RCBS Sidewinder highs and lows in a week

I have had a Rcbs sidewinder for years it was made in 1987. It was was showing its age, so I went ahead and decided to give it a restore. I dismantled it cleaned off any rust, polished and lubed the rods, made sure the knurls were good, painted it, put on new rubber feet and replaced the electrical cord. The machine ran like new.
Attachment 286413
I was clean several batches of brass and it worked like a champ. I load it up set the timer and left the garage. Came back a few hours later and found the drum and jumped off the machine and fell only about 6" and cracked like Humpty Dumpty. All the king's horses and all the king's men. Couldn't put Humpty together again.
Attachment 286414
I contacted Rcbs and they told me in the nicest way no more drums.

Maybe some type of epoxy? Or design your own with PVC pipe?

Is it too big to 3D print?

Sent from my SM-A515U using Tapatalk

Not all that familiar with the tumbler...but could you take the piece that looks like a pully (it looks like it is the drive wheel) and mount it to something else? Maybe a piece of 4" PVC sewer pipe?

Duct tape! I was also thinking the pvc pipe replacement.

A quick look at an inflation calculator shows that today's SideWinder is, in real terms, virtually the same cost as it was in the mid 90s.

No one asked for my opinion about wet tumbling but that seems quite costly (and time consuming) to accomplish something that's balisticaly meaningless.

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Originally Posted by 1hole

No one asked for my opinion about wet tumbling but that seems quite costly (and time consuming) to accomplish something that's balisticaly meaningless.

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Like a lot of other things in this hobby...It's just fun for some and anal compulsive for others.

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Originally Posted by Sasquatch-1

Like a lot of other things in this hobby...It's just fun for some and anal compulsive for others.

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Yes, I realise and accept that, and respect the thought; sometimes I like to play with meaningless loading bench trivia too. BUT, a lot of the people who strive for surgically clean (and/or brilliantly shiny) cases are convinced they're actually doing something constructive for their ammo and that's not true.

I will say this: clean, polished brass goes through reloading dies vastly nicer than dirty brass.

Steve

So RCBS has no more drums? -- or are they unwilling to warranty one to you? Will they sell you one?

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Originally Posted by 1hole

Yes, I realise and accept that, and respect the thought; sometimes I like to play with meaningless loading bench trivia too. BUT, a lot of the people who strive for surgically clean (and/or brilliantly shiny) cases are convinced they're actually doing something constructive for their ammo and that's not true.

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I'm in this camp as well, I rarely tumble brass. When it gets dirty, sloshing it in dishwater with a little white vinegar does it, rinse, dry, load.

Surely RCBS can provide you a replacement part for that.

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Originally Posted by MrWolf

Duct tape! I was also thinking the pvc pipe replacement.

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Yeah ... Duct Tape and Gorilla Glue ... That fix anything !
Gary

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Originally Posted by 1hole

Yes, I realise and accept that, and respect the thought; sometimes I like to play with meaningless loading bench trivia too. BUT, a lot of the people who strive for surgically clean (and/or brilliantly shiny) cases are convinced they're actually doing something constructive for their ammo and that's not true.

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So let me ask ... do you wash your car ? Or would that not be doing something constructive for the car ???

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Originally Posted by maillemaker

I will say this: clean, polished brass goes through reloading dies vastly nicer than dirty brass.

Steve

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Until it is so clean you have to dry tumble it so that the neck expander doesn’t stick.

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Originally Posted by gwpercle

So let me ask ... do you wash your car ? Or would that not be doing something constructive for the car ???

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Well yes, that's a surprise question but I do "wash" my autos. However, I don't even try to get them surgically clean, especially under the hood, frame, fuel tank, springs, trunk, etc. Do you?

This thread is about reloading, not dirty cars. A much better question is, have you or do you know anyone who has documented any better accuracy and/or standard velocity deviation that can honestly be attributed to super clean and shiney cases? If so, "feelings" aside, please tell us what was improved and by how much?

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Originally Posted by The Dar

So RCBS has no more drums? -- or are they unwilling to warranty one to you? Will they sell you one?

