Brass Case Cleaner

I went back and forth on this one. I ended up buying the Berry's from Brownells. It has a motor made in China but from what I understand it is wired better than the Frankford Arsenal. The Franford Arsenals seem to be hit or miss. They either run forever or die within a year. Many report the motor works but the wires vibrate themselves loose.

So all that said I bought the Berrys from Brownells with some other stuff and got free shipping, $150 min, and if I ever have a problem I will simply return it the item under their 100% guarantee and have it replaced. Berrys has a 3 year warranty on their motor and it is only $52 at Brownells which is cheaper than buying from Berrys directly. So I see it as a lifetime purchase!!! :D

http://www.brownells.com/reloading/...rs-accessories/berry-s-tumbler-prod36851.aspx

They were on back order when I placed my order yesterday but are not instock!
 
What the devil! UPS just delivered my Lyman 600 turbo brass cleaner and when I tried it out the thing ran about 10 minutes then turned on and off several times, then died completely. When I tried to call the service number, after waiting on hold about 15 minutes, a blasted recording told me they "weren't available". What company isn't available at 3:00 PM? Thanks a bunch Lyman.:mad: I left a message on their facebook page too. Guess I'll need to see what recourse, if any, I have through Amazon. I swear every time something like this happens that I'll never order through the mail again, but I always do. LoL

I'll probably be massively PO'd by the time I try Lymans customer no service number tomorrow.
 
Thanks WVsig, I didn't know Amazon would do that, guess I have come to expect the worse, first. I just came from the Amazon site and they have even scheduled a UPS pickup for the return, and a credit back to my card. I'm still PO'd at Lyman, but Amazon looks ready to stand behind what they sell. That is rarer than hen's teeth in my experience. Guess it's time to pick my brass out of this thing and start looking at other brands of shakers. (I had a bad feeling when reading Lymans waranty that specifically limited coverage for the motor to 90 days???)
 
Still want to buy American, even after the Lyman fiasco, I think Berrys is the way to go. I have to go to Cabelas to pick up a site to store order anyway and think I'll see if their tumbler (Cabelas) is in stock. Looks like Berrys is the only one to give 3 years on the motor, at least I'll know where to get parts. :)
 
Thanks WVsig, I didn't know Amazon would do that, guess I have come to expect the worse, first. I just came from the Amazon site and they have even scheduled a UPS pickup for the return, and a credit back to my card. I'm still PO'd at Lyman, but Amazon looks ready to stand behind what they sell. That is rarer than hen's teeth in my experience. Guess it's time to pick my brass out of this thing and start looking at other brands of shakers. (I had a bad feeling when reading Lymans waranty that specifically limited coverage for the motor to 90 days???)
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I would look to order the Berrys unit from Brownells. $52 and backed by Brownells 100% lifetime guarantee.

http://www.brownells.com/reloading/...rs-accessories/berry-s-tumbler-prod36851.aspx

Quiet operation, Large 4 qt bowl, Clear Lid, In-line on/off switch, Lg easy-grip knob. The best deal on the market! Limited lifetime warranty means lifetime on the plastic, 3 years on the motor. Warranty is void if unit is used for anything besides tumbling metallic cartridges with dry media.
 
If I'm not mistaken, the Cabelas tumbler is made by Berrys and the warranty is through both Berrys and Cabelas. We have a Cabelas outpost here in Saginaw.

Just found out Cabelas changed their "satisfaction guarantee" to 90 days...after that I guess you just have to spit. I ordered the Berrys from Brownells.
 
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Guys are all abuzz about rock tumblers and steel pin (wet) . Check it out on You Tube to find out all you need to know .

Me after years of dry tumbling I just can not add water . I bought a Thumbs Tumbler and use Corn Cobs and love it . It works great very quiet and fast .

I had a bunch of 44 Mag ammo I loaded 20 years ago and the brass was looking very bad (dark) I would put maybe 200 in my tumbler and run it 4 hours it looks like new .
 
Don't know if you are in a large or small city but if you have a Harbor Freight their unit works fine and is generally cheaper than others.
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I went that route and the thing never worked at all. Like all Harbor freight products, they either work or they don't, usually they don't. Cheap junk that look good in the package to get you to buy it.

One of their products that has worked good so far is the digital calipers I bought there. Accurate.


I use this along with steel pins to get the cases looking like new. It's a rock tumbler from Harbor Freight. They also have a dual cylinder version that I got on sale for less than the single.
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Grisbald, How much of the pins and cases do you put in that small tumbler? I have the same tumbler but my experiences with Harbor Freight products tells me not to push them even close to the limits.
 
