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JWFilips

JWFilips

Well-Known Member
I have used the low cost Franklin Arsenal for near 20 years! I use Lizard Litter ( From the local pet store.....Crushed walnut hulls)
I have done up to 250 45 ACP at one time also 100-8 mm x57
Super machine. I run it 3 hours to 12 hours depending on my memory! ( which is not that dependable anymore)
BTW it is a vibratory machine
 
CZ93X62

CZ93X62

Official forum enigma
Thumler Tumbler Model B for the win. They come in two speeds--slow for rocks, faster for brass. My newer/faster unit is 30+ old, and has had the axles replaced once and the tub liner and lid liner changed twice. EVERY part on the things is easily replaceable, and at reasonable cost. It is about a dead heat between my two Model Bs and the RCBS Pro Melt as the best and most reliable reloading accessories I have ever owned and used.

I used untreated corn cob grit as media. The goal is CLEAN, not shiny in my sitch. Mostly, it's about saving dies from damage, rather than Concours d'Elegance with my ammunition.
 
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waco

waco

Springfield, Oregon
I have a Thumblers and a Lortone. The former gets used just for rocks and the ladder for brass.
 
358156 hp

358156 hp

At large, whereabouts unknown.
I have a Thumlers B that I bought used, several years ago for about $60.00. It was the slow version, a rock polisher. I too replaced the axles and have gone through 2 or 3 belts since buying it. A couple of years ago I updated the slow speed motor to the high-speed one. It still cleans and polishes to the same level, it just does it in half the time it used to. Mine gets used with stainless pins too. Any concerns over brass damage are unfounded, 99% of a steel pins surface area is smooth and polished. the remaining 1% are the ends which are sheared rather smoothly. These are the areas that primarily clean the primer pockets, and the inside of the case at the top and bottom.

I also have two old Lyman tumblers, both over 30 years old, and I did wear a hole in the original Turbo 600. I replaced it with a newer design Turbo 1200 bowl and it hasn't had an issue since. My original Turbo 1200 is starting to get a little weak now, I should hunt down a new motor for it since I fix and keep everything else. This one is at least 10 years older than the Turbo 600. In addition, there is a Thumlers vibratory tumbler I bought used a few years ago. It's really energetic, and if I had to buy a new vibratory tumbler tomorrow it would probably be another one just like it.

And finally I have a really elderly Vibratek, and a noisy bastahd it is, too. It's the large Vibratek, I was looking for a small one but couldn't resist the price. It came with the Thumlers vibratory, free. I bought it to try using a flat type vibratory tumbler for powder coating bullets. The Vibratek uses plastic bowl, and this one came with a lot of properly sized ice cream tubs. Maybe I'll get around to trying this yet. No guarantees...
 
Cherokee

Cherokee

Medina, Ohio
Still using the small Midway 1200 that I bought in the 80's, did get a larger second FA model a few years ago on sale so I could do two batches at a time and it is quieter. YMMV.
 
Winelover

Winelover

North Central Arkansas
I also own a (made in USA) Lyman Twin Turbo. Purchased when moly coating was all the rage. It is noisy. I run mine on the concrete floor of the basement on a thick rubberized doormat. Use a appliance timer and vacate the area. Helps, if the bowl hold down nut is tightly torqued, too.

Why I don't recommend vibrators for cleaning brass. They create dust. They don't behave well with some mixed brass combinations. Brass the size of 38/357 and 9 mm will find it's way into the mouths of cases the size of 44 Spl/44 Mag and 45 LC, thereby reducing the cleaning effectiveness of the smaller cases. Sometimes it's a PITA to even get them apart. The tapered/rimless 9 mm case will get stuck base first and is a bear to separate..............nothing to grab onto.
 
