Another aspect of cartridge case tumbling times

[condor bravo]

Probably enough already, but I would like to cover an aspect of brass tumbling times that never seems to be mentioned. Members report tumbling times anywhere from one hour to eight hours and even longer. Something isn't quite the same here. What no one mentions is whether they are tumbling rifle or handgun cases. There could be a considerable difference between the two. My opinion is that handgun cases, due to usual powder blowback on firing, could very well require longer tumbling times than rifle cases experiencing no blowback and hardly need tumbling at all. One hour's tumbling of rifle cases almost seems like 30 minutes too long. Just today I tumbled a mixture of 45-70s, 6.5 Swedes, .35 Remingtons, .30-06s and .30 carbines for an hour and can hardly tell the difference from new brass.

So if you would like to contribute your tumbling times and whether with rifle or handgun cases, maybe that would help clear up the great tumbling times mystery. Of course there are different tumbling media and methods and some methods will inherently take longer than others and that time should be included in the mix.

I guess I should mention that I use the Zilla lizard litter with the Nu Finish auto polish and replinish the polish every four tumblings or so.

 

[9MMand223only]

It depends how "full" the canister is in Tumblers.

If the brass and steel pins are packed decently tight, then the brass does not get tumbled the same total distance per rotation, as if it was half full. So that is why times vary so much.

straight wall cases clean up much faster than necked down cases, as well.

223 brass for me in my rock tumbler with steel media half full, which is like 200 cases...or so...is very very shiney and clean after 1.5 hours.

Completely full, it takes longer

 

[Snyper]

Members report tumbling times anywhere from one hour to eight hours and even longer.

Those times aren't necessarily what is "required" to get the cases to the desired level

I've detected no difference between rifle and handgun times.

I think it depends more on the media and any additives, and just what one considers "clean", which can be very subjective

I think most real "dirt" is removed in the first hour, and anything beyond that is polishing for aesthetics rather than necessity

 

[snuffy]

different strokes for different folks

There's just too many variables to answer your question. Vibratory tumbler, or drum type,(or a cement mixer?) Type of media, corn cob or walnut. Type of polish, car wax, flitz, or midway tumbler additive.

9mmand 223 thinks you were talking about stainless steel pins in liquid turned in a drum type tumbler.?? Are we?

There's also ultra sonic cleans that use sound waves to clean cases.

What is clean? Just clean or knock yer eyes out shiny?

My answer is with my corncob media, midway tumbler additive (abrasive) media in my Midway vibratory tumbler, any revolver or S-auto pistol case, about 2 hours gets them clean and plenty shiny. Rifle is about the same. One trick is to watch the cases move in the tumbler as it brings them to-the-top and to make sure you have enough media in it. Stop dumping cases into it when they slow down their trip back to the top. Movement is necessary.

 

[condor bravo]

Snuffy right on:

I acknowledge in the opening post that there are various types of tumbling medias, polishers and cleaning/tumbling methods and replies ideally should indicate what is being used and in particular whether it is used mainly for handgun or rifle brass. Total time spent on the entire process is then the interest. I think 9mm/223 was pointing out what he uses, the steel pin method. I use Zilla walnut shells lizard media with auto polish. I guess I'm trying to gain some agreement that handgun brass requires more tumbling/cleaning time than rifle brass for equal cleaning results and that this accounts at least to some extent for the large variations in tumbling times.

 

[RaySendero]

I just fill it up and tumble overnight for both.

 

[Nick_C_S]

I only load for pistol. I've never taken any advice on tumbling times (no offense, TFL regulars). For me, it's all based on personal experience. And, I do it different than most anyway. . .

Upon returning from the range, or a competition, I vibra tumble my brass in corn cob media in your basic Lyman (1200?) tumbler - this is just to get the "range stuff" off the brass and make it clean enough to run through dies. Tumble time: about 45 minutes to an hour. Not long.

I then size/decap and flair.

Then they get the SS pin treatment for 1 hour, 45 minutes - seems to get them clean inside n out - primer pockets too. I use a big Frankford Arsenal tumble for this. An excellent product btw.

 

[Sevens]

I agree that there are too many variables to come up with hard and fast conclusions, but I do have a few zillions rounds tumbled and polished in my rear view mirror, and I have some of my own conclusions.

