Truck packed. Off to da woods in the morning. Kinda chilly up there right now. Better WX starting wednesday or Thursday.

My 2nd wet tumbler is on the way!! Ordered the Extreme Rebel 17 from Stainless Steel Media...

It's like tumbling for Darth Vader!!

^^^^^^^^^^^^ That looks pretty nice! How much was it, and what is the capacity?

If the price is right, I wouldn't mind having two of them. Took me 12 hours to tumble 331 pieces of 6.5x47 brass Sunday. It would be nice to run two batches at once...

quote:

Originally posted by exx1976:
^^^^^^^^^^^^ That looks pretty nice! How much was it, and what is the capacity?

The capacity is 17 lbs. total:
Stainless media - 5 lbs.
1 gallon water - ~8 lbs.
Brass availability - 4 lbs.

I read one post where someone only uses 4 lbs. of the stainless pin media, thus allowing room for one (1) additional pound of brass...he reported the cleaning is just as good with 4 lbs. of media versus the full 5 lbs. The capacity available for brass is twice that of the original Thumler's Model B, which only allows 2 lbs. The Extreme barrel is the same size as the Model B barrel, but it's the base/rollers that allows the higher capacity.

I weighed 1 lb. of brass to get a count and here's what I've got...I don't load 9mm or .45, so I don't have those numbers (easy math to determine how many pieces of brass in 4 or 5 lbs.):
5.56/.223 - 75 pieces/lb.
.40 S&W - 100 pieces/lb. (primers had not been removed, so it would be a few more pieces deprimed)

I'd recommend buying the tumbling kit that includes the 5 lb. bag of stainless pin media and a bottle of Lemi-Shine http://www.stainlesstumblingme...plete-package-2.html. That total cost including $29.84 UPS Ground is $279.79...your shipping cost may vary, depending on where you live. The best price I've found is from Stainless Steel Media themselves...

http://www.stainlesstumblingmedia.com/

I de-prime my brass with the Lee Universal Decapping Die and then tumble a load for 3-4 hours; 2 hours would probably actually suffice if you don't need/require your brass to sparkle like brand new. There are many variations of the tumbling formula, but it's essentially the gallon of water, 2 tbl. Dawn, and 1/4 tsp. Lemi-Shine. The guideline is that if the water is not sudsy when you finish tumbling, you're not using enough Dawn.

There are a plethora of Youtube videos on wet tumbling, but let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks, but that was way more than I needed. Just the price and source was fine, I already use a model B. Hence why it took 12 hours to do 331 pieces (3 runs in the tumbler), and also how I said about "two batches at once"...

I have other things I need to spend money on long before that, but I will definitely keep it in mind.

Thanks!

quote:

Originally posted by exx1976:
Thanks, but that was way more than I needed. Just the price and source was fine, I already use a model B. Hence why it took 12 hours to do 331 pieces (3 runs in the tumbler), and also how I said about "two batches at once"...

I have other things I need to spend money on long before that, but I will definitely keep it in mind.

Thanks!

Ahhhh...didn't realize you already wet tumble. Thought you were looking to buy two (2) brand new tumblers at once. Durp!

quote:

Originally posted by erj_pilot:

quote:

Originally posted by exx1976:
Thanks, but that was way more than I needed. Just the price and source was fine, I already use a model B. Hence why it took 12 hours to do 331 pieces (3 runs in the tumbler), and also how I said about "two batches at once"...

I have other things I need to spend money on long before that, but I will definitely keep it in mind.

Thanks!

Ahhhh...didn't realize you already wet tumble. Thought you were looking to buy two (2) brand new tumblers at once. Durp!

Nope, I always take my brass out of the corn cob tumbler and put it on a towel.

No worries.

Exx - I use the Bigdawgg tumbler and it will do up to 10lbs of brass.

quote:

Originally posted by argolfer:
Exx - I use the Bigdawgg tumbler and it will do up to 10lbs of brass.

How much is that thing?

exx...ever thought about building your own tumbler? I think there are lots of Youtube vids on building one out of large diameter PVC pipe. I'm not NEARLY that ingenious or I'd build one myself...

