Tumbler media

[djl02]

have been buying processed brass,but now am in the market to buy a tumbler and some media. My question is what type or types of media do I need to get the job done. Do you need 2 types or do you just use one? Thanks n advance.

 

[Aszerigan]

Depends on how much time you want to spend on cleaning your brass.

Corncob mixed with (non-ammonia) car wax is a great all purpose polish. Tumble it for a few hours to clean them, or overnight to make them really shine. No need to purchase special media to clean - RCBS, Lyman, etc all package corn cob media, and it's expensive.

Go to the local tractor supply store and get a 50lb bag of untreated corn cob for $25. Then, wash it with water and let it dry for a few days. That gets all the dust out of the media. After that, you'll have all the media you'll ever need. Throw in a $5 bottle of Nu-finish car wax, and you're golden.

 

[mospeada]

When I got started, I bought the Lyman treated corn cob media and it works great. I tried a lot of things in the vibratory tumbler including the above mentioned corn cob & nu-finish. Personally, I like the pre-treated stuff better as it does a bit better job for me, the granules of corn are smaller and uniform and you don't need to do anything but pour it in and turn the tumbler on. As for the price, you can get 10lbs for $20 and that will last you a few years. Personally, I feel that is a pittance compared to other costs of reloading and you don't have 50lbs of corncob media to store and you don't have to do anything to it.

I've since moved on from vibratory tumbler and dry media, but that's what I'd go back to if I did.

PS, if price is really a factor, you can drive out to the nearest picked cornfield, gather up some cobs and take them home and grind them up yourself in a food processor, so I've read anyway.

 

[DustyDawg48]

As was mentioned before, non-ammonia EVERYTHING is a must. Ammonia will weaken brass so do not use any cleaner that has ammonia in it.

I started out using walnut media and I'm not too sure that I would recommend it. It seems to be dustier than the corn cob media so after I finally go through that 30# of it I bought initially I will probably convert over. A must, though, is a good polish and I believe Fitz is one of the best there is. A little dab initially and then a cap full every once it a while to freshen it up and it will make the brass look like new and help keep the dust down considerably.

 

[windellmc]

The problem I am seeing with corn cob is that is gets stuck in the primer hole.

 

[DustyDawg48]

I tumble and then deprime myself, for what it's worth.

 

[rimfire_crazed]

The problem I am seeing with corn cob is that is gets stuck in the primer hole.

Are you not inspecting, cleaning, and uniforming your primer pockets during case prep? it takes about a half second extra to pop out the pieces of media that get stuck in flash holes. In my last batch, i only had to pop out 10-11 pieces out of the 50 rounds I was prepping.

 

[windellmc]

Except when you tumble and then deprime. Then the corn cob gets pressed into the sides of the hole and you have to manually push it out.

 

[strut70]

stainless steel media water and a little dish soap

 

[looney2ns]

Lymans treated corncob (green) media works great for me.

 

[tenring]

Econoline 526040G-40 Blast Media, 40 Lbs, Corn Cob, 20/40 Grit

 

[b j]

I use the ground walnut shells any thing what falls in the flashole comes out when its deprimed I run it about 1hr.

 

[Leo]

I am one of those guys that just feels compelled to experiment on things that "they say". I always heard about the "plugging the flash hole" problem. So I tumbled a bunch of .38 and 9mm brass cases after depriming. My media is 50% corn cob/50% walnut with Frankford polish mixed in. I then found 25 of each that had media lodged in the flash hole. I loaded the "plugged up" ones and 25 of each clear pieces of brass with my favorite loads. I carefully fired each of the 4 samples at 25 yards. Guess what NO DIFFERENCE!. All four groups were under 3 inches, which is really as good as I can still shoot a service pistol anyway. No difference in sound or recoil, no difference in accuracy. No pressure signs on the brass, no different powder soot on the cases.

I have had to hammer the stuck bullets out of pistols that had the primer only because sloppy people missed the powder charge station. It takes pretty solid hits with a mallet on the brass punch. The power of the primer that can drive a bullet solidly into the rifling will not be significantly slowed by a little piece of corn cob or walnut. Since I normally sized/deprime AFTER tumbling, it is a moot point, but if a little piece happened to get in the way, so what?

 

[CampingJosh]

I would vote for walnut media, but I don't care that my brass doesn't shine. I just want it clean.

 

[bronson3304]

i use a 50/50 mix of corn cob and walnut with a little brass polish (i heard nu finish does the trick too). i let it run over night and it looks brand new in the morning.

 

[Litlratt]

If you are loading on a progressive press and concerned about the plugged flash holes, put a universal decapping die in station 1 of your toolhead that you load with. A fls die with a decapping pin will also work by adjusting the die to where it is just shy of sizing and increasing the depth of the decapping pin to where it clears the flash hole.

 

[JeepinGunGuy]

I use walnut for about 2 hours, deprime, then back in the walnut overnight. OCD nope not me.