Advice Needed: vibratory or rotating tumbler?

[chkunz]

"only cosmetic" as in they are not bright and shinney clean...sort of counter productive.
you have a good day.

Stay with 1 in 7 and two hours and you will get great results. "The miss use of a good thing is no argument against it".

 

[Stud Duck]

People are obsessed with shiny ammo. I have Thumbler with 10lbs of pins (that is right 10 pounds of pins). I only tumble 100 6br cases for ten minutes and they are shiny like brand new. I actually don't WANT TO clean the carbon from the inside. Carbon is slick and smooth. Slick and smooth is good. No peening. Or very little, and yes, peening case counths is very real.

Heck these days I take a 100 243/6br cases after sizing and put them in a plastic coffee can with Dawn, hot water, and Lemishine and soak and shake for 30 minutes, rinse hot water, dunk in acetone, throw in the oven on warm and I am back putting primers back in them in 15 minutes. And the ammo looks "almost" like factory, and my necks are perfect.

Tumbling is way overrated. And it can ruin your brass. I see people's brass after corn cob tumbling and it looks like someone threw up inside them. Totally have outgrown shiny brass obsession.

Interesting.

Why do you dunk in acetone?

 

[urbanrifleman]

Interesting.

Why do you dunk in acetone?

It replaces the water with acetone which dries in minutes. Even the primer pockets will be bone dry in a few minutes in the oven on 130 degrees. In fact, it dries so fast, I use half denatured alcohol and half acetone for cases. It will cause condensation it dries so fast. the cases will get cold. On a cookie sheet into the oven on warm they are bone dry in 5 minutes.

 

[chkunz]

It replaces the water with acetone which dries in minutes. Even the primer pockets will be bone dry in a few minutes in the oven on 130 degrees. In fact, it dries so fast, I use half denatured alcohol and half acetone for cases. It will cause condensation it dries so fast. the cases will get cold. On a cookie sheet into the oven on warm they are bone dry in 5 minutes.

I really like this. I just put mine in the toaster oven on warm for 30 minutes and they are dry so I may not try this because my way is just too easy but I am tempted to try your way just to see. It seems like when we learn things for one application suddenly we find another application we did not think of. Have you ever bought a tool to do a particular job and then found other uses for that tool to do other jobs that you had not thought of?

 

[urbanrifleman]

I really like this. I just put mine in the toaster oven on warm for 30 minutes and they are dry so I may not try this because my way is just too easy but I am tempted to try your way just to see. It seems like when we learn things for one application suddenly we find another application we did not think of. Have you ever bought a tool to do a particular job and then found other uses for that tool to do other jobs that you had not thought of?

I have a three gallon bucket that I keep 1/3 full of half acetone nad half denatured and I use it for final bath on anything I clean, and after I wet moly bullets. Just gets rid of the water. This is very important to get rid of the water in the tips of hollow points after moly coating. That water in that little hollow point takes weeks to dry, but the acetone/alchohol only takes half an hour in the oven on warm.

 

[Twoboxer]

Wet with SS Pins: Squeaky clean (which may not be a good thing for sizing and seating) and shiniest brass. Takes more attention from you than dry tumbling, if only because you must recover the pins, discard any that may get stuck in the brass, and rinse/dry your brass. May be a good idea to empty the tumbler soon after it's done to avoid leaving brass in an "active" solution. Some have reported some impact on the case neck rim. Cleans primer pockets very well if you have decapped before tumbling.

Dry with corn cob or walnut: Cleans brass. Additives can help with shine, but not as shiny as wet tumbling. Often leaves some dust on the case which can help with sizing, or can build up in your dies. Not known for cleaning primer pockets well if you decap before tumbling. Walnut can be dusty, PITA indoors (dryer sheets help some), irrelevant if you can tumble outdoors. Corn cob blast media isn't dusty per se, but has some tiny particles that can float around instead; don't know about other corn cob formats. Using an outlet timer, brass can be left in tumbler "forever" without harm.

JMO but other than ego about shine, there's no benefit to the extra effort and steps required for wet tumbling. BUT I tumble outdoors and use a timer like this one: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01KKOJ42U/?tag=accuratescom-20. I don't see my pistol cases requiring two passes on the progressive and primer pocket cleaning. Rifle primer pockets get brush cleaned using a case prep center while doing other steps in my own process.

So the choice depends on which set of pros/cons you prefer. In ether case, consider adding a media separator and an outlet timer.

 

[Stud Duck]

Wet with SS Pins: Squeaky clean (which may not be a good thing for sizing and seating) and shiniest brass. Takes more attention from you than dry tumbling, if only because you must recover the pins, discard any that may get stuck in the brass, and rinse/dry your brass. May be a good idea to empty the tumbler soon after it's done to avoid leaving brass in an "active" solution. Some have reported some impact on the case neck rim. Cleans primer pockets very well if you have decapped before tumbling.

Dry with corn cob or walnut: Cleans brass. Additives can help with shine, but not as shiny as wet tumbling. Often leaves some dust on the case which can help with sizing, or can build up in your dies. Not known for cleaning primer pockets well if you decap before tumbling. Walnut can be dusty, PITA indoors (dryer sheets help some), irrelevant if you can tumble outdoors. Corn cob blast media isn't dusty per se, but has some tiny particles that can float around instead; don't know about other corn cob formats. Using an outlet timer, brass can be left in tumbler "forever" without harm.

JMO but other than ego about shine, there's no benefit to the extra effort and steps required for wet tumbling. BUT I tumble outdoors and use a timer like this one: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01KKOJ42U/?tag=accuratescom-20. I don't see my pistol cases requiring two passes on the progressive and primer pocket cleaning. Rifle primer pockets get brush cleaned using a case prep center while doing other steps in my own process.

So the choice depends on which set of pros/cons you prefer. In ether case, consider adding a media separator and an outlet timer.

Excellent post.

To be honest, I don't care about shine. Just looking for the best method of cleaning my brass or at least a start on cleaning brass.

 

[divingin]

Excellent post.

To be honest, I don't care about shine. Just looking for the best method of cleaning my brass or at least a start on cleaning brass.

If you don't care about shine, you can get by just wiping cases off with a rag (and maybe a quick primer pocket cleanup with a brush or similar.) I've known several people who never cleaned cases at all (though admittedly, that was before I shot rifle.) I'd at least try and get the loose stuff off, especially if your brass ends up in the dirt (if it goes from ammo box to chamber to ammo box, then it's probably not a big deal.) I do suspect you may wear your dies a little faster this way though.

Personally, I think I do a bit more than most on here: Dry tumble to clean off loose range dirt/soot/etc, lube and resize, dry tumble to remove lube, trim/debur (if needed), anneal (if needed or if new-to-me brass), wet tumble to shine them up.
Clean brass makes it easier to spot defects.

 

[SSL]

My vote is for vibratory cleaner. I wipe fired cases, de-prime/size and then clean. Once cases are clean, I check for media inside cases or primer holes while checking case necks then dump a handful or so onto an old terry cloth towel, fold it over lengthwise and give them a vigorous shuffle to remove any dust or residue. Then off to priming, powder and bullet.

 

[mr45man]

Can't go wrong with either one.
The big Dillon is a nice unit.
Also have 2 rotary, made for rock polishing.
You will end up with both anyhow,take your pic. They are both annoying in the room with you so plan on outside/ carport.
Don't buy the Yellow one.