you don’t do, the choice is wholly up to you.
Stay safe.
I don't clean my brass to make it look good, I clean my brass to keep the crud & dirt from eating up my sizing dies that I spent a lot of money for.
Some of my small batches of hunting rifle loads I don't tumble at all. I clean them after putting them in a drill & cutting the brass to length, then while it's in the drill I will run a hand full of 0000 steel wool over it to knock the dirt off.
I run a primer pocket cleaner in the primer pocket just to make sure the bottom of the pocket is flat so the new primer seats properly.
Some of my small batches of hunting rifle loads I don't tumble at all. I clean them after putting them in a drill & cutting the brass to length, then while it's in the drill I will run a hand full of 0000 steel wool over it to knock the dirt off.
I run a primer pocket cleaner in the primer pocket just to make sure the bottom of the pocket is flat so the new primer seats properly.
Bandit67
Member
By the looks of your responses it looks like I'm in the minority.
I like my brass too be clean, shiny, and like new, because it makes me happy.
I run my fired brass through a universal decapping die in a cheap Lee press on a cheap Lee stand. Then they get wet Tumbled in a FART and dried in a Lyman case dryer.
I got the press and stand for almost nothing at an estate sale, the FART on sale from Amazon, and the dryer from the bargain cave when they still had good deals.
The shiny clean brass makes me smile.
I like my brass too be clean, shiny, and like new, because it makes me happy.
I run my fired brass through a universal decapping die in a cheap Lee press on a cheap Lee stand. Then they get wet Tumbled in a FART and dried in a Lyman case dryer.
I got the press and stand for almost nothing at an estate sale, the FART on sale from Amazon, and the dryer from the bargain cave when they still had good deals.
The shiny clean brass makes me smile.
Before I got my tumbler, I cleaned my cases with Birchwood Casey product called Case Brite. It a concentrate mixed with water. A1/2 hour soak then rinse with clean water, their not shiny and bright but their clean. Put on an old cookie sheet and into the over at 250 degrees for 15 minutes. READY to size, trim & load. I love my tumbler LOL hdbiker
Ivy Mike
Member
Similar to the time honored method of prettying up old silverware at a restaurant. Toss all the old dingy silverware in a big tub with hot salty water, a little soap and a couple cups of vinegar. Grab a big heavy spoon or spatula and start stirring. Sounds terrible but once you rinse it off, it looks wonderful.
EMC45
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It works surprisingly well for brass.
HOWARD J
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I tumble my brass to a high shine as some may be stored for many years. I have ammo stored for 40 years in cardboard boxes.The bright shine is gone but the metal still looks good.
lightman
Member
The only brass that I didn't tumble was when I competed in long range benchrest. It never touched the ground and seldom even touched the bench top! Everything else gets tumbled.
From 1977 until I built a tumbler using parts from an old Texas Instruments dot matrix printer and a Beefamato jar, I never tumbled any of the 2000+ rounds I reloaded.
I left most of them with my father (after he got over his fear of my reloads) when I moved to Texas in 1983. He shot about a hundred. The rest were still in his house when he went to Assisted Living. Over the intervening 35+ years they had gotten more "brown", but remained fully functional - and firing at the same velocities they had when I first tried them out over a chronograph in 1993.
Brass tumbling is not necessary.
Everyone seems to do it. Some want to one-up their friends (hint: ditch the stainless and use bronze pins instead) while others want to spare their dies from whatever might be clining to the case, while others, like me, just want to reverse the corrosion represented by the existing tarnish.
Bottom line is that if you're going to reload and shoot the case within a year, tumbling is largely a cosmetic treatment.
I left most of them with my father (after he got over his fear of my reloads) when I moved to Texas in 1983. He shot about a hundred. The rest were still in his house when he went to Assisted Living. Over the intervening 35+ years they had gotten more "brown", but remained fully functional - and firing at the same velocities they had when I first tried them out over a chronograph in 1993.
Brass tumbling is not necessary.
Everyone seems to do it. Some want to one-up their friends (hint: ditch the stainless and use bronze pins instead) while others want to spare their dies from whatever might be clining to the case, while others, like me, just want to reverse the corrosion represented by the existing tarnish.
Bottom line is that if you're going to reload and shoot the case within a year, tumbling is largely a cosmetic treatment.
JFrank
Member
I’m normally in the Minority but I ask my BR family it is a toss up.
Example:
(Jeff Locke ) 2 time NBRSA 600 yard champion and 1 point from the hall of fame does whereas (Tom Musal) National IBS 1000 yard Benchrest phenom does not.
I just wipe down cases - one because I’m lazy
Two- because I like leaving the carbon inside the necks for smooth seating
Three- I’m too cheap to buy a tumbler
pairof44sp
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Ha ha. BBQ ammo. I thought I was the only one.In the '70s if I wanted some "BBQ Ammo" I shoved a case on a hardwood mandrel and spun it and polished with 0000 steel wool and Pledge...
I even polish my cast lead from Matt’s Bullets (spirepoints, HBWC backwards, etc) to catch the light and look more scary from the business end.
pairof44sp
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I blame “little spider guys” for all of my difficulties.
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