We got bored so here's what it looks like getting all shiney and purty.

Mike

 

 

For anyone wondering,

 

The rubber gasket that comes with the Thumlers model B wears out over time and they want a crazy amount of $$$ for it, so for a few bucks you hack up some lexan and it replaces the gasket and the lid. Lasts forever, and you get to see what goes on inside.

nice i wanted that setup but i think its more feasible for rifle loading so i passed

How many cases at once, and how long does it take per batch?

Vlad, I'm using the Thumblers unit and I'm doing more at a time then

recommended, on .40 I am doing about 400 at a time and only tumbling for about 2 hours. 9mm I will do between 420-450.

 

 

 

(null)

I made up my own tumbler and drum to tumble 8 pounds of brass at a time. Technically the thumblers only wants you to tumble 2 pounds at a time. The drum holds a little more but supposedly the motor sucks.

 

For the fastest drying time and clean primer pockets you can decap your brass first, they come out awesome. I stopped doing that and now I just tumble with the primers in. takes longer to dry but I am in no rush, I already have clean brass stockpiled. I put it on a tray and leave it outside in the sun.

 

I tumble between 2 and 2.5 hours. I slapped a timer on it, turn it on and go to work. I have a thread here somewhere with pics and video of my setup that I built. I might make one showing the process. Its quite easy once you get a system in place. The media lasts forever and there is no contract with the lead like you have in dry media tumbling.

 

Interesting, not convinced that I want to switch though. Normally I throw a couple thouthand cases in my large Dillon vibratory unit for like 3h with rice and call it done. No drying, no mess, no effort, rice is cheap as it gets.

Posting from phone so you may have to copy and paste.

 

http://njgunforums.com/forum/index.php?/topic/28323-stainless-tumbler-project/

 

I forgot about that post but ill put some pics or video of the final drum and whole shebang in a day or so.

I do 500 .45 at a time. Nearly double overload but it holds up fine. Never counted 9mm but that was a small batch

Be careful with wet tumbling and leaving primer pockets in. I've had a situation where I let the dry for several weeks and starting popping out primers and still had wet primer pockets. Your best bet is to deprime first.

Be careful with wet tumbling and leaving primer pockets in. I've had a situation where I let the dry for several weeks and starting popping out primers and still had wet primer pockets. Your best bet is to deprime first.

 

Pistol or rifle? How did you lay them out to dry?

I deprime first because of that reason plus it cleans your pockets. It's an issue with all brass. However, a single stage with a universal decap die is super fast

I second what Glenn says. You can bang them out pretty quick on that thing.

Mike

Why do you care if you are cleaning the primer pocket? It makes no difference to anything.

I deprime first because of that reason plus it cleans your pockets. It's an issue with all brass. However, a single stage with a universal decap die is super fast

 

I have a separate tool head for my 650 with just a Lee universal decapping die and between that and the case feeder I can bang them out in no time also. I could probably do in decent day enough .40 brass to last me a year.

Why do you care if you are cleaning the primer pocket? It makes no difference to anything.

So we can say our primer pockets are cleaner than your's...

 

Seriously, just something that makes me feel better being I tumble wet, no data to back up anything that says it's an advantage, actually it probably makes no difference, just as I said, just something that makes me fell better, plus the extra steps I take with how I do this, watching them go around on the press, the added handling of each piece of brass I get a better look at them to make sure I don't load a piece of crap brass.

In rifle it makes a huge difference. Your primers seat more even thus leading to more accurate rounds.

 

I just lay them out on a towel and let them air dry

Yeah in rifle its essential for accuracy. In pistol its a mere pleasent side effect of having to deprime to facilitate drying. Also Harry, wet is healthier. I have no outdoor structure to tumble in and my basement was getting dusty. That dust has some nasty stuff in it....

 

This is dust free!

Yeah in rifle its essential for accuracy. In pistol its a mere pleasent side effect of having to deprime to facilitate drying. Also Harry, wet is healthier. I have no outdoor structure to tumble in and my basement was getting dusty. That dust has some nasty stuff in it.... This is dust free!

 

Nice, so not only is reloading healthy for my wallet, it health for me also, have to tell the wife that so I can get that look from here again..

I've loaded a "few" rifle rounds for accuracy when I cared about that game, and primer pocket cleanliness was sooo far down the issues list ... Uniform brass weight, uniform neck tension, uniform flash hole, proper bullet depth seating for a given barrel, all of those made such a huge difference compared with primer pocket cleaning.

 

But hey, if you think it makes you shoot better, then it does, so carry on.

If you are shooting 600 yards + then every bit counts. If all it takes is deprimimg before cleaning then why not. Accuracy is all about consistency. Your brass will actually be

More consistent cleaned this way since there's no soot accumulation altering case volume. Will you ever notice the difference? No but it can't hurt and it's easy...

Why do you care if you are cleaning the primer pocket? It makes no difference to anything.

 

Precision Rifle.

If dry tumbling, leave the primers in so media doesn't block the primer hole. Never tumble different brass (9mm with .40 for example) they WILL get stuck in each other.