My shooting buddy got tired of looking at my dirty brass, so is giving me a case tumbler for my birthday.

What media is good for handgun ammunition? That is, what are the pros and cons of each.

Also, I have heard of a "permanent" media (when it gets dirty, you wash it, strain and dry and continue on). I think it is made of some kind of ceramic, but know nothing about it. Anyone hear of this stuff?

Thanks for any help you can give me.

Lost Sheep

The ceramic stuff is available from Cabela's; use it with the cleaning solution they offer. It is a wet process that requires a rotary tumbler. With straight-necked cases, it will be hard to improve on. You will want the larger media; the other is for bottle-necked cases.

Iosso Case Cleaner is a great liquid to use.
Soak, rinse, clean.

After that, and this is when I am feeling bored or want my cases super clean, I do this:

Tumble in then GREEN Lyman corncob media ( it has a wax in it) and I will replenish this waxiness after awhile with Iosso Q-Brite polish.

I then take out the cases one by one, knock the media out of the primer pocket, and wipe them off quickly with a paper towel.

Then back in the tumbler with walnut shell to put a helluva sheen on the brass.

Probably not the best technique with pistol brass (too many of them), but it works very very well.

crushed walnut shells with jewleres rouge, or the corncorm media with a polish additive like dillons or lymans, or brasso

I use the walnut media from Midway, and the Midway polish when needed.
Lyle

quote:

Originally posted by butchloc:
crushed walnut shells with jewleres rouge, or the corncorm media with a polish additive like dillons or lymans, or brasso

yup....I've used both the walnut shells and the corncob....generously charged with (I use Lymans) charging liquid and overnight vibro finish and the brass looks beautiful.

I think the walnut media works a bit faster and the corncob media a bit more polish....both are fine.

For what it's worth, I use "Lizzard Litter" available at any pet store chain. Add a couple capfuls of Turtle Wax Polish. Tow hours will clean the dirtiest cases.

But then I'm cheap.

I'm with you goldy. I buy the 15 quart container from Petco of the lizard litter which is crushed walnut media.

I then put some watered down turtle wax polishing compound in it and man do they come out shiny. I was worried about possible amonia in the polishing compound but I don't see anything on the container and I have been using it for a while now with no issues.

The Lizard Litter is like ten bucks for a large bag. I'll be da*n*d if I'm going to pay the ridiculous prices for that stuff from the reloading companies for ground up nut shells.

I also polished some weathered sockets from an old tool set in my vibratory cleaner and they came out like new.

I posted my question about brass cleaning media on three different forums and waited a while to see what answers I got, rather than engaging in a back-and-forth on each forum.

Alaska Outdoors Forums > Alaska shooting forums > Alaska Handloading>Tumbling media choices? "Forever" media

Accuratereloading.com > Reloading> Which Tumbling Media?

RugerForum.com Forum Index -> Factory Ammunition and Reloading>Which media? Ceramic "forever" media?

As a token of my appreciation, I have summarized the collected advice, experience and wisdom as best I could and present it back to the communities from which it came, fortified by the other forums' contributions.

Thanks to all. I wish I could thank each of you, but there were so many.

The ceramic media I mentioned is apparantly best used in a rotary-type tumbler and used wet.

one poster said:

The ceramic stuff is available from Cabela's; use it with the cleaning solution they offer. It is a wet process that requires a rotary tumbler. With straight-necked cases, it will be hard to improve on. You will want the larger media; the other is for bottle-necked cases.

My brass cleaner is a vibratory one, so the ceramic stuff is not for me, yet.

Along with the usual cleaning media (corn cob pieces and walnut shell pieces) there are any number of improvised media, among them, lizard litter or bedding (which is made of walnet shell, but predictably has no polishing/cleaning additives), kitty litter, fine sand (probably sandblasting media), rice and breakfast cereal (though I suspect that last item was made in jest).

Of the two commonly used media (corn cob and walnut) apparantly some have cleaning or polishing additives. These additives may be replenished with specially made compounds or improvised compounds (Fitz brass cleaner/polish, NuFinish car polish, Turtle Wax Polish, Turtle Wax Polishing Compound, jeweler's rouge or apparantly any kind of polish that does not contain ammonia (which will chemically react with and weaken brass)) .

