Stainless vs dry tumbling pro/cons
- Thread starter madcow
- Start date
- Location
- West Quebec
Yup.. I do the same with the towel & 200f is as low as the oven goes so works..
It takes less than a hour for mine to clean 150 308 rounds.
- Location
- West Quebec
What's the advantage ??
I found as well as others that the brass doesn't tarnish and they go through the resizer die easier because of the wax. You don't need Armour All as others will work I just happened to find it on sale. I was sceptical at first but it works.
bonus! I don't think walnut shells would do that.
I have both. The pro on wet s/s is how clean the brass gets, inside and out, as well as the primer pocket, the dry tumbling has nothing on that, just not as effective. The con to me is there are more steps, what with emptying the water, separating the pins, and drying the brass. If I have a lot of cases, I use the wet.
I wet tumble with SS pins on small batches of rifle brass and find they have amazing results although I have noticed the peening recently. It's not so bad for most as I can trim but there are those cases that are a little short (like if I resize 30-06 to .270 Win) that I worry might cause a problem. Have been experimenting with run time, amount of brass, etc, to see if I can prevent it. So far, shorter run times and not overloading it seems to work.
I usually leave the brass to dry on a towel, angled to promote drainage, but if I'm in a hurry I pop it in the oven set low and with the door ajar. In terms of added steps, it's less labour intensive than any of my other brass prep stages, haha
I usually leave the brass to dry on a towel, angled to promote drainage, but if I'm in a hurry I pop it in the oven set low and with the door ajar. In terms of added steps, it's less labour intensive than any of my other brass prep stages, haha
I also use a RCBS media separator. Flush tumbler tank out with water hose, fill separator bottom about 3/4 full of hot water, dump cases and pins into cage, about 6 turns forward and backwards the pins are all on the bottom amd cases rinsed, drain water and remove pins with magnet
Then put a couple of small cotton towels in the cage with the brass spin a few times and pretty much all of the water is gone. Put them on a large commercial cookie sheet in oven for 15 or so minutes at 170 degrees F and all dry.
That was 500 38 special and 357 magnum cases done and bagged in little more than 2 hours and look like new. Also have the Frankford magnet is a must when using pins.
Then put a couple of small cotton towels in the cage with the brass spin a few times and pretty much all of the water is gone. Put them on a large commercial cookie sheet in oven for 15 or so minutes at 170 degrees F and all dry.
That was 500 38 special and 357 magnum cases done and bagged in little more than 2 hours and look like new. Also have the Frankford magnet is a must when using pins.
When someone can prove to me that the SS tumbling method produces more accurate ammo, then I may capitulate and avail myself of the system.
But, for now, I will stay with the walnut and corncob method.
D.
But, for now, I will stay with the walnut and corncob method.
D.
Last edited:
- Location
- Prince Albert, Sk
When someone can prove to me that the SS tumbling method produces more accurate ammo, then I may capitulate and avail myself of the system.
But, for now, I will stay with the walnut and corncob method.
D.
Eagle , I know you are one of the more experienced gentlemen on this forum with a wealth of knowledge.
I do however respectfully disagree with you in the fact that accuracy is greatly improved with varying degrees of shine and lustre in the brass.MOA ammo can be turned into sub-MOA ammo when cleaned with SS tumbling method.
Actually it is just OCD taking over, but hey if I feel it makes a difference.
Seriously though , I like how the cases get cleaned internally , speed of cleaning and no real consumables.
I hate dust.
- Location
- Calgary, AB
I am definitely a SS believer. After using dry tumbling for 25+ yrs, I will not go back.
Kelly; Thank you very much for the kind compliment.
The system definitely makes the brass look great! If that makes a difference to you, then it is a good thing.
I certainly am not belittling anyone for using it. I can see it's practicality with heavily tarnished cases as well.
And I do try to take good care of my cases, avoiding the heavy tarnish that comes from leather, etc.
I onetime got a real eye-opener at a shoot in Rosebud, Alberta. There was a shooter there, he and his wife both competed, and did very well, I might add.
Their loaded ammo was disgusting to look at!! plenty of carbon on the necks, and all the brass was dull and tarnished to some degree.
My initial reaction I will keep to myself, but it was not complimentary, believe me. But they used that crappy-looking ammo, and shot in the top 5 all weekend!!
Who knows, maybe they would have done better with better prepped brass, but they did better than I did, so I took that as a bit of a lesson.
One thing I do like, is being able to load my tumbler in the late evening, turn it on, and forget it till morning. Cases usually come out very acceptable for my standards.
One good thing about the choices we have....it allows us to choose what we want. This is a good thing, IMHO.
My original comment was, of course, tongue in cheek. Dave.
The system definitely makes the brass look great! If that makes a difference to you, then it is a good thing.
I certainly am not belittling anyone for using it. I can see it's practicality with heavily tarnished cases as well.
And I do try to take good care of my cases, avoiding the heavy tarnish that comes from leather, etc.
I onetime got a real eye-opener at a shoot in Rosebud, Alberta. There was a shooter there, he and his wife both competed, and did very well, I might add.
Their loaded ammo was disgusting to look at!! plenty of carbon on the necks, and all the brass was dull and tarnished to some degree.