Unboxed my bench source. I heard angels singing above. Such a thing of beauty.

Installed the lightweight firing pin & Tubbs Springs in my new rifle.

If only that huber would get here.. *sigh*


ETA: Forgot to add that I also scored 8# of H4350 yesterday as well.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: exx1976,

Annealed.

Big OCW day for me today. Gorgeous in low 60's and sunny. Perfect day to sit on the deck and blast away. Things went...well OK I guess. My first spotters/fouling shots using my winter-developed 175SMK/43.2 RE15/Jump .010 was a bit puzzling. Turned into a scatter node. Frustrating way to start the day as this is usually a sub-MOA load. Went thru about 10 rounds before I started off the OCW tests. Jlemmy suggested I perhaps didnt seat the action against the bedding blocks last week when I dropped a Jewell trigger in. I think I tapped on the butt stock as I was torquing the screws. Oh well a mystery.

First test was using the Berger 185gr Juggernauts and Varget. I was especially happy that even loading them magazine length (2.835) and jumping them .206 (that seems like from the 50yd line) they still found a happy place. Going to work around that 40.9 to see if it can be tweaked.


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Next was the identical loading Ive been using with RE15 but with Varget instead. Same .010" jump. Got a blown primer on this one at a charge weight level below max. I have read that WLR primers can do this. I must look a the case more closely when I get home and deprime it. Test stopped short, but looks like a good node was found anyhow at 42.3.


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Last up was the Berger 175gr OTMs courtesy of jelrod. Used Varget here as well. Not as well as I hoped it would have turned out. I may play around a bit more with these. The 43.2 area seems to hold promise. Speed was good on them pushing almost to 2700. Some possible pressure signs spooked me after the previous OCW so I ended it without going steps further.


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Blown primer.


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At the end of the day, ran another target using the initial fouling/sighter loading. As you can see, it printed way low first shot. I dialed 2MOA in and shot again. Slightly high. Adjusted down to 1.5MOA and sent 3 more. Better. Thats what they usually do. Actually one hole is the norm, but I was getting tired. I will have to research the zero shift a bit more.


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Found a nearby 2-track to shoot steel. I have to GPS it, but looks about 500yds. Maybe more. Good thing is that pretty much beyond the backstop is my own property. Cant beat that. A few more spots found via Google Maps. I have 5 rounds left for tomorrow...all the rest is either empty brass or marked for pulling.

40.9 sure does look promising. Good work!!

Sent 90 or so rounds out to 840 yards at a buddy's place today.

Going to need to reload more soon. I think I've got 70 rounds left.

Going to need to order more bullets soon, too. This 1k isn't going to last near as long as I thought it would. Lol

Loaded 200 rounds of 9mm 124 grain plated FP with 4.5 grains WST and 200 rounds of .45 ACP with 230 RNL bullets and 4.1 grains WST. Primed and belled another 100 .45 cases to charge and seat bullets tomorrow morning..

quote:

Originally posted by nosigsyet:
Loaded 200 rounds of 9mm 124 grain plated FP with 4.5 grains WST and 200 rounds of .45 ACP with 230 RNL bullets and 4.1 grains WST. Primed and belled another 100 .45 cases to charge and seat bullets tomorrow morning..

Nice. Those are my loads, exactly.

Finally sorted all the range pickup brass that's been around here in various bags/boxes.

Deprimed, and now tumbling the 93 rounds of 6.5 that I sent Saturday.

I need to make a trip to the scrap yard, my bucket is almost full again. Been lots of junk brass lately....

#Entropy: I'm loving that 40.9 target with the Juggernaughts. That's tight!

The WLR primer looks like the typical blown cup right at the bend where the base goes to form the side wall of the cup.

Hope the bolt escaped injury!

The Berger 175 OTM: I have run only one OCW run with them and 44 Gr of Varget pushed them around 2640 fps and gave me a nice tight .2 MOA group for the three shots. I need to run a few more runs to be sure, but I have a batch loaded for the Hardrock matches down here If I can ever get to another one.

As we say down here, That's some mighty fine shootin' son!

RMD

<Marlon Brando ON>. THE HORROR!!! <Marlon Brando OFF>




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