Rotary tumbling or vibratory?

[JSH]

Had a well known gunsmith tell me to wet tumble. Dry, vibratory tumblers leave a small amount of corn dust in the cases and when fired will wear barrels quicker than normal. Went to wet tumbling, no pins, and never looked back.

? Cob dust is more abrasive or harder than jacket material?

 

[JSH]

Are there any negative(s) to a vibratory tumbler that a rotary does not have?

I would run it in the garage so noise is not an issue. Nor is a modest amount of dust.

I use corn and a little Nu Finish.

Thank you.

Keep the lid on it and dust won’t be much of an issue
Want to “wake up” the Nu Finish that’s in your media? Put a few caps full of mineral spirits in and let run for a few minutes, then dump your cases in. Keep the lid on till your last batch, leave the lid off and it will volatize off.

I see mention off and on of those that never clean brass. I get that if your using the same case over and over in the same rifle shooting for groups or such.
I keep my stuff clean. Any crap on the outside of a case will not do a die any good over time. FYI I clean my dies as well, and yes I have put them in my vibaratory tumbler. This was recommended to me from folks at RCBS and Redding when I was having issues some time back.
There can be a huge amount of pressure in a die at times.

I shot with a fellow in IHMSA that never cleaned brass, it looked like he found it in the parking lot. He 7BR brass lasted about one season, maybe. He always seemed to have some kind of issue on the line.

 

[K22]

A timely post. My Lyman tumbler just died the other night after 19 years of heavy and reliable use. Yes, the cases came out bright and shiny, but....

My failed tumbler was a blessing in disguise. I've been seeking a reason to stop tumbling and the death of my tumbler provided it. Why?

Well for one thing, each rifle has a set of dedicated cases so I can't mix them when run them through the tumbler. Managing that for several rifles of the same caliber was a pain. I don't need any more pains.

Also, despite my best efforts, I always seem to manage to spill tumbler media on my work bench. These days I load 223 Rem and 243 Win so I had to be really careful to make sure all the media was removed from the case because of the relatively narrow necks. If I didn't then I'd end up with spills on my reloading table. Another pain.

Unloading the tumble was a pain. Buying another piece of equipment I really don't need is not appealing to me since I'm trying to downsize. Getting tumbler media spills in my slippers and walking upstairs is a pain.

So, I'm committed to not replacing the tumbler. I will merely clear the necks with a few twists of 0000 steel wool, spray them with mineral spirits, wipe them and reload them like I use to do many light years ago when I couldn't financially afford to add equipment that wasn't necessary. Affluence as complicated my life.

See how easy it is to talk yourself out of something.

PS: The reloads shoot the same whether I tumble them or not.
PSS: Being a slightly anal, I may weaken and buy another tumbler, so the cases look nice. The target albeit paper or varmint / predator won't know the difference, however.

 

[acloco]

Hit the search button.........the grail has been hashed multiple times.

 

[acloco]

Search results for query: stainless pin tumbling

 

[JimSC]

I use a rotary with no pins or Lemishine. Just a Costco brand dishwasher tab and hot water. Gets them clean enough and shiny enough for me

 

[r bose]

True or not, I always felt that the tumbling method could be tougher on brass than the vibratory. Tumbling means cases actually tumbling (falling) from one side of the container to the other and could lead to deformed case mouths and dents. The more sliding and vibrating action of the vibratory method seems like it would be much easier on cases. Once tumbled and all media emptied from cases, they can be shuffled in a heavy napped towel to wipe virtually all the dust residue clean.

Preparing Brass Information

Case preparation for re-loading techniques for Compass Lake Engineering Upper or Barrel

compasslake.com

Scroll to #2 after lubricating brass

 

[r bose]

That’s hard to believe.

Preparing Brass Information

Case preparation for re-loading techniques for Compass Lake Engineering Upper or Barrel

compasslake.com

Scroll to #2 after lubricating cases

 

[r bose]

I would be curious if whoever told you that could site a reference?

Preparing Brass Information

Case preparation for re-loading techniques for Compass Lake Engineering Upper or Barrel

compasslake.com

Scroll to #2 after lubricating cases

 

[r bose]

Have you tried wet tumbling (no pins) with Frankfurt Arsenals cleaner? (looks like the pod for dishwasher). They do really good!!

