With the upcoming need to clean my brass, I've decided to get a "tumbler" and need some advice since I've never used one.

Any brands you guys would recommend to buy (or to stay away from)? RCBS, Dillon, Lyman, Hornady Frankford etc. ?

Corncob media vs. Walnut. What's the differance?

Are some medias dry and other wet? Or are all wet?

Is there any procedure that works better than others?

Is a "rotary brass sifter" needed after "tumbling", or is it just a gimmick?

It'll be for cleaning my 375H&H, 30-06 and .308 cases for the most part.

Any advice is appreciated!

My Lyman Turbo has been quite servicable and trouble free for 5 years now...

Walnut is harsher, cleans faster, and will get everything you touch red...spill it into carpet and the stain will NOT come out, treated (green) corncob polishes slower, but to higher luster, and does not seem to leave a residue. Both are 'dry' media. I've never tried a wet media...

Sifters are just another tool...useful for lightening your wallet unless you do a LOT of tumbling...saves maybe 2-5 minutes per load if that is important to you. You can make a cone from 1/4" mesh hardware cloth and do the same thing.

hth...

A few months ago I bought a complete Frankford Arsenal tumbling kit from Midway. It really cleans well and is quiet compared to some. I use corn cob media and it works good. CDH is right about the sifter. It came with the kit but I wouldn't get it if ordering a tumbler again. I did use the sifter and it worked real good. but picking up each case and shaking out the media, checking and removing any in the primer hole and looking inside doesn't take much time. I plan to use two diferent loads of media one for rough cleaning and the other for polishing although I am only using one load for both now. I had quit reloading for some time and sold everything. This Frankford Arsenal tumbler works a lot better than the old one I had a few years ago. It takes a lot less time to clean and polish than did the old turbo tumbler I used in the past.

Walnut media is for cleaning, corn cob is for polishing a shine. I've bought quite a few batches of walnut media from different sources and have never had any of the 'red ' stain problem stated by CDH.

Mine is a Midway, now called Frankford Arsenal. Has worked fine for many years including molycoating many thousands of varmint bullets. I happen to like the rotary sifter, too. A couple of cranks and the media sifts down into the bucket. I bought a quick fit knob on ebay to replace the bowl lid wingnut, however. Clear lids are useful, also.

Used to tumble all my brass. Haven't turned it on in months because of this

http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.exe/showproduct?saleitemid=515804

Lee Zip Trim for which you buy these accessories

http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.exe/showproduct?saleitemid=136199
http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.exe/showproduct?saleitemid=271467

$24.57 later you can do a great job at trimming all to the same length with a lot less effort. Buy some 00 steel wool and clean them in 1/10th the time and don't have to worry about running out of walnut medium.

My best tool!!!

quote:

Originally posted by woods:
Used to tumble all my brass. Haven't turned it on in months because of this

http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.exe/showproduct?saleitemid=515804

Lee Zip Trim for which you buy these accessories

http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.exe/showproduct?saleitemid=136199
http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.exe/showproduct?saleitemid=271467

$24.57 later you can do a great job at trimming all to the same length with a lot less effort. Buy some 00 steel wool and clean them in 1/10th the time and don't have to worry about running out of walnut medium.

My best tool!!!

I have used a Lee hand trimmer that I mounted in a small drill press. It works well and only cost a couple bucks. This looks better.

I was waiting to hear if anybody had used a Zip-trim yet.

And Dave is right:

quote:

Walnut media is for cleaning, corn cob is for polishing a shine. I've bought quite a few batches of walnut media from different sources and have never had any of the 'red' stain problem stated by CDH.

Mine is a Midway, now called Frankford Arsenal. Has worked fine for many years including molycoating many thousands of varmint bullets. I happen to like the rotary sifter, too. A couple of cranks and the media sifts down into the bucket. I bought a quick fit knob on ebay to replace the bowl lid wingnut, however. Clear lids are useful, also.

I have two of their tumblers. They work well for the money.

