I'd appreciate your input regarding the real need to tumble brass, beyond the "looks nicer" factor. I realize a bright shiny surface will make detection of surface flaws/cracks easier so you can pitch defective brass, but how much does this really aid in the visual inspection process ?

Negatives to tumbing I am aware of include: media in the case, media in the flash holes, and the not to be discounted potential for lead exposure when handling used media.

For those who do tumble brass, who makes a moderately priced unit for a couple hundred .223 at a time. What media do you use ?

Any thoughts on the ultrasonic cleaners ?

Thanks for your help

Tumbling has lots of positives:
Set and forget, come back in a couple of hours and you're done. You can even plug it into a lamp timer and set it for a few hours and go to bed or go to work and not worry about it going on forever. Many ultrasonics are limited in the number of minutes they go on for so you have to come back every few minutes to restart it.

I deprime after tumbling so there is no media in the flash hole. I also use completely dry walnut shells (no polish or mineral oil) so no media sticking inside. I use several cut up used dryer sheets which trap the soot and lead dust from the primer so there is no dust when separating the media from the cases. The sheets come out black. Wash hands after all this and your lead exposure is minimal.

I tried ultrasonic cleaning before tumbling and while the cases came out clean on the inside and out including the primer pocket, the amount of time babysitting and post cleaning wasn't worth it. I only clean to get the soot and dirt off so the cases can be reloaded and safely chambered in the gun. The fact that they are shiny is just a plus. I don't need sparkling brass so stainless steel tumbling is not on my radar right now either.

The 5 pound Harbor Freight tumbler has worked well for me in the past year having processed several thousand cases. You can probably get the same price (and same quality) from some dedicated reloading company, but since I was able to pick it up locally, that's what I did. Crushed walnut cost me $17/50 pounds at the local wholesale pet feed store, but you can get it pretty easily almost anywhere. The cut up used dryer sheets are really useful in eliminating the initial walnut dust and eventual soot and primer lead dust from cleaning the cases.

Other than knocking off dirt from cases falling to the ground, you don't really need to clean/polish cases. For decades, reloaders simply wiped the cases off with a wet or dry cloth and then reloaded them.

Howdy Southampton,

I have been reloading for quite a while and I always tumble my brass. I tumble before I deprime (I know I will get other opinions here) but this will remove the concern you have for media in the primer pocket. I have a Frankfort Arsenal sperator that fastens over a bucket and allows one to pour all tumbling media, shells, etc. into the seperator, fasten it together and "ice cream" crank it until media is dispersed. Additionally, I put a clothes dryer sheet in the tumbler and you will be amazed at how much longer tumbler media will last. I shoot Cowboy Action and the low pressures required allow for a quite dirty piece of brass due to blowback in these low loads. I really don't think you have a concern with lead issues associated with "tumbling". If you are going to reload you will get more than your fair share of exposure from handling the bullets. If you don't tumble your brass you may have "more exposure to bad actors" from just handling that. Use of a media seperator requires very little exposure to anything in my humble opinion.

As to media I use a mix of corn cob and crushed walnut; just mix some together, no formula. Add that used dryer sheet before tumbling.

I think you will find case inspection much easier with "clean brass", less dirty for you and your weapon and as you pointed out "it looks good".

I have a Dillon vibratory tumbler, and a RCBS rotary tumbler. Frankfort Arsenal makes a kit with everything for around $60.

Can't wait for other opinions.

Regards

Bill

I deprime, clean primer hole, and place 2 or 3 tablespoons of Citric Acid in a quart of very warm water. Add brass, stir a little and wait 6 minutes. Remove, rinse 3X, and dry. Clean brass.

Don't acids make brass more brittle?

Not Citric Acid. You'll find this in Kool Aid and many other food items. Also, it "passivates" the brass, making it more corrosion resistant. For more information Google search "Citric Acid brass cleaning". There you'll find many sites dealing with cleaning brass for reloading.

