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Ares45 · June 1, 2005, 01:08 PM

I'm new to the game as well, been doing it about 3 months now. I don't know everything there is to know but here are a few thoughts...

I bought the Lyman auto-flow from Midway. I figured it was about the same price as a tumbler + media seperator combined and it would save a step so why not. WRONG ANSWER. It is convenient but it doesn't do a great job getting all the cleaning "medium" out of the cases. A seperator would probably do a better job. It also tends to dance around when it drains the medium since it gets lighter with nothing in it. It makes a mess since the drain spout starts to dance away from the collection bucket. You still have to stick your hands into the tumbler and swirl the brass around to get all the cob out. And talk about LOUD...she really starts to scream when you take the lid off to swirl the brass.

Some guys on the 1911forms suggested 1oz mineral spirits + 1oz nu finish car polish to really make the brass shine (if you're into that). I tried it and it works wonders. I add a 50:50 mix about every third tumbling session to keep the media soaked pretty good. It also cuts my tumbling time in half.

I also like a 50:50 mix of walnut/corncob medium. One cleans better the other polishes better. Can't remember which is which but if you use both the problem is solved. Some folks have talked about using regular ole cooking rice. Some of the guys that have tried it swear by it and say it's 5x better than cob or walnut. I haven't tried it cause I got 15lbs of medium in the garage. Rice is supposed to be pretty cheap too.

Oh yeah, something else everyone forgot to tell me...don't tumble different size brass at the same time. I made the mistake of tumbling .40 & .45 brass together and it turns out the .40 fits nicely inside a .45. I had to separate and re-tumble each. After the fact it seems like common sense but it might save you a few explicatives for being such a dumb@$$, like me.

Other than that, once you've seen one tumbler you've pretty much seen them all. Most of the larger ones will clean more brass than I could possibly shoot between tumbling sessions so unless you're shooting 10k a month a small to medium size will probably do. Good luck.

June 1, 2005, 01:08 PM	#9
Ares45 Senior Member Join Date: May 2, 2005 Posts: 211	tumbler suggestions... I'm new to the game as well, been doing it about 3 months now. I don't know everything there is to know but here are a few thoughts... I bought the Lyman auto-flow from Midway. I figured it was about the same price as a tumbler + media seperator combined and it would save a step so why not. WRONG ANSWER. It is convenient but it doesn't do a great job getting all the cleaning "medium" out of the cases. A seperator would probably do a better job. It also tends to dance around when it drains the medium since it gets lighter with nothing in it. It makes a mess since the drain spout starts to dance away from the collection bucket. You still have to stick your hands into the tumbler and swirl the brass around to get all the cob out. And talk about LOUD...she really starts to scream when you take the lid off to swirl the brass. Some guys on the 1911forms suggested 1oz mineral spirits + 1oz nu finish car polish to really make the brass shine (if you're into that). I tried it and it works wonders. I add a 50:50 mix about every third tumbling session to keep the media soaked pretty good. It also cuts my tumbling time in half. I also like a 50:50 mix of walnut/corncob medium. One cleans better the other polishes better. Can't remember which is which but if you use both the problem is solved. Some folks have talked about using regular ole cooking rice. Some of the guys that have tried it swear by it and say it's 5x better than cob or walnut. I haven't tried it cause I got 15lbs of medium in the garage. Rice is supposed to be pretty cheap too. Oh yeah, something else everyone forgot to tell me...don't tumble different size brass at the same time. I made the mistake of tumbling .40 & .45 brass together and it turns out the .40 fits nicely inside a .45. I had to separate and re-tumble each. After the fact it seems like common sense but it might save you a few explicatives for being such a dumb@$$, like me. Other than that, once you've seen one tumbler you've pretty much seen them all. Most of the larger ones will clean more brass than I could possibly shoot between tumbling sessions so unless you're shooting 10k a month a small to medium size will probably do. Good luck.