My initial reaction I will keep to myself, but it was not complimentary, believe me. But they used that crappy-looking ammo, and shot in the top 5 all weekend!!
Who knows, maybe they would have done better with better prepped brass, but they did better than I did, so I took that as a bit of a lesson.
One thing I do like, is being able to load my tumbler in the late evening, turn it on, and forget it till morning. Cases usually come out very acceptable for my standards.
One good thing about the choices we have....it allows us to choose what we want. This is a good thing, IMHO.
My original comment was, of course, tongue in cheek. Dave.
SS for me all the way.
For those that complain about the drying time, how about washing them when you get home from the range or when you have some spare time, then let them dry and they are ready for you to reload.
Its all about planning.
I have a spare bathroom with a forced air heating vent to itself, with the door closed it gets plenty warm in there.
Works great to dry fast and when you open the door and you see all the shiny brass, it's like walking into a treasure room with its own throne
For those that complain about the drying time, how about washing them when you get home from the range or when you have some spare time, then let them dry and they are ready for you to reload.
Its all about planning.
I have a spare bathroom with a forced air heating vent to itself, with the door closed it gets plenty warm in there.
Works great to dry fast and when you open the door and you see all the shiny brass, it's like walking into a treasure room with its own throne
I've been using wet SS for years now. The time to dry doesn't matter to me because I save my brass in batches and clean/process them often weeks before I actually reload them. I just set the wet brass out on a mesh tray (i think it is a kitchen cutlery tray i probably bought at Canadian Tire).
The only real downside to SS tumbling for me is that my pistol brass is so clean, they tend to hang up on the powder/flaring die in my Dillon Square Deal B. Once I figured it out, I put a little case lube on the bottom end of the flaring die every 50 rounds or so. Just a finger tip smear. Makes the reloading process go so much better.
When I used to dry tumble, the residual crap inside the case, and specifically inside the case mouth, must have been slippery enough that the cases did not hang up like they do now with sparkling clean SS tumbled brass.
The only real downside to SS tumbling for me is that my pistol brass is so clean, they tend to hang up on the powder/flaring die in my Dillon Square Deal B. Once I figured it out, I put a little case lube on the bottom end of the flaring die every 50 rounds or so. Just a finger tip smear. Makes the reloading process go so much better.
When I used to dry tumble, the residual crap inside the case, and specifically inside the case mouth, must have been slippery enough that the cases did not hang up like they do now with sparkling clean SS tumbled brass.
- Location
- Prince Albert, Sk
I have come to a conclusion here on CGN.
There are two types of people in this forum:
Practical reloaders and OCD reloaders. I am of the second group.
Oh, and people who own a truck and people who borrow a truck.
P.S. next time I SS tumble I will video or photo the waste water, it looks nasty!
Now, for the next area of interest:
Does somebody want to or has determined if there is any case capacity reduction when a case has been fired multiple times and not cleaned?
I still have my dry tumbler with walnut that I see from time to time.
If you are wanting media and have access to an industrial supplier or blasting company, a bag of walnut from them is CONSIDERABLY less cost. I got some from fastenal, 50lb bag comparable to a couple lb bag of Lyman.
There are two types of people in this forum:
Practical reloaders and OCD reloaders. I am of the second group.
Oh, and people who own a truck and people who borrow a truck.
P.S. next time I SS tumble I will video or photo the waste water, it looks nasty!
Now, for the next area of interest:
Does somebody want to or has determined if there is any case capacity reduction when a case has been fired multiple times and not cleaned?
I still have my dry tumbler with walnut that I see from time to time.
If you are wanting media and have access to an industrial supplier or blasting company, a bag of walnut from them is CONSIDERABLY less cost. I got some from fastenal, 50lb bag comparable to a couple lb bag of Lyman.
I use dry media and have never had a problem with any dust I always hear people complaining about. Some say SS tumbled brass is easier to size but I found switching from liquid case lubes to Imperial/Redding sizing wax made a huge difference in ease of sizing. I bought some once-fired that the seller had tumbled in SS and it was nice and shiny but I couldn't notice a difference in force required compared to my dry tumbled brass when both were lubed with sizing wax. I should have tried some with RCBS case lube to see if I could notice a difference but I didn't think about it at the time.
If my home burned down and I had to rebuild my reloading setup from scratch I would be very tempted to get a SS tumbled and some pins. Since I have a 25lbs bag of ground walnut already I'll be sticking for dry tumbling for a while as I don't notice any difference in accuracy or case life.
If my home burned down and I had to rebuild my reloading setup from scratch I would be very tempted to get a SS tumbled and some pins. Since I have a 25lbs bag of ground walnut already I'll be sticking for dry tumbling for a while as I don't notice any difference in accuracy or case life.
I don't have a link to it anymore but I read an article where someone did just this. They took several batches of .308 Win cases and cleaned one set in an ultrasonic bath I believe (my memory may be failing) but another batch was never cleaned at all; just fired and reloaded. They didn't have a pressure-rig but where using a known very accurate chonograph. They found no discernible difference in velocity between the batches. If someone used reduced pressure loads that left a lot more carbon in the cases (like cast loads) maybe it would make more of a difference?
