Thank you for this video. I have a red tumbler that has just died on me. It is fantastic for smaller amounts of brass and a whole lot quieter. So I am watching videos to determine which one to get next. As I saw mentioned earlier, use a universal deprimer to deprime before cleaning. You get the flash holes cleaned and makes for easier priming later. I use a kitchenaid strainer with extendable legs and a towel in it for the initial dump of pins and brass into a sink (this way I am not using dirty water water for media separation). I then dump the brass and pins into a RCBS rotary separator something like you have. What I like about this one is it is self contained with a lid on it and you are not slinging pins everywhere. If you put water in it to about the half way level of the lower half it gives your brass a good rinse and all the pins go through to the bottom of the container. This is a lot easier and cleaner method of separating brass and media.
Have used this tumbler for awhile doing .38s/9mm/.380 acps & .44 magnums. My procedure is a little more effort than some but for me it works well & you almost need sunglasses on to view the brass when completed. First I separate by caliber, using pins I do a first tumble. Then lub the cases ( yes, even with Lee carbide dies) de prime & flair the brass for initial bullet seating. Then second tumble to then clean the primer pockets & remove lub. Weigh power / seat bullet & then a good crimp and done. By the way one brass case of lemi shine is best....do not use a lot. Hot water works best with Dawn & wetting the sealing gaskets will help in water tight sealing. Overall solid video. Thanks
Another reason it might be better to remove the spent primers is to avoid creating a liquid mess of chelated lead products when mixing with the lead styphnate ash of the primer charge...then dumping it down the drain into the water treatment plant. This would be better handled if turned in at a hazardous material receiving station. This might be regarded as very unpopular in places like Flint Michigan with problems of lead in their potable water supply, and get you run out of town.
If you hear someone speak of tumbling brass and use the term "hours", they are doing it wrong. 2 phases wash with dawn to remove dirt - 30 mins decap brass, resize polish with phosphoric acid and pins to polish - 45 mins Marc M-252 Tuff Stuff Commercial Cleaner - amazon 20% phosphoric acid cap full to get water out of brass, place on towel and shake back and forth as if polishing a bowling ball
I like that media separator, I have one from Cabela's, it is there own, and I hate it. It is hard to pour your brass into it, because it is to weak. It falls apart wile pouring brass into it. I get by with it but it is a pain in the back end if you know what I mean. I hope you get 1,000 subscribers in 30 days bro. Thanks for this great video, You did better then I did. I get all nervous talking to a camera. But I tried.
I would add a step - at the end of your cycle, drain as much water out of the drum as possible w/o losing pins. Then run cold water into the drum until it starts to flow out fairly clear. Drain and THEN place the brass and pins in a separator (I use a RCBS). Most of the pins end up in the bottom of the separator, it's clean, and I don't have to worry about the carbon and lead water disposal.
Get a media separator(clam shell type) fill the bottom pan of the separator with water and run the brass and media in the tumbler type of separator. Franklin arsenal makes the clam shell type of media separator. The water helps rinse all the pins out of the brass.
You can get the Extreme Rebel 17, for 200 - 250 and is much better constructed. Although I do like that one how you can easily use the magnet when you dump it.
I have used the Franklin Tumbler for well past 50k rounds of just 9mm let alone 223, 308, and others. I cannot complain as it just keeps kicking butt. I have not tried the Rebel 17 but it looks like a great tumbler. I do know this tumbler and would recommend it to anyone.
Yes I know the video has been on for a bit. But I saw so many say it was high priced. I know deals are out there you just need to take the time to look. But I liked your video have a great Christmas.
The trick to getting EVERY pin out of the cases is to use the Franklin Arsenal media separator with the bucket full of water. Rotate the separator while the lower half is immersed in the water and every pin will "wash" out.
Does anyone, besides me, have a problem of the gaskets leaking? I have gotten to the point of using a hammer to make them stop leaking. They seem like perfect gaskets. No rip, tear or cuts. Even when I take only one side off to do my rinsing, the other side will leak when I put it back on the machine even though I never touched it. It will do this every time. Absolutely no complaints on how good it cleans brass.
Tune in at exactly 11:20 and hear a creepy, ghastly voice whisper "dad". Suddenly I noticed the gravestone in the back that says RIP on it. Extremely creepy. Had to turn off the video at that point.
HaqqAttak please elaborate on why you can't use pins on fired primers and why I would waste even more time washing a second time. I have deprimed once then washed only to find pins stuck in primer holes. Never again.
