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Old August 20, 2008, 04:42 PM   #1
rolyasm
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Bullet Tumbler. More accurate, or just clean?

I tried to search here for the answer and online. Didn't quite find my answer.
Do people tumble casings to make them look nice, or to clean them so they are more effecient/accurate? Do tumblers remove all the filth from the inside of the case thus allowing more chance of a successful reload. Or, is it all just to have clean, shiny, non-powdered bullets that won't dirty things up?
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Old August 20, 2008, 06:00 PM   #2
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Tumbling will clean your brass nice and shiny. Take pride in the rounds you make. Also, you want to clean them before you put them in your press because you could scratch your dies.
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Old August 20, 2008, 08:48 PM   #3
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Quote:
I tried to search here for the answer and online. Didn't quite find my answer.
Do people tumble casings to make them look nice, or to clean them so they are more effecient/accurate? Yes to both.
Do tumblers remove all the filth from the inside of the case thus allowing more chance of a successful reload. No. Tumbling does almost nothing to the inside of a case. Also don't worry about the powder fouling in there, it hurts nothing.
Or, is it all just to have clean, shiny, non-powdered bullets that won't dirty things up? You don't need to tumble your bullets. The bullet companies do that before they package them up in those neat little boxes. They seldom corrode.
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Old August 20, 2008, 10:27 PM   #4
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Consistency is tantamount to accuracy...

Everything you do in reloading is seeking consistency...

Clean cartridges will resize and operate smoothly in the chamber more consistently than rough dirty surfaces.

As Lunicy said above... taking pride in your work will promote consistency in your reloads.
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Old August 21, 2008, 04:39 PM   #5
lll Otto lll
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Do tumblers remove all the filth from the inside of the case thus allowing more chance of a successful reload.
Mine does but I use a rotary.
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Old August 21, 2008, 07:53 PM   #6
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I tried a tip picked up from one of the forums. Add a splash or two of unscented mineral spirits to your walnut media. I found that it did clean the insides of the .45acp casings quite well, with less effect but still noticable on 9mm casings. The outsides were as clean as if they had had a second tumbling with treated corn cob.

My only concern is that the solvent might attack the plastic bowl - it's a Lyman Pro 1200. Thus far, I haven't noticed anything except what appears to be normal wear but still watching....

Oh, and the purpose is to keep your equipment as clean as possible. Dirty dies make for scratched ammo, unnecessary effort being exerted, not to mention dirtying up your weapon's chamber.
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Old August 23, 2008, 09:28 PM   #7
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I polish mine mostly because it makes them look better. There is NO way it will effect accuracy enough to matter or probably even be measurable. There are far more important issues such as, primer strenth, brissance, powder weight and composition, neck tension, bullet diameter and weight etc. etc. The cleanest cases in the world could be nullified by a simple 1/100 of a grain charge difference of a 1/5000th different bullet size.
That said, I like clean and shiny brass. I just don't get anal over it.
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Old August 24, 2008, 12:24 PM   #8
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Clean cases do not deposit grit in your dies, nor do they give bad readings when rolling for concentricity. Cases need not be polished. Liquids added to media shortens its useful life. A dash or two of scouring powder added to walnut will clean the insides of cases as well as is needed.

Bouncing bullets in a case tumbler will usually do more harm than good, as it will affect the jackets, and especially the meplats of match bullets, which is one reason some people saw a decrease in accuracy after tumbling bullets to coat them with moly.
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Old August 24, 2008, 06:16 PM   #9
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I just went thru cleaning my carbides after missing 3 dirty cases. I thought the dies were ruined but werent thank god because I was in the middle of a big run. I noticed the cases starting to come out scratched pretty badly and after I cleaned them up they work fine. On that note, I always clean my brass and double check the ones being loaded that they are clean because I diont want to go thru that again. It took me a good 30-45 mins. to clean the brass and crud outa them with fine wet paper and Scotch brite.
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Old August 24, 2008, 07:49 PM   #10
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"Do people ...clean them so they are more effecient/accurate?"

Sure, purty brass cuts groups 38%! Well, maybe not...but they are purty!


"Do tumblers remove all the filth from the inside of the case"

Not really, only a bit of the loose stuff.


"Or, is it all just to have clean, shiny, non-powdered bullets"

I don't know anyone who tumbles bullets but maybe some do.
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Old August 24, 2008, 08:59 PM   #11
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It just cleans them. There's not going to be any accuracy advantage to using, but it will keep alot of the gunk out of your chamber....
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Old August 24, 2008, 09:09 PM   #12
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They tumble bullets for moly coating sometimes. I have also tumbled old cruddy ones and they came out great. Please note that im using a vibratory one and dont think a real tumbler would be good for doing bullets.
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