Dawn and Lemishine and they come out like new!!

 

[r bose]

? Cob dust is more abrasive or harder than jacket material?

Preparing Brass Information

Case preparation for re-loading techniques for Compass Lake Engineering Upper or Barrel

compasslake.com

Scroll to #2 after case lubricating

 

[dcali]

Barrels wear mostly because of heat (that literally melts the bore) and phase change of the metal (basically uncontrolled heat treatment of the bore - this is whet causes cracking). A bit of corncob dust isn't going to do anything except burn up with the powder.

 

[Webster]

Had a well known gunsmith tell me to wet tumble. Dry, vibratory tumblers leave a small amount of corn dust in the cases and when fired will wear barrels quicker than normal. Went to wet tumbling, no pins, and never looked back.

I would bet money he can't prove corn dust wears out barrels faster. Most likley it's burned by a 2000F plus flame before it enters the barrel. People make up facts.

 

[Monday shooter40]

I started wet tumbling because of how well it cleans primer pockets and inside the case.

As I progressed, I realized that neither of those things made a difference in my shooting program.

The biggest problem it created for me was that it made squeaky clean interior case necks. I was getting very inconsistent neck tensions and effects from bullet weld. When I switched to vibratory, my velocity numbers tightened up across the board. it leaves a nice amount of carbon still inside the case mouth and I feel like it makes a huge difference.

 

[Webster]

They don’t clean as aggressively as pins in a wet tumbler. To me that’s a good thing.

But the real answer to the question you didn’t ask (“do you need to clean brass”) is no. It’s not any more helpful than washing your hands.

Agree it's mostly cosmetic. I wet tumble once in a while if the cases look real dark colored. HF small tumbler. If you pack the tumbler with pins and cases they don't beat against each other with as much energy. With or without tumbling I i.d. and o.d. light chamfer every reload. I don't care about the shiny finish from length trimming being removed. The cases are very bright and clean after I tumble. The Lemon Shine seems to passivate the case surface. I have a bucket full of 223 cases I tumbled 5 years ago. They are still shiny?

 

[r bose]

I would bet money he can't prove corn dust wears out barrels faster. Most likley it's burned by a 2000F plus flame before it enters the barrel. People make up facts.

I'm glad I found reference to this on Compass Lake's website. I would never suggest Frank, his family or his company would publish such information without extensive testing. Perhaps a call Monday is in order?

 

[r bose]

Barrels wear mostly because of heat (that literally melts the bore) and phase change of the metal (basically uncontrolled heat treatment of the bore - this is whet causes cracking). A bit of corncob dust isn't going to do anything except burn up with the powder.

In highpower XTC world Frank and John's word is gospel. Perhaps a conversation with Frank or Bunny (his daughter) would be appropriate.

 

[dcali]

I'm glad I found reference to this on Compass Lake's website. I would never suggest Frank, his family or his company would publish such information without extensive testing. Perhaps a call Monday is in order?

Compass Lake makes excellent rifles, but he's just wrong here. That's no slight against his company or products. We're all wrong now and then.

 

[RegionRat]

Let's give Frank a chance to explain his statement on that write up since it was just a sentence or two in the middle of a whole page talking about general loading and not a specific deep dive into barrel wear tests.

In his defense, the man certainly builds a high quality rifle and we shouldn't throw anyone under the bus one way or the other when they have clearly contributed their work to the shooting community above and beyond what they get paid for.

 

[M-61]

Had a well known gunsmith tell me to wet tumble. Dry, vibratory tumblers leave a small amount of corn dust in the cases and when fired will wear barrels quicker than normal. Went to wet tumbling, no pins, and never looked back.

New to me. Corn dust wearing steel barrels out.
Never looking back is never seeing how far you’ve come or fallen.
I’m the 3rd generation using the same shovel to move coal.
Just guessing here but coal is harder than corn dust and though I’m not a metallurgist I’ll also guess the #2 coal shovel is softer than barrel steel. I see no signs of wear on the shovel yet.