I just did what the manual said. It's not that you can't, you just don't have to. It's for people who deprime and resize in a single die. The pins being stuck in the primer holes is a flaw of the design. The main purpose of the pins is scrubbing the primer hole and inside of the case.
Hi. Just chipping in to say that getting the right size pins is very important. I prefer to deprime after one quick wash as an extra step. The pins should fall through and never get stuck in the primer pocket. It takes a little longer but I don't reload really large quantities and do have the time. Oh, good place to get pins is Bullseye reloadind.. Question. Does it matter if you use LemiShine original vs boost?
is it possible to get your brass to a mirror finish with these? I know you don't need it to be perfect for reloading but I have another application where I need them mirror finished. Would a dry tumbler do better? thanks
Cmax Arms - I average about 50% just brass. I can go 75% but it goes faster and looks better if kept around 50%. primarily I follow the weight limit they have.
The pins do not damage the brass. The normal prep procedures you do will still need to be completed. Those procedures are normally, depriming, sizing, chamfering, deburring, etc.
And ask all the question you need to! This is why the video is here. For us all to learn. Side note if you head to the facebook page we are giving away a glock 17 if you are subscribed to this channel and follow the facebook page. Giveaway is Christmas day. facebook.com/crucibledt2013
oh nice. just did both thank you!ok so the pins wont debur is what you are saying? I use casings for another application. when I cut them in my chop saw there are a lot of burs. Would I be better going with a dry media that is a little more abrasive?
Great Video!!! Thank you! I am looking to get started reloading and I am trying to decide on equipment. I'd rather buy something once than buy something, not be happy and buying something else...I'm pretty sure I'm going to go with this to clean my brass. I'm curious do you remove the old primers first then clean or clean it then remove the primers during the reloading process? I guess my real question is do you clean the primer pockets before reloading?
Joe Krol - Normally I didn't remove primers first and never had an issue. Then one day I had a brilliant idea. Remove the primers and then use the wet tumbler. It was a brilliant idea until I took the brass out and realized I had the stainless steel media caught up in a ton of the primer pockets. Was a pain in the butt. Will never do it again. Deprime last in my opinion.
LOL ok that makes sense!!! Thanks for sharing I'll leave them in. I'm planning on starting this spring. I have two friends that own private ranges. One has already given me permission to collect brass and lead. I'm looking to do the whole collect wash and melt the lead into ingots sell some keep some and cast my own bullets. I plan on reloading, .45 ACP, 9 mm, .357 mag and 5.56 or .223 (depending on which gun I finally get).
Awesome! Those are some great connections to have. Whenever you can get brass you should do it. Reloading is almost not even worth while, from a financial standpoint, if you have to purchase brass in my opinion.
*impressed with quality. my unit came 🔎🔍 **allabout.wiki/Lyman** with a pound or so of what looks like stainless steel shot and more importantly a spare o-ring for the access hatch and a toothed-belt for the motor-drum drive. Nice touch.the drum and base are both larger than I expected and heavy.the materials and build quality seem good to very good.it's been running on the slowest speed for the last couple of hours with2 pounds or so of my steel parts to be deburred,4 pounds or so of 1" ceramic stars andwater with a little bit of dawn soapfilled to 1/2 the drum volume.I weighed the drum half filled with the previous mentioned items and it came out a little under 9 **pounds.like**: I like the way the drum hatch gets locked.the robustness of the build and motor.con: no instructions that I can see on how to work the base dials/controls, but I got it running by just turning the knobs.grin.not sure if the timer is on or what the 1/0 switch does (it's not on/off to the motor), timer use maybe ??I'll have another look in the box for the instructions or maybe on line .... this is not a big enough of an issue to take rating stars off my initial 5 star rating.update 10.1.2017: ran it 24hrs/day for 4 days straight with 4 different batches of parts and it worked without issues. My a36 steel parts came out as expected with a nice even finish.BTW not mentioned but as I state in the previous line, I've been running it without a 'timer' limit. I suspect the '1/0' switch when switched to '0' disables the timer ... however I got it to work this way, it's the way I wanted, so I can run it overnight without a 3hr reset of the timer.*
I will say that the Frankford Arsenal wet tumbler is a great option. It alleviates some problems that a dry tumbler has and is likely cheaper in the long run. It is not without its faults though. I would highly recommend you check one out, heck it is ever doable to build your own, and see if you like it. Thanks for watching! Adam
+sandmanfrancis7 - The tumbler is relatively quiet when compare to a vibratory tumbler. That said, you are still running a motor which causes noise. I have mine in my basement and if I close the door to the first floor I really don't hear it.