The Berry's tumbler kicks all crap out of the Frankford tumbler. I have no experience with any other tumblers.

I am quite satisfied with corn media and NuFinish along with squares of paper towel and a lamp timer.

3 hours does a perfectly wonderful job AS LONG AS you don't ignore the fact that the media simply loses it's effectiveness over time. For the cost of media, I really, REALLY should be swapping it out and replacing more often. I must have used my last dose of it for over a year and it's amazing how much better the new media does once you get around to changing it out.

Never say never, they always say...
But I don't see me ever going to any kind of sonic or wet cleaning, simply because I cannot stand the tremendous hassle of wet brass. It's helpful to me and important that if I can't get back to my tumbling set up as planned, the WORST case scenario is that it will tumble for 3hrs -- every 24hrs, and even then, I can simply throw one switch and STILL ignore it completely if I'm extremely busy with other tasks. If I leave that brass in the tumbler for 3 months, it simply doesn't matter. It'll be fine and waiting for me and requires almost no work or hassle to claim it. Can't do that with any wet or sonic cleaning.

Will my stuff ever look like the sonic-cleaned stuff? No way! That stuff is gorgeous, it looks better than new and it is eye-popping good and I do like that, but not at the cost and hassle of it.

My tumbling also will not clean primer pockets while the other methods will, but that is something that provides zero benefit to me. And to even be able to get to those pockets requires an extra step that I am 100% unwilling to take.

It does not bother me that we seem to have these discussions often... it's always new to someone and so I only post in the tumbler discussions when I feel like it. But it's not rocket surgery and I feel like I have learned all that I really need to know when it comes to tumbling and short of hiring someone to handle all of it for me, I'm pretty sure that my method is absolutely top-notch perfect for my needs.

 

[KEYBEAR]

I just Bought a new Thumlers Tumbler this past week . I have been cleaning some old reloads 44 Mag,s loaded with 240gr. cast . I am using Corn Cob media and auto wax and the brass was very brown looking . A four hour run will make them look great .

They brass were loaded in about 1985 a five bucket full and set until this last week .

 

[44 AMP]

I tumbled a mixture of 45-70s, 6.5 Swedes, .35 Remingtons, .30-06s and .30 carbines for an hour and can hardly tell the difference from new brass.

I would recommend NOT tumbling .45 caliber cases with smaller ones. DO NOT tumble .45ACP and 9mm Luger (or anything like it) together. You can get the smaller cases very well jammed inside the larger ones, packed in surpisingly tightly by the media. Real pain in the butt to get them apart, plus the stuck case isn't cleaned well.

.30 Carbine is probably just small enough that it won't easily get stuck in a .45-70, but a .35 cal pistol case will! Just a head up.

The different times reported are due to all the different medias used, and also to the different kinds of tumblers. I used a Thumber Tumbler (rotating drum) for many years, my wife got it for me as a gift. It worked well, but took a while (probably the media I used at the time) and eventually wore out. Replaced with a vibratory type, it works really well, and is much less mechanically complicated. (no belt to slip and wear out)

 

[Economist]

Using concob media and car polish - 2 1/2 hours gets me shiny brass from a tumbler full of 30-06 or .270.
Range pickup pistol cases usually need about and hour and a half, but they wear out my tumbling media much more quickly.

 

[schmellba99]

I tumble the same duration regardless of whether it is pistol, rifle, once fired, range pickup, etc.

4 hours in my SSTL rig and I simply don't have to worry about whether or not it is clean enough - I know for a fact that it will be.

The only time I do any additional is if it is extremely tarnished or dirty brass, then it goes in for 2 hours, water is dumped and new water, soap and acid is added, then the standard 4 hour run.

I just don't see the point in getting so anal about it that I chart the time difference between .38 brass and .223 brass or .30-06 brass, etc. The 7 minutes less on one or the 13 minutes longer on another isn't going to have any effect on my life, so might as well just settle on a time that I KNOW works and roll with it.

 

[Jeff2131]

Two things....

One...another variable i know but, has anyone considered that how you reload could affect how long you tumble? If youre not sealing off enough and have too much blow back, that would make for dirtier brass and a longer tumbling time to get it clean.

Two...does it really matter, from the stand point of....can you "over tumble" your cases? Will i damage the case if everytime i tumble i load up my 18lb tumbler and let it run for 24hrs?

