newbie question...removing brass from tumbler

TennJed · June 21, 2011, 07:52 AM

ok i have another newbi question that is probably a little stupid....but is there a better, quicker way to remove brass from a tumbler other than picking them out one by one?....i tried to use a kitchen stainer/spoon but the it and the holes were not really large enough and i got media everywhere...thanks for your help

mikld · June 21, 2011, 07:57 AM

Look around the kitchen section of a Dollar Store, or such, and find a collander or sieve that has the right size holes. Or you could punch a bunch of 1/4" holes in a coffee can lid, dump media/brass in can and shake (upside down, of course) out the media, or spend $$ on a "Media Separator" from Midway, Natchez, Dillon, etc.

dahermit · June 21, 2011, 08:10 AM

I have a media separator (look on Midwayusa.com if you do not know what that is.). If you do not want to spring for a media separator, place your cases in a mesh sack (like bagged onions come in), tie it closed, then drop it into your tumbler. When done tumbling, pick up the bag and roll it over the bowl to get the tumbling media out of the cases.

Eazmo · June 21, 2011, 09:01 AM

I took some wire screen and formed it into a funnel shape and put it over a bucket then dump tumbler in and shake it around . it worked.

now i have a media separator its allot better.

overkill0084 · June 21, 2011, 09:12 AM

I use a slightly modified cat litter scoop.

armoredman · June 21, 2011, 09:27 AM

Been using this for a long time.

Don P · June 21, 2011, 10:12 AM

Armoredman, how about the dust factor on that nice looking green carpet?

Poodleshooter · June 21, 2011, 12:01 PM

You can either look around for a colander/bowl that actually works well, or modify one with big slits or holes to clear the media out. A cover over the colander is handy as it lessens dust somewhat.
The Midway one costs about $25 or so w/o the 5 gal bucket.

The above pic of the improvised colander media seperator would be much funnier with it was surrounded by spilled media, and there was an angry wife in the background.

engineermike · June 21, 2011, 02:55 PM

WOW, another indoor loader and on carpet too. I wish I could come indoors to do my reloading.

YOur the luckiest man I know, and nice media separator too. Did you get that from the kitchen?

chris in va · June 21, 2011, 05:48 PM

I stumbled on a cheap, effective method to separate brass and media.

Go to Lowes, get two buckets, one larger than the other. Punch a LOT of 3/8" holes in the bottom of the smaller one.

Dump media and brass into the bucket, shake and twist vigorously for a minute or so and voila....the brass will be in the perforated bucket and media in the larger.

orionengnr · June 21, 2011, 06:28 PM

I dump all the media and brass into a shoebox or similar.
Then I take a dollar-store kitty litter poop scoop, scoop up some brass/media and shake. Repeat as required. The media goes back in the shoebox (well, most of it anyway*), the clean brass goes into a zip-lock bag.

* I do this out in the driveway, so whatever doesn't end up in the box, no worries.

micksis86 · June 21, 2011, 09:08 PM

I use a plastic kitchen collinder that i have drilled holes in. I just empty the contents of the tumbler into the collinder and shake it over a bucket and it seperates the vast majority of the media from the brass. Then simply pour the media back into the tumbler.

William T. Watts · June 21, 2011, 09:52 PM

Years ago I purchased a tumbler with a bucket and a separator from MidwayUSA, the tumbler lasted 10-12 years and finally died, I still have the bucket and separator, I still use them every time I clean brass! William

armoredman · June 21, 2011, 10:53 PM

That green carpet was in the mobile home I was living in at the time, which was...6 or 7 years ago. Loooong gone. Carpet is now tan.

No issues with dust, I don't dump it over all at once. Wife has no issues with me reloading - the room the gear is in is pretty much all mine, coomputer, reloaidng bench, junk, bookshelves, etc. Now I CAST in the garage, I don't tempt fate like that.

engineermike · June 22, 2011, 04:09 AM

wow, a room all to yourself. That must be what heaven is like.

edward5759 · June 22, 2011, 04:56 AM

I bought a 2 X 2 foot pan
and after my stroke it still looks like a rat on drugs tore through it. Even my big Dillon tumbler I have trouble with.:barf:
Damn stroke everything that was easy, is now hard for me to do. I can sympathize, my wife says I wasn't much better before!
Media just makes a mess for me.
I should have been a organic chemist they make messes, That will be my excuse.