Oh, I forgot, Midway sells a liquid brass polish for about $6 that you can add to the media to really spiff them up and keep your media working longer.

I use the Frankford as well. It is quiet and cleans good.I also use corncob media and if the cases are really dirty I leave them in overnight. Its hard to beat.

I bought a midway moly kit that included the tumbler about 5 years ago. Until then I didn't have a tumbler. I don't know why it took so long to get one, or how I got along without it before! I use corn cob with flitz tumbler polish, it'l knock your eyes out, even with dirty old tarnished brass!

Why would someone buy that zip trim, when a 1/4 inch drill motor can be bought for the same price???!¿ Also for polishing the WHOLE case you still need to polish the head end that's being held in the spinner shell holder.

quote:

Originally posted by grizz:
I bought a midway moly kit that included the tumbler about 5 years ago. Until then I didn't have a tumbler. I don't know why it took so long to get one, or how I got along without it before! I use corn cob with flitz tumbler polish, it'l knock your eyes out, even with dirty old tarnished brass!

Why would someone buy that zip trim, when a 1/4 inch drill motor can be bought for the same price???!¿ Also for polishing the WHOLE case you still need to polish the head end that's being held in the spinner shell holder.

And when you tumble them it also cleans the primer pocket as-well-as the inside of the case, if that matters.

I would just use the zip trim to trim cases.

quote:

Originally posted by grizz:

Why would someone buy that zip trim, when a 1/4 inch drill motor can be bought for the same price???!¿ Also for polishing the WHOLE case you still need to polish the head end that's being held in the spinner shell holder.

I used an electric drill before I got the Zip Trim and it is much easier to use the Zip Trim. Times 10!!

Besides the Zip Trim is $17.00 and will replace your trimmer and your tumbler. Tumbler about $45.00, walnut media $12.00, trimmer $50.00. $107.00!!!

You're right about the case heads but a little cleaner on a rag is not a big deal.

I like it and have about 5 assorted drills, a tumbler and walnut media that I no longer use, a Lyman Trimmer that I no longer use, and would buy the Zip Trim again in the time it takes a 22-250 bullet to go about 3600 feet.

quote:

Originally posted by woods:

quote:

Originally posted by grizz:

Why would someone buy that zip trim, when a 1/4 inch drill motor can be bought for the same price???!¿ Also for polishing the WHOLE case you still need to polish the head end that's being held in the spinner shell holder.

I used an electric drill before I got the Zip Trim and it is much easier to use the Zip Trim. Times 10!!

Besides the Zip Trim is $17.00 and will replace your trimmer and your tumbler. Tumbler about $45.00, walnut media $12.00, trimmer $50.00. $107.00!!!

You're right about the case heads but a ittle cleaner on a rag is not a big deal. More time spent to wipe each case!

I like it and have about 5 assorted drills, a tumbler and walnut media that I no longer use, a Lyman Trimmer that I no longer use, and would buy the Zip Trim again in the time it takes a 22-250 bullet to go about 3600 feet.

I should have also said that I have a pilot/case guage/spinner shell holder for each caliber I load for made by Lee. I just can't see how it could be faster to use the zip trim. To each his own, or whatever flips your primer tray.

I have two Thumblers viberators, I had a Midway separator, was a POS sold it at a gunshow and bought the small Dillon (great tool).
Trimmers? I use the Lee system with the cutter held in my 1/2 in. Milwaukee drill motor, Yesterday I had a hundred 223 cases to trim.Including set up time, I trimmed deburred
and chamferd the necks, cleaned the primer pockets snd deburred the flasholes with my RCBS trim mate with the flashole deburing tool instsalled in the fifth station. All total took me one hour. turning the cutter saves stopping the motor to change every case. I hold the caseholder with a stubby screwdriver handle.
Lyle

I have used a midway/frankford arsenal tumbler for about 4 years now. Recently the motor went south and the bowl has a small hole in it that makes the media leak a little, causing a lot of dust on the counter around the tumbler with time.

