New to reloading and have questions. Does tumbling with stainless media produce better or more consistent accuracy as apposed to walnut/ corn media ?
Case cleaning
- Thread starter Hogslobber
- Start date
No.
A search here on tumbling brass will yield hours of redundant reading with opinions from just give the case an exterior wipe to beating the hell out of them to make them shinier than new inside and out.
I wet tumble with hot water, a squirt of dawn soap, and a pinch of citric acid for about 20 minutes. No media - stainless or otherwise as I found it to be an unnecessary pain in the ass.
A search here on tumbling brass will yield hours of redundant reading with opinions from just give the case an exterior wipe to beating the hell out of them to make them shinier than new inside and out.
I wet tumble with hot water, a squirt of dawn soap, and a pinch of citric acid for about 20 minutes. No media - stainless or otherwise as I found it to be an unnecessary pain in the ass.
No. In fact, it can be just the opposite. For example:
* Very clean interior surface of the neck produces more interference than can effect consistent seating of the bullets. That can be mitigated by lubing the necks before seating or by leaving the residue on the inside after the firing.
* When wet tumbling, the cases are banging against each other hitting the mouth's of the cases cause the edge to curl inward forming a significant burr that can cogue the bullet's jacket, produce too much runout and too much variation in seating. The SS media isn't the problem and is there to just clean the inside of the cases.
On the positive side, if you want to think of it that way. . . you can get really sparkly clean brass.
Wet tumbling is good for cleaning brass that's gotten really dirty having been thrown into dirt or mud and getting that out of the interior.
Since I lube my cases with Imperial Sizing Die Wax for sizing, I like to dry tumble with medium size rice after sizing. Before sizing I just use some steel wool to clean the necks before sizing. I like to lean the after firing residue on the interior of the necks and the dry tumbling with rice leave the interior of the neck nicely lubricated for consistent seating. There are other approaches that work just fine, but being somewhat of a minimalist, this is my preference (I typically do 100 cases at a time). If one is doing something like 300-400 cases at a time, I'd probably choose a different approach.
Really shiny brass is the only benefit to using the wet method and pins. The cons to this method is damage (peening) to the neck and the possibility of pins getting stuck in the case. The cons definitely outweigh the pros.
If you want REALLY shiny brass, get out the Brasso.
If you want REALLY shiny brass, get out the Brasso.
No. As mentioned, neck peening and hassled of trying to get all the pins out of the cases.
Personally, I use a vibratory tumbler with walnut shell media and have not found a reason to make it any more complex or messy than that.
Best of luck. Cheers
I deprime the brass, put it in an ultrasonic cleaner (with Lemishine and Dawn) for 45 mins, dry the brass then into a vibratory tumbler with walnut shells for 1 hr. Comes out as shiny as I want it and with minimal work. The reason I use the ultrasonic cleaner is to remove the carbon and primer residue before going into the tumbler. The media stays much cleaner and you don't have the carbon and primer residue dust floating around in the air. You will be surprised by how much residue is in the ultrasonic cleaner. That residue would normally be in your walnut media. Depriming first allows the primer pocket to be cleaned and prevents an air pocket in the case thus preventing the cleaning solution from getting to the inside of the case.
So there.
So there.
Agree. I tumble with dry media only to get rid of the dirt/crud that would harm my expensive dies. Shiny brass does not add to precision.
I've been wet tumbling with pins for probably 10 or 12 years. I deprime and then a squirt of Dawn and Lemishine, 15-20 minutes tumble. Dry in the dehydrator. Never had an issue and it's quick. I can do several hundred at a time. I lube the inside of the necks and mandrel size the inside of the case neck now but never had any issue with brass longevity or finshed cartridge runout even before moving lubing and mandreling the necks.
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I would wet wash with pins/chips every time if it wasn’t such a massive pain in the ass to separate pins or chips from the brass. I don’t care about the necks because that can be cured by Henderson/Giraud/Hornady clone trimmers. I have paid help that can handle that brainless activity.
Instead I just wash without pins, then size and dry tumble to get lube off. They’re almost as pretty and that matters to me. I’m vain.
I use a RCBS case and media separator. Doesn't take too many cranks to get all the pins out of the cases,then I put a 5gal paint strainer bag into a bucket and dump the pins into it .Makes it easy to rinse off and store in the bag. FWIW.
