Help selecting a proper tumbler

[the once-ler]

I have been using a cheap Lyman vibe tumbler for awhile and realized that I use it quite a bit so I have started looking at SS media rotary tumbling. My question here is I am not sure if I should go for a full sized 15lb or a smaller one. I tend not to have batches over 300 cases.
Should I go big and have room to grow or should I get a smaller one and which is good???

 

[memo43]

Try the one from Frankford Aresnal, not as big as the others but seems to get the job done. Comes complete with everything that you need.

 

[BLDTYLRY]

Go Big. 300 cases, pistol or rifle? I use the Thumblers tumbler and I usually do batches of 100-150 rifle cases.

 

[afate45]

The new Rebel 17 tumbler from Stainlesstumblingmedia.com is really nice and has a 17lb capacity. It is WAY better than the Model B.

If you're doing 300 308 sized rifle cases, that won't fit, but easily 100-150.

 

[HOGWILD]

Thumler's Tumbler Model B High Speed Rotary Case Tumbler 110 Volt
I would look around for a better price !

 

[ZombieMonkey]

If you are doing wet tumbling always go with the bigger tumbler, as it is they already do very few cases. When I initially went to wet cleaning I ditched my old vibratory tumbler. However, I recently purchased a large Dillon vibratory tumbler for doing big batches of pistol brass as wet tumbling is rather slow for large batches.

 

[the once-ler]

If you are doing wet tumbling always go with the bigger tumbler, as it is they already do very few cases. When I initially went to wet cleaning I ditched my old vibratory tumbler. However, I recently purchased a large Dillon vibratory tumbler for doing big batches of pistol brass as wet tumbling is rather slow for large batches.

I mean what are we talking about as far as time goes with SS? I usually throw them in the vibe for 3-4 hours with a few flicks of Mothers polish off my fingers.

 

[BadDogPSD]

I've been looking into making the switch to ss wet tumbling too. I believe the times for a fully loaded Thumbler or Rebel 17 is about 4 hours.
BiggDogg claims 2 hours with their 8" drum. I'm liking theBiggDogg, but not sure I can justify the extra cost.

 

[BadDogPSD]

The new Rebel 17 tumbler from Stainlesstumblingmedia.com is really nice and has a 17lb capacity. It is WAY better than the Model B.

If you're doing 300 308 sized rifle cases, that won't fit, but easily 100-150.

The Rebel 17 is a beefed up model B.

 

[the once-ler]

That big dogg is a homemade PVC contraption

 

[hessian]

Forget the tumbler. Get an ultrasonic. They do a superior job in 1/10 of the time.

 

[Boogie]

I use a model "B" and usually about 100-150 .308 cases takes about 2.5 hrs. I use 1.6 tbls of Dawn and .25 tsp of Lemishine and they come out nice and shiny

 

[Boogie]

Forget the tumbler. Get an ultrasonic. They do a superior job in 1/10 of the time.

I have a Lyman ultrasonic and have tried every commercial and home brew cleaner out there and no way does it clean as good as ss media.

 

[ZombieMonkey]

I mean what are we talking about as far as time goes with SS? I usually throw them in the vibe for 3-4 hours with a few flicks of Mothers polish off my fingers.

You can get by with about 1 hours in the SS tumbler, though most are tumbling for at least several hours. My biggest issue with SS tumbling is it takes way too long to do large amounts of brass when you are limited to small batches and are constantly having to undo the 6 nuts, fill with brass, fill with water & cleaner, secure 6 nuts, tumble, undo 6 nuts, drain water, separate brass from media which takes, and dry the brass before repeating all over again. If you only foresee yourself doing small batches like you say, it may very well not be an issue for you.

It's just a slow process by comparison of tumbling with my Dillon CV-2001, which runs for the same amount of time and is just as quiet, only has one nut to undo and the media separates much easier. Plus I do not have to worry about inspecting every single flash hole to ensure that a piece of SS media is not trapped inside of it as it sucks bending depriming pins, which will happen very easily should they meet SS media.

