Tumbling after rifle case prep (sizing, de-cap, trim etc.) etc.

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I've read a few threads from history about this subject and could not really find the answer to my question.

I recently started prepping some rifle brass and wanted to know if it was absolutely necessary to tumble after case prep?

Is the only reason for this tumbling procedure to remove case lube and any other imperfections from trimming/chamfering/De-burring?

What are the consequences of accidentally eliminating this step?
 
No major consequences really. You may need to wipe any extra case lube off your finished rounds so they don't gum up the chamber of your rifle.
 
None really. Tumble them after you load them. Then you can be sure you won't have any
lube left on them when you shoot them. I've done the 'wipe them down' thing and from my
experience, tumbling is the way to go to get them squeaky clean for your rifle. IMHO, it's
OK to tumble live rounds. I've done it.
 
Thanks for the replies; I have tumble finished rounds (pistol) so that is good to hear.

I just didn't want to fudge a necessary step in the process if I didn't need to.
 
I've been using RCBS Case slick. It's a spray. I lay out 20 cases at a time on a Microfiber cloth, spray, let soak and roll them so they are covered on the outside only. Then I re-size, de-cap, trim (if needed) de-burr and chamfer and then re-prime. There doesn't seem to be much lube on the cases, nor do I spray them so lube would get in the opening.
 
When prepping .223 my steps are tumble the fired cases, lube, resize and deprime, check OAL, trim, deburr, and then tumble before loading. I use Dillon case lube that is lanolin and isopropyl alcohol. If i didn't tumble before loading I have a somewhat tacky residue on the cases and do not want those spots to attract dirt and other nasties.
 
One downside to tumbling before reloading is that you really have to make sure the media is out of the case and not in the flash hole or priming pocket.

Post reloading tumbling is great for turning out pretty rounds that don't get your rifle chamber full of lube/gunk.
 
One downside to tumbling before reloading is that you really have to make sure the media is out of the case and not in the flash hole or priming pocket.

Post reloading tumbling is great for turning out pretty rounds that don't get your rifle chamber full of lube/gunk.

If the case has been tumbled and prepped prior to reloading, stage #1 on your reloader (in my case aillon 450 converted to 550) sizing and decapping has nothing to do. Simply use a decapping only die in station #1 (Lee has them for short money) to knock out the media particles. I learned the necessity of this step the hard way. Some corn cob grit stuck in the flash hole of one of my reloads made it down the barrel of my AR, into the gas tube, and wound up in the trigger group, jamming it!
 
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