Recomend a tumbler for brass

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laurencen

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for a year I have been reloading 45acp, got a ultrasonic cleaner and as often noted brass is not shiny almost gritty feeling, got a small vibrator cleaner and brass comes out clean and shiny but takes forever and cleans best with 100 casings. around 4 hours.

want to advance to 3006 rounds and my vibrator cleaner is a little on the small side, so what would you recommend for a good tumbler, something that will last and not break the bank, what is used for the medium and a idea the time it takes to achieve results.

thanks
 
Most people seem to be going to the stainless steel pins and lemmishine combo in a rubber coated rock tumbler.Myself i just recently started using walnut media and nu finish in a hornady vibratory tumbler and love the results,it does take longer to clean to a brilliant shine though.I am never in a big hurray and process my brass when i am bored so time is not of the essence.
 
I use a Lortone QT-12 rotary rock tumbler. With walnut media, brass is functionally clean in a couple hours, but I usually let it run overnight to get it good and shiny.

A rotary tumbler also gives you the option of wet tumbling with stainless steel pins. I have not tried this, but many people are reporting excellent results. The only downside is that you will have to dry the brass when you take it out of the tumbler.
 
seems down to the STM Rebel or the Frankford tumbler, are these typically wet tumbled, anyone doing dry media? only have outside tap working in summer in the workshop
 
laurencen said:
seems down to the STM Rebel or the Frankford tumbler, are these typically wet tumbled, anyone doing dry media? only have outside tap working in summer in the workshop
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Have only wet tumbled with a bit of dish soap and a tiny bit of lemishine. I doubt dry is an option but never researched it.

The media separator they sell is pretty handy as well. I bought the kit which included the tumbler, media, lemishine and separator.
 
I use a good old fashioned Dillon CV-2001. I usually do 9mm brass in lots of 1500pcs.
 
Went from a dry vibrating unit to a Franford wet/ss just recently. The wet tumbling is better without a doubt. It gets both outside and the inside of the case clean and primer pockets are spotless.
 
The Frankford is a basic dry tumble. Wet tumble tends to get cleaner results with stainless pins, but your costs go up. Again, my Frankford does everything and at a low cost. You need to decide how deep your pockets are, LOL !
laurencen said:
seems down to the STM Rebel or the Frankford tumbler, are these typically wet tumbled, anyone doing dry media? only have outside tap working in summer in the workshop
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I did the ultrasonic them walnut shell method for a year, just bought the Frankford arsenal SS tumbler and am blown away with the results. Would nevery go back. The are so perfectly new with any condition brass I load up. Henry at Budget shooter supply has them for a great price. More money but better results with less effort than any other method
 
HIGHRPM said:
The Frankford is a basic dry tumble. Wet tumble tends to get cleaner results with stainless pins, but your costs go up. Again, my Frankford does everything and at a low cost. You need to decide how deep your pockets are, LOL !
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The costs for dry tumbling continue where SS pins is one time.
 
Sorry if this is a dumb question, but what is the main benefit of tumbling? I know it's nice to have nice shiny brass but I haven't been able to get a tumbler yet, seeing as I just got set up for reloading and it's just not in the budget at the moment. I use a Lee trimmer that you stick the shell holder in a cordless drill and then insert a lengthing rod inside and spin the drill and it trims, so before I take the shell out of the holder a grab a price of rag and grab the shell lightly and spin it with the drill, removing the case lube and leaving a beautiful shine. If the only reason for tumbling is the finished look, this method works great. Does tumbling clean the inside of the shells at all? And don't most guys tumble brass at the very beginning of their reloading cycle? If yes then won't your nice shiny results be ruined by the dull looking case lube residue ( for none carbide die users). Don't mean to hi-jack the thread just something I've been wondering for awhile.
 
mackinsaw said:
Sorry if this is a dumb question, but what is the main benefit of tumbling? I know it's nice to have nice shiny brass but I haven't been able to get a tumbler yet, seeing as I just got set up for reloading and it's just not in the budget at the moment. I use a Lee trimmer that you stick the shell holder in a cordless drill and then insert a lengthing rod inside and spin the drill and it trims, so before I take the shell out of the holder a grab a price of rag and grab the shell lightly and spin it with the drill, removing the case lube and leaving a beautiful shine. If the only reason for tumbling is the finished look, this method works great. Does tumbling clean the inside of the shells at all? And don't most guys tumble brass at the very beginning of their reloading cycle? If yes then won't your nice shiny results be ruined by the dull looking case lube residue ( for none carbide die users). Don't mean to hi-jack the thread just something I've been wondering for awhile.
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OK Mackinsaw let's see if I can answer this. It's a little bit of pride to get your brass all shiny and new but it makes sense to start reloading with clean brass. I remove the primer and size my cases before stainless steel tumbling so the lube is removed in the cleaning. It does clean out the inside as well to perfect condition. It is also easier to inspect clean brass for any cracks or sign of wear. Plus some of us collect range brass to reuse and that crap can be down-right brown. Making your brass look brand new is part OCD and part practical
 
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I dry tumble with a Lyman Turbo 1200 tumbler. It's got a neat feature called "auto-flo". It's a simple plug on the side that permits you to empty out the media so you don't have to use a media seperator. I use corncob with a little Nufinish plus a used bounce sheet and I'm quite happy with the results.

silverfoxdj said:
The costs for dry tumbling continue where SS pins is one time.
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Touché! You make a good point.
 
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tjhaile said:
I use a Lortone QT-12 rotary rock tumbler. With walnut media, brass is functionally clean in a couple hours, but I usually let it run overnight to get it good and shiny.

A rotary tumbler also gives you the option of wet tumbling with stainless steel pins. I have not tried this, but many people are reporting excellent results. The only downside is that you will have to dry the brass when you take it out of the tumbler.
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I have the same. Better than the Thumler that everyone fusses about IMO.

My Lyman vibratory pretty much sits in its own dust these days.
 
I picked up a "Niagara" tumbler it has a plug on the bottom for removing media so that your casings can vibrate and get the remaining media out. It was 40 bucks...... Using walnut for the media. Yes it takes a little while to clean the brass but for a total investment of less than 60 for media and a tumbler it was a good start to an economic reloading setup. There are people that have built there own SS tumblers but once again as I wanted to keep start up prices low, I figure it was a good investment. I clean approx 60-70 308 Brass at a time, yes the primer pockets do need a quick look at to ensure they are clean but overall its a decent start I believe. Also a little car polish in the media does help, just do not use brasso as your polish. I have read up that the long term effects of brasso on the casings is not the best due to the ammonia content reacting with the metal makeup.
 
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