Best Large Capacity Tumbler?

[Walkalong]

That is a sweet setup.

 

[stubbicatt]

JRhines, what are those pieces of paper in the cement mixer for? Did you remove the agitation blades from the mixer, or do you use it as it came? Ever use a wet media/cleaner?

 

[jrhines]

That is strips of paper towel...

to help keep down the dust & pick up some of the dirt. Seems to work OK, or at least that is my perception. I left the agitator blades in, as they came (I think I have them in right, the instructions for assembly take a Philadelphia lawyer to figure out.) Never tried a wet media, do you have any suggestions? A special recipe?

WA - The sweetest part is the free brass, mostly LC & WWC 04!

 

[Jim M]

Tumbler with Liquid Recommendation

I have used both vibrating and rotary tumblers for years. My first rotary was a Pacific tumbler that I bought in 1965. It worked very well, but the fiber gears stripped after about 20 years.

I always deprime the cases before I clean them. That avoids water stuck in the primer pocket or case tumbling media in the flash hole, and helps to clean out both the primer pocket and the flash hole.

I tried a Lyman TurboMag, and that worked fairly well, but not as well as the rotary. The motor bearings crapped out a few years ago, and Lyman didn't have a motor to replace that with. I guess the tumbler was just junk to them, once it was out the door. Well, I agree with Lyman on that.

I now use an RCBS Sidewinder rotary tumbler. It is the best system I have ever used for cleaning brass, although it is fairly slow because of the limited case capacity. It holds about 250 to 350 .45 ACP or .38 Special cases, or about 100 .30-06 rifle cases at a time. RCBS service has mostly been very good. I had one drum for the Sidewinder that started to leak, and I sent it back to RCBS and they replaced it. No complaints there.

I use Ajax lemon dish washing liquid in my tumbler. Dump in about 350 pistol cases and put in enough hot water to cover the cases by about 1/2", then add one or two cartridge cases full of the dish liquid. Tumble until clean.

The lemon dish liquid not only has a detergent which removes all of the crud from the case, it also has a bit of citric acid which removes corrosion and leaves the cases shinier than anything else I have tried.

One more advantage -- If you fill up your tumbler at the kitchen sink and then dump the water there when you are through, you are likely to get the third degree about what you are pouring down the cook's kitchen sink. If you can tell her that it is just dishwashing liquid, that should keep you out of trouble.

After the cases have tumbled for as long as you want (I use any where from 30 minutes to three hours, depending on how cruddy the cases were to start), drain off the sudsy liquid and rinse the cases thoroughly at the kitchen sink. A colander purchased for this use for a buck or two will make the job easier. It is cheaper to buy your own colander than borrow one from the cook. Don't ask me how I know this!

Make sure you rinse all of the dishwashing liquid off your clean cases. Then, you can get most of the water out (if you have deprimed first) by turning the cases for a minute or so in a media separator. If you don't have a media separator, just pour the cases back and forth a few times between two containers. I use the cardboard flats that a dozen cans of dog food or beer come in. That gets most of the water out. Then, set the cases out in the sun to dry completely.

This system works very well and gives excellent results. The only problems are the price of the RCBS Sidewinder and its limited capacity. I am looking at small cement mixers to add to the Sidewinder in order to speed up the job with large lots of cases. The one jrhines posted about looks ideal. I would use that with hot water and the Ajax lemon dishwashing liquid, and it should be perfect even for a thousand or so .30-06 cases at a time.

Jim M

 

[AF FAL]

Bringing this one back from the dead.

I have been using a Frankford vibratory for walnut, RCBS separator, then a Hornady M2 with corn cob. Problem is both capacity and noise. The FA is REALLY noisy, the M2 not so bad, but I can still hear them about anywhere in the house (garage is not wired for wall outlets yet).

I know Thumler is a good name in rotary tumblers, but I have stumbled on a couple other LARGER capacity ones as well. Anyone heard of MJR or BLEAKCO tumblers? I found them for reasonable prices given the capacity, just can't find much on them.

 

[HOWARD J]

When the kids were home we used about 1000 rds. per week ( summertime )
I had a Thumblers Bumbler rotary with a Lyman tumbler.
I finally got tired taking the wingnuts off of the Bumbler & purchased a RCBS tumbler.
The Lyman is still running--the RCBS died years ago.
Kids are somewhat gone ( all of them w/in one mile ) but I shoot under 250 per week.
Thumbler is a good unit--just a pain sometimes....................

 

[ranger335v]

#21: "Ya know, that 1.5 cubic foot cement mixer costs LESS than a Thumbler's Tumbler large size unit, holds more cases and media,..."

My thoughts exactly. And it's often on sale at a lower cost. Leave the bolted-in stirring paddles out and go!