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How do you tumble your brass?

D

dormandefense

Sergeant
Full Member
Minuteman
Sep 28, 2012
259
4
36
Aynor, SC
I'd like to hear directly from you guys what your dry tumbling method is.

What media do you use?

When during the reloading process do you tumble?



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Tumble before sizing/decapping with walnut media. I always add an ounce or 2 of mineral spirits. (paint thinner)

I re-size with whatever lube I choose (no 1-shot for me) then tumble again with fine ground corn cob and mineral spirits to remove lube. I use compressed air to remove any media that may get stuck in flash holes. With the fine corn cob, not many get stuck in the flash holes. I do a visual check of every case to make sure, and this gives me another chance to inspect for bad cases as well.

I only use a little mineral spirits poured in the media and after running the tumbler a few minutes it is distributed throughout all the media and it is slightly darker in color and you can tell it's a bit damp. Greatly improves cleaning and zero dust.
 
Decap shells
Tumble in Thumler's tumbler with Stainless pins, water, Dawn detergent and Lemishine.
Rinse Dry
Lube & Resize
Clean in ultrasonic bath using 25% white vinegar 75% distiller water.
Rinse
Dry
Reload
 
This isn't too bad of a buy, but you can buy it without pail. But the pail full of 223, or 45acp is cool as hell. I use Frankfurt Arsenal and Iosso polish. But Dillon makes a sweet batch also, I just rarely order from them. If I want sparkling brass, it's corn cob only, for tumbling before sizing, 2/3 corn, 1/3 walnut, gets them clean enough to size.

I'll concede that the ss method may be the best, I'm just not about to DRY brass.

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/17...-3-1-2-gallon-plastic-utility-bucket-with-lid
 
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Red walnut with a couple oz. of brass polish every third run pre and post resizing. I have been using the same media for a couple years. It still polishes great. I have heard some guys wash their media from time to time but I never have.
 
I've been dry-tumbling for years using various media and never once had the degree of cleaning I'm seeing with the Stainless. The drying process consists of rolling the cases in a towel a few times and letting them sit for a day or so. In summer I just put them in the sun on the porch.
To each their own but I haven't touched by dry tumbler for over a year/2000+ rounds.
 
How do you tumble your brass?

Right now I think I'm stuck with dry tumbling. My process has been working just great for cleaning, but it doesn't yield polish. I think I'll try more corn cob media and less walnut media for the final tumble cycle. Thanks for the ideas/methods guys. Keep them coming!


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If you keep one specific batch, heavily laden with polish, the final polish may only take 45 minutes. Additive is your buddy!
 
Decap & size
Tumble in Thumler's tumbler with Stainless pins, water, few drops of Dawn detergent and Lemishine.
Clean in ultrasonic bath w/water.
Dry in alcohol
 
Decap
Tumble in SS pins/Lemishine/hot water/Dawn
dry in toaster oven at 175 (only if I'm in a hurry)
anneal if needed
Lube and size
Toss in the vibratory with corncob media to remove lube and polish
 
dormandefense said:
I'd like to hear directly from you guys what your dry tumbling method is.

What media do you use?

When during the reloading process do you tumble?
Click to expand...
Pistol: 2 hours, crushed walnut, every so often add a spritz or three of Simple Green which seems to avoid the need to lube even using carbide dies. Then on to the progressive for reloading.

Rifle: 1-2 hours, same crushed walnut as my pistol. Lube, resize/decap, case prep (including primer pocket brushing) as/if required. 2 hours crushed walnut. Finish reloading.

The above is for my brass that normally does not hit a dirt "floor". Range brass or brass that has picked up foreign material may be tumbled longer.
 
I tumble before resizing, then again for 20 minutes to remove the lube after the ammo is loaded.
Cheers
 
Shoot
Tumble for 1 hr in corn-cob media
Quick wipe w/paper towel
Decap & FL resize
Tumble for 1 hr
Clean up flash hole as removing from tumbler
Quick wipe w/paper towel
Prime, Powder, & Projectile
Repeat as necessary ;-)
 
For match loads, I tumble in stainless/water/dawn/lemishine.

Then anneal (not every time), lube, size, tumble 15-30 mins in corn cob treated with carnauba cleaner wax to remove lube. Then I load.

For blaster/plinker, tumble in treated corn cob maybe over night. Who really cares how clean it gets on the inside or the primer pocket with blaster ammo? After the first cleaning, lube, size, prime, charge, seat, crimp, then tumble the loaded round for 15-30 mins in the treated corn cob.

The corn cob and carnauba cleaner wax is very similar to the commercially available 'treated media'.
 
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leadbullet said:
I tumble before resizing, then again for 20 minutes to remove the lube after the ammo is loaded.
Cheers
Click to expand...

I use the same method with corn cob media add couple a of capfuls of mineral spirits after several tumbles. i also use dryer sheets to keep down the dust.
 
Deprime cases
Tumble in Thumler's tumbler with Stainless pins, water, Dawn detergent and Lemishine.
Rinse in cold water
then rinse in alcohol to displace water
Shake out cases and dry on towels
 
I dry tumble first step in the reloading process with corn cob media. I do not dry tumble my precision loads as it hardens the brass. I employ sonic cleaning after decapping/resizing.


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The old fashioned way - I put it in a box of walnut media, and toss it down the stairs. Repeatedly.

If that doesn't work I use a vibratory tumbler. No polish or any additive. Just straight media.

After sizing usually. Works fine.

Sometimes I tumble twice - right after firing and then after sizing. I don't see that it helps.

Walnut works better than corn cob.
 
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I tumble with corn cob media before I size my rifle cases. I don't tumble after sizing to remove case lube I just wipe it off with disposable shop towels.
Actually I've always wondered about tumbling to remove case lube-- it seems to me that tumbling cases with case lube on them will eventually impregnate the media with the case lube and carry it inside the case and in to the primer pocket. I have always thought having traces of case lube inside the case and primer pocket can't be a good idea.
Anybody else have thoughts on this.
 
I tumbled for years with corn cob. Just started with SS pins and will never go back. I'll keep the tumbler for misc tasks though.

I shoot both turned necks and factory. SS pins will sometimes dint a thin neck so for my dasher I Decap then clean. Typically anneal then neck size. For regular loads. Just FL size. Clean. Load. No more cleaning necks and primer pockets. Sorry, not an answer to your question. For drying I'm putting them in the oven on 180 for 15 minutes. Easy and done
 
Polish with walnut media, for some extra polish I'll add a little bit of this stuff called Zephyr Pro 40. It's a polish made for and I use it polishing aluminum, stainless and chrome on my semi trucks, but I've found it does a pretty nice job on brass in a tumbler as well! A little bit added each time I've tumbled seems to keep the polishing agent fresh in it, and it has kept doing a good job for me so far in my start of learning the reloading art!

https://www.zephyrpro40.com/s2/Scripts/prodView.asp?idproduct=423
 
Dillon CV-500, corn, but mostly walnut with some Dillon, or Flitz polish thrown in.

Don't feel the need to hassle with wet tumbling and my brass comes out clean enough to lick, after 90 minutes.

Chris
 
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