Edward5759

mikld · June 22, 2011, 11:55 AM

Yep, like all the above suggestions, you jes need something to hold the amount of media-brass you are tumbling, with holes in it smaller than the brass and larger than the media, and something to catch the media as you shake it out of your "separator"...

jag2 · June 22, 2011, 12:09 PM

I bought a pan at Cabelas, cost about $10 and works just fine. Looks like one of those pans you would use for panning gold, but has slots in the bottom.

jepp2 · June 22, 2011, 06:34 PM

I bought the Lyman Auto-Flo conversion bowl and use 20/40 fine media. All I do is "pull the plug" and a few minutes later I have a bowl of tumbled brass without the media. Couldn't be any easier.

rclark · June 22, 2011, 07:26 PM

The hands God made for me work great!!! When done, just go wash up in the sink. Simple no cost, no mess

.

HawkeyeNRAlifer · June 22, 2011, 09:33 PM

I use a collander made with a green enameled wire. The spacing is large enough to allow the media to pass but stop my smallest cases, which is .380 right now. I was never concerned about the dust until reading some posts this year, now I try to minimize the dust as much as possible.

June 21, 2011, 07:52 AM	#1
TennJed Senior Member Join Date: September 26, 2010 Posts: 1,536	newbie question...removing brass from tumbler ok i have another newbi question that is probably a little stupid....but is there a better, quicker way to remove brass from a tumbler other than picking them out one by one?....i tried to use a kitchen stainer/spoon but the it and the holes were not really large enough and i got media everywhere...thanks for your help __________________ Find out just how tall I am By jumping in the middle of a river

June 21, 2011, 07:57 AM	#2
mikld Senior Member Join Date: February 7, 2009 Location: Southern Oregon! Posts: 2,891	Look around the kitchen section of a Dollar Store, or such, and find a collander or sieve that has the right size holes. Or you could punch a bunch of 1/4" holes in a coffee can lid, dump media/brass in can and shake (upside down, of course) out the media, or spend $$ on a "Media Separator" from Midway, Natchez, Dillon, etc. __________________ My Anchor is holding fast! I've learned how to stand on my own two knees...

June 21, 2011, 09:01 AM	#4
Eazmo Senior Member Join Date: April 15, 2011 Location: Arizona Posts: 164	I took some wire screen and formed it into a funnel shape and put it over a bucket then dump tumbler in and shake it around . it worked. now i have a media separator its allot better. __________________ I'm just an average man I drive a average van My dog ain't got no pedigree!

June 21, 2011, 09:12 AM	#5
overkill0084 Senior Member Join Date: August 7, 2010 Location: Northern, UT Posts: 1,162	I use a slightly modified cat litter scoop. __________________ Cheers, Greg “At the core of liberalism is the spoiled child – miserable, as all spoiled children are, unsatisfied, demanding, ill-disciplined, despotic and useless. Liberalism is a philosophy of sniveling brats.” — P.J. O’Rourke

June 21, 2011, 10:12 AM	#7
Don P Senior Member Join Date: December 17, 2005 Location: Swamp dweller Posts: 6,187	Armoredman, how about the dust factor on that nice looking green carpet? __________________ *NRA Life Member, NRA Chief Range Safety Officer, NRA Certified Pistol Instructor,, USPSA & Steel Challange NROI Range Officer, ICORE Range Officer, ,MAG 40 Graduate* *As you are, I once was, As I am, You will be.*

June 21, 2011, 08:10 AM	#3
dahermit Senior Member Join Date: October 28, 2006 Location: South Central Michigan...near Posts: 6,501	I have a media separator (look on Midwayusa.com if you do not know what that is.). If you do not want to spring for a media separator, place your cases in a mesh sack (like bagged onions come in), tie it closed, then drop it into your tumbler. When done tumbling, pick up the bag and roll it over the bowl to get the tumbling media out of the cases.

June 21, 2011, 09:27 AM	#6
armoredman Senior Member Join Date: May 22, 2007 Location: Arizona Posts: 5,297	Been using this for a long time.

June 21, 2011, 12:01 PM	#8
Poodleshooter Senior Member Join Date: August 7, 2000 Location: Floating down the James River in VA Posts: 2,599	You can either look around for a colander/bowl that actually works well, or modify one with big slits or holes to clear the media out. A cover over the colander is handy as it lessens dust somewhat. The Midway one costs about $25 or so w/o the 5 gal bucket. The above pic of the improvised colander media seperator would be much funnier with it was surrounded by spilled media, and there was an angry wife in the background.

June 21, 2011, 02:55 PM	#9
engineermike Junior member Join Date: March 14, 2010 Location: Oklahaoma City Posts: 538	WOW, another indoor loader and on carpet too. I wish I could come indoors to do my reloading. YOur the luckiest man I know, and nice media separator too. Did you get that from the kitchen?

