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Old September 23, 2012, 10:22 PM   #26
FloridaVeteran
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There might be others, but Lyman makes a "Turbo Twin" tumbler that contains two bowls, the smaller being half the size of the larger. That should suit most needs. Might be able to find one used online or at a show.

Sure wish Redding still sold their heavy-as-lead red tumbler. But the Lyman works fine for me - I use quarter-round as a fence to keep it from walking. Nice to have the smaller bin available.
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Old September 24, 2012, 12:51 AM   #27
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As for a great place to get corncob the CORRECT grit size;;

http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/ECO...VR5?Pid=search

The 20/40 grit is too small to clog/catch in primer flash holes. 40 pounds of that Grainger cob will last you a lifetime, IF you're around 25 years old. If you're much older, better give some away, or they'll be pouring it in your face when they bury you. Last I heard, it was shipped freight free. The small grit polishes faster as well.

Some pet store corn cob is WAY too big. It'll work fine for cases as small as 9mm, but using it for .223 will result in new swear words being invented while digging that cob out of each and every .223 case neck! Ask me how I know!
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Old September 24, 2012, 09:43 AM   #28
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Not to sure if Grainger shipps freight free, but

http://www.drillspot.com/products/52...bs_blast_media

Drillspot does for sure, and I believe "not completly sure" they are a division of Grainger.
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Old September 24, 2012, 09:47 AM   #29
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One of the best tumblers out there for the price IMO is the Berry tumbler, All American made except for the motor, which no manufacturer here makes. And if you buy it from Cabelas it good for life, as they have a customer satisfaction guarantee.

Another plus is its very quite.
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Old September 24, 2012, 12:20 PM   #30
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When I started reloading in the 60's cleaning brass was almost unheard of. It was kind of the hallmark of a reloader that his brass was not shiney new.
Besides, I had the NEW WONDER DIES, the Lyman All-american Carbide dies with the gold top on the sizer die!!! They, and everyone else who sold those new dies, advertised that you didn't even have to wipe off the cases anymore because the carbide ring would burnish them clean. In fact, a couple of years ago the instructions to the RCBS carbide dies still said the same thing.
I do use a tumbler and get them real shiney now, but I don't think there is any way you could ever wear out a carbide die by running dirty cases through it, nor imbed something in the carbide and scratch a case.
Just my opinion, and everyone gets to do what they want to.
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Old September 24, 2012, 03:31 PM   #31
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+2 on Sevens info. I have been tumbling for the last 20 years and the first time I did a batch, when I reloaded them I was pleased with the reduction in force to run the SDB press. I also like shiny bullits and not washing hands as often. I also tumble with primers in unless I have some processed cases from a seller that de-primed them. Never had an issue with media in primer sockets as I have tested cases run thru the sizing and decapping die to see what was left and no media was left in the primer holes. Tested several. YMMV.
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Old September 24, 2012, 04:08 PM   #32
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Loading for 25 years or so...Have never found a need for a tumbler, so I have never acquired one...

When/if I find a need, I will indeed buy one...
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Old September 24, 2012, 04:45 PM   #33
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Quote:
One of the best tumblers out there for the price IMO is the Berry tumbler, All American made except for the motor, which no manufacturer here makes. And if you buy it from Cabelas it good for life, as they have a customer satisfaction guarantee.

Another plus is its very quite.
Very quiet and very light. I have had my Cabelas tumbler for five years now and it works like the day I bought it. I especially like the large capacity.
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Old September 24, 2012, 04:58 PM   #34
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Went years without a tumbler.

I wish I had discovered the tumbler much sooner in my reloading career. Full-length sizing of .30-06s was always a pain until I actually found a tumbler discarded in garbage. Tumbled a batch of '06 brass, lubed them up and ran it into the die. So, so much easier to re-size. Now, all my brass gets, deprimed, washed and tumbled.
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Old September 24, 2012, 05:43 PM   #35
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I sell brass part time.so no tumbler/no sales. Tumbler is a life saver. Tumble/deprime/tumble again. Brass is clean and ready to go. I take pride in what i sell and what i reload.

