Does a Stainless Steel Tumbler Damage Necks?

[Rsos2313]

Hey guys, this might be a stupid question but I was wondering if anyone has had any problems with any of the Stainless Steel Tumblers denting the necks of your brass. Iv tried to research this the best I could but I couldn't find much maybe because the problem doesn't exist. All I know is if I drop one of my Lapua BR cases from around 3FT the neck almost always dents. Its hard for me to believe in a Rotary Tumblr brass slamming into each other for 3 hours wouldn't have any effect on them. Any input is appreciated. Also which Rotary Tumbler do you guys use. Thanks!!

 

[Darkside-Six]

It hasn't for me. I have also heard some people say this but I just recently switch over to SS tumbling a few months ago and don’t see any damage to necks. I also hear guys saying they tumble for longer periods of time than I do as well. I’ve never needed to leave my brass in the tumbler for more than and hour and they look shinier than brand new. No issues with the necks.

 

[2aBaC̶a̶]

I usually do 6hrs no problems. I would say its less impact than a spining your brass in a media separator since there is water in it.

 

[whatsupdoc]

I use a stainless steel tumbler on all my brass, my one batch of Lapua brass has been reloaded over 20 times and tumbled at least 15 times.

The tumbling eventually does "slightly damage" the inside chamfered edge of the neck requiring me to run them through the chamfering tool for a second.

It really does not damage the neck but kind of rounds off the inside edge of the case neck.

 

[Rsos2313]

Also I use imperial sizing wax on my brass, to take the wax off instead of just wiping each one down I throw it back in corn cob media for about 30minutes and it all comes off. Anyone have experience with that using Stainless Steel media? Like it doesn't mix into the water and leave a film on the brass or anything?

 

[steve123]

Definitely Chamfer and Debur after SS cleaning whether you trim or not. A protruding ring happens right on the interior and exterior of the edge of the lip on the case mouth which forms from peening. Seems like the outside of the mouth/lip of the case gets pushed out more than the inside?? The C and D-ing prevents the peened out brass from possibly pushing against the inside of the chamber in the neck area and stops the bullet from being scratched when it is seated.

I quit SS cleaning after every firing, only doing it after 3-4 firings.In the mean time I just wipe off the brass doing nothing else to it and go old school like I did for many years when I was young -easy...

 

[CMH]

Also I use imperial sizing wax on my brass, to take the wax off instead of just wiping each one down I throw it back in corn cob media for about 30minutes and it all comes off. Anyone have experience with that using Stainless Steel media? Like it doesn't mix into the water and leave a film on the brass or anything?

It does if you only use water. Same effect as trying to wash dishes in only water - they all end up grimy. That is why the recommend you use dish soap and Lemishine when stainless tumbling...

 

[MarinePMI]

It peens the case mouths (not dent the necks). I think people are just using the wrong term when they sometimes say "SS media dents the necks".

As to soap; I've been having really good results from someone's suggestion here to use Meguiar's car wash soap (with wax) and lemishine. Leaves them clean and relatively spot free.

 

[spife7980]

Not really mentioned yet but sort of corollary so I can see a bit of inklings maybe: stainless just peens the mouth up and gives a thin film of harder brass just on the surface but all of the interior brass remains unchanged in hardness. A quick chamfer and deburr will remove the peen.

https://www.ampannealing.com/articles/40/annealing-under-the-microscope/

 

[Rsos2313]

Not really mentioned yet but sort of corollary so I can see a bit of inklings maybe: stainless just peens the mouth up and gives a thin film of harder brass just on the surface but all of the interior brass remains unchanged in hardness. A quick chamfer and deburr will remove the peen.

https://www.ampannealing.com/articles/40/annealing-under-the-microscope/
View attachment 7077411

Interesting. Thank you.

 

[canezach]

When you drop your brass neck-down on the floor, your floor has a mass that essentially makes it immovable. The media in the tumbler is so light and traveling at such a low velocity when it collides with the brass that you'd need to accelerate either the brass or the media by two orders of magnitude before you could damage the brass.

 

[memilanuk]

In my experience, back when I did wet tumbling w/ SS media, the case size and the relative fill of the tumbler made a significant difference.

.223 Rem - relatively light cases, so when they 'tumble' back down inside the container, not much happens. You can tumble those things dang near forever with little damage.

At the other end of the spectrum, .338LM - big honkin' *heavy* cases. When those things come tumbling down, bad things happen, quickly. Maybe an hour, two tops, before the case mouths were so badly peened over as to need not just chamfering, but substantial *trimming* to remove the damage.

Similarly, the closer to 'full' you run the tumbler, the less 'free fall' occurs inside the container, and the less peening takes place. So bigger batches work better than just throwing 25 cases in for a 'quick spin'. That said, there are limits (in terms of weight) as far as how heavy you're supposed to load those things up... a Thumler's Tumbler is pretty simple and rugged, but it's not exactly 'industrial' grade.

Again, this was my experience, tumbling a fair amount of brass for match use (.223 Rem, 6 BR, 6 Dasher, .308 Win) and otherwise (.300WM, .338LM) over several years.

Nowadays I just tumble in corn-cob and call it good. Still have the Thumler's Tumbler and the Branson ultrasonic on a shelf somewhere, just in case...

 

[Sig Marine]

Having to chamfer and debur every time one tumbles gets old real fast. Like Steve123, I just wipe my cases until I’m ready to trim then, when I’ve gotten to that point, I’ll tumble and clean the necks back up.

 

[2aBaC̶a̶]

Come to think of it I did have a recent batch where the rim of the case mouth had almost a lip inside and out enough you could catch a finger nail on. It puzzled me where it came from now I suspect the tumbler. Maybe too long or not enough water. I only do about 100 at a time. Normally dont need to chamfer and debur a second time.

 

[MarinePMI]

Having to chamfer and debur every time one tumbles gets old real fast. Like Steve123, I just wipe my cases until I’m ready to trim then, when I’ve gotten to that point, I’ll tumble and clean the necks back up.

A Giruard trimmer makes that a non-issue...

 

[Sig Marine]

A Giruard trimmer makes that a non-issue...

For me that’s a non-issue as I have a Giraud but don’t see the need to clean with pins and trim the brass every single time when wiping them off works well and saves me a step. My goal is to minimize my reloading process and still produce ammunition that performs. YMMV

 

[lightman]

Sometimes you can see some "peening" on the case mouth. Trimming them or using a deburring tool easily fixes this.

 

[Nitrosteel]

I haven’t noticed any issues with mine at all. I typically only run them for about 1.5 hours. Using dawn detergent and Limi-shine they are perfectly clean. Only clean them when they get embarrassingly bad to look at. Usually just wipe the case lube off after I size and that keeps them looking good for 5-6 loadings.

 

[2aBaC̶a̶]

I start seeing signs at around 3hrs of tumbling.