Also mentioned was "Iosso Case Cleaner is a great liquid cleaner. Soak, rinse, clean." Apparantly you don't mix this with the tumbler media, but use it separately. But Iosso Q-Brite polish is added to corncob media. The poster of this advice finds it replenishes the "wax" in the Green Lyman Corncob media. But then he wipes them down and follows up with a tumble in Walnut.

Some posters use dryer sheets to refresh their media, finding that the dryer sheet collects quite a bit of the dirt and dust that accumulates in the media. But also find the sheets accumulate "quite a bit of my high priced polishing/cleaning compound". That poster quit using dryer sheets with his treated media.

As an aside, I know that some people find that a soft cloth with a little fabric softener (designed for use in a clothes washer) on it is an adequate substitute for dryer sheets for clothes in a dryer. I wonder if just a plain cloth (untreated or perhaps with a little fabric softener, mineral spirits or alcohol on it) would do as well in collecting dirt out of the media as a dryer sheet.

Some people use one media or another exclusively. Some use walnut, followed by corncob (to get a shinier, smoother finish). Some use corncob first, then walnut. At least one mixes walnut and corncob. Some wash their brass in soap and water as well, but avoid detergents.

Other non-media pieces of advice are:
Walnut shells stick in the primer holes, so tumble before depriming
Wanut shells stick in the primer holes and can break a depriming pin, so tumble after depriming.
Corncob media will stick in the primer pockets.
Do not try to clean too many cases at a time. Do not overfill the tumbler.
Run the tumbler overnight.
About two hours will do.

I don't mind the contradictions. I know my mileage will vary.

Anyhow, I have gained a year's worth of experience in a couple of weeks and haven't even cleaned one cartridge yet. Ain't the web wonderful? Thanks for sharing.

Remember, believe only half of what you see and one quarter of what you hear. That goes double for what you get from the internet. Read, think, cross-check, then draw your own conclusions.

Lost Sheep

Well as you can see there are as maney opinons on cleaning brass as posters. I have used most of them all but the ceramick media. I tend to use walnut with a good aditive I am curentley using Dillon's rapid polish. The walnut is smaller and easier to get out of small caliber cases 223 ect.
I have polished cases before and after decaping and never had a problem. I just run them through the sizing die and it cleares the flash hole. I had never heard of braking a pin on media stuck in the flash hole?? I have broken one on a berdan case I missed in sorting
Bill

Doc224/375
one of us

Posted 17 November 2008 00:13 Hide Post
May I make a suggestion Walnut shell is better than Cob media IMO !.

Yes I do and have used both , no longer though . It's the 21 St. century so take a peak .

Below is quick link , there are several other types brands as well as suppliers .

I use a combination of ceramic and synthetic by volume 1/8 ceramic 7/8 synthetics .

I prefer Tetrahedron and triangles shapes . I've had them for near 15 years and have yet to

change the media . Once in a Blue Moon I may put a cap full of polish say Dillon or ? in the mix .

I have washed the media a few times . I pour it into a clean bucket add Borax and Dawn dish

soap just a little let it soak 10 minutes swirl it around , dump off the dirty water rinse

with clean water swirl it around , dump rinse . Then dump the media on a screen place it in the

shade let it dry shake it around a couple of times Dry thoroughly . Back too the Vibra Hopper .I use a Dillon.

http://www.mikro1.com/supplies/tumbling_media.asp?gclid...q8-pYCFRlRagod5UD5YA


"The world is a dangerous place to live, not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it."
Albert Einstein

I recommend the RCBS Sidewinder case tumbler and recommend tumbling the cases in hot water and automatic dish washer detergint (like Cascade). Either dry in oven at lowest temperature (170F) or just air dry.

I use 30% glass filed nylon resin regrind that are used for plastic injection molding. I squirt in some turtle wax polishing compound and turn on the vibrobowl.

quote:

Originally posted by Buliwyf:
I recommend the RCBS Sidewinder case tumbler and recommend tumbling the cases in hot water and automatic dish washer detergint (like Cascade). Either dry in oven at lowest temperature (170F) or just air dry.

Buliwyf,
I have used this method for cleaning black powder cases. I usually follow up with running them through the tumbler with walnut media and a additive like Dillon or Lyman polish because it has anti tarnish additives because I like shiny cases.
I am not picking on Buliwyf ‘s method it just saved me from having to type it all again.
Bill

Here is the other