I was in Vancouver the other day, and went to a couple of gun stores...I needed some new media for my tumbler, as my walnut shell media is almost black and about the size of sand

$25 for a bag of walnut media, so I passed and went ot a pet store. They didn't have ground walnuts, but they did have corn cob...lots of guys used it so I bought a big bag for $5.

Well, the stuff doesn't stck n flash holes, but it jams up the whole primer pocket AND is hard to shake out of the inside of cases!!!

I don't know how anybody uses this stuff???

It makes the cases nice and clean, but takes half an hour to get it out of the cases!!!

I'm leaving a batch of brass in the cleaner for 24 hours, and hope that the media breaks up a bit...

Gatehouse,

I wouldn't know about corncob. I kind of like walnut myself. Hey, maybe you could tumble those cases with walnut hulls and that would clean out the corncob crap

I tried something else that is an absolutely horrible cleaning medium. Sawdust. Actually, I wasn't using it to clean the cases. I just wanted to get the blackened walnut dust off. I usually do this by wrapping the tumbled brass in an old towel and wiping it. Kind of like dumping wet silverware in a pillowcase and drying it that way (my grandfather said they did that in the Army).

Anyway, I dumped the clean but dusty 30-06 cases in the extra bowl of my Vibrashine, poured in some pine sawdust I'd been hoarding, and turned it on. In a few minutes, I had wonderful shiny brass, and a big problem.

I can get walnut hull out of bottleneck cases by tossing them for a few seconds in a plactic collander. Not so sawdust. I had to individually shake and dump the cases. Most of them dumped out easy enough, but I had to rap some of them 20 or more times to shake out all the sawdust. It seems that long curly pieces of sawdust worm their way into bottleneck cases, and they like to stay in there. I ended up having to attack some cases with a Q-tip to get the most tenacious pieces free. I still found more sawdust when I was resizing, and the cases that harbored it picked the moment they were being rolled on my sticky RCBS case lube pad to start disgorging.

So much for my wonderful labor-saving idea. I'll stick to wiping cases with my ratty old towel for the near future.

H. C.

Gatehouse,

PS. I don't know what happened here. The intended message is the second one below.

[ 06-14-2003, 08:25: Message edited by: BigBob ]

Henry C. Here's a better way to get rid of that dust. Get some of that fabric softener that comes in sheets and throw one one of the sheets into the media while it's tumbling. helps keep the dusgt to a minimum and eliminates the static energy that sometimes makes the media clump and stick together.
Paul B.

Gatehouse,

I've tried pet store corn cob myself in a pinch. It was much coarser than the corn cob sold as tumbling media. It was also much dustier than media corn cob. Since I use a universal decapping die, I took the decapping assembly from a die and use it to knock corn cob out of the flash holes. Works like a charm. Have a good weekend.

Did you buy the small cob version of the pet store corn cob? Personally, I use the small cob stuff for pistol cases and the finer 'sand' type media for rifle cases. Lyman makes a dandy 'media flash hole poker-outer' with a wood handle.

have an air-hose? That might work.

I tried some on my 454 cases and it worked like a charm. Then I tried a batch of 06's, then pulled it all out. I was almost thinking of getting a second hand blender and trying to reduce the size of it that way. If it would work, it would pay for the blender in no time at all.

I think I got the 'large size' corn cob.

Bits of media in the prmer pocket I CAN deal with...it's the corn cob that gets stuck inside the case that bugs me..I have to tap every case to empty it...

AAARRRGGGHHH!

