Optimal tumbling time

[KY DAN]

In the past my grandfather would buy water damaged 303 British and other machine gun calibers and tumble the ugly ammo in concrete mixers full of walnut media until the water stains/crud was gone. We never had issue with this.

He never used corn cob, I have started using corn cob on loaded ammo in an former rotary wet tumbler withamazing results. My ammo looks like fine jewelry now.

I have played with the settings and found 1/2 a drum of corn cob and 500 rounds of 38 special is the optimal load. I let the tumbler run for 3 hours and move onto more ammo.

By the way, the BECKS BRAND bedding material from Rural King is good stuff. It cheap and works as is with the appropriate amount of Nu finish car wax.

I mixed up 15 pounds of media with wax and stirred the wax in with a stick and I let both tumblers run for 4 hours to mix up the contents before I added ammo

 

[.38 Special]

I rarely tumble live ammo - when I do it usually is for 15 minutes or so, just to get case lube off - but have found that, for dry tumbling with corn cob, three hours is just about right. Shorter doesn't get them quite as clean, while longer doesn't make much of a difference.

 

[illinoisburt]

The polish is what really makes the process. I found lizard walnut bedding in a Franklin vibrating bowl with a dash of NuFinish plus mineral spirits (the creamy non scent stuff) turns out dazzling results in 3 or 4 hours. Without polish or spirits it can run all night the come out dull and really not much improved over when it started.

 

[cfullgraf]

I also do not tumble live ammunition although I know lots of folks do it.

I generally do most of my resizing in the evening. I put the cases in the tumbler and let it run all night. That is probably longer than needed.

More recently, I've put a timer on the tumbler and have it shut down after 4 hours or so.

As the tumbling media ages, it does require longer to get the cases clean, bright and shiny.

 

[Thomasss]

Experience has taught: Corn cob media does work and is cheap, but it is the favorite food of mice and so I switched to walnut media which lasts longer, takes less time...about 45 min. to an hour for 300 cases; pistol , rifle or a mix of them. I add a little case polish every other batch.
Lizard media works ok, but it clogs flash holes if any shells have been de-primed. I don't normally de-primed before cleaning brass, sometimes buy used ones that way.

 

[AJC1]

Optimal tumbling time is really a preference. If we're taking range pickups out of the mud and you want clean primer pockets probably 90 minuets with a 10 minute rinse cycle. If your just cleaning the dirt and carbon off loads that you previously cleaned 20-30 minutes is plenty.
Vibratory cleaning is it's own bowl of wax but post load polishing for storage and getting the finger prints off is good in about 20 minutes. Rembering to pick them up gloved to not put fingerprints right back on priceless....

 

[ColtPythonElite]

My tumbler is in my basement. I usually turn it on and try to go turn it off after an hour or two. Sometimes I forget about it and it runs a day or two.

 

[someguy2800]

I personally would not tumble loaded ammo for more than maybe 30 minutes because its been shown that smokeless powder can be affected by long term vibration such as carrying the same ammo for a long time or small arms ammo that rides around in armored vehicles. I can only imagine a vibration tumbler is greatly accelerating that affect. A rotary tumbler probably wouldn't be as bad.

 

[lightman]

I wet tumble in 2 hour cycles. If a case does not come out shiney it goes back in with the next batch. If its still doesn't suit me it goes in the recycle bucket. I usually dry tumble over night with corncob with polish mixed in. Walnut media cleans better/faster than corncob but corncob gets a better polish. I need to build/buy a timer for my dry tumblers.

 

[CraigC]

I also don't tumble loaded ammo, though I have no aversion to it. I just don't do it. I tumble my brass overnight. I used to resize/deprime and clean the primer pockets first but don't even bother with that any more. Corncob media with a squirt of polish.

 

[CQB45ACP]

I’ve never tumbled finished ammo but these pictures might make me change my mind. Beautiful.

 

[AJC1]

I’ve never tumbled finished ammo but these pictures might make me change my mind. Beautiful.

I advise against vibratory cleaning cast loads. Never tumble.

 

[KY DAN]

I personally would not tumble loaded ammo for more than maybe 30 minutes because its been shown that smokeless powder can be affected by long term vibration such as carrying the same ammo for a long time or small arms ammo that rides around in armored vehicles. I can only imagine a vibration tumbler is greatly accelerating that affect. A rotary tumbler probably wouldn't be as bad.

I agree with you in regards to vibration causing the break down of powder granules.

