on "dirty looking" vs "super shiny" brass ...
I can't speak for handgun ammo, but I can speak for some rifle ammo.
Before wet tumbling, I was using an ultrasonic to clean 45/70 brass reloaded with black powder.
I used to shoot, leave the brass in a box and maybe a couple of days later (sometimes a week later) throw it in the ultrasonic. Then reload and do it again.
After 6 or 7 reloads, the brass looked like it came from a WWI trench. It was nasty looking, but, the walls didn't have any build up of powder, the brass just looked nasty. It shot the same as new brass.
So, as far as I can tell, how the brass looks doesn't matter (and that makes sense).
Now that I have a wet tumbler, it comes out shiny AF, and it shoots the same.
I do care how clean pistol brass is because they are smaller cases, I reload faster and I reload a lot more, so it is easier to miss something when looking at the brass. With the 45/70, I load one at a time in a single stage and rarely load over 100, so I take a look at the primer pockets, take a quick look inside and make sure it looks good.
The dirty brass had one disadvantage, it made it harder to see if any cracks were forming.