Tumbler media separator

[meateater]

Anyone used one of these things?

media-separator.jpg (17.2 KiB) Viewed 4206 times

How well do they work? Seems like there would always be some media just going round and round in the brass and you'd still have to tip them out 1 by 1 anyway so wondering if they're really worth it?

p.s. that's just the first picture I found, not asking about whatever brand that is specifically.

[brett1868]

Most of my brass is big enough I just fish it out by hand. My biggest issue is that 99% of cases will have a granule of media jammed in the flash hole which has to be removed. I generally as a rule used compressed air to blow out the inside of the case and get any dust from the pockets. These media separators are probably great if tumbling a few hundred pistol cases though.

[Chronos]

Most of my brass is big enough I just fish it out by hand. My biggest issue is that 99% of cases will have a granule of media jammed in the flash hole which has to be removed. I generally as a rule used compressed air to blow out the inside of the case and get any dust from the pockets. These media separators are probably great if tumbling a few hundred pistol cases though.

a tip, leave the primers in until after you tumble

from what i've heard those seperators work well on pistol cases like 9mm, not so well on bottle necked rifle cases but i've not used one.

I bought a rectangular plastic tub from somewhere and found a mesh one that fits inside it. i just empty the tumbler into it, lift and shake the mesh one and 75% of the media falls through then i just upend a couple in each hand and tap them together before putting them aside and grabbing another 4 or so

Chronos

[brett1868]

I tumble brass twice, once after firing it to get carbon off so it doesn't damage my dies. The second time after drying it in the pizza oven just to give it that pretty shiny look so the annealing is easier to judge. This device would be perfect I think if using stainless pins as they're bigger and easier to separate.

[Tiiger]

This device would be perfect I think if using stainless pins as they're bigger and easier to separate.

I think that's more common place.

I've seen plenty doing it with stainless but few with traditional media.

[Lorgar]

Most of my brass is big enough I just fish it out by hand.

I just leave the tumbler running while I pick the brass out and hold the cases neck down against the centre stem of the tumbler to let the vibrations shake it all out.

Works fine for .243 necks which aren't what you'd call big.

[Chronos]

Works fine for .243 necks which aren't what you'd call big.

And .204R

Chronos

[jeebo]

Most of my brass is big enough I just fish it out by hand.

You could scoop it out with a cup on half of yours

[Korkt]

My biggest issue is that 99% of cases will have a granule of media jammed in the flash hole which has to be removed.

I've never bothered taking those out TBH.

No different between most with clear pockets and the ones with a media granule in there. Not as far as I could tell anyway, but I'm only shooting short-mid range so maybe that's it.

[Aussier]

I flick them out with a pick but I've definitely had some slip through. Plenty probably.

I'm sure the match shootings boys are more diligent with it but for hunting it makes no difference to accuracy.

Wouldn't be any risk caused by it either I don't think, just get blasted away by the primer. IMO.

[5Tom]

Personally I wouldn't worry about it. I use SS media and I have probably only gotten two or three pins stuck out of hundreds of reloads. I never remove the media from my tumbler and always remove the primers before cleaning. When I empty the cases of SS media, I tap the cases together a couple of times and the media falls straight out. I reload .243 and 7.62x54R cases.

Another tip that I found helps is that i bought a flash hole deburing tool to remove any burrs and make the flash holes more uniform.

There are different sized pins you can get now so prehaps look into buying smaller pins?

[yoshie]

I've got one and it works great, some times 223 have a few grains of media left in but not enough to make a mess. 260 size cases and bigger work well. Pistol cases no problems. I pour the media straight into the cage then spin, then pour the media back into the tumbler. I only tumble one size case at a time, I've had 32s&w stuck in 357 which have been a pain to get out.

[bluerob]

I'm using the Dillon one that is massive.

Yep, works perfectly and I'm tumbling around 500-750 9mm cases at a time.

[yoshie]

This one would only do 3-400 9mm cases. Which is about all I can fit in my tumbler.

[vonfram88]

Plastic spaghetti colander and a bucket works just fine.

[Lorgar]

I've got one and it works great, some times 223 have a few grains of media left in but not enough to make a mess.

You get that rattling it out against the side of a regular tumbler anyway.

No worse in that regard.