Tumbling Brass

[XtremeVel]

1) Tumble brass
2) Lube the entire batch,(I don't have carbide dies)
3) Decap and size in first die at the same time
4) Re-tumble after a quick brake parts or other oil dissolving rinse
5) Sit in living room watch TV and check flash hole and hand prime case
6) for 9mm, flare and, trickle powder in same step, place in reload tray
7) hand place bullet, 100 at a time before seat and crimp stage,(one die)

Just my little routine, use it, ignore it, or better yet- comment on how I can be better. Totally open minded to constructive criticism

If it works for you... Thats what counts ! I would question as to why no carbide die ? Rifle, or just spending money on other fun things ? In case you don't know, you can buy sizing dies individually online. And if you don't mind Lee, they are very reasonable. Actually, I have 2 for each caliber I load. A Lee for the turret, and another ( RCBS ) for when I use the rockchucker and want to " batch " a larger quanity and load later. I have had all the RCBS dies and the rockchucker since the 80's, and more recently when I added the turret, I also added the Lee dies only because I like the ability to switch from one caliber to another and presses without pulling the dies out of the turret head.

 

[Prometheus]

For handgun tumble first. I've been using a 550b and the resize, decap (on the down stroke) and prime (on the upstroke) are all in the same station.

Tremendous waste of time to do it any other way.

 

[XtremeVel]

I've been using a 550b and the resize, decap (on the down stroke) and prime (on the upstroke) are all in the same station.

Tremendous waste of time to do it any other way.

This is true, but I too find reasons for doing it like a few posts above ( priming ). One reason is I have a 12 yr old son that wants to be involved. Right now, I have him doing the majority of the sizing / depriming. These cases then might not get touched again for a couple of weeks, maybe months. Then, I find myself also in the front room with the family hand priming what I might load the next day. I can the get thru a few hundred rounds later in fairly short order, thus keeping the time I " hibernate " in the den away from the family down to a minumum.

 

[ruger1800]

Dont tumble, work hardens the brass and rolls an edge over on the case mouth.

 

[XtremeVel]

Dont tumble, work hardens the brass and rolls an edge over on the case mouth.

I'm not so sure that the benefits of tumbling don't outweigh the negatives you mentioned. If all you do is miss ONE defect in a case during inspection due to not seeing a potential issue, it alone can ruin ones day. I like my cases clean so I can have an easier time of seeing potential issues. I am already insecure enough with that aspect of my reloading... Inspection of brass. Just my .

 

[BE Mike]

Lyman's latest reloading handbook recommends cleaning brass and I think that is wise advice. When I load rifle rounds for match shooting, I do all my sizing, decaping and case prep before I tumble my brass, therefore my brass gets tumbled with the primer pockets empty. I then go though the brass with a small punch and get rid of any media in the primer pocket.

 

[rvb]

Dont tumble, work hardens the brass and rolls an edge over on the case mouth.

I'm thinking most are using the term generically. For exmple, I'm using a Dillon vib cleaner, but still refer to it as "tumbling." I've never heard of those problems w/ a vib cleaner like I have w/ a true tumbler, eg cement mixer.

You're point may be valid, I've heard that before re actual tumbling, but I have no personal experience. I've also heard from some top competition shooters that do use actual cement mixers w/ good results, so I don't know...

-rvb

 

[MilitaryArms]

I've always left the primers in. I've never had the need for the extra step of decapping then polishing, then running the brass through the press again (I use Dillon presses).

I'm a little over 20 years into the reloading game and so far I've encountered no problems in doing it this way.

 

[rj3438]

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