Can you over-clean brass?

[mattri]

Can you leave brass in a tumbler too long? Using corn media, is there any harmful effect to letting it tumble for more than a few hours? Just got my first tumbler and was curious. Thanks, Matt.

 

[potatoe]

I'll let mine go all night

 

[mattri]

Thanks for the reply. That's almost what happened last night, which made me wonder.

 

[TheSnake]

I leave mine in at least 4 hours and more if needed. If you are worried about the brass, I guess if you left it running for months it could remove a little brass and increase your electric bill. It could also wear out your media making it less effective. Run it until your brass is as clean as you want it and don't look back.

 

[dreever]

I almost always let mine go overnight. They might not shoot better, but they sure are pretty!

 

[SmokinJoe]

mattri, the only negative I know of from running brass a long time in the tumbler, is that the case mouths get increasingly dinged up. I bought a timer to control tumbler run time. Usually, about 3 hrs gets it done in my Dillon using the green corncob from Lyman. And BTW, I have found that tumbling with the primers (fired of course) still in works a whole lot better than de-priming 1st - no media stuck in primer pockets & flash holes - try it.

 

[jonbearman]

I agree with smokin joe. If you remove the primers the media does nothing to remove the carbon. I dont clean primer pockets till the 4th reloading as it doesnt seem to matter when it comes to accuracy. I deburr the flashole once and its good till the case retire's to the scrap bin. I once left my tumbler on for a week by accident when we went away and when I turned it off and opened it,it looked better than new. I dont get any case mouth deformation from tumbling. What I would suggest is using the lyman tuff nut. It is walnut with jewlers rouge on it. You tumble in it for about 4-6 hours and it looks like a mirror. The rouge will not hurt your barrel either. I have used it for over 20 years with no noticed damage to anything. The brass doesnt even need to be tumbled for this result,it is my preference of what I like. There are several other ways to clean brass like the stainless steel pins and it works great,but you relly dont need it. Just keep doing what you are doing and spend more time at the range and HAVE FUN,LOL. Dont worry,be happy.

 

[Ackman]

Don't even worry about it.

mattri, the only negative I know of from running brass a long time in the tumbler, is that the case mouths get increasingly dinged up.

This is nonsense. Watch what happens inside a vibratory tumbler. Cases move very slowly and only brush against each other. If casemouths come out dinged it's because they went in that way.

 

[spclark]

No, but you might want to change your media after a really long tumbling session. The corn stuff gets pretty beat up & turns to dust the longer you run it, loses its effectiveness & gets all over everything.

I've switched to the SS cut-wire wet method, noticed if I leave clean cases in the solution (water, liquid laundry detergent, Lemi-shine citric acid dishwasher additive) after the tumbler's quit (I run my RCBS for two hours) the cases are duller than if I get them out as soon as the tumbler's done. Must be some subtle etching going on once the action quits, but it doesn't bother me any.

 

[bozo699]

I don't get any dinged cases in my vibratory case cleaner either but maybe smokinJoe is using a true tumbler, you might get dinged necks in one of those.
I usually put my cases in my vibrator when I go to bed, and turn it off when I wake up, I have used the same media to clean 1k's upon 1k's of cases and they still come out shiny
Wayne.

 

[2506]

If you open up your tumbler and all you see is a brass colored powder you left them in too long. ;D

 

[BoydAllen]

Fellows,
If some of you would stop using the word "tumbler" when you are talking about a vibratory case cleaner, it would make for a more understandable dialog. They work differently to do the same job, and what may be true of one, may not be of the other. I have not seen damage from vibratory cleaning, but some factory brass is evidently shined up in large drum tumblers that cause impact damage to case mouths. I have no experience with smaller tumblers, but, from what I have seen, the smaller diameter of the RCBS unit does not seem to have much potential for this sort of damage. Of course thin, turned necks are more fragile.
Boyd

 

[tonyben]

Leave it in as long as you like.

I use lizard litter from the pet store and drop in a cap of liquid car polish. I load for M1A's so I only run my brass 5x before it's scrap. I started using lizard litter because I was tired of my Lyman tumbling media getting stuck in 223 cases. I don't have that problem with lizard litter.

I acutally have 2 batches of media; one batch that has polish and one batch that is untreated to clean off all the case lube after sizing.

http://www.amazon.com/Desert-Blend-Lizard-Litter-10Lb/dp/B001OVGPGC

I just throw in a fabric softener sheet to absorb some of the dust and I haven't had any problems.

Tony.

 

[lal357]

i run mine for 12-15 hrs sometimes the only thing i noticed is i have to change the media more often but since i use walnut bedding from the pet store and its cheap let it run. i do put a drier sheet in with them to catch the dust.