I've about had enough.....

Elmer keith once said, "I prefer every man to scratch his own fleas in whatever manner he chooses." ;) I think that pretty well fits here.

I do all my reloading related jobs out in my shed. When it's time to tumble a bunch of brass, I wait till the end of that session, put the brass in the tumbler, a few strips of used dryer sheets a capful of polish and a couple squirts of denatured alcohol. Put the top on the timber, turn it on, close up the shed and go turn it off the next morning. Separation is done outside. :cool:
Paul B.
 
Dump decapped brass in barrel.
Dump pins in barrel.
Fill with water.
Add some Dawn and a pinch of Lemishine.
Put lid on barrel.
Put barrel on tumbler.
Turn knob to 3 hours.

It's utterly exhausting.
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You forgot the best part(s).


Even so... how about a comparison to vibratory tumbling:
Dump brass in bowl.
Install lid.
Turn on for desired time.
 
Put on strainer lid and dump filthy water.
Fill with clean water and dump 3-4 times.
Dump brass in seperator and turn 9-10 times.
Dump brass on towel and blot.
Put in oven on cookie sheet for 45 minutes. 200 degrees.
Done.

I have a Dillon vibratory tumbler, too. Great for getting the sizing lube off with 20-40 grit cob.
 
Would also like to say that the magnet is not for seperating the pins from the brass. It's for picking up the occasional stray pin. 99% of the pins come out while dumping the water. Rest come out while seperating.
 
I like my pins, used dry walnut for forty years. Pins just do a better job all around. Inside, outside, and primer pockets. It is no big deal to me to pour off the water through a good strainer and rinse the pins and cases under warm water in the utility sink. While rinsing I shake all the pins out of the cases and into the strainer, then I put the cases on a cookie sheet covered with paper towels and into the oven at 175-200 for 20 min. When I take 'em out it's like having a batch of brand new cases. CLEAN, dry and ready to process. Not to mention my hands are pretty clean too. :cool:

I always de-prime with a universal de-priming die, and some guys use wash n wax instead of dish soap, keeps the cases from tarnishing in case they sit around for a while.

When I anneal, I think I get more accurate results from painting the tempilac onto a clean surface inside the neck, as opposed to a layer of carbon. :D
 
Is it just reloading for bolt actions that promotes the idea of tumbling brass?
Why do you guys go to that much trouble?
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1. No, it's not just loading for bolt actions. For me, it's the fact that I like to start off with clean brass when I reload, and if I'm going to put any effort into cleaning it, might as well put the 1/100th more effort to put the brass in a tumbler and let the tumbler do the work for me. That's just me though. Also, I like having clean brass because it makes it a heck of a lot easier to see any cracks, defects or other aspects that would lead me to toss said brass in the recycle bin instead of finding out it is bad brass the hard way.

2. If tumbling brass is "trouble", we live in different worlds. It takes almost no actual effort and a bare minimum of time for me to put some brass, water and wash-n-wax into a drum and flip a switch to let the drum do its thing for a few hours.

Vibratory tumbling works, i'm sure that rinsing brass in soapy water works also. Whatever works, more power to you. SSTL tumbling just happens to work the best IMO and requires essentially the exact same effort that any other method of cleaning brass does.
 
I dry tumble out in the garage leaving the tumbler to do its thing. I always wash my hands after having done ANYTHING associated with hand loading.
 
....of this stupid tumbling media with its toxic dust. (Did I get your attention??)

Does anyone use the franklin armory rotary tumbler with included SS media? Thoughts? Seems to be the most economical way to get into SS. Ive been happy with my franklin vibratory tumbler for the pittance I paid for it so the F.A.R.T doesn't bother me being not the fanciest in town.
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At first I thought you were talking about the media and their Trump comments.

I have a FA Rotary Tumbler and I love it. When paired with the FA Media Separator, it's dead simple to use. Great results, too.
 
converted dry media user here. I picked up the FART (great acronym) on Black Friday and have used it a few times now, once on already 'cleaned' brass. The pins do a much better job of cleaning the brass, the water came out very dark, even on the already cleaned brass. And the primer pockets, oh my.
 
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