I do not have a case tumbler and am led to believe that it is essential. How true?
My requirements are for good hunting accuracy (.75" to MOA). I do clean cases with a tartaric acid and dishwasher recipe that works reasonably well. Please advise.

essential? not really - there is not one whit of evidence that i am aware of supporting the supposition that clean cases are more accurate cases.

cleaning cases is a very good idea that promotes the protection of your chamber and your dies; aside from that, it seems to me that a clean, attractive round is something that demosntrates a little bit of craftsmanship and pride in one's work.

a tumbler is not necessary to have a clean case - the same effect can be had by cleaning with a scotchbrite or very fine steel wool, but it is a long process. at around 70$, the lyman tumbler is a convenient alternative.

if you do get a tumbler, be advised that they belch out a lot of dust, and that dust contains a lot of lead from the compund in the primers. a good way to cut down on dust is to tear a dryer sheet into two or three pieces and toss it in. this will cut down dramatically on the dust and in my opinion keeps the media clean while also helping a bit with the case polishing process.

It is not essential. I loaded for several years without one, but boy did the cases look better after acquiring. Now, I don't know what I did without one.

I try to avoid buying new brass if I can find large lots of one fired brass at bargain prices.
Sometimes a few of the cases will be cruddy and I will try to salvage them rather than just toss them.
I use both acid case cleaners and my tumbler to clean cruddy brass. Once it has been cleaned up I keep it CLEAN. It may lose it's shine with time but that is ok. As I result I use acid cleaners 3 or 4 times a year and the tumbler once or twice to salvage tarnished brass.
Brass that I buy new is wiped off after shooting and goes through it life without ever being tumbled.

No matter what I always decap and wash and rinse cases about to be sized. After the water rinse they are rinsed in isopropyl alcohol to remove the water. The alcohol will air dry in about 30 to 40 minutes. Your squeaky clean cases are then ready to be sized with out damaging your dies. It also gets rid of lose internal grit than can be shot though your bore.

It is just one more tool one obtains in the hobby of handloading.

It is a great way to get supper clean "only on the outside" brass. I like my brass clean and shiney.

Purdy

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It is a great way to get supper clean "only on the outside" brass.

ted - maybe mine haven't been fired enoug, but i've noticed that when the media gets in my cases and vibrates around for a few hours, it is actually quite clean (although not all that purdy) on the inside as well.

Essential, no, convenient, yes. You need to find some way to clean brass of grit & dirt. I started out washing them, but then they have to dry & you have to wait & they turn petina. So I started tumbling them.
The cost of a tumbler is pretty low, you can use cheap bulk walnut shell. A 25#bag from HarborFreight lasts along time, years.

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Originally posted by fredj338:
Essential, no, convenient, yes.

I reloaded a long time without one......I sure like mine now!

quote:

I do clean cases with a tartaric acid and dishwasher recipe that works reasonably well. Please advise.

What you are doing is all that NEEDS doing.

Karoo,

Sorta depends.....; essential, certainly not. I lived without one for years and made ammunition that's as consistant & accurate as the ammo I make with one today, although can't imagine not having one available, it's become part of the "Reloading Routine" for me.

I know fellows who have to stay up at night to load a miserly 20 rounds of ammunition for the following day's shooting match. They don't have time to tumble their brass.

Thanks to Lyman, too; who (at least to me) always appears first on the International Market with reasonably priced 220 volt equipment; although there's a whole bunch of No-Names currently floating around on the European Market and also at a very reasonbale price (www.SmartReloader.com).

Since I'm a "batch" kinda Guy, developing a balanced, accurate and relibale load and then make alot of it, usually at least a hundred at a whack - I like the benefits offered from using a tumbler. Cases have to be inspected and they get it twice with me - once during the resizing and again as they're removed clean from the tumbler.

Have fun.

if you're shooting an auto it sure does help in finding your brass

quote:

Originally posted by Karoo:
I do not have a case tumbler and am led to believe that it is essential. How true?
My requirements are for good hunting accuracy (.75" to MOA). I do clean cases with a tartaric acid and dishwasher recipe that works reasonably well. Please advise.

I have reloaded for many years doing nothing more than wiping off dirt with a rag or a paper towel, resizing them, brushed out the primer pocket and wiped off the resizing lube with another paper towel or rag. That was it, nothing more. They were pretty nasty looking by the time I got to the third trimming, but they worked just fine. Producing MOA accuracy in the guns that could shoot MOA.

Is a tumbler “essential”? No.

As I grew older I got a little more anal so I bought a tumbler. I’m still not overly concern about real shinny brass but I do like clean brass.

Although I was very casual about cleaning my cases back then, I still own dies I bought used in the early 1970s. They’re still in use today and are still making great ammunition.

With the price of brass today, I want to get the last shoot out of every case I have. Although the tumbler is not essential in doing that, it doesn’t hurt the effort.

Case tumbler necessary? No, I don't have one and this is what my brass looks like


cases can be cleaned without a tumbler with several methods. Mine leaves them slick and with a protective coating which means they chamber good and keep their shine.

Okay, woods, what's your secret, that piece of brass looks better the NIB.

I tumble my brass, but mainly for the sake of my resizing dies.

Hack

I have noticed I am able to spend a lot less time cleaning the chamber of my rifle after my tumbler purchase. After using case lube for years my brass looked very dingy. I wouldn't reload without my $70 Lyman 600.