Keep looking at ultra sonic,but nahhhh what for
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Old September 24, 2012, 06:31 PM   #36
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Why case cleaning is NOT a significant step in any loading manual

Shiny brass does not make a more accurate round. It does seem to give some more confidence and they "say" that is makes sizing easier.
I consider that 30 minutes in 20/40 corn is more than enough cleaning for any case, unless you are digging them up or getting them out of the mud.
I have seen some cases from benchrest shooters that have been fired so many times with light loads that they can actually scrape out chunks of powder ash. However, they didn't complain about the accuracy.
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Old September 24, 2012, 06:48 PM   #37
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Much of my brass is picked up at the range so its always full of sand and dirt and such. I know its not always encouraged to use range brass but i do for mild loads. A tumbler was a great investment to me.
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Old September 24, 2012, 07:12 PM   #38
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Come on now, just because I point out those who disagree are wrong doesn't make it 'fireworks'!

1) when you decap BEFORE you tumble in a vibratory cleaner, you don't get the benefit of clean primer pockets - I can live with the fact my pockets aren't spotless but when I decap/tumble doesn't change anything.

2) you end up with corn media sticking in your primer pockets and flash holes. Not in every piece of brass, but in some -- and a piece of media stuck in either of these places can & often does displace or snap a decapping pin later when you attempt to resize. I find running a sizer with decap pin does a fine job of punching out the occasional kernel of cob and have never broken a pin doing so.

3) decapping before tumbling in a universal decapper adds a whole 'nother step to the process, and that's a LOT of work as the number of cases increase. That's one more hand motion in to a shell holder, ram up & down, and case out of a shell holder. For no benefit? I guess "benefit" is in the eye of the beholder. Time lost messing with my Ultrasonic and drying cases eats up MUCH more time than the simple extra decap step.

4) disagreeing with anything wncchester posts is always good for some thread fireworks. Even if you try to let him know it's just friendly ribbing! You gotta realise a lot of my responses are with grinning, never snarling!
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Old September 24, 2012, 08:01 PM   #39
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I use Turtle Wax liquid in my corn cob media from Drillspot in my Cabelas vibratory cleaner. Fast,efficient and economical.
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Old September 29, 2012, 08:49 PM   #40
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You cant wrong with a SS wet tumbler. I actually made mine out of a ac motor a couple of pulleys to step down the speed and 4" piping (good for.308 and shorter cases. Any larger you need to go 6" piping and pay ALOT more...), Industrial bearings with the shafts. I think I spent about 90$ altogether. You may be able to get cheap bearings and wooden dowls to work... dunno.

Mine works like a champ. The reason I went from standard tumbling with grain type media to SS wet was that the primer pockets were not getting cleaned well enough and I had to do that by hand which was very time consuming, and annoying.

But the SS wet method does clean the primer pockets and takes less time to clean.
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Old September 29, 2012, 08:59 PM   #41
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In 50 plus years of reloading I have yet to worry about a slight amount of carbon in the primer pockets. Not a big deal.

But for those it bothers, wet tumbling is the way to go.
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Old September 29, 2012, 11:07 PM   #42
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It does bother me. Im OCD to the bone sometimes.
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Old September 30, 2012, 12:06 AM   #43
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Unless you're loading for high dollar compition there's no advantage to having clean primer pockets.

Now that the weather has cooled off and I feel like going to the range again, I really can't see myself cleaning a few thousand primer pockets that I shot last week, and I'm retired with the time to do it. Just ain't gonna happen.

Mr. Kimber nor Mr. Carbine, nor Mr Winny 94 will never know the difference.

Folks get to wrapped up in things that mean little. At least thats my opinion, which I realize means little as I've learned as I got older.

For your viewing pleasure

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=679097
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Old September 30, 2012, 06:30 AM   #44
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Well, I now have some concrete models to offer for your approval!!

Please bear in mind that, at present, my likely loads for tumbling, would be something like 100-150 rounds of .44mag, or .38Spl. I may also increase my stock of .308 cases which I am accumulating at the moment, but again I would not expect to ever have more than about 100 of those knocking about at any one time: I just won't be shooting them that much!!

