Another aspect of cartridge case tumbling times - Page 2

4runnerman · January 30, 2015, 09:08 PM

I have so much brass in stock that I never worry about tumble time. I throw my brass in Tumbler and walk away to do my daily stuff. If it runs all day , It runs all day. I have had some brass tumbleing for days when I forget about it.

Damon555 · January 31, 2015, 04:44 PM

I have so much more to be concerned about during the reloading process that the amount of time my brass gets tumbled is not even on the radar.....Load the tumbler with dirty brass at night....unload the tumbled, clean brass the next day. Rifle, pistol, whatever.......

schmellba99 · February 2, 2015, 11:03 AM

Quote:

I'm with Sevens on this. I use a 30 year old RCBS vibratory cleaner with walnut media. A couple hours gets the exterior grime off the cases. 6 hours gets them mirror bright. I don't worry about case interiors or primer pockets. Doesn't affect my shooting. I can't see spending time separating steel pins and drying brass.

Separating the pins from the brass takes about the same amount of time as separating media from brass. And I don't have to worry about kernels getting suck in primer pocket holes either.

Drying takes very little time for me (I live along the coast in Texas, heat is nature made here). I lay the brass out on a towel in the garage and turn a small box fan on. They are dry in a couple of hours, max during the summer months.

The actual amount of my time spent separating media and laying out to dry is actually less than I used to spend separating media and then checking primer pockets with walnut or corncob.

I have enough brass ready to go at any given point in time that this makes no difference to me, because odds are the brass I just cleaned is going into the bin with all of my other brass for that caliber that is ready to load - I may get to it 6 or 8 months from now.

Kframe · February 2, 2015, 03:14 PM

Regarding blowback, I've experienced it with some highly popular Red Dot and Bullseye loads in .38 Special using the 148gr. HBWC's.

Cloverleaf accurate, but plodding along in the 700 fps range, there just doesn't seem to be the pressure to completely seal the cases to the cylinder chamber walls quickly enough to eliminate a soot stain.

I've also noticed that the soot stains are consistently in a little parabola on one side, and I theorize that since there is a little play (in the ~.0001" neighborhood) between the case and the chamber and due to gravity the clearance is at 12 o'clock, so that's where the soot blasts before things seal up. I've confirmed it by noting the location of the stain when unloading cylinders on my various K-frames.

So, it isn't necessarily the sign of a bad powder/load/bullet combination.

January 30, 2015, 09:08 PM	#26
4runnerman Senior Member Join Date: January 16, 2010 Location: Minnesota Posts: 3,577	I have so much brass in stock that I never worry about tumble time. I throw my brass in Tumbler and walk away to do my daily stuff. If it runs all day , It runs all day. I have had some brass tumbleing for days when I forget about it. __________________ NRA Certified RSO NwCP- Performance Isn't Optional

February 2, 2015, 03:14 PM	#29
Kframe Senior Member Join Date: July 18, 1999 Location: MN Posts: 640	Regarding blowback, I've experienced it with some highly popular Red Dot and Bullseye loads in .38 Special using the 148gr. HBWC's. Cloverleaf accurate, but plodding along in the 700 fps range, there just doesn't seem to be the pressure to completely seal the cases to the cylinder chamber walls quickly enough to eliminate a soot stain. I've also noticed that the soot stains are consistently in a little parabola on one side, and I theorize that since there is a little play (in the ~.0001" neighborhood) between the case and the chamber and due to gravity the clearance is at 12 o'clock, so that's where the soot blasts before things seal up. I've confirmed it by noting the location of the stain when unloading cylinders on my various K-frames. So, it isn't necessarily the sign of a bad powder/load/bullet combination. __________________ RN - ICU NRA - PATRON LIFE

January 31, 2015, 04:44 PM	#27
Damon555 Senior Member Join Date: January 11, 2012 Posts: 384	I have so much more to be concerned about during the reloading process that the amount of time my brass gets tumbled is not even on the radar.....Load the tumbler with dirty brass at night....unload the tumbled, clean brass the next day. Rifle, pistol, whatever.......