Thumbs Up or Down on this Tumbler?

I have one, it's great in that it does a really great job of cleaning and polishing brass. One downside is that it takes a bit more effort in that the dirty H2O must be rinsed away in a separate bucket, and the brass needs to be dried. An electric herb drier that my wife wasn't using fills the bill !! I also find that it is quieter than my old Lyman tumbler.
 
Love mine. Not an issue in the many thousands of cases I've put through it.

2 x 9mm cases full of Lemi Shine Detergent Booster (I get mine at Canadian Tire) and 2 large squirts Dawn Dishwashing Detergent.
 
No brainer, two big thumbs up. I would also buy the FA wet/dry media separator (or similar) to separate the pins, it was a big time saver. I let my brass dry outside in the summer. During the winter months I let it dry on a towel if I don't need it right away or dry them in the oven using an old cookie tray if I'm in hurry.

Here are some ammo cookies I baked this morning, lol.

WP_20171226_001_1.jpg
 
Last edited:
I absolutely love mine. I'll concur with above, get some lemi shine and some dawn dish soap and the brass comes out beautifully cleaned. I usually just lay my brass out on top of the dryer and let it air dry. Never had an issue.

I'm really going to have to get around to selling off my vibratory tumbler one of these days.

Big A+ for the FA stainless tumbler though.
 
While the tumbler in the OP post works well, I noticed that tumbling for 2 hours will render the brass dull.
The pins micro-scratch the brass similarly to dulling with steel wool.
This increases the sizing effort even with plenty of lube.

Another side-effect is case mouth peening. Often I have to chamfer the cases before seating the bullet.
 
legi0n said:
While the tumbler in the OP post works well, I noticed that tumbling for 2 hours will render the brass dull.
The pins micro-scratch the brass similarly to dulling with steel wool.
This increases the sizing effort even with plenty of lube.

Another side-effect is case mouth peening. Often I have to chamfer the cases before seating the bullet.
Click to expand...

Are you using lemi shine and dishwashing detergent? I tumble for 3 hours and they come out super shiny.
I have gotten dull/brownish brass by using too much lemi shine.

No issues with sizing for pistol calibres although 9mm and 'too clean' sometimes causes tight resize. To me that is not the result of the pin tumbling as I can get similar now and again with walnut/corn dry tumbling and 9mm.
 
legi0n said:
While the tumbler in the OP post works well, I noticed that tumbling for 2 hours will render the brass dull.
The pins micro-scratch the brass similarly to dulling with steel wool.
This increases the sizing effort even with plenty of lube.

Another side-effect is case mouth peening. Often I have to chamfer the cases before seating the bullet.
Click to expand...

I haven't found any of the above except extra effort with sizing but that's due to the cases being very clean not because they've dulled. I don't use lube, I just power through it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom