Tumbler Question

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HeedJSU

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Ok, so yesterday I'm in Gander Mtn, and they had a deal on a lyman twin tumbler that I thought was too good to pass up. I grabbed the tumbler, stopped at a petsmart and got 7 lbs of walnut and 9lbs of corncob for another 15 bucks, and a bottle of nu-finish at the dollar store before I got home (ok, so I lurk on the reloading forums a lot....:neener: I'm collecting the stuff I need to start reloading.)

The tumbler didn't come with a manual (or a box, for that matter) so I got the basic instructions off the net from lyman.

My question to you guys is this; What do I do as far as loading? I'm using a 50/50 mix with a capful of the nu-finish, filled about 3/4 of the way in the tumbler, but do I cram as much brass in the thing as I can get, or do I just put a small amount in? The instructions say it will hold 350ish 38 spl cases (which is what I'm cleaning) Also, do most of you just let it run for two hours and call it quits, or is it more subjective? Any thoughts or additional tips would be appreciated.

Justin
 
I would not have mixed the media. I use walnut hulls and a little brass polish.

Usually run for an hour or two. Just long enough to clean them up. The longer you run them the nicer they look, but after a while they won't get any cleaner, just shinier. I have run some especially grunchy brass overnight. I mostly do 38 special cases these days and an hour or two seems to work pretty good. Cases with larger mouths seem to clean up faster inside the case, I guess that makes sense. The times I have done .223 brass, I have had to run them much longer to get the inside to clean up nicely. YMMV.

I put some strips of paper towels in with them. They seem to soak up a lot of the dirt and grime. Others suggest dryer softener sheets.

I dump dirty brass in mine and when I get around to it I run it. No set amount. Sometimes it is pretty packed, other times it is mostly empty. Does not seem to make any real difference.
 
Inspect...Tumble for 15 to 30
minutes...Inspect...Resize/decap...Inspect...Tumble for 1 or more hours...Do all the other prep required for a finished product...Prime and reload.
 
I fill the tumbler bowl 2/3 full of corncob media with a little polishing liquid. Then I put in the cases until the bowl is 90% full. I let it go until the cases are real shiny and bright. The time needed is determined by the amount of cases and age of media. It may take two hours or 8 hours. I am at the other end of the spectrum. I clean, inspect, reload - I do not deprime before tumbling. YMMV
 
The corn cob I bought from the pet shop looks a lot different then the Lyman's media. Its called Kay- Kob I hope I grabbing the right stuff. The granules seem kind of big to some to big to go in the brass
 
I'm new to reloading too, so if I'm doing something wrong, please let me know.

I think that I might have the same tumbler as you - mine came with two orange tubs, an orange sieve type lid and a clear holeless lid.

I'll tumble with corncob media without additives for 1 - 2 hours using the big tub 1/2 to 2/3 full with media. Then I will carefully place the small tub on top of the big tub with the sieve lid in between and tumble for 15 - 30 minutes to separate the media from the cases. For straight neck pistol cases that I size with carbide dies, I am now done with the tumbler. However, for bottleneck shoulder rifle cases I will also tumble after resizing to clean off the case lubricant (only 30 - 60 minutes this time around). For some 223 cases I just cleaned, only 2 out of ~60 cases had a bit of media stuck in the primer pocket. This was easily dislodged with a tap from a hex key laying around on the reloading bench.

I haven't approached the upper limit of cases to load (the most I've done is about 150 cases of 45 ACP at once), but I did make the mistake once of trying to clean 45 ACP and 38 special cases at the same time. That was a mess. Cases got stuck inside each other and were a pain to get unstuck. My advice is to not mix calibers when using the tumbler.

Good luck and stay safe!
 
I use walnut by itself. I fill the tumbler 2/3 to 3/4 full of walnut. I cut back to 1/2 cap full of Nu-finish and didn't notice any difference. I fill with brass to the top of the tumbler but make sure the lid will fit back on. I run for 2 hours and they are done. I am going to try a walnut/corncob mix with my next pistol brass. I found out the hard way you don't want to use corn cob with 223 brass.
Rusty
 
Like RustyFN, I do not mix medias, and tend to run wallnut on bottlenecks, especially those of 6mm and .224.

I seive the pet store corn cob media, taking the larger chunks to a blender for short grinding bursts, then reseive until it all fits.

I do not tumble deprimed cases, as it is a pain to inspect and remove media from the flash holes. However, I do tumble once fired brass or brass that is new to me, then "flash hole debur" it, not for accuracy purposes, but to prevents media from sticking in any future tumblings.

I have used a shot of Turtle wax in the media for 16 years with no ill effects.
 
I run one caliber brass in Kay-Cob media--the 1/8" if I can get it--and Meguiar's Gold Quality Metal Polish for several hours. Want my brass to be as pretty as the copper plated X-treme bullets.

I may not have the prettiest groups, but I have been told I have the prettiest ammo. :)

Another thread covered alternate sources for the cob that I will try once this bag of Kay-Cob is done.
 
"My question to you guys is this; What do I do as far as loading? I'm using a 50/50 mix with a capful of the nu-finish, filled about 3/4 of the way in the tumbler"

This is a good mix. I've recently tried it based on the recommendation from Idano and am very pleased with the results. So I am going to stay with this mix and recommend you do as well.

"but do I cram as much brass in the thing as I can get, or do I just put a small amount in? The instructions say it will hold 350ish 38 spl cases (which is what I'm cleaning) Also, do most of you just let it run for two hours and call it quits, or is it more subjective? Any thoughts or additional tips would be appreciated."

I wouldn't cram it full, because my results with tumblers indicate tumblers are like washing machines, where you get cleaner clothes with less water and a faster cleaning time when you don't overload the washer. By that, I mean use your own judgement, but allow a good enough media to case ratio the tumbler can move the media around on the cases.

As far as tumbler time goes, it's pretty subjective, based on how clean you as an individual want the cases. I like mine to be "reasonably clean" without being shiny new. This can be done in about 15 minutes with once fired brass if the brass isn't trashed, sooty and nasty. With older stained and nasty range pickup brass of ill repute, it can take longer. But in all cases, if you balance the load, I think you'll find you can go through your stash pretty quickly if you toss in a double handful to start with, tumble for 20 minutes, then see how things go and adjust from there.

Hope this helps,

Dave
 
Ok, I do have a Lyman Turbo Twin tumbler. I just sorted some .223 Rem brass and have at least 1/2 gallon of a particular headstamp to clean. It looks like 1/4 gallon of 223 brass is what will reasonably fit into the large tumbler body. I'll let you know tomorrow if it works well (wife is sleeping now - tumbler too loud).

I hope this volume measurement is helpful - it should translate to almost any brass. Well, something like 50 BMG might not quite work, but most common brasses should work out about the same.
 
+1 on the dryer sheets. I read it here, tried it yesterday, worked great and really removes a lot of dust from the media. Paper towel should work fine too.

How long you run them depends on their initial condition. Since I just started using the dryer sheets to keep the media cleaner, I think it's going to last me much longer than previous reloading cycles since it seems to pull the crud out to the dryer sheets so you can just toss it and put some more in.

I haven't gone through even one gallon of media in reloading a couple thousand rounds of various flavors in the past year. I don't keep track that well, it's a hobby, not a jobby.
 
HeedJSU,

Like Dave said your 50/50 mix is fine. I use a 50/50 walnut/corn cob mix on .223, 22-250, 30-06, 9mm, .40 S&W and 44 Mag with excellent success. Unlike Dave I like my brass shinny just like new brass; its a throwback from working with pipe where the shinier and smother it is the cleaner it is. I know it is probably overkill but I know it can't hurt and besides everyone comments on how clean my brass is, even on the inside. Here is how I prep my media:

  • Pour in a cap full of Nu Finish and let it run for a while so that it is mixed up throughly.
  • Toss in a used dryer sheet cut into 8 pieces
  • Let the tumbler sit for a day so all the wax is dry. This is why I always add the wax and dryer sheet after I remove the brass.
  • Toss in the brass and tumble for two hours. I have a fixed timer that automatically turns off the timer after two hours.
  • Separate the brass and remove the pieces of dryer sheet.
  • If I need to tumble more brass that day just add new dryer sheet no Nu Finish because I like it to dry completely before adding brass. Otherwise, prep the media and put the tumbler up until next time.

Follow Dave's recommendations for the amount of brass to add per cycle.
 
Filling the large tub half full with media and adding a quart of brass seems to have left things nice and clean after 2 hours. Adding the paper towel was a good idea. Thanks for the suggestion!
 
I'm like you idano, I like it clean. I've tumbled two batches so far, but my brass is range pickup brass, and it's nasty. nasty nasty nasty. Cleaning times have varied, but so far it's running 2 hours at the shortest to 8 hours or so at the longest. I threw in a batch of my once-fireds (shot and collected myself) and they cleaned up in about 30 minutes, just like Dave said. Some of this stuff refuses to clean on the inside no mater what I do. Thanks for all the input guys.

Justin
 
If you don't have enough cases in your tumbler, you will notice that they are not coming to the top and cascading back down again like they should.

I think my brass gets cleaner (I like a cleaner-than-brand-new looking case) when I add enough to get them cascading well.

Lyman Tumbling Media (green corn cob) plus Nu-Finish and cut dryer sheets.
 
I haven't gone through even one gallon of media in reloading a couple thousand rounds of various flavors in the past year. I don't keep track that well, it's a hobby, not a jobby.
Click to expand...

I am still on the first big bag I bought maybe 15 years ago. It is about 2/3 of a five gallon pail worth, and still going strong.

I do believe the paper towel strips make a big difference in keeping the media clean enough to be useful.
 
HTML:
Make sure you use USED fabric softener sheets, not new fabrfic softener sheets.


Why not? I use new sheets & I don't think It causes any problems. Just wondering.
 
I use walnut only, nothing else. I'm just cleaning the brass and not interested in how pretty the cases are. but I understand fully how you can be proud of your loads and want them to be pretty as well as accurate
 
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