Vibratory tumbler? Or not?

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  • boisepaw

    boisepaw
    Jan 5, 2015
    380
    Eastern shore, MD
    So...just as I was getting back into reloading and case prep...my RCBS vibratory tumbler seems to be vibratorily tumbling itself to death. It will be tumbling along and then stop tumbling...even though I can still hear the motor running. RCBS says it is most likely dead.

    What are the alternatives for case cleaning? Please note prices as well as efficiency. If I need to spend $200 for the top of the line sonic magic ninja liquid super gleaming case cleaner...I'll probably just by another RCBS or equivalent.

    And just curious...is there anyone out there that doesn't clean their cases unless they are super dirty? The cases I reload get ejected from my bolt gun into my hand and put back in the box. Do I really need to clean them?

    And if anyone has a tumbler or system you want to part with, let me know.

    Or for that matter, if someone wants to pick up all my dirty cases every couple of weeks, clean them and bring them back to my house...you can let me know that as well...

    I'm on the eastern shore.
     

    ken792

    Ultimate Member
    Sep 2, 2011
    4,480
    Fairfax, VA
    For a bolt gun, you can probably get away with just wiping down the neck with paint thinner to remove the carbon and making sure they don't have grit on them.

    I use the Frankford Arsenal Platinum wet tumbler with just dish soap and hot water. It washes all the lead residue down the drain
     

    Dalebert

    Active Member
    Apr 15, 2020
    105
    Baltimore County
    not

    I like the wet tumbling...'cause i don't like looking at dirty brass. I do have to be sure that things are lubed afterward because the detergent removes it all, but I can live with that; on the other hand, I don't have to worry about dust (especially lead dust) and I never have to replace media. I got the Frankford Arsenal Rotary Tumbler (7 liter) and it will do 1000 cases of .223 in a couple hours. They also have a lite version (but it doesn't come with 5lbs of pins and has on/off without timer). If you're considering the idea, the Harbor Freight Tumblers are smaller, but well worth the price.
     

    byf43

    SCSC Life/NRA Patron Life
    I've got two Lyman Turbo Tumblers (1200).

    The first one I bought was in 1982. Paid a couple of dollars less than $100.00 back then. Still running like a new one.
    The second one was bought in 1989. Still running like a new one.

    I've put thousands and thousands of cases through these machines.

    Midway USA says "out of stock".

    Natchez Shooter Supply has the "1200 PRO" in stock. $56.48 + s/h

    https://www.natchezss.com/lyman-turbo-1200-pro-tumbler.html
     

    PowPow

    Where's the beef?
    Nov 22, 2012
    4,712
    Howard County
    You can leave them on a towel to air dry, if time is not a factor Otherwise, food dehydrators are the most common drying apparatus.
     

    alucard0822

    For great Justice
    Oct 29, 2007
    17,643
    PA
    Have a FA vibratory tumbler, and small harbour freight wet tumbler and sonic cleaner, so have tried cleaning cases in all 3. Dry tumbling in corncob is easy, but dirty, requires new media or tricks (like dryer sheets and polish) to keep media clean enough to work. It does OK on the outside, little to nothing on the inside, you might get a little media in flash holes if you tumble deprimed brass. The sonic cleaner gets into spaces that media can't, some fouling comes right off easily, but some areas take a long time, and may still be discolored, works well as a "multi-purpose" cleaner for gun parts and suppressor baffles, and is pretty safe for most everything except aluminum and painted finishes. IMO sonic cleaning does a mediocre job inside and out, stuff needs to be flushed and dried after cleaning, great for de-greasing or thick soft fouling, but lacks the aggressive cleaning and smoothing that media striking a surface achieves, but there is also no media to separate or get stuck in things. Wet tumbling with pins works the best, flat out, you get the abrasive cleaning of media, the agitation/internal cleaning of a sonic cleaner, and while it is kinda rough for delicate gun parts and finishes, it does a good job on steel/Ti suppressor baffles. Dirt gets flushed down the drain, and the media never gets "dirty". The best thing is to get screen and separator caps, the screen caps drain cleaner, so you can flush with water, the separator lets the pins shake out separating the brass/parts. A magnet is handy to move media around, or get the last few pins out of brass. After the brass is flushed with hot water(to dry faster), it is as clean as it can get, might have a pin or two rattling around in a rifle case, but they won't get stuck in flash holes, and haven't found one make it all the way to the loading process. I am limited by the little 3# HF wet tumbler, and it definitely gets used the most, a F.A.R.T.:) is at the top of my wishlist.
     

    j8064

    Garrett Co Hooligan #1
    Feb 23, 2008
    11,635
    Deep Creek
    As has been said it's a good idea to tumble some brass before running the cases through full length sizing dies to keep the crud out of the dies. :thumbsup:

    I use both a vibratory and a wet tumbler. Each has it's place on my reloading bench.

    Wet tumbling with steel pins and a detergent cleans brass much better than a vibratory tumbler ever will. The downside is the process is slower and you have to dry the brass and manage the steel pins. Not difficult and wet tumbling is ideal for large batches of cases. A word of caution: with mixed caliber brass make sure they will tumble together without nesting into each other (i.e. don't tumble 45 acp with 40 S&W, 9mm etc.) Know your brass.

    Although vibratory tumbled brass isn't as clean, for small batches of rifle cases it works just fine. After firing 20 or 30 rounds of 45-70 BP rounds they can get rinsed with soapy water, air dry for a little while and go into some walnut media. After that they're plenty clean enough to reload.

