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Extreme Rebel 17

6MT

Sergeant of the Hide
Full Member
Minuteman
Sep 1, 2014
190
292
ITU Zone 2
For my brass cleaning needs, I’ve used a Thumler’s Tumbler Model B for 6 years. It works wonderfully. Add five pounds of stainless steel pins, a squirt of mild dishwashing soap, a squirt of a citric acid rinsing agent, and some de-capped dirty brass. Fill with water and turn it on.... After an hour and a half or so, you have very clean brass. Even down to the primer pockets.

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A friend who is having some medical issues was trying to liquidate his precision hobby assets. I really didn’t need or want to replace my Thumler’s unit, but he was asking a great price for an Extreme Rebel 17 rotary tumbler that he had never used. As it turned out, there were some missing pieces because his storage techniques needed some help.

The newest edition to the loading room...

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A shameless knock-off of the Thumler’s Tumbler Model-B. Except that the drum rides on heavier axles that have captured roller style bearings instead of the plastic bushings on the Thumler’s unit. And it has a much heavier base unit. Thus the number reference of “17”. It will handle 17 pounds maximum as opposed to the Thumler’s 15 pounds. The drum is identical.

The motor that they chose spins much faster then the Thumler’s unit. In my estimation, it spins two and a half times faster. I thought about this and decided to try and step that motor down to the same speed of the Thumler’s motor. I believe that the brass would have suffered and would probably turn out peened to he11 after being subjected to that much faster agitation. So I installed a continuously variable ceiling fan speed control switch. And you can see above, the box I mounted it in. Well, it turns out that it didn’t need much slowing down. When loaded, the drag on the motor is enough to slow it down some what. Although, I do slow it down a wee bit anyways with the switch.

So it works exactly the same as the Thumler’s Tumbler Model B. You get nice shiny clean brass every time. The Rebel looks much more robust then the Thumler. Time will tell if it stands up as well as the Thumler’s.

So here’s my “cleaning” station on my special Lapua “branded” (read: stickered) cabinet.😎

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i ran a rebel 17 for 7yrs...it ran just about every weekend and never an issue...i sold it a couple of years ago and as far as i know its still going.
i just recently bought another rebel 17 and will be keeping this one.
 
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They make a nice looking machine! My Thumlers struggled when I put the advertised amount of weight in it. Mostly issues of turning the drum due to belt slippage.
 
They make a nice looking machine! My Thumlers struggled when I put the advertised amount of weight in it. Mostly issues of turning the drum due to belt slippage.
i ran 500 9mm cases when i got this new one no issues....i use to run 200-250 6CM case in my old one no issues.
my new 17 im running 4lbs of pins instead of 5lbs seems to work just as well.
 
@6MT very nice set-up.

What do you use the Lyman Turbo for?

And do you feel like the Rebel 17 shines when it comes to volume cleaning? I would generally only need to clean 50-100 at a time, and wondering if there is a smaller, more compact tumbler on the market that might be worth trying for that low volume need. FA Lite gets mixed reviews.
 
@6MT very nice set-up.

What do you use the Lyman Turbo for?

And do you feel like the Rebel 17 shines when it comes to volume cleaning? I would generally only need to clean 50-100 at a time, and wondering if there is a smaller, more compact tumbler on the market that might be worth trying for that low volume need. FA Lite gets mixed reviews.
Thank you! The vibrating Lyman doesn’t get used often. But I sometimes use it for cleaning excess lube off of cases.
As far as larger volumes go, the most I’ve tried at once has been 50 .338LM cases and 50 .308 cases. That was probably the heaviest batch I have done. But I have done 200 .44mag cases. Two hundred .223 cases. No issues. I find the larger the volume, the longer I tumble. But I’ve never tumbled longer then 2 hours. Usually it is between 1-1/2 to 2 hours.

When I loaded the BMG case, the Thumler would do 50 of the big cases without issue. I’m sure this unit would do similar.

As far as a “smaller” unit for small volumes.... why? Just put what you need to clean into the unit. Small or large, it still works.
 
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