I'm not that happy with the current methods for cleaning brass rifle cases. The tuff nut and corn cob media that are available here deposit the polishing powder inside the cases requiring another cleaning job to remove it.



Lately I've been gathering data on ceramic media cleaning which I understand is almost indestructable but require a wet tumbler like the RCBS sidewinder to operate effectively. (RCBS is too rough on the media and a rubber lined lapindary rubber lined tumbler is required)

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/home/home.jhtml?rid=5000152032502



From what I read, the cases will come out cleaner and brighter than new including inside the case and the primer pocket. This has to be a positive, enabling the handloader to throughly inspect the case befor reuse.





I'm trying to source a supplier of the cylindrical cut media and a suitable tumbler but has anyone here in Aus or NZ seen these ceramic media kits?

I have a mate who was working in the Ammunition industry , they used to tumble/vibrate the cases in a hard media , but changed to a chemical cleaner , which avoided the task of cleaning the crud out of the cases pre priming . I can find out what they used , although theirs was a commercial operation doing hundreds of thousands of cases at a time .

Have you spoken to a jeweller about what they use?

Yes Bakes, they use the same shit we got tuffnut & corncob (and at about 45% cheaper)

Why not just order the kit from Cabelas - bound to be way cheaper than what a local supplier will charge , and you would have it in a week from order .

Cleaning cases just would not be the same without all the fine green dust over everything!

It's $US45 for the kit plus $US129 for the tumbler. I got a quote for media here $AU315 for a 50kg bag (smallest size?) but you need only about 4kg in the barrel. I'm still looking for a suitable local tumbler.

You could try aquarium supplies, they use ceramic pieces in some filters

Have you tried ther Iosso Case Cleaner and Polish kit from Cabelas ? I have used the Birchwood Casey case cleaner for years , and this really works. While not as good looking as tumbled, it cleans the inside case and the primmer pockets with just a twist of a Q-tip. I like it so much that I wont buy a tumbler.

Have you tried white vinegar and dish soap? Get a plastic tub, put in your dirty brass, cover with water with about an inch on top, and some white vinegar, I use about 1.5 cups per gallon or so, and a good squirt of liquid dish soap. Swish around for a few seconds then let set for a while, usually 30-45 minutes but can be a few hours if the brass is really green and dirty.

If you want to tumble your brass, a trick I learned here is to tear some strips of paper towel, about 1 inch wide and toss them in with the media. They do a pretty good job of keeping your media clean. You still need to reactivate it every once in a while but I have had the same tumbler of corncob media now for about 1 1/2 years.