MidSouth Shooters SupplyLee PrecisionTitan ReloadingInline Fabrication
Load DataRepackboxRotoMetals2Wideners
Reloading Everything
Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
Results 1 to 20 of 23

Thread: Thinking of buying a tumbler - Suggestions?

  1. #1
    Boolit Master bbogue1's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2016
    Location
    Western Texas
    Posts
    520

    Thinking of buying a tumbler - Suggestions?

    I wet tumble now in an ice cream maker. I think the agitator keeps the brass stirred up for the most part. Tub rotates the agitator/scraper does not. It does a good job for my pistol brass, but, a friend, whom I am assembling tools to reload for (almost done) has rifle. I am concerned my system of cleaning may not work as well with the small neck size of his 25 caliber cases. I read about tumbling in lizard, walnut and other medias and adding car wax to the mix and the cases come out clean as my wet tumbling my straight wall cases. When I wet tumble I use citric acid, Dawn and warm water for 45 minutes to an hour. I'd like to add SS pins but I'm not convinced the expense is worth it. Maybe I will need to with the addition of rifle brass. What is your opinion?

  2. #2
    Banned



    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Location
    Color Me Gone
    Posts
    8,401
    Franklin Arsenal aka "FART"
    Most are very happy as I am with it. I use SS chips but most use pins.

  3. #3
    Banned
    Join Date
    Nov 2010
    Location
    Casa Grande, AZ
    Posts
    5,526
    The biggest Dillon model. If you want to clean a whole bunch in a short amount of time use the Dillon. Now I clean cases in the ultrasonic cleaner dry them and polish them in the Dillon.
    Last edited by 6bg6ga; 01-08-2018 at 07:48 AM.

  4. #4
    Banned
    Join Date
    Jul 2016
    Posts
    2,911
    can you fit the square 2# plastic peanut jars in the ice cream tank?
    If so you could wedge a couple of these in the tub, set the ice cream maker on its side and have a tumbler(I use 2.5# pins in each container)
    You might need to put some caster or something where the ice went to keep the drum level and spinning

    Another method is a 14 in piece of 2x8 a piece of 1/4 ply or " 3 x 12 in screwed vertically to the end of the 2x8
    a windshield wiper motor bolted to the 1/4 ply
    bolt a long nut (with a rubber washer) to the center of a 2# square peanut container
    shim a caster/roller to support the lid of the peanut jar
    get an old computer power supply use 1 set of black and 1 set of yellow wires for the 12 v power
    then connect green to black for on-off
    1/2 tsp lemishine/citric acid, 2 tsp dawn and 2.5# stainless pins in the container.

    you could go with 2 2-gallon buckets (1 attached to the [must be a larger windshield wiper motor]and two rollers to support the bucket) and 1 that slides in the attached one with a lid with a rubber seal and some baffles bolted to the inside .

  5. #5
    In Remembrance
    Join Date
    Aug 2014
    Location
    S W Louisiana
    Posts
    295
    I have a STM Rebel 17. The kit comes with ss pins and lemishine. The thumblers tumbler model B works too, but uses 1/4" shafts and nylon bushings. The rebel 17 uses 1/2" shafts and pillow block bearings. Both can be had from STM vendor on this site. You can use Dawn dish wash, but I use simple green as it will remove case lube better.

  6. #6
    Boolit Master


    Walter Laich's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2005
    Location
    Cypress, Republic of Texas
    Posts
    3,483
    +1 on STM Rebel 17
    just got done doing 6 lbs of 45 Colt and 44 Mag brass--cases drying in den as I type this

    I use Armor-All wash and wax + Lemishine as the wax keeps the cases from tarnishing i.e. stays bright and shiny unlike using soap which will allow cases to tarnish quickly

    use SS chips as they cut my tumbling time in half. Get them from here: https://www.facebook.com/southernshinetumblers/

    not connected to either of these other than being a happy customer
    NRA Life
    USPSA L1314
    SASS Life 48747
    RVN/Cambodia War Games, 2nd Place

  7. #7
    Boolit Master Gtrubicon's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2017
    Location
    Northern ca
    Posts
    537
    I have two of the frankford arsenal units. Very happy with them, they replaced a large thumblers tumbler. It worked very well also. The frankford unit is much easier to use in my opinion.

