Sinclair Product Report: Thumler’s Tumbler with Stainless Media
We know that many of our readers are now tumbling their brass in liquid media rather than dry media such as corn-cob or walnut shells. When done with STM stainless tumbling media (small ss pins), this system really does work, producing brass that is clean “inside and out”. The only down-side to wet tumbling is that sometimes the inside of the caseneck gets so “squeaky clean” that bullets take more effort to seat. This can be remedied with the use of a dry lube inside the necks. When cleaning with stainless tumbling media you’ll need a quality tumbler that is water-tight. The wet-tumbler of choice is the Model B Thumler’s Tumbler. Featuring a bright-red, side-loading drum, the Model B Thumler’s Tumbler is reliable and built to last.
A while back, Bill Gravatt, then President of Sinclair Int’l, had a chance to evaluate the Thumler’s Tumbler and the wet-cleaning process for cartridge brass. Bill came away a believer: “I wanted to share with you my experience using the Thumler’s Tumbler and stainless steel pin media to clean brass.
I used it for the first time just before the National Matches on some .308 Winchester brass. I just added water and some Simple Green All-Purpose Cleaner and tumbled them for about 45 to 60 minutes. Wow! I have never had cases so clean both inside and out. The tumbler I used was the sample from our photo studio, and someone had left a 223 Remington case in there that was completely tarnished dark green. I left it in to see what would happen, and it came out just as clean as my .308 cases.
A lot of customers, and a couple of our techs, have told me about the good results they get with this tumbler, but I was still very impressed. At Camp Perry, I talked to a few shooters who had used it, and they all had only good things to say about the Thumler system. Of course, being shooters, they all had their own concoctions (recipes) of various cleaners. All I can say is that the Simple Green worked well for me. If you want to try something different for cleaning brass, you might want to give the Thumler system a tryout. The great thing about the stainless steel media is that it never wears out. Buy it once and never buy media again. We sell a kit of the Tumbler and 5 lbs. of media that will save you a few bucks off buying them separately.” — Bill Gravatt
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Tags: Bill Gravatt, Brass, Simple Green, STI, Thumler's Tumbler
There are a few tools I can’t do without and this tumbler is one of them. What a nicely-made piece it is.
Yep! It cleans up even nasty-looking brass! Just one thing, though: if you spent a lot of time beveling and chamfering your case necks you’re going to want to have a look at them after tumbling. I found that I needed to do some touch-ups.
My Dad got one of these kits and we both use it now to clean our brass. Simple and very effective. We use the cleaners listed in the instructions.
Sinclair is missed at Perry this year.
While this article centers around Sinclair’s product offerings, which includes the Thumbler brand, it does mention STM. They sell the Extreme Tumblers Rebel 17 model, which is superior to the Thumler’s Tumbler Model B. I’ve owned both, and prefer my Rebel 17 to the model B.
http://www.stainlesstumblingmedia.com/products/tumblers/extreme-tumblers-rebel-17.html
Also be aware that if you’re shooting tight neck chambers or turned cases, that the banging motion of the steel/cases will peen the necks. You will need to trim and debur in order to have them fit the chamber again, essentialy ruining your brass if you do this every time.
No problems for standard factory chambers and out-of-the-box ammo/cases, but beware to precision shooters.
I wonder, what are views of 6ppc and 30 br shooters whether having a “squeaky clean” brass is helpful in benchrest precision/accuracy shooting competitions.
People still buy the Thumler? Frankford Arsenal’s Rotary Tumbler has 3x the capacity and is cheaper even after they include 5lbs of SS media with the tumbler. FA’s Rotary Tumbler is superior in every category: Price, Reliability, Ease of Use, Capacity, and Performance. They have them on Amazon for $164 with free shipping: http://www.amazon.com/Frankford-Arsenal-909544-Rotary-Tumbler/dp/B00HTN4R6O/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1434720630&sr=8-2&keywords=rotary+tumbler
Paul Lynch says:
June 25, 2017 at 3:49 pm
Caution when cleaning tight neck chambering brass. Case mouths will peen over a bit. Check a reloaded round to be sure it is the proper diameter to chamber in your rifle. It will require sizing and chamfering inside and out. I loaded up 50 rounds as they came out of the tumbler, went to the range and couldn’t shoot one round. 6PPC Benchrest. They wouldn’t chamber.
I have used one of these tumblers since the 80’s. I have used it with dry and wet media. after 30 years, I have cleaned tens of thousands of rounds with it. I keep expecting it to spring a leak, burn the motor up, or otherwise fail. However, it just keeps on tumbling. Incredible…