Thursday, March 31, 2022

Tumbling Brass

 I have an old Dillon brass tumbler that a reader sent to me a decade o more ago.  It's processed a lot of brass, and it's still going strong.  For a CFDA championship match, the host club provides the ammunition.  When I put on a championship, I like to start with 10,000 rounds of ammo, loaded and ready to go. That suffices for a three-day shoot.

That is the old Dillon, with 400 pieces of .45 Colt (LC) brass.  It's loaded and I prefer to do 300 pieces at a tie.  I feel like 300 pieces gives me a better brass/media ratio and the brass comes out a bit cleaner.  I use walnut media, and I don't use a polish.  I'm looking for clean, not shiny.

When it's time to separate the brass fro the media, I find that one of these Frankfort Arsenal devices works as good as anything.  It's less than $10, and it fits over a five gallon bucket.

Forgive my sloth, but I have forgotten the reader who sent me this tumble so many years ago.  It's still running strong and processes about 20,000 pieces of brass each year.  It's still running strong, as a matter of fact, there are 300 pieces tumbling as I type this.  I will turn it off in an hour or so, and dredge the brass out for loading tomorrow.

3 comments:

Robert Orians said...

Hard work saves the sheckles huh ?

Glypto Dropem said...

I have an old Lyman tumbler that cleans my brass with walnut shells. I have a timer setup and usually run it for four hours at a clip. I use a cheap pasta strainer/bowl set from a dollar store to separate media. Because I load different calibers, I don't mix the brass so they don't get stuck inside each other.

Flugelman said...

I've got one just like that out in the shed, not getting any use anymore. If that one dies I'd be happy to give mine to you.