June 21, 2011, 05:48 PM	#10
chris in va Senior Member Join Date: December 26, 2004 Location: Louisville KY Posts: 13,806	I stumbled on a cheap, effective method to separate brass and media. Go to Lowes, get two buckets, one larger than the other. Punch a LOT of 3/8" holes in the bottom of the smaller one. Dump media and brass into the bucket, shake and twist vigorously for a minute or so and voila....the brass will be in the perforated bucket and media in the larger.

June 21, 2011, 06:28 PM	#11
orionengnr Senior Member Join Date: July 9, 2004 Posts: 5,173	I dump all the media and brass into a shoebox or similar. Then I take a dollar-store kitty litter poop scoop, scoop up some brass/media and shake. Repeat as required. The media goes back in the shoebox (well, most of it anyway), the clean brass goes into a zip-lock bag. I do this out in the driveway, so whatever doesn't end up in the box, no worries.

June 21, 2011, 09:08 PM	#12
micksis86 Senior Member Join Date: June 16, 2009 Posts: 420	I use a plastic kitchen collinder that i have drilled holes in. I just empty the contents of the tumbler into the collinder and shake it over a bucket and it seperates the vast majority of the media from the brass. Then simply pour the media back into the tumbler. __________________ Never argue with morons, they will lower you down to their level and beat you with experience.

June 21, 2011, 09:52 PM	#13
William T. Watts Senior Member Join Date: January 20, 2010 Location: Central Arkansas Posts: 1,074	Years ago I purchased a tumbler with a bucket and a separator from MidwayUSA, the tumbler lasted 10-12 years and finally died, I still have the bucket and separator, I still use them every time I clean brass! William

June 21, 2011, 10:53 PM	#14
armoredman Senior Member Join Date: May 22, 2007 Location: Arizona Posts: 5,297	That green carpet was in the mobile home I was living in at the time, which was...6 or 7 years ago. Loooong gone. Carpet is now tan. No issues with dust, I don't dump it over all at once. Wife has no issues with me reloading - the room the gear is in is pretty much all mine, coomputer, reloaidng bench, junk, bookshelves, etc. Now I CAST in the garage, I don't tempt fate like that.

June 22, 2011, 04:09 AM	#15
engineermike Junior member Join Date: March 14, 2010 Location: Oklahaoma City Posts: 538	wow, a room all to yourself. That must be what heaven is like.

June 22, 2011, 04:56 AM	#16
edward5759 Senior Member Join Date: September 15, 2009 Location: Phoenix, AZ. 30 miles from water, two feet from Hell. Posts: 355	I bought a 2 X 2 foot pan and after my stroke it still looks like a rat on drugs tore through it. Even my big Dillon tumbler I have trouble with.:barf: Damn stroke everything that was easy, is now hard for me to do. I can sympathize, my wife says I wasn't much better before! Media just makes a mess for me. I should have been a organic chemist they make messes, That will be my excuse. Edward5759

June 22, 2011, 11:55 AM	#17
mikld Senior Member Join Date: February 7, 2009 Location: Southern Oregon! Posts: 2,891	Yep, like all the above suggestions, you jes need something to hold the amount of media-brass you are tumbling, with holes in it smaller than the brass and larger than the media, and something to catch the media as you shake it out of your "separator"... __________________ My Anchor is holding fast! I've learned how to stand on my own two knees...

June 22, 2011, 12:09 PM	#18
jag2 Senior Member Join Date: June 30, 2009 Location: dallas Posts: 773	I bought a pan at Cabelas, cost about $10 and works just fine. Looks like one of those pans you would use for panning gold, but has slots in the bottom.

June 22, 2011, 06:34 PM	#19
jepp2 Senior Member Join Date: December 24, 2008 Location: Loveland, CO Posts: 1,476	I bought the Lyman Auto-Flo conversion bowl and use 20/40 fine media. All I do is "pull the plug" and a few minutes later I have a bowl of tumbled brass without the media. Couldn't be any easier.

June 22, 2011, 07:26 PM	#20
rclark Senior Member Join Date: February 12, 2009 Location: Butte, MT Posts: 2,619	The hands God made for me work great!!! When done, just go wash up in the sink. Simple no cost, no mess . __________________ A clinger and deplorable, MAGA, and life NRA member. When guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns. Single Action .45 Colt (Sometimes colloquially referred to by its alias as the .45 'Long' Colt or .45LC). Don't leave home without it. That said, the .44Spec is right up their too... but the .45 Colt is still the king.

June 22, 2011, 09:33 PM	#21
HawkeyeNRAlifer Senior Member Join Date: September 6, 2007 Location: Iowa Posts: 316	I use a collander made with a green enameled wire. The spacing is large enough to allow the media to pass but stop my smallest cases, which is .380 right now. I was never concerned about the dust until reading some posts this year, now I try to minimize the dust as much as possible.