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Jumping Frog wrote:

JamesM wrote:The vibratory type also has many drawbacks, dust, bits of media on the floor and in the press, etc. etc.,

I've found using walnut media with about a 1/2 cup of paint thinner, a capful of Nu-Finish, and a cut up dryer sheet minimizes all those issues and give a great shine to the brass.

I know what the Nu-finish is for, and I assume that the dryer sheets are for static (are you using corn cob?), but the paint thinner has me stumped...maybe for dust. Since the thinner is oily, do you still use case lube?

Jumping Frog wrote:JamesM -- nice first post & WELCOME.

Thanks!

Jumping Frog wrote:That's how I am looking at it, except I'll tumble for a couple of hours instead of one.

Yeah, I prolly let my first batch run longer also, at least until I get everything set up, primer tubes loaded, etc. The second batch gets pulled when I'm through with the first 10000, and have reloaded the tubes and powder measure. I load and clean to many cases to fool around with that stainless tumbler, and it's way to much of a clean up for me. It's kind of like loading the dishes in the dishwasher, running the cycle, and then having to take them out, rinse them by hand, and then towel dry them. I know a lot of people that have bought them and claim that they are the greatest thing since sliced bread, but it is just to much of as hassle for me. Especially since I'm just gonna shoot that brass and not eat off of it. My son wants my Thumler, sooo, it gets shipped off to Colorado, next week.

I have both the vibratory and the Thumlers, and after using both, IMO the vibratory is still the winner.
This is just my experience with the unit, YMMV.

The Thumlers with stainless pin media, water, soap, and Lemishine, does get brass clean, but, IMO is a big hasle to use. After the brass is cleaned, you have to dump the water/soapy mixture into the sink, rinse well, without losing any of the brass or steel pins, clean up the soapy mess you just made, and then spend more time drying the brass. Then you have to do all that over again, if you have more than 2 lbs. of brass to clean.
The Thumlers has a 15 lb. capacity, unless you get the larger tumbler, (40 lb. capacity) which is almost $800.00. By the time you get the steel pins and water in the unit, this leaves room for approximately 2 lbs of brass, which works out to be:
.45 160-180 pieces
.40 210-220 piece
9mm-230 pieces
.223 150-180 pieces
This might be okay, if you are using a single stage press, working up a new load, or just loading a few rifle rounds, but if you have a progressive press, you might just find that you are spending more time cleaning brass, cleaning up the mess, and drying brass, than you do loading.
Here is a link to a vid, that shows use and clean-up.
http://www.stainlesstumblingmedia.com/tips

The vibratory type also has many drawbacks, dust, bits of media on the floor and in the press, etc. etc., but for speed and price, you still can't beat it. I can easily clean 1000 9mm cases at a time in one vibratory tumbler, and have clean brass in an hour. I add 1000 cases to my vib tumbler, and let it run for an hour, remove the first 1000, add 1k more, and let them run while I am loading the first batch. I can easily load 4k - 5k in an afternoon/evening like this. With the stainless tumbler, I'll be lucky if I get a 1000.