Yesterday's Weapons Forums

Well I got myself a tumbler, and I was wondering what type of media that you guys like, Walnut or corn cob?

I have also been told that some people tumbler their brass before you take the primers out and others do it after they have de-primed their brass. Which is best?

strangms

I use walnut and deprime the brass before tumbling .. cleans the primer pocket very well
Patrick

I don't always tumble to clean cases. I often use liquid case cleaners. Sometimes I tumble; and sometimes I decap the cases, perform the initial cleaning with liquid cleaner, then tumble the lube off. Normally, I wash the lube off with warm water and dish detergent because the RCBS case lube that I usually use is water soluble.

Whether I clean with liquid or tumble often hinges on the practical matter of what's going on in the kitchen. In warm, dry weather, I can liquid clean outside. In cold weather like we have right now, I'm not going outside to clean cases, I do it in the kitchen. If my wife is baking a cake in there already, I don't want to horn in with a case cleaning operation. I use the tumbler.

When I do tumble, I prefer corncob because it is more absorbent and lasts longer. The walnut (which I have in my tumbler right now) is harder, not as absorbent, but seems to polish a letter better. Dillon (and others) make a liquid compound that you can put into your media to get more shine on the brass.

When I tumble both before and after sizing, I don't de-cap on the first course because they are going to be tumbled the second time after sizing when the primer pockets are exposed. I find that tumbling media usually doesn't do that good of a job cleaning out the primer pockets anyway; little brushes are available for that. I don't like the little brushes much, though. They get goofed-up quickly and the bristles go cock-eyed. Since I'm not a bench-rest shooter, I don't get too exited about a bit of carbon in the primer pocket. Clean primer pockets or not, I have never noticed a difference in performance in my ammo. On the other hand, after the second course of tumbling, I always visually check the primer pocket and flash hole. For one thing, media often gets stuck in the flash hole. For another, if a primer pocket is particularly dirty or crusty, I clean it out. When doing this, I hold the case in one hand, while holding an ice pick or machinist's scribe in the other. This way, I can poke media out of the flash hole and/or scratch out the primer pocket as necessary with the same tool.

I've noticed that there is some commercial ammo that burns much cleaner than others. Speer pistol ammo in brass cases is one. You look at a once-fired Speer case, and usually both the primer pocket and the powder cavity in the case itself are quite clean. I wish they all came out like that.

I use the exact same method when cleaning cases except for one thing.
My wife doesn't allow me to clean the cases in HER kitchen.
Instead of using a brush to clean the primer pockets I use a primer pocket cleaner by LEE.
It's very cheap, works very good and last almost a lifetime.
I bought mine about 10 years ago.

I do not have a picture of it, but here's a link.




Met vriendelijke groet,

Martin

I usually use corn cob media. Walnut for some heavier stained BP cartidges. One thing I do is put them in the tumbler with the old primer still in. I do this because if you deprime first, there is still gunk in the case neck and could potentially score the inside of the case or worse yet the neck expander.... & the corn cob media gets stuck in the flash holes! Tumble first, deprime, then use an RCBS primer pocket cleaner.

_________________

It's 5 o'clock and it's watermelon time.....................
because you can't drink beer & load rockets - TXPete

I always tumble my cases before I run them through the decapping/sizer die. If they are really stained and dark, then I will use a liquid case cleaner then tumble again afterwards.

_________________
"The great object is, that every man be armed."
- Patrick Henry

"Firearms stand next in importance to the Constitution itself. They are the people's liberty teeth ...... firearms everywhere restrains evil interference. When firearms go, all goes..."
GEORGE WASHINGTON

another excelent-informative post for we novices just getting set up and started , you guys have already saved me expensive mistakes and time as well as providing the reasoning behind the instructions , i like that , thanks

Thanks Guys, some very good information here. Maybe I should just try both of them and see which one I like the best.
I will try all the ideas given here. What a ton of Good information!!

strangms