  8. #8
    Boolit Buddy

    NC_JEFF's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2014
    Location
    Ellenboro, NC
    Posts
    460
    I don't know why I'd never thought of using an ice cream churn but thanks for the idea. I can see tilting the metal tub at an angle, attaching a couple rubber strip to the inside,(after removing the agitator) , supporting it with casters underneath and maybe at the bottom of tub. A simple wooden frame would be fine for the motor. I think I'll play with this design and see if it goes anywhere
    Jeff

  9. #9
    Boolit Master
    winelover's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2009
    Location
    North Central Arkansas
    Posts
    2,403
    Been using the same Thumbler's Tumbler Model B for over 40 years.....just an occasional o-ring belt replacement.

    Winelover

  10. #10
    Boolit Master

    dale2242's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    SW Oregon
    Posts
    2,466
    Lyman Cyclone,
    Comes with 5# pins and sifter.
    Great machine.
    Great price....dale

  11. #11
    Boolit Buddy
    Join Date
    Dec 2009
    Location
    SE Michigan
    Posts
    451
    Quote Originally Posted by winelover View Post
    Been using the same Thumbler's Tumbler Model B for over 40 years.....just an occasional o-ring belt replacement.

    Winelover
    I also use that tumbler, works great, no problems.

  12. #12
    Boolit Master D Crockett's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2010
    Posts
    744
    I got a paper folding machine and made a wet pin tumbler out of it I have not used my dry tumbler in a few years now. I think the wet tumbler works much better than the dry tumbler does it gets the brass like new shinny D Crockett

  13. #13
    Boolit Master
    Join Date
    Mar 2017
    Location
    Oklahoma City
    Posts
    507
    Used both the fart and Dillon for years, pretty much back to just using the Dillon. Much less mess overall and with a bit of nu-shine I get the same results. That's my story and I am sticking to it!

    Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

  14. #14
    Boolit Master oldhenry's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2016
    Location
    Albany, GA
    Posts
    902
    I bought a Lortone #12 from Paul Jones 37 years ago & it's still going strong. They not cheap, but they're worth every cent. I do all of my wet tumbling in it. A 6 to 1 mixture of water & lemon juice (the cheap stuff) + a dash of dawn & they look new.

    Henry
    Last edited by oldhenry; 01-08-2018 at 08:07 PM.

  15. #15
    Boolit Grand Master

    mold maker's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2007
    Location
    Piedmont (Conover) NC
    Posts
    5,429
    When you look inside brass tumbled with SS pins, citric acid, dawn, you'll know why the method is so popular. The inside looks just as clean and bright as the outside. Not to mention the primer pockets are bright and clean. Granted they don't shoot any better, but totally clean and shiny in much less time is a winner to me. I used to do lots of range brass that was extremely dark with total success. I often delt with 8-12 gal of brass a week. Both tumblers ran every night and I spent my time separating by cal.
    No primer dust to breath or clean up.
    No brass to re-run.
    Much less noise.
    No grundgy media to replace.
    Just New looking brass, ready to size.
    Information not shared. is wasted.

  16. #16
    Boolit Buddy rototerrier's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Posts
    456
    FART all the way. The built in strainers caps are easy to use and all you need are 2 buckets for rinsing the brass and separating pins. No additional separators necessary.

  17. #17
    Boolit Man


    Join Date
    Jun 2013
    Location
    Vermont, below the libs
    Posts
    92
    Going into my third winter with the FART, collect and sort the rest of the year. Nothing like it. I use the tried and true Lemishine, Armorall, Dawn mix and SS pins. Many thousands of various cases done. Money well spent. Dave

  18. #18
    Boolit Master
    Join Date
    Nov 2012
    Location
    New York, the empire State
    Posts
    1,595
    if your looking to buy a tumbler more than one any reloading tumbler will work , FART, LYMAN OR OTHER. If you want one that will last 20 years or so. . think lortone, Thumlers, diamond Pacific
    NRA Endowment Member
    International Ammunition Association
    New York, the Empire State Where Empires were Won and Lost

  19. #19
    Boolit Master Drew P's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2015
    Location
    NW USA
    Posts
    1,164
    There’s a thumbless copy on eBay. Ethics aside, it’s worked well for me for a few years now. Quality unit at half the price.

  20. #20
    Boolit Grand Master

    Join Date
    Oct 2009
    Location
    England,Ar
    Posts
    7,687
    My experience with tumblers is that I have had a Thumlers and a couple of the large Dillons for years. A few years ago I sprung for the larger "Big Dawg" model. One of my Dillons is old enough to be covered by their lifetime warranty and one is not. I've gotten good service from all of them. I use the Thumlers drum on the Big Dawg more than anything. I usually run the wet tumbler for 2 hours. It takes the vibrators about 12 hours using corncob and car polish to do the same job. Really grubby brass never seems to get clean in corncob but will with the wet tumbler.

Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  
Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check