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No Longer have any stock, part is no longer made.

Clean brass saves my dies, my press, my brass feeder and most importantly my hands. Last thing I want is grimy fingers while loading mags all day at the range. Dirty brass results in a nasty mess on many fronts. It's definitely not a waste of my time and I do it in large quantities.

I agree with the car washing comments.

The guys that don't wash their cars usually have fast food and other crap piled up inside as well. Some folks are just slobs, plain and simple. And this behavior typically manifests itself in other aspects of their lives. But, in the end we are all just worm food so none of it really matters.

Bobbers,
Sorry to hear about your faithful tumbler's problem.
I measured the drum of my Lortone #12 (www.lortone.com) & it is 7.5" dia. X 8.25 Length. If that size would work the Lortone will last a lifetime (not plastic: but rubber). They have other sizes & if you find one that will work, you can drop it all you want & it'll survive.

Good luck
Henry

Everyone cleans cases, not even the dumbest of us thinks mud is a case lube. Cases that are too dirty to handle can hardly be reloaded and it's silly to suggest anyone might do otherwise.

We shooters have cleaned and reloaded brass cases since the 1800s. None of us owned a tumbler before about the mid 1970s; then noobs suddenly found and fell in love with case glitter; many of today's noobs still major on such trivials. Do what you want to your cases but everyone should know that shine still doesn't improve accuracy.

Contrary to the ideas of many, mild external brass tarnish isn't "dirt" and such tarnish won't contaminate anyone's fingers or harm dies. The very thin internal firing residue is also not "dirt" and the ammo doesn't even know it's there.

I'm on the side of being rational about everything, including cleaning brass cases and cars. Libs don't seem to grasp it but there really is a reasonable middle ground in almost everything, like a car can be clean enough inside and out without running a pressure washer through the interior and a case can be clean without being polished inside and out.

If anyone honestly disagrees with the idea of a rational middle ground about what actually constitutes clean cases I'm waiting to hear how they justify saying shiney cases perform better than simply "cleaning" it by hand. (I've asked that question a lot of times, so far all I hear is crickets.)

That's all for now, I gotta go shovel the Burger King wrappers outta my truck ... ;)

I have a couple drums I made from 1 gal plastic jars. I glued a couple pieces of wood molding to the ID for agitators. I'm not familiar with the RCBS tumbler, but it shouldn't be too much trouble attaching the drive pulley...

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Originally Posted by maillemaker

I will say this: clean, polished brass goes through reloading dies vastly nicer than dirty brass.

Steve

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Perhaps, but I reloaded 12 years before I got a tumbler (actually a Lyman wobbler). None of the handgun brass I sized was "difficult" and of course I lubed bottle necked cases. No scratched brass, no damaged dies or chambers. IIRC, I got a good tax return and wanted to buy something "reloading". I just wiped the cases with a solvent dampened rag as I inspected it and I didn't care what the guy next to me at the range thought about my "brown" handloads...

In about 1970 I was at the local police range and noticed a couple of men shooting a lot. Both were shooting 1911s and they policed their brass after a few magazines shot. I got close and saw their retrieved targets and all had one hole about 2"-2 1/2" (50') for a few magazines shot. One shooter struck up a conversation and as we were talking I noticed a 50 cal ammo can about half full of brown 45 ACP ammo. The shooter explained they reloaded their ammo. This was "pre polished handloads" and high gloss ammo was not required. Their ammo was made for shooting, not for looks...

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Originally Posted by mdi

I have a couple drums I made from 1 gal plastic jars. I glued a couple pieces of wood molding to the ID for agitators. I'm not familiar with the RCBS tumbler, but it shouldn't be too much trouble attaching the drive pulley...



Perhaps, but I reloaded 12 years before I got a tumbler (actually a Lyman wobbler). None of the handgun brass I sized was "difficult" and of course I lubed bottle necked cases. No scratched brass, no damaged dies or chambers. IIRC, I got a good tax return and wanted to buy something "reloading". I just wiped the cases with a solvent dampened rag as I inspected it and I didn't care what the guy next to me at the range thought about my "brown" handloads...

