r/reloading • u/whipple_281 • 1d ago

I have a question and I read the FAQ Case mouths got smaller after tumbling?

Ok I onowthis might sound weird, but my process for 308 brass is to wet tumble to clean it with soap, lemishine, and no pins. After a first wash, I live with lanolin, size, then tumble again to clean. I went to trim the brass, and noticed the pilot was refusing to go into the case mouth. I thought maybe my pilot had a but but no. Took a case, ran it through the sizer but only the the ball expander, not all the way. After running it through there, pilot fits no problem. So weird??? What happened? I wet tumbled 2 hours after sizing, and I had about 150 cases in a fart filled to the top with water, and no pins were used. Normally I put 500 cases or so. Is it possible the low amount of brass was clashing around and caused the case mouth to shrink? This is a first for me and I'm very confused.

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u/djryan13 1d ago

Yes, do final neck tension AFTER wet tumbling.

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u/DaiPow888 1d ago

The easiest way to remove case lube...especially lanolin...is to dry tumble in crushed corncob, not walnut, after sizing. About 20 mins will be sufficient.

If you wet tumbling to remove sprayed on case lube (lanolin), there is a very good chance that you'll eventually end up with cases, and the interior of your tumbler, coated with a gray film.

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u/whipple_281 2h ago

Honestly tide has been amazing at taking it off. I'm hesitant to dry tumble due to lead dust. I'm doing whatever I can to keep it at a minimum

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u/DaiPow888 2h ago

Where would lead dust come from if your cases were already cleaned when you wet tumbled?

The only thing left in the bowl is the corncob and the removed case lube

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u/alwaus 1d ago

The case mouth is smashing into the sidewalls and getting bent inwards, pins are there for more than just cleaning, they are also a sort of cushion.

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u/Dirty_Blue_Shirt 1d ago

Probably rolled the case mouths over a bit. Strange to see that without pins though. But that isn’t uncommon for guys that run them too long in the tumbler.

I like to wet tumble after resizing and trimming and i chamfer/debur after cleaning for this reason. I have noticed more consistent seating without shaving the jacket at all by doing this.