SS media is great for prepping your match cases or low volume loadings and getting that brass ridiculously clean, but I do not feel that it is the end all be all solution as it has a number of drawbacks. The SS media also will get your cases so clean that if you are doing bulk loading of straight wall pistol ammo that you will want to use a light coating of a spray lube to help smooth out the action of a progressive press.

I love my ultrasonic cleaner for some things, but lets be honest, they suck for cleaning brass. I've experimented a lot with them, they just plain suck at this particular task as they cannot polish. Sure you can clean the cases and then polish them, but now you again have to deal with drying wet cases without the benefits of the polishing action of SS media.

Don't get me wrong, I like SS media, just not for everything.

 

[NV Ranger]

When I switched to wet tumbling I looked at the Thumlers. I wanted to do really big batches of brass, 1,000 5.56, 500 7.62, 1,500 9/40/45. I looked around and found Lortone tumblers. Next stop was eBay where I found a used 40lb. capacity C40 for $275 including shipping. It was in rough shape but worked great. Had it blasted and then I repainted it. I use 15lbs of SS pins, a squirt of dish soap, a pinch of Lemishine, and around 2 gallons of water. The biggest problem is seperating the large amount of brass and pins in an efficient manner, which is the next project on my list.

Buy once cry once is a phrase I've learned to embrace.

 

[ducdodgers]

Saw this at Shot this year. I'm waiting to find one on sale.


Frankford Arsenal® Platinum Series? Rotary Tumbler

 

[the once-ler]

When I switched to wet tumbling I looked at the Thumlers. I wanted to do really big batches of brass, 1,000 5.56, 500 7.62, 1,500 9/40/45. I looked around and found Lortone tumblers. Next stop was eBay where I found a used 40lb. capacity C40 for $275 including shipping. It was in rough shape but worked great. Had it blasted and then I repainted it. I use 15lbs of SS pins, a squirt of dish soap, a pinch of Lemishine, and around 2 gallons of water. The biggest problem is seperating the large amount of brass and pins in an efficient manner, which is the next project on my list.

Buy once cry once is a phrase I've learned to embrace.

I really don't ever see myself needing to clean that many cases. So the pins get stuck in the flash holes just like those husk pieces?

 

[Boogie]

I really don't ever see myself needing to clean that many cases. So the pins get stuck in the flash holes just like those husk pieces?

I've been using ss media for about 6 yrs and have never had one get stuck in the primer hole or pocket. I don't know why other ppl have had this problem unless they are using the wrong size pins, using old bent ones, or are not separating the pins and brass under water. Here's my method. I first rinse as much dirt and soap out while everything is still in the tumbler. My next step is to fill a old rotary media separator (left over from my corn cob days) with water so that at least half of the rotary basket is under water, pour all the brass and media into the basket and spin it for a minute or so and unless the brass was extremely dirty or I got a little too generous with the soap I'm done. All the pins are at the bottom of the tub and the brass in in the basket. The trick is is to spin under water so the pins will float out of the cases and drop to the bottom.

 

[ZombieMonkey]

I've been using ss media for about 6 yrs and have never had one get stuck in the primer hole or pocket. I don't know why other ppl have had this problem unless they are using the wrong size pins, using old bent ones, or are not separating the pins and brass under water. Here's my method. I first rinse as much dirt and soap out while everything is still in the tumbler. My next step is to fill a old rotary media separator (left over from my corn cob days) with water so that at least half of the rotary basket is under water, pour all the brass and media into the basket and spin it for a minute or so and unless the brass was extremely dirty or I got a little too generous with the soap I'm done. All the pins are at the bottom of the tub and the brass in in the basket. The trick is is to spin under water so the pins will float out of the cases and drop to the bottom.

