Tumbler kits??

[benny]

I am now ready to buy my first tumbler so I want to start out cheap till I figure out how I want to go with case prep. Looking at the Cabela's kit , the Frankford Arsenal kit, and the Lyman kit.

They are all under $100 and have a tumbler , sifter/separator, media,and polishing compound . Lyman has a kit with a sonic cleaner for $200 as well.
I know the FA and Lyman are better quality then the Cabela's but I heard the Cabela's wasn't bad either. What kit would some of you recamend or have used before??


Benny

[LarryFlew]

With all the brass i tumble and sell (1000 pounds in 9 mm alone every spring) i am still using the 2 Frankford tumblers i bought 5 years ago. Older of the 2 has done at least 150000 rounds. Went through almost 3 25 pound bags of media and couple bottles of nufinish. Still going strong.

should mention the reason I went with the FA to begin with is the clear cover as I like to see what my brass is doing.

[Duff-Man]

The Frankford tumbler has been working fine for me. I don't do a large volume of reloading so I can't speak to durability with continual use.

[Scratch]

I also have a FA tumbler and you'll hear no complaints about it from me. Although now I've moved on to SS pins and a home built tumbler, so who knows if I'll ever use it again.

I must like the FA tumbler though, since I have no plans to sell it...

[Seismic Sam]

I went the cheap route, and have never needed to upgrade, but I'm not lucky enough like LarryFlew to get ahold of a half ton of 9mm brass. Got a Midway 1292 tumbler that has never given me a problem, and I built a media separator out of about 5 bucks of 1/4" plywood that works great. I can post pics if you want.

[andrewP]

I bought the kit from Midsouth last year, and I've been pretty happy with it. It's not too expensive and it gets my brass shiny, so it seems like it works fine: http://midsouthshooters.com/item/00038502024/Tumbler_Kit_(Tumbler_and_Separator_and_Media_and__and_Brass_Polish)

[Bessy]

If I may offer an alternative...

I started out with the cabela's model eventually it couldn't fill my needs. I now use this..

http://www.harborfreight.com/18-lb-vibr ... 96923.html

It's freaking awesome.

They also have this one which is smaller..
http://www.harborfreight.com/5-lb-metal ... 67617.html

I would advise you to get a sealed media separator... and not use a pan style. When handling media used in polishing brass use gloves and a respirator/dust mask. if your clothes become covered in dust change them. I use dryer sheets and mineral spirits to keep the dust down which helps. My lead levels were a little higher than I liked... it was related almost entirely to my improper handling of media during brass separation. Don't screw around with lead.

[OldmanFCSA]

I
I would advise you to get a sealed media separator... and not use a pan style. When handling media used in polishing brass use gloves and a respirator/dust mask. if your clothes become covered in dust change them. I use dryer sheets and mineral spirits to keep the dust down which helps. My lead levels were a little higher than I liked... it was related almost entirely to my improper handling of media during brass separation. Don't screw around with lead.

Switch to the SS Pin process which is a wet process and never deal with dust again.
But you will need to find a way to dry cases, fans work well.

[Bessy]

I
I would advise you to get a sealed media separator... and not use a pan style. When handling media used in polishing brass use gloves and a respirator/dust mask. if your clothes become covered in dust change them. I use dryer sheets and mineral spirits to keep the dust down which helps. My lead levels were a little higher than I liked... it was related almost entirely to my improper handling of media during brass separation. Don't screw around with lead.

Switch to the SS Pin process which is a wet process and never deal with dust again.
But you will need to find a way to dry cases, fans work well.

I actually built my own high capacity rotary SS tumbler, I use it whenever I need to use lube, and get it rinsed off rifle cases for instance. There are plans on line here. http://www.ar15.com/forums/t_6_42/34498 ... ry_tumbler. I usually dry in an old cheapo food dehydrator.

For pistol brass I just use dry media, that 18lb vibratory tumbler means I can get around 1500-2000 9mm cases clean with a single load. This minimizes my media exposure.

[hopkins]

After tumbling and sifting, I put my brass on an old bath towel fold over the ends and swish back and forth. It removes all left over polish compound and puts a nice final shine on the brass, and makes resizing much easier. A whole lot less mess. Just make sure Momma lets you have the towel, or face the wrath of using the wrong towel.