Models I have found that are easy to order are that same Berry's "MFG" (?)tumbler and a TopShot CTI1500 model. These are the only two I've found sold locally and they are well priced as they wouldn't require int'nal shipping.

Otherwise, sourcing from my UK reloading supplier, I'd need to consider the Lyman range of which for price or capacity, I'd choose the Turbo 600, Pro 1200 or the Turbo Twin Pack. Then there is the budget entry with the Frankford Arsenal Quick-n-EZ tumbler.

Any of these would work out a bit more expensive than the TopShot and Berry's because of the shipping from the UK. In some cases quite a bit more (up to an extra €50) but if the volumes of brass or the quality of the brand is worth it, then fine, I'll accept that increase.

So which would you opt for with my small cleaning volumes?
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Old September 30, 2012, 07:44 AM   #45
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One point that does not seem to have been mentioned so far:

Brass that has been cleaned inside and out (as with stainless steel pins in a wet tumbler) has higher retention force on the bullet. That can be useful for auto-loader cartridges, where that force is needed for preventing set-back, but is sometimes marginal.

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Old September 30, 2012, 08:33 AM   #46
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I pick a lot of brass up at the ranges I go to, so it often needs to be cleaned up a bit.

Clean brass has got to prolong the life of your dies, and certainly makes the brass easier to inspect for defects. Why not do it? It certainly isn't very labor-intensive.
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Old September 30, 2012, 09:50 AM   #47
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Clean brass has got to prolong the life of your dies, and certainly makes the brass easier to inspect for defects. Why not do it? It certainly isn't very labor-intensive.
I also pick up brass at the range I go to. I deprime and size before I tumble, I seriously doubt my carbide handgun dies will wear any with any dirt they are supjected to, after all the next hardest substance to the carbide is diamonds.

Even if per chance it would wear the dies, I'm now 69, by the time the dies get worn, I'm worn out.
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Old September 30, 2012, 09:53 AM   #48
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No Esthetics Here

I tumble mine to clean them prior to resizing, so dirty cases don't scratch the dies.

I also tumble them smooth as I feel it helps cases slide thru the die easier
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Old September 30, 2012, 10:19 AM   #49
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So far I've read on this thread I'm OCD for cleaning primer pockets, SS media is needed and tumbling doesn't clean the pockets...all or which are not reflective of my experience.

In reality I'm not OCD but the thought has occured to my wife. My primer pocket DO get cleaner when tumbled (rotary) with walnut. While not as clean as the exterior they still are cleaner than not tumbling. After several reloading sessions they end up very clean and free of any residue. I also use a hand tool on old range brass before tumbling. I don't use SS media or polish to make any of this happen.

The ONLY reason I clean brass is to make every stroke on the press as smooth and consistant as possible. Primers definitly seat smoother. Perhaps reloaders who hammer out rounds as fast as they can don't perceive the difference in pocket cleaning (evidenced by the many U-Tube vids showing guys in a race to make ammo)...but I go slow and can feel it. Tumbling just makes reloading more enjoyable to me. It has nothing to do with accuracy, shine or being "necessary" for me. I didn't clean brass for years and it didn't change the size of hole in the target when I started tumbling either.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Hmmm, I just had a virus alert while typing this. It's happening to me lately on this site.

bc
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Old September 30, 2012, 10:24 AM   #50
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As to which tumbler to get, Check out the warranty they come with. One that only gives you 90 days probably will have problems early. Get the one that will hold the number of cases you normally plan to clean at one time plus about 20 %. If it holds more than that it might take a little longer to clean. Normally it isn't a big deal. I can't see any reason to get a large unit. Your volume is small compared to what some people here run through their machines every week. Even a tumbler (rotorary drum) for cleaning rocks might work. Put in walnut media and leave it out in the garage so you don't have to hear it over night. I did use that method in the 70's and early 80's. It works. My vib. cleaner will do lots of brass at a time and that is what I need now. I still tend to just load it up before going to bed and let it run in the garage over night. I now use corncob media. It is fine, 20 to 40 thousands of an inch if I'm not mistaken.
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