I thought the same thing until a bent two deprimming pins in on my 650 while reloading 40 S&W. It is the only caliber I've had an issue with and I believe it has to do with the fact the pins can become wedged at an angle in the flash hole and on the side of the case. The trick with SS pins is to wet tumble them to separate pins just as you stated, however it apparently is not 100% flawless in all applications. I will say I have not encountered this with 223, 308, 45, or 9mm and the only other stuck pins I have found were from cases where I've already deprimmed them prior to tumbling.

 

[NV Ranger]

The only time I get stuck pins in the flash hole is on some .223, 9mm, & .40. It is only when the flash hole is just a tad oversized and allows two pins to lodge themselves in there. That occurs in maybe 1% of the cases. .308 and .45, not a problem.

 

[Fuerte]

Forget the tumbler. Get an ultrasonic. They do a superior job in 1/10 of the time.

I respectfully disagree. I have an ultrasonic and two vibratory cleaners. I also have the Frankford Arsenal rotary cleaner and it is superior to both of the other types.


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[Fuerte]

By the way, the Frankford Arsenal has a capacity of 30 pounds...


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[Cornholeo]

The only time I get stuck pins in the flash hole is on some .223, 9mm, & .40. It is only when the flash hole is just a tad oversized and allows two pins to lodge themselves in there. That occurs in maybe 1% of the cases. .308 and .45, not a problem.

I see this on .45 and .223 cases, maybe 4 or 5 out of a hundred. A couple of extra minutes to inspect the pockets after tumbling since I first encountered it.

 

[OF&B]

I have been using a cheap Lyman vibe tumbler for awhile and realized that I use it quite a bit so I have started looking at SS media rotary tumbling. My question here is I am not sure if I should go for a full sized 15lb or a smaller one. I tend not to have batches over 300 cases.
Should I go big and have room to grow or should I get a smaller one and which is good???

Definitely don't go smaller.

The rotary tumblers are limited by their drive capacity, not the volume of the can. A 15# tumbler only has room for 2# of brass after the weight of the can, pins, and water is subtracted off the capacity. 2# of brass is only ~150 308. A 17# tumbler has twice the brass capacity of a 15. You can get another # of brass in either of them if you leave out some water.

The new Frankford Arsenal unit has a 30# capacity and has some features the converted/upgraded rock tumblers don't. It's also cheaper. The instructions have a bunch of helpful tips, including running it without the SS pins. I've been cleaning with SS pins for ~ 6 months now with 15 & 17# set ups. Dealing with the pins requires handling every case, which is fine for loads of precision rifle ammo. I load pistol ammo in 2-4K lots, so handling each case isn't going to work. I've run 2 loads of 223 through the Frankford setup without the pins. Outside gets just as clean as using the pins. One load was 600 cases, another was 1000. The pins are still in their bag. When the pins are used in the other setups, the cleanliness of the primer pockets and inside the cases is amazing.

For an incremental change from what you're doing, the Cabelas/Berrys vibratory tumblers have more capacity than the standard tumblers and are built a little better for $60.

The new Frankford Arsenal SS unit is ~$200, making it one of the cheaper SS setups.

If you want to be able to reload as soon as they come out of the tumbler, stick with the vibratory units. I'm going to be doing most of my stuff wet from here on out, either with or without pins depending on what I'm going to do with the brass.

 

[bruddah]

Tagging this for later as I too am interested in SS a tumbler.

 

[TireMan]

Another vote for THUMBLERS.

 

[GhengisAhn175]

Tagged


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[NV Ranger]

Here's some before and after blasting.

 

[NV Ranger]

After paint.

 

[Recreational Shooter WA]

Go as big as possible with the SS media, the weight of the media and water represent the most weight. Thumbler's Tumblers are great, have both a regular dry tumbler and the standard SS tumbler, both work exactly as they should and the dry tumbler is over 20 years old. And FWIW, I much prefer the SS media tumblers to ultrasonic cleaning, just got way better results with the SS.