by pitted bore » Sun Oct 09, 2011 9:25 am
Colohunter-
I don't know whether the fingernail polish (or any other paint-type stuff) would survive a trip through a good tumbler.
I don't have a tumbler. When I'm in the mood for shiny brass, I use a bit of 0000 steel wool on the case exterior, and some steel-wool wrapped around a bronze bristle bore brush for the interior. Although it's probably unnecessary, I routinely clean primer pockets. My reloading heroes (Whelen, Page, Sharp, Wotkyns, Grennell, etc.) did not use a tumbler, and got along OK. I don't think benchrest shooters use them to clean brass between relays.
What I should have mentioned in my description above is that tagging and keeping track of brass can become difficult when the rifle is flinging the empties all over the firing line. My brass ID efforts are much reduced with my M1 Garand, for example. With the 45 Auto, it's almost non-existent.
--Bob