Hi SSShooter.  I have the Lyman Turbo and I use Dave Maurer's ceramic media in it.  It will do a good job but requires attention to some details.  It seems to work best  if one uses a small amount of cleaning solution.  If you can see much of a puddle of solution in the media that is to much.  Just have the media good and wet with the solution.
If you use to much solution the media does not agitate very well and takes a long time.  I only have media from one of Dave's kits but could double that amount if I had it.
I have not used the stainless media.  Hope this helps.
Greg Childress

rr2241tx wrote on Feb 18^th, 2015 at 11:30am:


YUP!

I finally replaced my old Lyman Turbo 600 tumbler, that I have had for at least 35+ years. I can't wrap my head around how many cases it must have tumbled in that time. When it finally died, a friend told me about the rotary tumblers and stainless steel pins. He showed me some cases he had tumbled, and I was completely sold!. I went with the SSM Rebel17. It is basically a Thumlers type tumbler with some high grade improvements, not the least of which is the use of bearings instead of Delrin pillow blocks on the drive and idler shafts. I got the package deal which came with the tumbler, 5lbs of pins, A media separator, and some Lemishine. It was an unbelievable difference in my cases. I only tumble half the recommended cases, and only for an hour. They come out REALLY clean !! If you deprime before you tumble, it will clean the primer pockets completely. The insides of the cases get as clean as the outsides. I recently was given some 1952 once fired military M2 ball cases. They had never been cleaned, since fired sometime in the 60's. I ran them for a hour and a quarter, and they look new...NEW!!

I'm obviously sold on the product !!
Tom W.

Hank45, Yep! it works on everything from my 25-20SS to my 500-450 #2 Musket cases. The pins are thin enough they will not jam in the flash holes and don't get stuck in the cases. The separator ( which looks like a re-purposed cat litter strainer) does a good job of agitating the media so that I have only found an occasional stray pin sitting in a case. They are attracted to a magnet, so I finish by inserting a small pencil magnet into the dry cases to make sure nothing is in there. I usually never find any. The media will probably never need to be replaced from wear. All in all, much faster and a better cleaning job than my old vibratory Turbo 600
Tom W.

You add some water, and Dawn dishsoap with the Lemishine (like 2-3 tablespoons). You only need 1/4 teaspoon of the Lemishine powder per tumble so it's very inexpensive. I bought the separator from SSM with the Tumbler. It is basically a rotating basket inside a sealed tub. It wasn't real expensive, but it makes the media separation from the cases very simple and takes about a minute. Go to SSM's website (just do a Google search) and check out the "deals". They also sell Thumbler's Tumblers as well.
Tom W.

Despite having commented on the vibratory media, I'm now sold on the tumbler with SS pins.   Don't know what it is about Dawn, but it does work when Ajax doesn't.     Lemishine is hardly needed unless you have hard water (I do).  I bought some ceramic media also, but didn't see any improvement over the pins.  My separator is just a plastic colander inside a larger plastic bowl.  Fill with hot water, shake the bulk of the pins thru the colander, then pick the cases out one by one, giving each a little shake while still submerged to get any loose pins out from inside.   That's the only tedious part, but a lot less so than clearing corncob bits from flash holes! ! !    My only complaint:  Now I want a bigger tumbler.!

where do I buy the ceramic media? Thanks for your answer, Hank45