stainless steel pin tumblers

[20series]

My big ultrasonic has died and I'm looking at options, I don't fancy the faff of the corn cob media type so looking at SS tumbler, opinions and options please???

Alan

[dromia]

If you find corn cob a faff on the you will find the pins a nightmare.

[Airbrush]

Get one.

[bradaz11]

ive just got to go to dhl to collect the one ive just bought, there were a few threads on it in the last few weeks. I could bring it up to oundle one day if you wanted a look?

[Maggot]

Hi Alan

I am afraid that you will become addicted mate...faff....my arse, what utter twaddle

I have used one that I got second hand from Ovenpaa a year or two ago and it does exactly what it should, cleans the cases inside and out inclusing the primer pockets. I will not go back to US or that bloody silly dry media stuff.

These CLEAN inside and out, easilly.

There are a couple of points.

Firstly the pins may occasionally get stuck accross the mouths of some cases (never had this) and they can get stuck in the flash holes occasionally but thats eady to fix with some snipe nose pliers.

I tend to do between 50-100 308/303 or 556 cases at a time.

I use a capfull of sea clean (the cheapest way to get this is by tha gallon from CPS the last time I bought some).

The only other thing is does is to slightly peen the case mouth, so if you have a nice sharp VLD edge on there, it may need tidying up but if you are that anal you will re-trim with everty firing anyway otherwise its not an issue.

As regards the faf...I shoot CSR and handload for it, would I use one of these is it was a faff? No, exactly the opposite.

Fill with water/Sea clean.

Tumble for an hour or two (depending on your bent)

Open up and drain off filthy water

I then tend to dump mine into a paint kettle (Small plastic bucket) in the sink with hot running water to rinse then I shake the water out and either/hand dry or roll them 10 at a time on a towel and leave to air dry, or roll the lot up in a towel and sit them on a radiator, but to be fair I have never had any horrors either way.

The hotter the water the better as the retained heat helps drive off moisture.

This process often happens as soon as they are de-capped as it saves having carbon etc all over your gear.

[dromia]

I am sorry that you think that I am telling lies when I say I find it a faff, no doubt you know far more about my experiences with the stuff than I do myself.

It may be a surprise to you but there are people in the world who do not do things the way you do and do not like the things you do, as you get older you will no doubt find this out.

[Alpha1]

It sounds like a faff to me I have only ever used a dry media tumbler and it works fine. Chuck the cases in leave for two hours pour the cases out through a sieve into a bowl tip the contents of the bowl back in chuck the next batch of cases in and switch on. Job done. I clean them so I can check for defects in the case I don't really care how shiny they are and I'm sure the cases don't either. But what ever floats your boat.

[Maggot]

[phaedra1106]

Either way does the job, as long as they cases are clean enough for inspection prior to loading it's job done.

I've picked up one of the new Frankford Arsenal rotary tumblers (along with 2 other suitcases full of shooting stuff) while we're over here in the US. Looking at some of the YouTube videos of people using it does look to be a lot more "faff" than the Thumblers/Rebel Extreme that I had before but I've got my own ideas on making it a lot easier.

[20series]

As usual there is a split opinion for and against

Many thanks all, it looks like the way forward for me personally

Braddaz can you send me a link where you got yours from please mate

Cheers
Alan