Stainless Steel Tumbler Question.

[m1a_scoutguy]

I'll start looking for deals, maybe even hold out for Black Friday stuff, there are always good deals around then. I'll keep ya posted on how/what I buy and how it goes. Thanks a ton for all the help & info! 

About the cheapest I've ever seen the FART Lite is around $95.

Find some sort of stainless media on sale.

The lowest-cost rotary basket separator is the Berry Mfg brand, which feels flimsy... but has held up very well.

For a dedicated de-priming press (unless you have a case feeder on your regular press), the Lee APP has completely captured that market. It's very fast and the spent primers are fully captured.

Good info Wobbly, I will look for the Lite Tumbler. I think I should be good; I have the Dillon media/brass separator and it looks similar to the Berrys so I should be good to go. And yeah, I have actually had the Lee APP for a few years now and love it! I actually bought it mainly for sizing bullets from my buddy, I would get powder-coated bullets for $55 for 1K but they needed to be sized, I finally said the heck with that and just gave him $80 bucks per 1K for my 135 RN powder coated 9mm slugs and pretty much the same for any bullet he makes. Duh, I never thought about using it for a dedicated de-primer, great idea! Like I say I will snoop around and see what deals are out there, and worst case I will wait for the holiday sales and see,but will pursue the ideal for sure. Thanks again.

[Blueboar]

I found tiny ss Allen head screws that I got for two$ per pound at an army surplus store im Idaho. They work great for tumbling media.  I hated to pay the price of ss pins. 

[Rcher]

Instead of Lemi Shine, I use food grade citric acid, which I always have in the kitchen. In general, the same chemistry
And a cheap two-cylinder tumbler from Harbor Freight. (1 lb water + 1 lb steel pins + 1 lb brass). Cleans 9mm inside cases and primer pockets very well. Not so good for .223 (5.56) cases because I think the pins have an obstacle to getting inside. But on the outside it shines like gold. My wife always jokes that it would be better if they were gold coins

[guitarman1]

I've been using the Frankford Arsenal unit, along with the Dillon Case/Media separator for almost a year now.  I'm extremely happy with the results.

[Clint007]

Don’t forget that a super clean case will stick more on the die. I don’t reload much rifle but the 9mm cases when wet tumbled grab on the tip of my powder funnel and the press goes clunk and sometimes stop (I use a Mark 7 Evolution). So I need to spray one-shot in such a way that at least some of the spray gets INSIDE the case mouth.  One shot works fine.

C

[Wobbly]

Don’t forget that a super clean case will stick more on the die. I don’t reload much rifle but the 9mm cases when wet tumbled grab on the tip of my powder funnel and the press goes clunk and sometimes stop (I use a Mark 7 Evolution). So I need to spray one-shot in such a way that at least some of the spray gets INSIDE the case mouth.  One shot works fine.

This is VERY true. The "wax" in the 'Wash-N-Wax' solution will help lubricate to some extent.... at least better than the Dawn detergent by itself. However, some type of spray-on case lube is recommended, especially if your dies reach inside the case mouth for case neck expansion. (Such as Dillon's powder-thru Expander, or other similar.)

Hornady One-Shot is very good, but my understanding is that it should be allowed to dry for maximum effectiveness. I use the Dillon brand Case Spray (Amazon) and it works well immediately after spraying. The Dillon spray closely resembles the DIY lanolin and alcohol mixture featured on the web (and probably YouTube). It simply depends upon your specific loading process and personal preference.

[oneoff]

Glad to see the Lee APP mentioned, I’d not heard of it.

  I was hesitant about going wet, but the dry tumbler pretty much just sits now.  I’ve got a Rebel.
  My brass is deprimed when the wife and I watch a show, using a FA Hand Deprimer, gives me something brain dead to do.
  A magnet like FA’s for picking up media has been a great thing!
  The main reason that I choose to deprime by hand is because it doesn’t “feel” to me like adding a step, for the first step “after” that is resizing with the depriming rod in place.  Those pesky rods can get stuck in there and be hard to see, and doing it this way has been a 100% cure for that, for me anyway.
  There was a bit of buyer’s remorse until I got some new routines down, but I really like wet tumbling a lot better than the shaker now.  Still keep the shaker around. Regardless of my comment that it just sits, it does get used for a small rifle batch now and then.