Well kudos for being another fellow Scout leader and supporter...
I wore out an old one from Midway, that danced all over the counter and was louder than crap.
Cabelas upgraded me with a model with their name on it, that I have used for a decade plus. It sees a lot of action, and I normally load it up and let it run all night, and then empty it sometime the next morning... use Walnut media, and then Mineral Spirits in the media if the brass looks like Surplus Civil War quality. This one is quiet as hell compared to the previous one I had...
Just needed to order a new top for it after many years of use...and it turned out to be made by Berry's out of St George Utah.
Mine needed a new lid, and even tho it was made for Cabelas, they sent me a new lid for No Charge.
I've ordered one thru them for a back up and in case the one I have now decides to finally croak. This thing is like a little diesel engine.
I had to go back east and take care of some family emergency and was gone 2 weeks plus. I had left that tumble on in the shed... it ran 2 weeks straight. My wife said she heard something runny "out there" but wasn't sure what it was and didn't even bother looking to see.
Never seemed to phase it....the brass inside was so 'shiny' you'd think it was chrome... but it was just that polished...
The new one is still in the box... I think it cost me $50 or $55.00 on the door step. and I love how the manufacturer backs up their product.
That one sounds great, and you can't beat that kind of service!! I also went through a blue Midway tumbler. A 1292 if I remember right. Those had issues with getting too hot and starting fires. I then went with a used one and it lasted a couple years. Now I am on to a Lyman 2500 Turbo. That thing tumbles a lot of brass and it is pretty quiet. I've had it for a couple years now and it has been working great. I plug it into a timer, so it will run for 4 or 6 hours and the Lyman Tuff nut with rouge polishes the brass very well. The new stuff is not red, like the old stuff. I don't think it quite works as well, but it also does not leave a red residue from the rouge. That is a plus. I shoot a little every week (about 300 rounds most weeks), so It seems like the tumbler is going every saturday or sunday. I'll prep the brass, tumble it and prime it, so it's ready for the next time:
Here's the used one I bought:
I was pretty hard on it and stuffed it full of brass and ran it all night long many times. Don't remember what brand it was though. The Lyman 2500 Turbo seems like a better Tumbler with a much larger capacity.