Shiny ammo is an added bonus.
Shiny ammo is an added bonus.
Last edited by dbateman; 02-07-2016 at 06:34 PM.
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kimbers have more issues than time magazine.
Did some cleaning today with a buddy, 2250 9mm cases easily fits into the tumbler with room to spare, with stainless media too.
...and to think today you just have fangs
Rob Engh
BC, Canada
I had my first experiences FARTing last night. Dumped probably 70% of an ammo can worth of 9mm cases plus about 200-300 45acp cases in and 2 hours later, voila, shiny brass. I think I might just be converted.
So to follow up on my last post, I learned the important lesson of not mixing pistol brass. The combination of 9mm and 45 cases, along with the pins, meant I spent quite a while with pliers separating stuck cases. I think I'll be sorting my pistol brass first next time.
Good to know. I've not wet tumbled yet, and I often Ultrasonic multiple calibers at a time. Still a pain sometimes.Originally Posted by Matt O
I recently started using the stainless pins, for alot of the same reasons, dust, etc, I bought a rebel 17, before I found the FART, still I'm happy with the results. One of my biggest complaints about the vibrating tumblers is that all of them will burn the motor out, largely due to the design. With the motor on the bottom of the bowl, and a peice of steel on the shaft below the motor creating the vibration, it's just a matter of time before the motors berings wear out and it's done.. So far, in 8yrs or so, I've went through 2 large Dillon tumblers, the motors are burnt out on both, Dillon offered to "rebuild" them, if I sent the whole thing out to them,along with a check for $110. You'd clearly be better off just buying a new one. Now to be fair, I got my moneys worth out of them, both lasted about 4years, but when the motors go, you're faced with a choice, buy a new one, or try something else. This time around I went with something else... At least with the rebel17, if the motor goes, I can get a replacement, they sell parts (something dillon wont do for tumblers) . As a real acid test, I had some 9mm, and .45 brass that had dried mud on it both inside and out, I had seperated this brass some time ago as I was'nt sure how to clean it, I had bought a Harvey Depriming tool and deprimed the brass and loaded it up (seperately of course) It came out beautiful... clean inside and out. Anyway, I was quite happy with the results. I'm pretty much sold on this..
Last edited by ralph; 04-02-2016 at 10:13 PM.
Interesting discussion. When I started loading, it was all .38 Special, and I didn't clean brass. Friends started getting tumblers, and eventually, we would get together and have brass cleaning parties for .38 and 9mm. I started loading for rifles, and it certainly seemed more important to have clean brass.
A friend decided to upgrade his tumbler to a SS pin tumbler, and gave me his vibrating tumbler. Seems to work fine still, but I never thought about lead dust.
Thinking is now going on here.
I didn't use to worry about or think about lead dust either (though I should have), but have become quite conscious about it now that I have a kid. Of course I probably never had enough going on in the brain box for it to affect me, but my daughter takes after my wife thankfully and I'd prefer not to inhibit her mental development.
Coincidentally I also have almost no time to shoot now, so that cuts down on the lead-dust-from-the-range factor. I am, however, still slowly processing brass for the occasional range trip and the hopes of getting back into training more regularly a year or so from now, so I figured I'll go with the brass cleaning method that is the "cleanest" in terms of avoiding pollution in and around zee house. So far the wet processing method seems pretty decent. Speaking of which, I think I'll get another load of brass going...
I'm just getting ready to try and reload some .300BLK this week and plan to clean brass using ultrasonic but completely forgot about drying the brass after decapping and cleaning. Maybe an old oven sheet (yes I know, not for food use)?
#RESIST
How we(Mrs. SC and I) do it-
All brass collected at the range goes into a mesh lingerie bag. Most of the shooting we do is outdoors so lots of gravel, dirts, etc. gets mixed in. The holes in the mesh bag act like a screen and allows the crap to fall out the bottom.
We bring it all home and run it through these brass sorters. This is done outdoors.
The brass that is going to get reloaded, typically 9mm, gets thrown in a bucket with a little Lemi Shine crystals and a couple drops of dish soap diluted in hot water, enough to submerse the brass. Let stand for 30 minutes, stir, then another 30 minutes. They are then dumped on a towel to air dry. Living in a dry climate makes this happen pretty quick. This gets 80% of the crud off the cases and they probably could be reloaded at this point.
After that they are run in a tumbler with corn cob media and a little polish for 30 minutes. This gets most of the remaining crud off and gives them a nice smooth finish for the sizing die. The tumbler is placed outside and is left open while it is running for the dust to escape.
Mrs. SC and I recently had our blood lead levels checked, both of us were in the normal range, and have been reloading together for nearly 25 years
-Seconds Count. Misses Don't-
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