Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Question for reloaders

I don't think most people worry about the inside, as far as dust goes. Wipe down the outside before sizing. For bottleneck cases I also lube the inside of the case neck before resizing (lube the case body too of course). After resizing and depriming I run my cases through the tumbler again to remove the case lube. I check the flash holes to make sure that none of the media is lodged in them.

Ernie

I don't have a problem with dust from walnut media from Pet Smart as long as I run the cleaner long enough to get the cases slick and clean. I only have a problem when I don't run it long enough. I use a small Allen wrench to pick out the media stuck in the flash holes.

Another toothpick man here

+1 to the dryer sheets.

Make sure to use the used ones, they have much more porosity to collect dust. I cut mine up into 1-2" squares for better distribution.

I also "recharge" my media with a capful of Nu-Finish, the car stuff, every other load or so.

This makes tumbling sound like a whole lot of work just to have pretty cases. I couldn't care less how pretty they are as long as the bullet comes out of the barrel straight.

I tumble mine to get the case lube off of the cases. I put a little media polish in the corn cob media and don't have a dust problem. A straightened out paper clip works great for a flash hole pick to get the stuck media out.

yep.

and het a neck brush for the inside


Snake

Ok, guys, thanks for the info. I happen to like pretty brass, and I don't like having that little case lube film, so I tumble them for those two reasons. I use a short length of copper wire to clean the flash hole. I figured the copper was soft enough to not ding the pocket, but sturdier than a toothpick! I am using a nylon brush on the neck, but one day I used some q-tips to clean out the inside and there was a lot of red dust in there! Nobody does anything crazy like running them through the dishwasher, right?

Have any of you guys used a shaker in lieu of a tumbler?

Opinions?

Not really. I use a Thumler's Model "B", loaded with lizard litter and white rice, and can put a BUNCH of brass in at one time. Load it up and walk away. I tumble it to get it clean, not to make it look new, as my dies like it better clean. If I want to let it run for a while, I can make it look almost new, but I don't mess with that usually. I put the polish in to make it clean faster, as it has a mild solvent in it, as well as to control dusting.

Makes a lot of sense.

That would be the vibratory instead of the tumblatory method. (I love awkward words.)

A shot of compressed air removes most of that.




I don't use a dishwasher, but I do wash out my brass. I don't want lube residue, media dust or polish additive hanging around inside my cases.

I use a shaker instead of a tumbler. It works fine for me. I care less about a shiny case than I do about a clean case. I use a vibrating cleaner with walnut media as the last step in my case prep. It seems to do a good job getting any remaining unwanted residue off the cases.

I haven't tumbled brass ever. It's a waste of time.


Travis

I use both a tumbler and shaker. Tumbler to get them clean, then put them in a shaker (OLD Midway one) to polish them so they look factory new. Might not need them that way, but like them that way, and the tumbler gets the dirt off so they don't scratch my dies. A friend of mine puts theirs in a thumblers tumbler, with hot water, and uses soap as a case lube, so the cases actually "washed". After washing, changes the water twice to get the soap out/off, then dries them in the sun (he lives in Arizona). This guy a top competitive shooter, and loads 12-15,000 rounds at a time. Washing them, doesn't leave any media in any place, and cleans the primer pocket too.