In about 1970 I was at the local police range and noticed a couple of men shooting a lot. Both were shooting 1911s and they policed their brass after a few magazines shot. I got close and saw their retrieved targets and all had one hole about 2"-2 1/2" (50') for a few magazines shot. One shooter struck up a conversation and as we were talking I noticed a 50 cal ammo can about half full of brown 45 ACP ammo. The shooter explained they reloaded their ammo. This was "pre polished handloads" and high gloss ammo was not required. Their ammo was made for shooting, not for looks...

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Yeah, but you can't tell that to the prissy Felix Unger types. They don't want to mess up their manicure or take time away from eyebrow waxing.

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Originally Posted by 1hole

A quick look at an inflation calculator shows that today's SideWinder is, in real terms, virtually the same cost as it was in the mid 90s.

No one asked for my opinion about wet tumbling but that seems quite costly (and time consuming) to accomplish something that's balisticaly meaningless.

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I am with you on this. Wet cleaning means having water, and a place to dump it. Then you have to dry the cases and with my sloppiness there will water splashed around making a mess.

Dry cleaning is bad enough but the best of two crappy ways.

Here’s what I don’t get, why do any of you give a hoot what other people do to there brass. In other words just MYOB. If you aren’t contributing anything constructive to a thread then keep it to yourself. This whole country would be so much better off if people just took care of their own business. The OP wasn’t looking for any opinions on brass cleaning, merely a possible solution to a problem with a piece of equipment. Sheesh.

Well, case cleaning is probably the most talked about (in forums), but the least important part of reloading. Many, many posts about whose "additive formula" or method is best and some include 4 or 5 items. New reloaders are lead to believe pristine brass is essential for reloading as can be seen by new reloaders asking about start up equipment and nearly always told a tumbler, often wet tumbler, is needed.

Most of my replies are aimed at a new reloader mainly because experienced reloaders know the basics like case cleaning.

I shoot alone most of the time and no one sees my handloads and personally I don't care what one may think of the appearance of them. If another shooter is near, I don't go check out his guns, tools, or ammo, and most (all) of the time I'll move farther away.

I reply to tumbling threads as if I were speaking to a brand new reloader and mainly will tell how I do something and/or my experience and have never replied "you should" as use my method. If all members of a forum just MYOB, there would be little need for forums...

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Originally Posted by mdi

Well, case cleaning is probably the most talked about (in forums), but the least important part of reloading. Many, many posts about whose "additive formula" or method is best and some include 4 or 5 items. New reloaders are lead to believe pristine brass is essential for reloading as can be seen by new reloaders asking about start up equipment and nearly always told a tumbler, often wet tumbler, is needed.

Most of my replies are aimed at a new reloader mainly because experienced reloaders know the basics like case cleaning.

I shoot alone most of the time and no one sees my handloads and personally I don't care what one may think of the appearance of them. If another shooter is near, I don't go check out his guns, tools, or ammo, and most (all) of the time I'll move farther away.

I reply to tumbling threads as if I were speaking to a brand new reloader and mainly will tell how I do something and/or my experience and have never replied "you should" as use my method. If all members of a forum just MYOB, there would be little need for forums...

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I totally get what your saying, and agree with the premise. But this thread was not about that and if someone was looking for this particular subject a quick search would more than meet their needs. I just get tired of threads constantly being derailed and then devolving into another dead horse that doesn’t need beating. My apologies if my frustration with some of this silly stuff has derailed this thread even further.

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Originally Posted by jetinteriorguy

But this thread was not about that and if someone was looking for this particular subject a quick search would more than meet their needs.

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MYOB? Goodness, what do you think this tread was/is about?

The OP asked about nothing. He simply posted what happened to his machine and reports that RCBS says there are no replacements. No matter how you read it, that's not much of a focused topic.

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I just get tired of threads constantly being derailed and then devolving into another dead horse that doesn’t need beating.

