The UK's Finest Independent Forum for Shooters and Gun Owners. Est 2010.

rox wrote:

johngarnett wrote:What are you guys using as a tumbler?

Here's a tumbler I built from an old treadmill, which cost about £30 on eBay. More detail about the conversion below. Previously I used a Thumlers tumbler for 5 years or so, but it wasn't up to my volume requirements, so it made cleaning 308 by the thousand rather laborious.

This is genius. That's the one drawback of the jewelry/rock tumbler I bought on ebay https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3KG-Rotary-T ... 2633978097). You can only do a smallish batch of cases and I tend to do all my case prep & reloading in a large go at the end of the year when there's less shooting going on.

I'm also using Meguiars car wash with a spoonful or so of citric acid - everything comes out sparkly clean.

HOW DO YOU STOP WATER MARKS ?

dry em quicker

Dellboy wrote:HOW DO YOU STOP WATER MARKS ?

Shake off surplus water then do the towel thing:

Dellboy wrote:HOW DO YOU STOP WATER MARKS ?

The citric acid is meant to stop that by softening the water. If you get the marks next time put in a bit more.

But as extra assurance I lay them in a tray on shop paper (kitchen roll will do) and pat them dry. Never had an issue yet and we live in a hard water area.
If you use dishwasher tabs the softener in them should work or put in a bit of glassgleam or whatever it's called.

Mattnall wrote:

Dellboy wrote:HOW DO YOU STOP WATER MARKS ?

The citric acid is meant to stop that by softening the water. If you get the marks next time put in a bit more.

But as extra assurance I lay them in a tray on shop paper (kitchen roll will do) and pat them dry. Never had an issue yet and we live in a hard water area.
If you use dishwasher tabs the softener in them should work or put in a bit of glassgleam or whatever it's called.

using the lemi shine that came with it perhaps it need more or should i rinse with rinse aid after tumbling ?

proteus wrote: This is genius. That's the one drawback of the jewelry/rock tumbler I bought on ebay https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3KG-Rotary-T ... 2633978097). You can only do a smallish batch of cases and I tend to do all my case prep & reloading in a large go at the end of the year when there's less shooting going on.

I'm also using Meguiars car wash with a spoonful or so of citric acid - everything comes out sparkly clean.

How do you rate the eBay tumbler? And by ‘smallish’ how many cases do you mean? I’d probably only do 100 .308/7.5x55/7x57 cases or so at a time.

Dellboy wrote:

Mattnall wrote:

Dellboy wrote:HOW DO YOU STOP WATER MARKS ?

The citric acid is meant to stop that by softening the water. If you get the marks next time put in a bit more.

But as extra assurance I lay them in a tray on shop paper (kitchen roll will do) and pat them dry. Never had an issue yet and we live in a hard water area.
If you use dishwasher tabs the softener in them should work or put in a bit of glassgleam or whatever it's called.

using the lemi shine that came with it perhaps it need more or should i rinse with rinse aid after tumbling ?

I've not used Lemi Shine but with citric acid I just adjusted the quantity until it came out nice and shiny. I use Tesco cheap washing up liquid and a tablespoon of acid, pat dry the cases, after rinsing with tap water and tumbling in a separator to remove the pins, and then allow to dry (either in the sun or the oven). Never had a problem.

The biggest issue I had, and it was only a cosmetic one again, was leaving the cases in too long. These came out with a dull, almost dark grey tinge to them. They loaded and shot just like normal and after the next clean came up as shiny as before. I can only assume too long in the mix is not good for the appearance - it was almost 24hours!

It could have been galvanic corrosion, it will happen when you have 2 different metals in a mild acid.

I don't know if the acid would have been strong enough, or if the time would have been enough.

Dr. Strangelove wrote:

proteus wrote: This is genius. That's the one drawback of the jewelry/rock tumbler I bought on ebay https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3KG-Rotary-T ... 2633978097). You can only do a smallish batch of cases and I tend to do all my case prep & reloading in a large go at the end of the year when there's less shooting going on.

I'm also using Meguiars car wash with a spoonful or so of citric acid - everything comes out sparkly clean.

How do you rate the eBay tumbler? And by ‘smallish’ how many cases do you mean? I’d probably only do 100 .308/7.5x55/7x57 cases or so at a time.

I've got one of those, I bought the next 5kg size with the next motor size up, watch out as there are 3kg motor version with 5kg drums. mine will do those ammounts no problem. very pleased with it, but it is noisy. but brass in a plastic pipe and shake it about. not exactly quiet. but I do like that you can see it working. other slight drawback, with the opening being in the centre of the drum, with lip all around, it can be a bit fiddly to empty cleanly / fully, unlike if it tapered.
I would still buy another if I needed to.