$35.00 or $200.00 Tumbler?

[TheDomFather]

I have tumbled over 1K of my own brass combined with range pickups, in a $35 Frankford Arsenal tumbler in the last year. A little metal polish mixed into crushed walnut media, and all but the worst range brass looks new after a couple of hours.

I will second this. Frankford Arsenal makes awesome products for the money. I now exclusively wet tumble but I am also using a Frankford Arsenal for that as well. Either way you decide they seem to be a good quality product for the investment.

 

[rfwobbly]

I know part of the reason for the big price difference is capacity of the tumbler and maybe noise.

► To me, no matter what type tumbler you use, this activity is always better done outdoors. Lower noise levels, less pollution of your living environment, easier clean up.

► I still prefer dry tumbling, even though I'm envious of my son's wet tumbling efforts.

► I use 2 different size Dillon tumblers which are now entering their 3rd decade of service.

 

[fallout mike]

I have a lyman tumbler and thought I would try the Harbour Freight dual drum rock tumbler. It worked great. I have 2 now. I use all 3. Like, a lot. Only issue with the Harbour Freight tumblers are that the belts tend to break on a regular basis after a while. However, they are only a few $ for a pack of them and only takes about 2 minutes to change out. By a regular basis I mean like once every 2 months.

 

[salpal48]

I do not subscribe to the theory Cheap is Good and expensive is Bad. In reloading I waited To have the money and Buy the beast,
With Tumblers there is No difference. Several names come to mind. Diamond pacific, Lortone, Thumlers Tumbler. in that order

 

[Blue68f100]

For decades I just wiped my brass clean and loaded. I added a Cabella's (FA) tumbler 15yrs ago when I started doing high volume of handgun ammo. This one is the smaller 400 size the FA sells if I'm right. Can not tell you how many hours are on it, but a bunch. When it comes to media if you buy the blast media it cleans better and has less dust than the waste used for pet bedding. The 20/40 corncob is small enough to flow through primer pockets. This is very fine is best for polishing. Walnut Hulls will clean better and faster than corncob. I use a 50/50 mix in my tumbler. I will not buy the treated media for it's a lot messier dealing with. I add NuFinish car polish to the media. I also have and mainly use the Wet SS pins system now. It's more work, but the brass comes out looking like brand new.

 

[milemaker13]

Cheap harbor freight vibratory works well. I add a little bit of liquid turtle wax to untreated media, or get the pretreated media. Basically the same idea.

 

[MikeInOr]

I have a large Dillon tumbler and a smaller Midway tumbler... I have had them for years. The Dillon has a larger capacity and a bigger motor. The Dillon will clean the cases quicker than the Midway. But the end result of both of them is pretty much identical.

For initial cleaning of my brass I use an ultrasonic cleaner and love it. The cases come out perfectly clean... but not polished. I generally polish my ammo after loading it to remove the lube.