I have shot these loads and I didn't experience any issues. My load was the "FBI" 38 special grain lead speer hollow point. My data is not approved by the books of today. North of 6 grains and South of 8 grains of HS-6.

Most of your major ammo manufacturers tumble the live ammo. In my short tenor of knowing John Ross we spoke about this subject and he assured that Horandy had rows of concrete mixers tumbling loaded ammo.

I think if rotary tumbling was detrimental it would have made itself know by now.

 

[AK Hunter]

I wet tumble my brass & I used to only do it for 1 hour but I let a few batches run over because I couldn't get back to them. I noticed that if I let them run for 1.5 hours the pistol brass gets fairly clean inside. I don't use ss pins.
I have also noticed that if I toss in a few that had mud or dirt on them the shine is way better. I guess it needs a little grit in the mix to polish better.
If you polish before loading you shouldn't need to tumble after loading.

 

[mdi]

Tumbling live ammo has been a topic of much discussion since I have been frequenting forums (since 2007). So much of the opinions are "internet wisdom" based and few actual factual reports have been published. I don't not because I'm afraid to, but because I don't need to (I did tumble some HXP 30-06 that was very lightly corroded, mostly out of curiosity, and fired them in my Garand). I read one report from a long standing forum member who used some .223/5.56 reloads. Tumbled live ammo for varying lengths of time, disassembled rounds, checked powder under a microscope, and fired a few rounds across his chrony. After two weeks, IIRC, approx. 250 hours, he saw no change in powder appearance or velocities. But he was not a technician working for an ammo company and did all work in his shop. He didn't have pressure testing equipment, but was a respected member with a long history of good experience reloading. I have never seen "it shown" powder breaks down from vibration to an extent of changing any performance/characteristics. So, believe him or not, your choice.

When I started tumbling brass (I had been reloading 12 years before getting into tumbling. I just wiped each case with a solvent dampened rag, no ruined dies, no scratched chambers.) I experimented with every media I could think of, wet and dry, and came to the conclusion that the best media for dry tumbling is a mix of corn cob blast media, 14-20 with a bit of auto wax to leave a very light coating of wax to retard tarnish. No rouge, no added abrasives. My personal media is corn cob with a half handful of 3/8" hard resin pyramids tossed in to add a bit of cleaning. For me wet tumbling is unnecessary, labor intensive and messy.

Tumbling time varies between a wobbler and a rotary, the condition of the brass, the type and life of the media, and the finish you want.

But brass cleaning is a very personal thing. Some only clean their brass for better reloading and some want pristine cases, both inside and out, looking like virgin brass. Sometime I leave my brass in the tumbler long enough for a shine, and other times just long enough for a good clean case to reload. To each his own...

 

[EricBu]

I tumble a lot of finished ammo, you don't even want to know how much. I quit using concrete mixers because even the plastic drum types was beating things up too bad. Nu Finish/Corn Cob, and 30 minutes are amazing, I also use a lot of Walnut reptile bedding, Petco will ship it to you on a subscription if you go through a lot. I switched from Corn to Walnut not because of results, but because the corn is a rat bitch to get out of small hollow points, the walnut media is easier to blow out with air, and if some stays it's much less obnoxious and obvious than the bright flecks of corn. 3 hours won't hurt it, but it's time I don't have, so nothing I do will get tumbled that long as a general rule. I also use compressed air to blow them off after tumbling. Speaking for myself, as far as tumbling used brass, I decap on a universal before tumbling. After media seperation, and good blasting with the air compressor, any particles that might still be stuck in a flash hole.........is cleared when I actually go to load it, since depending on the press used, it's either going to go through a sizing die with the decap pin still in it, or it's going to go through the universal decap again in station 1 of my automated presses.

I will point out one thing...if you are tumbling finished cast, you really need to pick up a respirator. A cloth type with exhale valves and filters is about 20.00. You don't want to be breathing in the lead saturated media when you dump it into the media seperator etc, and wash your hands after handling that used media. Especially important if you're tumbling cast for 3 hours...that's a lot of micro particles of lead you're breathing in every time you dump that tumbler out.

 

[.308 Norma]

We (my wife and I) have a lot of our favorite movies on DVDs. Most of them run between 135 and 145 minutes - the "optimum tumbling time" for cases in a vibrating tumbler using walnut media. A couple of the "hour long" episodes of "Gunsmoke" on DVD comes pretty close to "optimum tumbling time" too.

 

[Targa]

I dry tumble for an hour and call it good shiny or not.

