Is there a “best” or is it for different applications?

I need to get a tumbler and want to buy once if possible. Would like to be able to do 500 rounds to 5.56 at a time if possible but willing to do smaller batches if there options are better at a smaller size.

I'm a proponent of wet tumbling and have this x2...Rebel 17 Tumbler.

STM

It'll take a couple of batches to tumble 500 pieces of .223/5.56 brass, as the total capacity of the drum/motor is 17 lbs. So with a gallon of water at just over 8 lbs. and a 5 lb. bag of stainless pins, that leaves approximately 4 lbs. of useful load remaining for brass.

4 lbs. of .223/5.56 brass will be about 275 pieces.

Aside from getting the brass really clean, the primary advantage I like about wet tumbling is that the primer pockets get REALLY clean. Almost pristine. Not sure you get that with a vibratory tumbler with walnut.

One minor disadvantage of wet tumbling is that it tends to get your brass TOO clean. Yup...too clean. For pistol, that might require a little One Shot lube to prevent galling, even if you use carbide dies. For .223, however, that's not a problem, since you're going to lube your brass to resize it anyway. I use Imperial Wax and an RCBS Small Base Sizer Die.

Where I like to use my vibratory tumbler with walnut medium is after I fully process my .223 brass, i.e., lube, size, trim, deburr, and chamfer, before actually reloading it. Tossing it in walnut medium removes any extra wax/lube and puts a nice polish on the brass.

Wet tumbling is a little more involved and that's why others lean toward vibratory tumbling in walnut, pecan, etc. Admittedly, it is a little simpler process but in my opinion, doesn't get brass as clean IF that's important to you.

That's about all I can offer with any pros/cons of one over the other. Have fun and happy shopping!!

Are you asking about capacity or quality of cleaning?

I too use the Rebel 17 with SS pins and can confirm what erj_pilot says.

I love it over walnut and get about 250 per batch more or less.

Can't tell you about a unit that does more but I imagine they are out there.

If you do wet tumble with SS then I highly recommend getting a food dehydrator for drying.
It keeps them from spotting on the brass.
I still have a RCBS tumbler with walnut shells but it is tiresome to dig bits out of the flash hole.
I may use it once in a while for real small runs but prefer SS.

Actually been prepping 223 the last couple days, works great.

I’ll look at the unit yall mentioned, I’m assuming it’s considerably better than the Frankford Arsenal drum tumbler.

I don’t need brass to be mirror quality, I’m more looking for best practical machine for tumbling after I deprime and resize. I don’t want to tumble twice if it can be avoided.

I’m thinking SS is the way to go to get primer pockets cleaned out.

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

I also run the Rebel 17. I started with the Rebel 17 about 10 years ago (with SS pins) and then about five years ago when my annual shooting increased significantly, I went to a Harbor Freight electric concrete mixer (talk about cleaning a lot of brass in one run) but it had to be run outside and was noisy as all get out.

Then shooting took a back seat to family, so I sold the mixer (only used for brass cleaning so it looked like new). When I need to clean brass again it will be in my Rebel 17.

Also I always use One Shot on my pistol brass before loading. Just a light spray in a Tupperware container with brass, toss it around a bit, let it sit for 5-10 min., then dump it into the case feeder. I use Dillon case lube for all rifle brass because I clean that brass post loading but I do not clean the one shot off of the pistol brass post loading.

Otto - Also, just one person’s opinion, I clean with SS pins, NOT chips. Chips will get the primer pockets cleaner quicker, but for me the chips are a real pain to manage.

Starting out with pins, I set up my cleaning processes to best support pins. When I tried chips, they did not play well in my already set up processes.

Again, this is just my opinion. I know many folks rave about the SS chips and prefer them over the pins.

Just want to share this with you because you will come to this decision point if you decide to go with SS pin/chip cleaning.


ALSO - This is one of my best helpers when cleaning brass with SS pins and one will last you about 30-40 cleanings before you need to replace it. I will not clean brass without this item. Makes rinsing brass a breeze before I dump them into my Dillon media separator where I separate my brass from my pins.

I took a three gallon (not a five gallon) plastic bucket and drilled about 30 small holes in the bottom of it. When I pull the Rebel 17 drum off of the machine I remove the top. With a strainer lining the inside of the bucket with the elastic holding the extra material outside the top ring, I pour the brass, pins, and dirty water into the bucket that is sitting on the ground or in a sink or bathtub, and after the dirty water drains I rinse my brass and pins while still in this paint strainer inside the bucket. Then the brass and pins go into my Dillon media separator for brass and pin separation.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Trima...int-Strainer/1008387

This message has been edited. Last edited by: sigarmsp226,

quote:

Originally posted by sigarmsp226:


I took a three gallon (not a five gallon) plastic bucket and drilled about 30 small holes in the bottom of it. When I pull the Rebel 17 drum off of the machine I remove the top. With a strainer lining the inside of the bucket with the elastic holding the extra material outside the top ring, I pour the brass, pins, and dirty water into the bucket that is sitting on the ground or in a sink or bathtub, and after the dirty water drains I rinse my brass and pins while still in this paint strainer inside the bucket. Then the brass and pins go into my Dillon media separator for brass and pin separation.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Trima...int-Strainer/1008387

^^^That's a GREAT idea, love that tip.