gentlemen,
i tumble my cases BEFORE resizing.this way i am not putting any dirt,sand or other debris up into my dies.
as far as geeting the media out of the cases, the dillon case /media seperator works very well and it worth every penny that it cost.
i have a progressive loader,but still clean all cases before loading.i also size all of my cases on a rockchucker press,then clean all the primer pockets on every case.and i know i will be getting told that you don't need to do that! but speed isn't what i am after,i'm after as accurate ammo as i can make!there will be some that wonder why have a progressive loader if you do not use it to size with too? my answer to that is ,how can you clean the primer pockets then? as soon as my cases primer pockets are clean and re-primed,then into the progressive loader.they tell you in every reloading book not to contaminate the primers don't they? so if you are sticking them into a dirty pocket doesn't that do just what they told you not to? no matter ,i always have and always will clean every primer pocket.its is an extra step but one that i feel is well worth it.i did buy the R.C.B.S. case prep center to speed up the process and saving my old hands from cramping up.
it was well woth the money for this fine tool too!
but again this is just MHO! but to me if you are trying to make the most accurate ammo you can,why not start out the same way as the factory with all clean brass? i use imperial sizing wax to resize with and it comes off very easy with a swipe of a rag.so i do not have to tummble to get it off.
muskrat
freedom wasn't won with a registered gun

I had some problems with media sticking in the cases and the flash holes awhile back. I think I tried this only once but I put the tumbled cases back into an empty tumbler bowl and ran it a few minutes. Like I said it's been awhile but I tend to remember it worked. It's kind of noisy though.
Good Luck,
Jeff

Gatehouse, I used the walnut media for years also. I have now went to corn cob with good results, I reserve the walnut for really dirt brass.
I have to know somthing on this cleaning subject. Why would you deprime before cleaning? I see it as just running a dirty case into a perfectly clean die, or at least it should be. I never have understood the idea behind depriming before you clean. Yes there are certain times it may be the thing to do. Some one care to fill me in on this? I may have over looked somthing.
Jeff

jsh,

I have done this, and it think it really only removes the biggest chunks. I will guess that 90% of people who de-prime before they tumble are doing it so the tumbling can clean the primer pocket at the same time. I tried it because I get writers' cramp from twisting a primer pocket uniformer for hours. BTW, a universal depriming die doesn't touch the walls of the case. You can de-prime 47/70 and 223 cases using the same die.

H. C.

[ 06-14-2003, 19:14: Message edited by: HenryC470 ]

I made a primer pocket cleaner and decrimper from an old pencil sharpener and a few other parts that can be had easily and cheaply. I used a chuck from an electric hand drill, the stand and crank from the pencil sharpener, a piece of steel shank threaded fine on both ends (buy at HW stores in various lengths) and a few nuts and washers. I screwed and loc-tited the shank into the chuck, then inserted the shank through the PS base, put on the crank and spaced it out to give a smooth rotation with several washers and sealed it all up with a locking nut. I attached the PS base to a nice piece of wood that bolts to my reloading bench. Now I can spin the crimp out of military brass in about 4 revolutions with a nice, sharp 45-degree chamfer tool I bought at Sears for about $8 and clean the primer pockets in a snap with a carbide threading tap I ground to an edge and shape just for that purpose. It took very little time to put the thing together and saves oodles of time prepping the brass and saves my sore wrist. Try it, gents.

I clean them before sizing and depriming, then toss them back in to get the lube off..

Been doing that with walnut for years, no problems...

It's really the media that gets stuck insde that's bugging me. Walnut just pours out when I toss them in a strainer, but this @#$%^ corn cob sticks inside and have to individualy tap it out of each case!

I'm going to seee if I can find some walnut at another pet store!

Don't bother trying to reduce the size of the corncob media with a blender. I tried this with my mini-cuisineart. It didn't faze the media. Guess it is too light bor the blades to cut it. They just get pushed around. Oh, well>>>>>>Bug.

Why bother? Reload your cases and shoot. Apart from looks, is there any benefit to what you're doing? Forgive my ignorance, but I've been shooting for a few too many years to remember, and have NEVER felt the need to clean the brass.

the only reason i tumble and clean brass is to keep from scratching the inside of my dies.the looks of the brass isn't important to me but the condition of the dies are.if you scratch the inside of the dies,it will scratch the brass to.
but like you,reloading is so you can shoot more!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
muskrat
live free or die!!!!