 

[CQB45ACP]

I dry tumble for an hour and call it good shiny or not.

You dry tumble? Or ammo?

 

[Targa]

Dry tumble my brass cases with walnut media.

 

[nettlle]

I tumble with walnut media and Nu-Finish. I'll throw the brass in the tumbler after a range session and take it out the next day.

 

[PWC]

Wet vs. dry "tumbling has been discussed ad nausem. Can't speak to wet.

The same with which medium, corn cob or walnut under whichever commercial name it comes. I only vib clean so corn cob or walnut, I've found both do a good job. I "tumble" 1 to 3 hrs usually, with primer in and allow the deprime step clear the flash hole of any obstruction, if any.

After vib cleaning with NuFinish and mineral spirits in the media, I wipe off each piece of brass from cleaning with my bench towel before ever going into my dies.

I have a single stage press so I load 1 round at a time. Each handling allows one more QC check. After final seat or crimp, each round is wiped by my bench towel (different colored old Tee shirt) before putting in the finished round loading block.

I have no need to "tumble" loaded rounds to remove lube. My brass is shiney, stays shiney, and NuFinish polymer coating keeps them that way... and slick feeding.

 

[LiveLife]

Everyone, OP is DRY TUMBLING LOADED ROUNDS in rotary tumbler and asking for "Optimal tumbling time", not for empty brass:

tumble ... loaded ammo

I have played with the settings and found 1/2 a drum of corn cob and 500 rounds of 38 special is the optimal load. I let the tumbler run for 3 hours and move onto more ammo.

As to "optimal tumbling time" for finished rounds?

If you are tumbling loaded lubed cases, however long it takes to remove lube from cases. If you are tumbling loaded rounds for shine/polish, however long it takes to get them shiny/polished.

​

For those concerned about tumbling loaded rounds due to breakdown of powder, not for smokeless powder and we myth busted that by dry tumbling for 48 hours without powder breakdown, no change in OAL and supported by range test/chrono data.

W231 - https://www.thehighroad.org/index.p...ling-loaded-rounds.498890/page-2#post-6204378

Close examination of the powder showed NO DEGRADATION! {For those in rio linda, that means no broken granuals, still shiny, no dust} Comparison between new powder right out of the 4# jug, and the 48 hour tumbled were identical!
​

snuffy chrono data - https://www.thehighroad.org/index.p...ling-loaded-rounds.498890/page-3#post-6210466

Walkalong chrono data - https://www.thehighroad.org/index.p...ling-loaded-rounds.498890/page-3#post-6210696


OAL comparison of tumbled and non tumbled rounds for 48 hours showed no significant change:

snuffy - https://www.thehighroad.org/index.p...ling-loaded-rounds.498890/page-3#post-6208732

1.149 to 1.155 for the un-tumbled

tumbled ran from 1.149 to 1.156​

Walkalong - https://www.thehighroad.org/index.p...ling-loaded-rounds.498890/page-3#post-6208556

All the non tumbled rounds were from 1.214 to 1.218 O.A.L.

Only one non tumbled round was 1.218. The rest were 1.214 to 1.217

All the tumbled rounds were from 1.214 to 1.217 O.A.L.​

Picture of 700X in loaded rounds after 48 hours of tumbling shows no powder breakdown -
https://www.thehighroad.org/index.p...ling-loaded-rounds.498890/page-2#post-6205368

 

[tightgroup tiger]

I was hoping some one would bring up the tests you guys did 12 years ago. I tumble my loaded handgun ammo in a rotary tumbler to get the lube off the case after I'm done loading them. I don't tumble loaded rifle cartridges in a rotary tumbler, I tried it once and it beat up the bullet tips.
I obviously did something wrong like put to many in at a time.
My tumbling time is only 15 minutes in the rotary, and they do come out of there much shinier than when they went in. And the cases were polished when they were loaded to.
The weight of the loaded ammo has a positive effect on how hard they fall in the tumbling media, making them polish much faster.

I've don't tumbler them in a vibratory tumbler because in my tumbler, they go down like the Titanic and just lay on bottom like it's been doing since 1912. Mine vibratory tumbler won't bring them back up, I know they are still getting polished a little but not like in a rotary tumbler.
I've been tumbling my loaded pistol ammo in the rotary tumbler since I built it back some time in the 1990s.

100 fps for 15 minutes shines them right up and makes them look like factory.

 

[PWC]

IF I were to tumble / vib loaded rounds, I wouldn't worry about powder but the primer pellet fracturing or dislodging.