Clay 2534 mostly because those little pins get stuck in the primer pockets. Also, I have always cleaned before depriming. In 223 I clean it when it gets reamed out but in 9mm no need.
You have to inspect each piece of brass to make sure it doesn't have any pins in it. So I'm thinking just drain the water and pull each piece of brass out of the tumbler by hand - shake it out - and just leave the steel pins in the drum. You think this would work?
Would you willingly pay triple the asking price for one tho? That's what they sell for in gun shops here downunder!. I can buy online for e.g. thru amazon for what you quote - but they won't ship to us overseas. So the only way to get one is thru a firearms importer (wholesaler) who supplies to a gun shop (retailer) who then sells them for triple the $US Asking price by the time, exchange rate and postage and wholesale - retail markups are all added!. No one in their right mind is going to pay $500 for a piece a cheap plastic from China. I can just go down to our version of Walmart (Bunnings), and buy 6 inch dia PVC pipe a foot long, with those Ether glue on rubber O ring inspection Openings and screw cap for each end of the pipe. Glue in some sawn in half length ways 1 inch PVC pipe inside to make ridges to agitate the brass and pins. Put on a pair of parallel shafts with rubber wheels a old 1/2 HP engine & some pulleys / fan belts and you have a tumbler for under $100. It looks like a neat solution to tumbling brass but really - at basically half the cost of a New Tikka T3 Rifle, for a piece of cheap Chinese plastic? You could even use a 1 gallon paint tin cleaned out and just hammer the lid on and pry it off with a screw driver if you are of a mind too. Franford Arsenal and Lyman etc must have their collective heads up their clackers if they think anyone's going to pay $500+ for that crap!. The magnet thing you can buy online for cleaning up black sands in gold pan dishes from any metal detecting shop for $20. $5 for a wire mesh strainer to separate media from brass. Its a great product by the look but io you can't get it to international markets without tripling the price, then your not going to sell many are you? Is it any wonder America's broke to the tune of what 21 Trillion? How do you expect to have jobs etc when you have a free trade agreement bot worth the paper its written on - because you use $200+ postage rates on an item like this, ,which is really just a defacto trade tarrif barrier!. The rest of the world are well 'n truly "Over America', I seriously doubt even the Trumpster can make America great gain because first you'd have to drag company's like Lyman and Frankford Arsenals collective heads out of their own butts! Why let Amazon and the like, Optics planet etc) even have access to sell your products if they won't ship overseas in order to protect a rot and rip off thru the importers and dealer systems!. You'd do better to make it a condition of supply of your product that they do ship internationally! We know when we are being screwed over and that's when whole nations of shooter start boycotting your products. Shooters will just come up with a work around & share it online with all the other shooters in their nation...suddenly you have zero exports coz you got too greedy! Like I said Trump can't make America great again while your manufacturers / retailers have their head sup their own asses. You need a fundamental re set of your business model mind set! You can;t pull this sh!t these days without potential clients / customers discovering these sweetheart deals designed to rip us off top the tune of 300% markups and calling it exchange rate and postage... We can do the math ourselves - most of us in our heads coz we went to school and got a first world education too. Screw Frankford Arsenal and Screw Lyman - I'm off to Bunnings to build my own case tumbler... this ripoff is just unadulterated bullshyte! Cheers
So we have a couple problems here. 1) No I would not pay $500 for this item. 2) We pay less here because we have more shooters and buyers as well as the manufacturer. 3) You need a company in your country making them and selling them too you. (that is not a US problem) 4) The price issue is not indicative of needing a reset. The company likely makes very little money selling it out of the country so you are a sub market to them. We have them here on store shelves and they are constantly being purchased. Amazon for example sells a metric ton of them a year. Again they are worried about the big market not the small one. 5) Make your own as you mentioned you could. If this option didn't cost so little I would have made my own. 6) Move the the US where you can shoot what you want, when you want, in your backyard if you move to a "free state" and not a commie one.
John Bailey grab one at that price. They are $164 shipped 2 day mail on amazon. I am not a fan of eBay after receiving used items marked new but at that price, especially if shipping is included, take a chance.
"generally down the drain" which means right out the local river.......... "Otherwise I water grass/trees with it." I dont even know what that means - filter it somehow or what?????
holy crap......... after 200-300 dump of these - where do you think they goes?? Right down your local river....... YES !! Thats why americans NEED to be more aware where your local dumps go......... DO NOT BELEAVE Donald Trump who think the shit will go into space somehow mysterious........