I usually resize and decap in one operation, so I tumble used brass for 30 -45 minutes first, dump out any media in the cases, resize and inspect, then retumble for another 30 - 45 minutes. I worry about dirty cases scratching the dies. This is a little more work but I've been doing it that way for 30 years so it's ingrained. Cleaning the bits of media out of primer holes is a necessary chore, so get used to it. I use the tiniest 'eyeglass' screwdriver to poke out the media, I can pick up 4 or 5 cases and poke the media out one at a time so it goes a little faster, no easy way around that one.
RD

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Got a Phd from Hard Knocks U

Cool, thanks.
One thing to avoid is Simple Green, learned that one the hard way.

What problems does Simple Green cause?

Sir,

The real reason brass should be cleaned is to avoid scoring the sizing die with the abrasive burnt powder residue on the cases. As I understand it a scored sizing die will in turn scratch up the cases, shortening their life. I may have misunderstood, but that is my impression(I'm sure I'll be corrected if I'm mistaken!). It also stands to reason that a clean case sizes more easily than a dirty one.

So the way the brass looks is actually immaterial.

I use the Frankford Arsenal tumbler and separator kit mentioned earlier. As I recall the whole set-up cost me around $70.

Best wishes,
Andy

The problem is dezincification. It removes the zinc from brass alloy, leaving behind the soft copper. Now I'm not saying one soaking will destroy brass, but over time it can weaken it.

Simple Green is commonly used in firearms cleaning despite many warnings against it. For example, some guys hose down their AR-15s with Simple Green, even though the military prohibits the use of SG on aircraft because it is corrosive to aluminum.

Google "wet tumbling brass" or "tumbling with stainless media" some form of those, it's the best way, if you want clean brass.This stuff was very dirty before a wet tumble.

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That is how I understand it and that is why I tumble my brass. I use a Lymann Tumbler (quality product that is now close to 20 years old and still going strong). I also tumble brass with the primer still in place. Therefore, media in the flash hole isn't a problem. I used corn cob media for years but a recent batch was dusty. I switched to crushed walnut. I purchased the Lyman brand because that is what I could find locally. They treat it with rouge and it leaves a red tint on all my brass. I will be going back to corn cob soon. I use a Dillon Media Separator. You will want some sort separator.
Mark

When I started reloading in the late 60's I bought the latest and greatest reloading tool ever--Lyman T-C Carbide sizing die (it even had a gold top.)
It was advertised as being so hard you did not have to even wipe off your cases because grit, etc., could not get imbedded in it, and, they would come out of the sizing die all shiney. Tumbling was very rare.
If you want to tumble, the Berry tumbler kit (also sold by Cabelas) is a reasonable priced, tumbler with very good action and capacity. At drillspot.com you can get 40# of 20/40 corn cob media for $26, delivered. It is fine enough that it won't get stuck in flash holes, if you tumble after decapping.

I use a Lyman "turbo 1200" tumbler with crushed walnut media. Even if it's not necessary, I like my brass nice and shiney. FWIW I also tumble with the primer in place so the flash hole doesn't get plugged, clearing plugged flashholes is a pain.

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"Shall not be infringed"

I too clean my brass in a tumbler, mainly to make them shiny. I use Lymam Tuf Nut media, walnut shells with jewelers rouge. Upon decapping any media in the flash hole is expelled with the primer.
I would use one of the wet methods but found overcleaning inside the case caused another issue. If the interior is to clean the case sticks inside the expander die in my Dillon 650. This makes loading 45acp a real chore, not smooth at all.

No need to reinvent the wheel, buy a tumbler and some media insert brass and turn on. Add some metal polish for extra shine.

Regarding lead exposure... I ALWAYS wash with D Lead soap after reloading, shooting, cleaning or handling any of my firearms. I shoot Bullseye indoors and outdoors. Some of our members were tested for lead exposure over the last few years and found that their lead levels were Double the limit where the health department has to be notified. The guys found that by just using the lead removing soap that their levels dropped to 25% (it took awhile for it to leave their systems) of their originally tested levels.

Simple green will stain the brass, leaving them OD green and giving them a sticky feel, regardless of how much you rinse them.

