Hey everyone...been reloading for a few months now and not sure if I have too much media in my tumbler. I feel like I take forever to dump media out of the cases back into the tumbler. My Hornady tumble is probably 3/4 full of media..too much?
- Thread starter lush_dawg
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You want the media to flow inside the tumbler kinda fast. I have the hornady and i believe its 3lbs of corn cob makes it most efficient. Heres something you can do. Take 100 308 cases throw em in the tumbler. Turn it on, if there moving around pretty good then fuck it, if not start removing hand fulls of corn cob untill its flowing good. My hornady tumbler will handle 100 308 cases before it gets bogged down
Not sure what the amount of media in the tumbler has to do with getting it out of cases... but buy a media separator like in the screen shot here or make one out of a couple of plastic buckets, drilling holes in the bottom of one and using the other to catch the media shaken from cases placed in the drilled one.
Trust me, you want to buy one. The Dillon is excellent.
As far as the amount of media in the tumbler... I fill mine up until there's just enough room to pile brass in without is spilling over the side.
Trust me, you want to buy one. The Dillon is excellent.
As far as the amount of media in the tumbler... I fill mine up until there's just enough room to pile brass in without is spilling over the side.
The hornady comes with a sifter and i used tge box tge tumbler came in to sift over. Just shake it back and forth. U dont have to stand there and dump each case out
Get a media separator, put some media in tumbler, then brass, keep adding media until it flows rapidly, it is unmistakable when you have the correct amount.
I'm using a tumbler with a 60/40 mixture brass/corn cob media. I usually tumble upwards of 600-1000 cases for about 90-120 minutes. Once done, I drain majority of media into a bucket and then use a media separator for the remainder. The separator makes quick work and is easy to clean up.
I do have the sifter and shake it until there’s no media and just brass but there’s residual media inside the cases that I have to dump out.
When i sift mine i shake em around pretty good and the only thing i do is have to clear the flash hole once in awhile of a kernel. Its possible your trying to sift to many cases at one time or your not sifting right. U rock that sifter back and forth, side to side there should be nothing in the case
Ahhh, ok. That's why the Dillon design was such a huge improvement over my home-grown sifter.
Look at the Dillon separator at far left in the screen shot in my post above - it tumbles the brass as opposed to more of a side-to-side shake. A few kernels of corn cob type media inevitably remain, but very few. Flash holes in deprimed cases will definitely retain kernels.
Get the large Dillon. Be aware that the bucket has two notches that holds the basket in place, while allowing it to rotate. The notches get booger’s up and sloppy over time, then the basket won’t rotate. Call Dillon up and tell them about the basket notches, and they send you a new bucket free of charge. Best warranty in the business. Also be aware that rotating the basket using corncob media, or walnut shells with several hundred 9mm or .223 brass lets off a nasty cloud of lead and dirt dust. I run my box fan upwind of the basket when dropping out the media. My basket is an original that is about 15 years old, but I am on my third basket. Dillon stuff works, and they are great folks. Make a neat MiniGun too
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