FWIW, I have seen vids on chips and how all great they are. ?
Don't see the advantage as advertised.
Not for me, pins are fine and they do the primer pocket just fine.

quote:

Originally posted by sigarmsp226:
I took a three gallon (not a five gallon) plastic bucket and drilled about 30 small holes in the bottom of it. When I pull the Rebel 17 drum off of the machine I remove the top. With a strainer lining the inside of the bucket with the elastic holding the extra material outside the top ring, I pour the brass, pins, and dirty water into the bucket that is sitting on the ground or in a sink or bathtub, and after the dirty water drains I rinse my brass and pins while still in this paint strainer inside the bucket. Then the brass and pins go into my Dillon media separator for brass and pin separation.

Good tip, sigarm. I also thoroughly rinse my brass and pins before dumping into the separator as well. I do it by burying the hose to the bottom of my tumbler barrel and then cycle water until I see that clean/clear water is overflowing out of the barrel. I don't blast the water on high...just high enough to let the water overflow without losing pins.

I've been reloading for over 30 years. I started with corn cob, but switched over to crushed walnut (pet store lizard litter). I add some liquid case polish to the litter. Helps with the shine and dust. Never found a reason to switch to wet tumbling.

However, wet tumbling seems to clean better, but it's more involved.

Wet tumbling will get them cleaner, but they get too clean in my experience. This caused a lot of problems with them sticking in the dies. Walnut leaves enough dust on the brass to act as a lubricant and sticking does not occur (usually). If you like pretty brass and don't mind adding lube to them then go wet. Otherwise stick to walnut and shoot ugly brass. If you were closer I'd give you my SS tumbler. I haven't used it in years.

I wet clean with a Thumlers Tumbler and ss pins. A dime sized pinch of Lemi-shine and a small squirt of Dawn . Gets the worse brass clean. It gets brass back to factory clean, you may have to lube the inside of necks to keep the expander ball from dragging (I use bushing dies so I don’t have that issue on “Match” ammo.

I skipped corncob media and went straight to stainless media. Never once regretted it.

Corn cob = bright and shiny, but plugged flash holes. Dusty mess.

Walnut = Less shiny, no plugged flash holes. even more dusty mess.

Wet tumbling = Shiny, maybe media (stainless pins or ceramic) left inside the cases, need to be careful. Different messes to deal with, plus drying.

Ultra sonic, not shiny, can be harder to get carbon off, plus drying.

I have three vibratory tumblers, one wet rotary tumbler and an ultra sonic cleaner. And I hate them all.

Though I'll say I probably like the wet tumbling the least so I only do it for black powder cartridges.

Cas - Your post contents are so true related to the various cleaning medias. With this said I have not personally tried this product but I am hoping someone on this forum has and can provide direct feedback.

Reading various posts on other forums reflects very positive results - and - NO PINS are required, but pins can be used. One can just soak the brass in this BRASS JUICE and water solution or they can run it in their liquid tumbler without pins. I might get a liter container and give it a try if we receive any positive comments from other forum members.

Here is the link (I have no affiliation with this company).

https://www.thereloadingstatio...rass-juice-case-wash

sigarm,

I'm not familiar with that product at all, but based on this video, it would appear the Brass Juice cleans just about as well as SS pins might. In the long run, probably costs just about the same to use this stuff in lieu of pins in a tumbler. I might give it a shot. I have two tumblers, so I could do a batch in SS pins and a batch in Brass Juice and compare the results.



One advantage I can think of right off the bat is that you can now increase your brass load in the tumbler (assuming the Rebel 17) by approximately 5 lbs. due to eliminating 5 lbs. of SS pins. So theoretically, that load immediately becomes about 9 lbs. of brass per load instead of about 4 lbs. per load.

I think it all comes down to how one wants their brass to "look"...ammo that is clean, but may look a bit tarnished (with walnut/pecan media, e.g.) or ammo that looks like it came from the factory.

Again, JMHO...

Another review, and this guy did the comparison of which I spoke...





And if you're wondering about case lube...




**** The reviews in the videos above convinced me to order a 1 liter bottle of this stuff to at least try it out.

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

The Brass Juice does look like an interesting and somewhat effective product.
However, I am fully satisfied with SS tumbling.
Doesn't mean this could not be a useful supplement and perhaps I might get some but is not going to replace my primary method, at least now from what I've seen.
Thanks for the info.

quote:

Originally posted by cas:
Corn cob = bright and shiny, but plugged flash holes.

I should clarify, if your size/deprime before you polish, this is an issue. If you do it afterwards it's not, an debris getting knocked out with the primer.

To ME, the whole point of tumbling the brass is to make it easier to size. So I rarely deprime them before I size, because what's the point?

There are a couple exceptions, but then I don't use corn media anymore so that angle doesn't matter anyway.


(There's one or two things I de prime with a universal decapper. Clean, size, anneal, expand all in separate steps.)

((Black powder cases get decapped at the range, usually right after they come out of the gun, then dropped into a container of soapy water.))