I am not a fan of wet tumbling, just a PITA to get the cases 100% dry, JMO. I use a Thumblers UV18, been using it for 25yrs now, just keeps going. I like corn cob, but untreated walnut works too. Add a cap of NUfinish every other tumble & let go for 2-3hrs. I am only looking for very clean brass, super shiney is pretty but serves no huge value other than reloader pride.

THis is primarily from shooting indoors. Washing up is fine, but you want to limit your lead exposure, stop shooting indoors. Even shooting jacketed bullets, the lead styphonite in primers is always there on firing & you are breathing that in. Most indoor ranges have minimal air scrubbing systems, it's just an unhealthy enviroment to shoot in. I limit my indoor shooting to about 4x per year.

I also agree that airborne lead will still find it's way into our systems. But, the individuals who I described continued to shoot indoors and still had the reductions. Around here, we can only shoot comfortably outdoors for about 6 months, which only leaves indoors.

Many ways to skin a cat, for sure. I do it a bit different. I give the cases a quick (1-2 min) wash in hot water with a bit of Bar Keeper's Friend, then deprime the wet cases. Shake dry and tumble in lizard bedding (walnut). Never had any media stuck in a case or flash hole. Even if a bit was caught in the primer hole, I would imagine that a primer would have enough brisance to push it out when firing.

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-jwk-
US Army '72-'95

Barkeepers Friend is my favorite all around cleanser. It is the best for stainless steel (yes I have used it on guns, carbon on the front of SS cylinders) pots, pans, boat fittings, sink.

great for brass but leaves a bit of white residue if not washed really well.

Oxalic acid.

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Still Running Against the Wind

Give STAINLESS STEEL MEDIA tumbling a look, not a vibrating unit but a rock tumbler such as a Thumbler's Tumbler Model "B" Hi-Speed 15 pound unit. Look at Snipershide.com for a 42 page post undrer the reloading section, (check out pg 39 for a compiled list of all ideas and improvements) with many photos on the subject too. The S.S. media is .041 in dia. and .252/252 in length. You use Dawn dishwashing soap, Lemi-Shine rinse agent, 5 pounds of the pins (which are magnetic and aids with separation in the end), along with 2 pounds of dirty brass.

The media does not hurt the brass, lasts forever, cleans brass inside and out and the primer pockets too. Turns dirty brass into clean shiny jewelry. I'm impressed with my unit and results.

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NRA Pistol/Rifle Inst. RSO

I use lizard cage media purchased in the local pet store. It's no more than finely crushed walnut shells and does an excellent job. @$12-15 for a huge bag. Small enough not to plug the primer hole.

My only interest is to clean the dirt, soot and grit off the cases to protect my dies and chambers. Any "polishing" is incidental, like when I forget and let the tumbler run overnight. I never saw the need to have to dry cases after cleaning.

The only additional value I ever found for super shiny reloads was a lower coefficient of friction when speedloading a revolver during PPC matches, where the cylinder can get a bit dirty during matches.

I tumble all my brass now. I used to just give it a quick cleaning and then reload but it made for an unattractive final product. Tumbling is not really necessary but I take enough pride in my work that I want my reloads to look at least as good as they work.

I tried a mild solution of simple green to clean surface crud off the brass brass before deprime and resize. It left the brass feeling "greasy" though it was was pretty clean. Now I just use a mild dish soap (the kind without bleach) in the ultrasonic cleaner, deprime and resize then tumble.

Acidic or basic cleaners will cause dezincification but, unless your using pretty strong solutions, it takes a lot of exposure to weaken the brass. Be careful of any cleaners or polishes containing ammonia. The flaring and crimping of the case mouth raises residual stresses that, in combination with ammonia exposure, will accelerate cracking.

Being rather new at this (just started las year) I read about the lack of need for tumbling brass and so I tried it.
Whether or not it makes a difference in performance is just part of it. Dirty brass is ... well, dirty. This dirt transferred to my fingers, then my calipers, the control panel on my scales, my coffee cup, the pages of my manuals, etc. And every time I picked up more to load into the feeding tube, it got worse.
I spent 10x the time cleaning up than I would have had I cleaned the brass first. If cost is the question, it is capital well-spent.

I just tumble (dry vibratory) revolver cases enough to get them clean. I kind of like a little patina on my revolver cases.