I really think that the bottom line is, with the basics excluded, its simply a matter of preference. Variables, variables, variables.....did you clean your cases to YOUR satisfaction...are you particular or not...do you like a shine or not...etc..

 

[Mike / Tx]

I might tumble 20 cases or 200 at a time, depending on what I am actually doing at the moment. I have however found that on average from fired to clean and shiny takes about an hour with 95% of what I clean.

When I load the tumbler, either one the little Midway one or the giant Lyman one, I put the brass in first. Then I add enough 50/50 corn cob and walnut to cover them. I turn the thing on and as Snuffy mentioned I add more media until things are rolling around right nicely. I found years ago this worked out to be the fastest way for "MY" cleaning needs. They might not glisten like a diamond in a goats backend, but they are plenty clean inside and out for anything I plan to use them for.

I have been planning on trying out some pins on some old LC and WCC cases I have but just haven't gotten around to it yet. Seems like I always have another iron thrown int he fire ahead of them.

 

[RKG]

OP's post conjoined two questions: how long? and difference between rifle and pistol brass?

I pass on first question. Just so happens that I like "looks like new" shiny brass. Makes better ammo? I make no such claim (though really clean brass facilitates effective inspection).
But I tumble longer than I expect others do, and that's just me, not a recommendation.

However, I can say, based on decades of reloading for a large number of rifle and pistol cartridges (ranging from .25 ACP to .45-70), that the time required for an approximately equal volume of either is the same.

For calibration, I dry tumble using crushed walnut shells and powdered "jeweler's rouge" (ferric oxide). All brass gets a quick wipe by hand with rubbing alcohol (get off range crud and soot). Straight wall cases are then decapped, sized, belled and then tumbled. Bottle neck (and .30 Carbine) brass gets decapped, lubed, and sized. Then another alcohol wipe (lube off) and then tumbled.

 

[Longshot4]

If you are asking how long to clean cases. Get a note book and do some detailed recording on how time changes the looks of your cases. It's called experimenting. That's the fun part of reloading.

 

[Rimfire5]

I used a vibrating unit with corn cob media for 4 1/2 years and I cleaned over 24,000 rounds in that time. I got generally good results but found that it usually took 2-3 hours to get the cases shiny and relatively clean. The primer pockets stayed dirty and the brass was still covered by black inside, enough so you couldn't see the bottoms without a really bright light. I still got good accuracy with the brass - mostly .223, .22-250, .270, .308, .30-30, and .30-06 as well as 5 pistol calibers.

After the motor mounts wore on my vibrating unit, I switched to a rotating tumbler with steel pins. I use Dawn dishwashing liquid and a spritz of Glisten dishwasher cleaner (citric acid) for 2 hours and the brass comes out shiny and really clean including the primer pockets. The inside is clean enough that you can easily see inside the cases and the bases are all shiny and neat.

The only downside to using the steel pins and water is that you need to dry the brass. But it sure is nice to load brass that looks like it is still new.

 

[higgite]

My totally unscientific observation is this. For equally dirty rifle or pistol brass, same amount of time in the tumbler to get them equally clean. Dirtier brass takes longer to get equally clean. Crushed walnut in a Hornady vibrating tumbler. I have not had any brass that took longer than 2 hours to clean (I didn't say glow in the dark, that takes 4 hours), so that's how long I set my timer for.

 

[mikld]

There's just too many variables to answer your question. Vibratory tumbler, or drum type,(or a cement mixer?) Type of media, corn cob or walnut. Type of polish, car wax, flitz, or midway tumbler additive.

Snuffy is right. You can add humidity, age/effectiveness of machine (make and model also have an effect), and even brass manufacturer. I don't think I've timed my tumbling/wobbling in quite a few years, I just fill it up, turn it on, and go to some other task. A moot point for me.

OP mentioned "blow back" on his handgun ammo being harder to clean. I think if I had enough blow back that made the cases harder to clean, I'd find out what's happening and correct it...

 

[Jeff2131]

That "blow back" was me and it was corrected. It was with my ar ammo. Awhile back i posted and was advised to.switch powders and i did and brass is much cleaner. But in the case of my beowulf, it doesnt matter what i do, i cant come out with a cleaner case. Even the factory rounds are filthy after firing. But that a whole other topic in itself.