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Bisley

Active Member
Awright, gentlemen;

After 21 1/2 years Mrs. Bisley has given her permission to order the Frankford Arsenal. Thank you for all your input. This makes it one digital micrometer, one Lee FCD, a brass punch set (to get the bullets stuck in my Star dies), one additional Star die and, stem, and die removal tool, and now the case tumbler, for the year. I think I oughta quit while I'm ahead...
 
Missionary

Missionary

Well-Known Member
We still have and use our Thumler Tumbler B for small bathes of brass Have a noisy old Lyman vibrator for rifle brass and lots of hand gun brass. This Lyman if set on a wood floor or a thin carpet will shake the whole house.
Since using more PC slugs our walnut media lasts alot longer.
 
dannyd

dannyd

Well-Known Member
Bisley said:
Awright, gentlemen;

After 21 1/2 years Mrs. Bisley has given her permission to order the Frankford Arsenal. Thank you for all your input. This makes it one digital micrometer, one Lee FCD, a brass punch set (to get the bullets stuck in my Star dies), one additional Star die and, stem, and die removal tool, and now the case tumbler, for the year. I think I oughta quit while I'm ahead...
Click to expand...


I have been married 41 years. I like my wife but I love my reloading equipment. :)
 
fiver

fiver

Well-Known Member
I use a combination of wet and dry.
the shortest lasting dry tumbler was the lyman I bought with the sifter lid, I think it made 3-4 years.
the two hornady's have made it the longest, but the big one is dying.[the small one is running sluggish as well]
I swapped the bowl over on the big one to the shaker I bought at harbor freight.
I like that one, it even has it's own on/off switch on the front.

my next one will be from harbor freight again, or I will just use the wet tumbler to dry tumble, it seems to work pretty good for that.
 
358156 hp

358156 hp

At large, whereabouts unknown.
Winelover said:
View attachment 16619and that would be?
Click to expand...
Consistency for one. The case condition is exactly the same each time, as is capacity. I had a lot of 45 ACP cases that had been fired many times over with cast bullets & conventional lubes. To call them "coked" would be an understatement. Conventional tumbling, even with walnut media didn't clean them, case capacity from case to case was visibly reduced. Steel tumbling cleaned all that out, and the primer pockets didn't need to be cleaned by hand every time anymore. Since Rick beat case neck tension into my head a few years back it is easy to say that this is improved and enhanced as well. And it's the same for every case, every time.
 
Rockydoc

Rockydoc

Well-Known Member
waco said:
Never seen wear on brass Fromm SS pins...?
Benefits from wet tumbling with SS pins.
Much cleaner brass. Inside and out.
Faster.
No breathing lead filled media dust.
Cheaper. Buy the SS pins once and you’re done.
Down sides.
Brass needs to dry.
Just my two cents.
Click to expand...
I have a food dehydrator for deer jerky. It dries large amounts of brass in about an hour.
https://www.webstaurantstore.com/av...rator-with-removable-door-1000w/177CFD10.html
I have had mine for a while. The price has gone up some since I got mine.

I also use it to heat bullets in preparation to tumble lubing and PC shaking to coat. It is versatile, you may find other uses for it.
Rocky
 
Rockydoc

Rockydoc

Well-Known Member
Winelover said:
IME, dirty military brass will clean up nice and bright in my Model B. De-cap them and run for 1/2 hour in solution of water, Lemishine and a dash of Dawn. Put them out in the sun on concrete, while the next batch is in the tumbler.

SS pins are a solution to a problem that doesn't exist.
Click to expand...
Let me understand this....you run your Thumler's Tumbler without pins? What goes down into the inside of the case and the primer pocket to clean them out?

I have never seen damage from SS pins. I went off and forgot my tumbler was running one time and about 6 hours later I remembered. Talk about some shiny cases! But no damage. That is extreme, so I wouldn't worry about SS pins hurting your brass.

Rocky
 
fiver

fiver

Well-Known Member
i run regular walnut media in mine from time to time.
it does a good-nuff job, but nowhere like the wet tumbling does.
 
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