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I need to stay away from YouTube. :rolleyes:

After watching hours of wet tumbling videos and seeing the fantastic end results I just had to go and order one. What sold me was how well it cleans the inside of the cases and primer pockets and how quick it does it. Plus since there isn't all the dust, I can do it right in my reloading room.

Now I am stuck with a brand new RCBS vibratory tumbler and media. Should I sell it or is there a use that I am not aware of that would justify keeping it?
 
I just unpacked my Berrys 400 and all I can say is that the build quality is 100% superior to the Frankford Arsenal which I looked at and considered purchasing.

I am running my first batch as I type. I will post pics of the brass when it is done.
 
Just got my Berrys 400 shaker from Brownells today and I must say I am impressed. The quality of the unit is easy to see compared to that blasted Lyman that failed 10 minutes out of the box. ((I talked to the Lyman rep that called me and told her making a product as cheap as possible just to increase the company's bottom line will eventually lead to disaster, as will the weasel clause limiting the MOTOR warranty to 90 days. She wanted to work with me to resolve the issue and I told her Amazon already stepped up and took care of it, so we had nothing more to talk about, ever....))

My brass has been happily shaking away for the last 45 minutes, which already beats the Lyman that I had.

I like the cooling fan on the Berrys unit and the vibration is hardly transferred to the base at all, noise isn't bad either. It doesn't "walk" across the table like the Lyman did. I don't know about the instructions that say to put on a concrete floor, unless they are afraid someone will operate the shaker on a carpet which might block the fan, maybe. Anyway it seems quite happy shakin away on the kitchen linoleum floor.

Thanks VWsig for your suggestion to try this. I like it. :)
 
I use a tiny pail with a lid, a mesh bag with drawstring (like a laundry bag but smaller) and Frankford Arsenal's brass cleaner. It's a 40:1 ratio. Works great. I let them soak for 20 minutes, drain the bag and pour the brass on to a cookie sheet and let it sit in front of the furnace or fan for awhile.
 
people love the wet stainless tumblers because they are 50x more effective than any other method. Once you try it, regardless of how many cases you clean (5, 50 or 500), you will never go back.

That said, there's some cheap ways to do it. I even put cases in a quart tupperware container and shook them by hand for 15 minutes. Worked better than 10 hours in a vibratory with walnut.

I had a funny thought... remember the ice cream makers disguised as a soccer ball? Load milk, ice and salt, kick around for 20 minutes and voila.. ice cream. What if you put brass and stainless in that contraption and kicked it around the yard. Clean brass and exercise?
 
Lyman 1200 still works great

I have a Lyman 1200 Turbo that I bought many years ago and it still works great. Recently I replaced the walnut media with Frankfort Arsenal Quick-N-EZ media I bought at my LGS and it works poorly. It takes overnight and sometimes 24 hours to clean the brass. Just bought a 25# box of Harbor Freight walnut media and threw out the FA stuff. Looks like it should work better, much larger, sharper pieces.

Harbor Freight is hit and miss. I have a cordless drill that is the best one I've ever had. Had a brad nailer that decided to fire on it's own, randomly. Bought a dial caliper for 12 bucks that works good and is accurate. Looked at a Lyman model at LGS to see the difference and it is the exact same one for 32 bucks. The Chinese can make good stuff if the distributor keeps an eye on them but they also turn out real crap as well.
 
Like a lot of guys, I sweated case cleaners, and tried plenty of them.

A real tumbler DRUM, with steel pins does the best at cleaning EVERYTHING, primer pockets, inside the case, ect.

I have vibratory cleaners, I have ultrasonic cleaners,
I choked and wavered around the tumbler with pins for years, but I have to say, it's worked quite well,
Wish I would have seen one in action sooner.
 
My current problem with wet tumbling is that I have run out of old stockpiled brass to clean. My modified HF dual works well,quiet and efficient. There is a sweet spot in the number of cases, you want it pretty full, with just enough room for water, otherwise it tends to slide more instead of tumbling taking longer. It is truly amazing the amount of crud that come out with the soapy water.
 
Panfisher, i'm assuming the inside of your drum is round and smooth, with no facets? One quick fix is to get a hot glue gun and put 8 or 10 fat beads of glue on the inside wall of the drum perpendicular to the rotation. This should get even the smallest load of brass "tumbling" rather than just skidding down the inside of the drum as it turns.

Old rock tumbling trick to get them to churn a little more aggressively.
 
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