Media sifter doo hickies

A long time ago I built one out of 1/8" steel, 4" high rolled to fit inside the mouth of a 5 gallon bucket. Expanded metal for the bottom along with handles to allow shaking. It was free to build and for years, I thought it worked alright.




Then I used a friends Dillon seperator, I even use it with stainless media. Much faster and doesn't leave any behind.

BBDartCA said:

Not my picture, but this is my set up. Works fine.

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This is pretty much what I have. I stopped at the Petco tonight and bought some Zilla Lizard Litter. I like it a lot better than the Kaytee.

I've been using one of these for many K of pistol brass. It works, but gets to be a PITA with 400-700 cases. It takes a lot of shaking and then still need to push the cases around a little to "empty" MOST the media in the cases. "TURBO" means heavy arm exercize

I've read good things about the Berry's new separator and may have to break down and try one. They actually mold their own.
33.48, Holds tumbler "full". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDG-9cdbcg0

Am prefering the store bought rotary sifters with covers. Keeps ya from eating all the healthy dust. The RCBS being used for at least ten years now, if memory holds.

I also use a colander cheap and easy and I would bet the misses had an extra. As long as you don't get caught getting it out of the drawer.

I have the clam shell type in posts 10, 11, and 21. You can try all the others (and I did) but once you get the big ol' clam shell with the rotating basket inside, you'll know you've got the right one. The best thing about it is the fact that all the media is contained, with very little spillage to sweep up.

The worst thing about it is that the hinges on the clam shell are a little fragile. If you use ordinary care when separating the two halves, however, it's no big deal.

They all appear to be the same, from the same factory, differing only in color. Get the cheapest one you find.

If you get the "clamshell" type, cut holes in the bottom (or cut out the entire bottom) so that the media falls into the 5 gallon bucket it is made to fit on. I keep my tumbler in the bucket between uses.

I didn't like dumping the media out of the clamshell. It's easier to pour from the 5 gallon bucket into either the tumbler or the media storage containers if I want to switch to a different media.

Berry hisself recommends this.

the frankfort arsenal works great for me

oops

I just dump the entire contents of the tumbler into a shallow large cardboard box (usually the top from a box of copy paper).

Then I scoop the cases with a kitty litter scoop. I hold a large piece of cardboard over the scoop. A bit of shaking with each scoop, and toss the cases into another container.

Takes maybe a minute to get through that bunch (up to 500 .45 acp cases).

Then I pour the media back into the tumbler and repeat the process.

I have enough crap taking up space in my reloading area. I've looked at those sifters and said "Why?".

A colander or one of those gold pan sifters don't work very well because the heavier part of the case will point down (the base) and all the case mouths will end up pointing up. You want something that flips the cases over. That's why a rotary cage works best if it has flat sides.

I was about to make one with a wooden frame and some chicken wire, but I found this at the thrift store for $2.


See the paddles? They cause the cases to flip over and dump their content out.


I've used this for over a year with several thousand cases (no more than about 200 at a time). I'm not saying you can find this yourself for $2. I just want to emphasize that you need something that flips the cases over for the quickest way to empty the media from the cases.

mmorris said:

If you get the "clamshell" type, cut holes in the bottom (or cut out the entire bottom) so that the media falls into the 5 gallon bucket it is made to fit on. I keep my tumbler in the bucket between uses.

I didn't like dumping the media out of the clamshell. It's easier to pour from the 5 gallon bucket into either the tumbler or the media storage containers if I want to switch to a different media.

Berry hisself recommends this.

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Excellent idea, thank you very much. I cut the entire bottom off mine and this works great.

Kevin