Cheap tumbler options? For a newb

Emmer said:
I really don't understand why the guys that use vibrating cleaning feel the need to attack stainless tumbler people.
To each their own.
If that is what you are comfortable with, so be it.
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I find several people who constantly talk about SS tumbling come across as very much holier-than-tho like somehow once they switched to SS tumbling their s*it stopped smelling.

The bombardment of fanboys talking about how much better it is, recommending it to everyone who asks, and only ever using non-specific adjectives like "better", "best", "superior", etc. Even if it's some new reloader who only has a couple hundred dollars to spend they get bombarded with recommendations for SS tumbling before they are even sure if they'll be reloading for the long term.

Most of all the fact that many of the SS users outright attack vibratory tumblers implying they are next to useless and dangerous.

Not much of any of that in this thread but I've seen it several times here on CGN.
 
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fdc said:
$80 bucks for a media tumbler. If you can't spring for that the rest of reloading will be unobtainium. This isn't a poor man's game. $80.00 isn't even the buy in.
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He didn't say how much was to much, just that he was looking for inexpensive options. He has a bunch of options here now and so do I, good thread , it will help me a bunch!
 
Trinimon said:
I don't think you want to be cleaning anything firearm related with anything you use on a daily basis that is related to food/consumption.
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Yeah, lead residue, although its effects are wayyyy overblown, is not a good thing. Why don't you ask the little woman if she would mind scrubbing them with an old toothbrush and toothpaste? She could do the inside of the case with an old make-up brush. PM me your address, and I'll go visit you in the hospital!
 
boat_magic said:
What would happen if you put your brass into a laundry bag, then put it in the dishwasher?
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Auto dishwasher detergent is way to caustic, it will weaken and eat up your brass, I used it one time to clean the gunk and rust out of an old furnace oil tank I was welding! It did a good job but I bet you would be buying new brass!
 
My own experiences... (my own two cents' worth? :redface: ) I was really embarrassed the first year I participated in our club's open house; I had a whole lot of REALLY dirty brass that'd been fired and fired and fired and never cleaned, and it looked horrible. 'Sides, polished brass is one of the nicest colours the human eye can detect and polished nickel-plated brass is almost as lovely. So I got the Thumler Tumbler B - a couple of hours in the B with Lemishine and dish-soapy water and they came-out looking like new.

I haven't wet-tumbled since; I hate having wet brass. The first time I broke-out the air gun and blew them all out, the second time I stood them neck-down on a dishtowel; both major pains and both times I ended-up with green water-droplet marks inside them. But we'd paid big bux for the Tumbler - so what now?

So I still use the tumbler, but I put corncob with a squirt or two of car polish in it and tumble 'em dry. Frankford Arsenal media separator, the cases come out looking GORGEOUS; and the corncob can be got dirt-cheap at any pet store. It does not clean inside them, but I don't have to look at that anyways.
 
Quickest way to "naturally" dry your wet brass is to rinse them in hot water and spread them out on a cookie tray (I use some old darkroom developing trays I had laying around) lined with paper towels. Shake them around a few times to dry the outside cases and this also helps prevent hard water marks (purely cosmetic). Set a fan to blow over the brass. They'll dry out in an hour or so. I got enough brass that I don't need the freshly cleaned brass to start my next reloading session.

I use both a vibratory tumbler and ss wet tumbling. Each has it's merits.
 
What I do for drying is;
I purchased a few large black bath towels from Wal-Mart.
Universal de-cap, then SS wash.
I rinse in cold water to get any soap residue off, then a quick dunk in hot water then over to the towels.
I roll them on the towels to get the standing water off, then put them with the case mouth down in some cartridge trays that you get with new cartridge to finish drying.
The Winchester 9mm trays seem to work great for this as they are hollow.

I load copious amounts of 9mm, so after they come out of the wash, I do a quick lube with an alcohol/lube mix and a sprayer, once the alcohol has flashed off, I run then through a sizing die, rinse them in hot water to get the lube off and let dry in trays.

Drying is done in 2 ways, depending on the season.

1) Winter and colder months; I have a downstairs bathroom that is near the furnace, if I close the door and open the vent full, that room gets quite warm, dries the brass quickly.
2) Summer time, they sit on the window sill and solar dry.

I guess the key thing with SS cleaning is you have to have enough brass that you are not waiting for dry times.
 
fdc said:
$80 bucks for a media tumbler. If you can't spring for that the rest of reloading will be unobtainium. This isn't a poor man's game. $80.00 isn't even the buy in.
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$80 is at least 2lb of powder, which I prefer to buy instead of tumbling media.

FWIW, reloading is not that expensive. You can gear up for the same price point as a mid-range lens (if you're into photography). Overall, firearms as a hobby is not that expensive.
 
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Trinimon said:
Quickest way to "naturally" dry your wet brass is to rinse them in hot water and spread them out on a cookie tray (I use some old darkroom developing trays I had laying around) lined with paper towels. Shake them around a few times to dry the outside cases and this also helps prevent hard water marks (purely cosmetic). Set a fan to blow over the brass. They'll dry out in an hour or so. I got enough brass that I don't need the freshly cleaned brass to start my next reloading session.

I use both a vibratory tumbler and ss wet tumbling. Each has it's merits.
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MattRidge said:
$80 is at least 2lb of powder, which I prefer to buy instead of tumbling media.

FWIW, reloading is not that expensive. You can gear up for the same price point as a mid-range lens (if you're into photography). Overall, firearms as a hobby is not that expensive.
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My firearms hobby is expensive and I don't have premier anything. Soccer is an inexpensive hobby, firearms is pricey. $80 for a media tumbler is peanuts and if $80 is holding you back I think that a look at the rest of the kit is in order. My experience.
 
fdc said:
My firearms hobby is expensive and I don't have premier anything. Soccer is an inexpensive hobby, firearms is pricey. $80 for a media tumbler is peanuts and if $80 is holding you back I think that a look at the rest of the kit is in order. My experience.
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Depends on what your interest are. The other "hobbies" I would have (as in "if I had loose money and plenty of time") require more investment, and more real estate than I currently have access to.

Woodworking; initial investment: $5k (table saw, drill press, lathe, dust extraction system, hand tools (planes, chisels), bits, ...), plus real estate immobilization, with a significant running cost.
Metal working; initial investment: $15k, with the same real estate immobilization and higher material cost.

I'm not even getting started about off-road cars, quad / motorbikes, mechanics... All in all, guns and ammo are pretty cheap.

Does $80 stop me ? No. But if I can optimize $80 and get a few more rounds downrange, I will. It is all a matter of priorities.

The same way, I just bought a bunch of SDHC cards for my tech gear (DSLR, camcorder, etc...), I could have paid $50 a piece with overnight shipping from the US, or I could pay $10 a piece with a month-long delay from China, for the exact same end product. I chose the later.
 
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