I called Midway and they gave me an RMA number to send it in and they would repair and replace it at no charge to me. Can't beat that.

However, I have been debating on getting a second tumbler for a while and not wanting to be down and without one while the Midway is getting fixed, I decided to order another one.

Comparing prices at a few sources, I checked out Cabelas also. They had a nice model with there name on it, and the price was $44.50 so I decided to try one, since I was ordering some bullets from them also.

Compared to the Midway, I love the Cabelas tumbler. It has wider mouth and is easier to dump the media and brass into the sifter after cleaning. It is also much quieter. I have a radio on when I am handloading and you had to turn it way up when the Midway tumbler was running. You don't have to turn the radio up much at all when the Cabela's tumbler is running.
I also like the clear top on the Cabelas tumbler better than the non tranparent top on the Midway tumbler.

As far as media, I prefer Walnut over Corn any day. I was told originally that Corn was the best, and used it for two years. However it was not getting dirty cases that clean, even left on all night. The first time I used Walnut media on the same cases, I quit using corn media. I still have about 15 lbs of new corn media just sitting around the garage.

If I want the brass to be clean and bright, I just leave it in the tumbler all night. I start it up before I go to bed and turn it off when I get up.

For brass that is dirty around the necks, I started using some brasso that I have had left over from when I was in the army. I got out in 1982, lol.

Take that one a cloth cleaning patch and I apply it to the neck and the body of the case, and then just sit them in a reloading block. When I am done with the last one, I use an orange shop rag to clean the first ones off. That polishes the brass a lot!

It also leaves a slight film or wax coating on the brass. Not enough to interfere with function in your fire arm. However, then next time I run that brass thru the tumbler, the brasso was coating is just polished up some more.

With the brasso on the neck of the cases, also, when they are black or sooty after shooting, a twist with an shop rag removes a boatload of that soot instantly.

Since Brasso was used to polish our brass buttons and insignas in the army, no reason it would not work on Brass rifle cases. I can't take credit for that obvious observation. It was my wife who asked me, " why don't you just use some of that brass polish on that stuff if your green thing ( tumbler) isn't cleaning them up good enough".

Ahhh, out of the mouths of babes.....

Cheers and good shooting
seafire

Corn media alone is a piss poor cleaner. it will, given enough time, polish brass cases IF they're not badly tarnished. As I and others stated, the addition of an abrasive agent like flitz, or midway liguid, will bring even badly tarnished cases to a high shine.

CDH is talking about the walnut media you can buy that is pre-charged with red jewlers rouge. I used this once in a rotary tumbler, it caked that red crap on the cases so bad I had to wipe each one off with a rag. Not the reason I got the tumbler, to have to follow up after they were supposed to be clean. Seafire, dig out that corn media and get some flitz and try it again.

You have to make sure the polish you use does not contain ammonia. Ammonia weakens brass. Grizz is right, corn alone TAKES FOREVER. Walnut works better for cleaning by itself than corn, but if the cases are crusty use some polish.

i been useing a thumblers tumbler for several yrs now....i use corn cob mediea it seems to work real well... the best way i have found to dig the tumbled cases out when they're clean is a small cat box cleaning tool...... i just dig em out let em sit in the scoop and rest it on the top of the bowl till they are shaken out then put the cases over the center treaded post to get all the media out of the inside... i very seldom deprime before i tumble em so the punch takes out the media in the flash hole......



sometimes you are the bug........sometimes you are the windshield...........

I use walnut and a little goop in my RCBS viberator cleaner..It works for me...I don't like corncob media at all, never have...with the goop the walnut will clean and shine them like new brass....

I've used a large Dillon tumbler for many many years with the green treated walnut. I have been hearing so much success stories with porcelain that I finally ordered the set up.
I'll report back when I try it out.

I have a 17 year old Lyman [mid size] vibrator that put walnut media from the pet shop in. It works quite well for me.
I change the dirty media once a year.