Gatehouse, funny you should mention tossing them back in to get the lube off of them. That was how I started using the corn cob media. I am back to tumbling, wiping them down and inspecting, sizing, clean primer pockets and prime. I jsut can not seem to get away from wiping them down with an old diaper. I use one that is thin enough to feel the case and if there is the least little burr anywhere on the case it will usually snag the diaper.
Those primer pockets are a real pain for me also. I have looked long and hard at some of the ideas folks have had with the cordless screwdrivers. The RCBS prep station is another on I have looked at. Any of you guys have feedback on one of these.
Jeff

Jeff57's suggestion usually works. I've learned to go easy on the media treatment and blend it very well before adding the brass. In fact I now use Brasso instead of the house brands. It seems to have a more volatile solvent that keeps the media drier and doesn't clump.

I clean before resizing so that eliminates any problems with primers and pockets.

[ 06-16-2003, 03:28: Message edited by: steve y ]

A mix of corn cob and walnut dumped in the vibrator (huh huh, he said vibrator) followed by pouring in Lyman Turbo brass polish until it's just slightly "muddy" followed by some more corn cob and walnut to "dry it out" a bit thus flowing evenly worked extremely well for me. I leave them in for an hour and then they come out looking as close to new as any reasonable person could expect and the amount of liquid present seems to keep the dust down to a minimum.

I tried this after various problems with dust and wipe-downs previously and I think it works well as the finished cases don't appear to have any "residue" and certainly no dust.

Anyway, just a thought.

Reed

This has become a thorny issue for the many reloaders who have problems using their tumblers. My cases were coming out hazy, and chocked full of the media I use. I switched to walnut. It helped some, but the cases still clogged. Finally I cut way back on the cleaning additive. Voila! Success. I think it's the dampness that's causing both clogging and haziness.
I still don't get it right every time, but often enough to hold out hope. I often wish I'd never seen a damn tumbler. I used to use Brasso and spin the cases by drill. Beautiful finish. People said, "No, no, you'll weaken the brass." I never lost a case in 30 years by doing it. I stopped because I got tired of the mess. Tumblers are better but certainly not the final word. Best wishes.

Cal - Montreal

Something I did to reduce the size of the corncob stuff, was to run it through my old hand crank grinder. Worked for me.

Just bought some of Lymans corncob. Does stick in the flash hole, but I've never had a problem with it sticking in the cases.

Midway sells a rotary media seperator that fits on top of a 5 gallon paint bucket. I shoot a lot of 223(3-4000/year) and tumble with treated media first then dump them in and give a few spins. I tumble again after sizing to remove the spray lube with untreated corn cob and back into the spinner. It tumbles them around pretty good and I only get a grain in the flash hole about 3 in 100 cases.

Gatehouse,

If the corncob is sticking inside the cases, could it be that there maybe some lube in the case it is sticking to? That is the only time I have the problem of it sticking in the case. I cure this by leaving it in the tumbler quite awhile.

Guys,
Just do a search in "Google" for Corn Cob Abrasives, of Corn Cob abrasive polish, or just abrasives. Perhaps Polishing media or tumbler media.
Here is just one example I got
polishing media

Find someone who handles industrial abrasives. I bought a big bag(I think it was a fifty pound) of Grit O Cob ten years ago for less than a gunstore little bag. You can buy the stuff in several differant aggrigate sizes.

Get some plastic containers or tubs to store it in. You won't have to buy anything else for the rest of your life! UNless you polsih 24/7.

Rusty
We band of brothers!

[ 06-16-2003, 11:32: Message edited by: Rusty ]

CORN COB MEDIA.
I try to mix mine 50-50. I have always had the experience of getting either media stuck in the primer pockets.
I solved the problem...
Do not size or remove the primers until you run them cases through the cleaner.

R.C.B.S. case prep station is a great product in MHO. it works great in all the thing is does as far as i am concerned.flashole cleaning,primer pocket cleaning and uniforming.deburring both inside and outside the cases necks.
now if you just shoot benchrest and shoot the same 50 cases all summer then maybe you wouldn't want to buy it.but if you do a lot of different reloading,with lots of cases it sure saves the cramping of the hands and makes a slow job into one that goes a heck of a lot faster with this tool.it was well worth the money to me.i have tried the power screwdriver approach too, it was okay,but not near as smooth and as handy as the prep center.
muskrat
freedom wasn't won with a registered gun!