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Sorry you're so frustrated by another meandering discussion about things you have no interest in. That happens to many of us but my solution is to not read threads I don't care about; that's easy and it works! :)

Note that the OP didn't ask where or how a new SideWinder bowl might be found or made, he simply described his problem. In response, we've expressed some hopeful options and a few personal opinions about the real value of wet case tumbling itself; was that wrong?

I really don't see why you have taken offense at this thread or could reasonably find anything we've said that would be interpreted as trying to make anyone else do a thing they don't want to do. Or am I missing something?

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My apologies if my frustration with some of this silly stuff has derailed this thread even further.

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You're okay but relax, it's hard to derail something that never had a goal in the first place.

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Originally Posted by 1hole

MYOB? Goodness, what do you think this tread was/is about?

The OP asked about nothing. He simply posted what happened to his machine and reports that RCBS says there are no replacements. No matter how you read it, that's not much of a focused topic.



Sorry you're so frustrated by another meandering discussion about things you have no interest in. That happens to many of us but my solution is to not read threads I don't care about; that's easy and it works! :)

Note that the OP didn't ask where or how a new SideWinder bowl might be found or made, he simply described his problem. In response, we've expressed some hopeful options and a few personal opinions about the real value of wet case tumbling itself; was that wrong?

I really don't see why you have taken offense at this thread or could reasonably find anything we've said that would be interpreted as trying to make anyone else do a thing they don't want to do. Or am I missing something?



You're okay but relax, it's hard to derail something that never had a goal in the first place.

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Yeah, it’s cool. Just in a weird mood. Normally when I get involved like this I’ll type a response, reread it and then just delete it. For some reason I posted it and pretty much instantly realized it’s one of those I should have erased. I normally don’t take stuff so personally or get so snippy about things. If you check my posts you’ll see what I mean. It just seems like these days all people do on the forums anymore is look for reasons to derail threads and argue about dumb stuff that helps no one, and it gets tiring. So my apologies.

I Wet Tumble my Brass with SS Pins mostly because I like to. I wet tumble Range Pick up brass because (a it needs cleaning) (b it makes it easier to see Case Flaws).

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Originally Posted by 2A-Jay

(b it makes it easier to see Case Flaws).

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Caution: Range pick-ups can be sneaky risky. IF the case flaw is the deadly big one, i.e. a coming head separation, tumbling of any kind will remove the shiny stretch ring near the head that is our only warning.

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Originally Posted by jetinteriorguy

I totally get what your saying, and agree with the premise. But this thread was not about that and if someone was looking for this particular subject a quick search would more than meet their needs. I just get tired of threads constantly being derailed and then devolving into another dead horse that doesn’t need beating. My apologies if my frustration with some of this silly stuff has derailed this thread even further.

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Thread drift is inevitable, a fact of life. I cruise several different forums of different themes and all experience thread drift. Very few threads stick to the OP question/statement passed 4 or 5 replies...

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Originally Posted by Bobbers

I have had a Rcbs sidewinder for years it was made in 1987. It was was showing its age, so I went ahead and decided to give it a restore. I dismantled it cleaned off any rust, polished and lubed the rods, made sure the knurls were good, painted it, put on new rubber feet and replaced the electrical cord. The machine ran like new.
Attachment 286413
I was clean several batches of brass and it worked like a champ. I load it up set the timer and left the garage. Came back a few hours later and found the drum and jumped off the machine and fell only about 6" and cracked like Humpty Dumpty. All the king's horses and all the king's men. Couldn't put Humpty together again.
Attachment 286414
I contacted Rcbs and they told me in the nicest way no more drums.

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Did you ever find a fix?

i have a rcbs sidewwinder that the bucket is shot.i cant find one either so now i dont know what to do with it.

How about a suitable replacement container, then fashion a disc made out of plywood (fastened to the replacement drum) to replace the wheel and if need be a strip of thin rubber glued(stapled) to the rim?

Three44s

I have been doing a few experiments with plywood from wire rolls. I have not come up with a good rig yet. Next would be try to use the original end attached to a new container.