Depending on how many cases you shoot/reload and how much you shoot, you don't really need to worry about a tumbler. For my .308 Win i started with 500 remington cases. I have not tumbled any of them, and have been shooting them for over a year. They all have been loaded 5 or 6 times. If you only get a few cases and shoot them a lot, you will want to clean them. As far as cases go, i buy remington cases for all my loads. But what ever kind you choose, stick with one man. Case thicknesses can vary from company to company, and that affects total case volume. Hope this helps.