    Use the right tool for the right job.
     

    Scrounger

    Active Member
    Jul 16, 2018
    357
    Southern Maryland
    There are couple of questions you must answer before making a choice. How much brass do you plan on cleaning? How clean do you want it? And how much space do you have?

    If you are only cleaning a small amount, say 1000 .223, any cleaner will work. If you want it clean enough to load and shoot, dry tumblers are the easiest. If you want bling and don’t mind spending time, a wet tumbler is best. Then where are you going to do the cleaning. In a basement, garage or outside.

    I bought a Dillon cleaner may years ago. The large one, they only had one size back then. It has and still serves me well. My needs are somewhat larger now. I picked up one of the Harbor Freight mixers a couple of months ago. I have it outside the garage, so I don’t have to worry about the dust. It will do three fifty caliber cans of brass at a time. If I built a lid, it would handle more. I have found that without a lid the dust, hence dirt, drifts out and the media lasts longer. I have been cleaning at least one load a day, sometime two since I picked it up, weather permitting. It was on sale for $179.

    For sifting, the Dillon sifter works well. For a large mixer like the Harbor Freight model I just sift a third at a time to empty a load.
     

    Matlack

    Scribe
    Dec 15, 2008
    8,555
    I dont process a lot of brass at a time. I use the vibrating tumbler from harbor freight. Its fine. If I could I would have bought the Lyman, I have seen s I me old ones over the years, so they are built well and are bigger. I would like to get a sonic cleaner also. If you want to wet tumbler also get the magnet to separate your media.

    When I first got my tumbler I would fish the brass out with my hand. Then I used a cat scooper. Then I used a colander over a bucket. Now I have the hornady media separator, I think i paid like $15 for it on Amazon. If you use the vibrating tumbler you need to add something like turtle wax to the media. I use whatever I find cheap, I currently have some turtle wax i got on clearance at Walmart a while back.

    Dry tumbling requires replacing the media periodically. Wet tumbling with SS media doesn't. As others have noted in other threads, their is plenty of dry media for about $5-7 for a large quantity. You dont need special reloading branded media. I think i still have some from harbor freight. Otherwise buy the animal walnut bedding, its the same stuff.
     

    Mdphotographer

    Active Member
    Feb 10, 2009
    176
    Frederick MD
    This is the review I did on the FA-RT back in March of '14 After using a Lyman 1200 for 20+ years and having the FA-RT for 6 I can say I would NEVER consider another vibrating tumbler. My original base died about a year ago after moving to NV from MD....maybe got jostled to much in the move? I had to replace mine. I unfortunately they dont sell a replacement base so now I have 2 drums. I use 1 drum with no pins for pre-resizing/capping and the second drum with pins for a long second clean prior to priming. I use dawn in the pre-clean and ArmorALL wash and wax with lemi-shine in the final clean. They now make screen caps so you dont have to make any like I did in my video. I also use a Presto food dehydrator to dry the brass. It is so much better then dry media always hated the dust.

    Some people will tell you that getting the brass really clean serves no purpose. I disagree,while it wont help you shoot better,it does catch light better and really helps finding brass on the ground.

    My YouTube review from March '14
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbE4cJ0qy9c&t=10s
     

    Pinecone

    Ultimate Member
    MDS Supporter
    Feb 4, 2013
    28,175
    I clean the cases to keep debris (however little it may be) out of my reloading dies.

    Same here. I don't need bright shiny cases.

    I use vibratory with corn cob. And either Turbo polish or Dillon polish.
     

    pop-gunner

    Ultimate Member
    May 8, 2008
    2,270
    After using a Dillon vibratory tumbler for 20+ years I was happy when it died finally. I could have fixed the switch (separated connection) but it was an excuse to get a F.A.R.T. so I pitched the Dillon in the trash before I changed my mind.
    I wish the Dillon had died years ago.
    I can do about 1k .45acp cases in the F.A.R.T. and on a day like today lay them outside on a towel to finish drying and they're dry in a hour. The pins help cleaning the primer pockets so I'll use them on rifle brass, but Pistol brass I just use a squirt of Dawn dish soap and a .45acp case full of Lemi Shine and it gets new looking clean. So much cleaner process than having to deal with the dust, and mess of a rotary tumbler.
     

    Bountied

    Ultimate Member
    Apr 6, 2012
    6,893
    Pasadena
    For a bolt gun, you can probably get away with just wiping down the neck with paint thinner to remove the carbon and making sure they don't have grit on them.

    I use the Frankford Arsenal Platinum wet tumbler with just dish soap and hot water. It washes all the lead residue down the drain

    And into the Bay, great idea...
     

    Atlasarmory

    Ultimate Member
    MDS Supporter
    Mar 2, 2009
    3,360
    Glen Burnie
    I wet tumble. The pins should last forever if you don't loose them and there is no dust. I reload in my basement and the dust was getting on my nerves. I just wait for the cases to dry I can live with the trade off.
     

    Pinecone

    Ultimate Member
    MDS Supporter
    Feb 4, 2013
    28,175
    My normal questions:

    1) Why do you care about cleaning the primer pockets? They get dirty the first firing. And then they don't get any worse as you keep shooting them. I have pistol crass I have loaded more then 10 times and you cannot tell the difference between once fired.

    2) What happens if you don't get a pin out and fire it?
     

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