Hey all,
My corncob media is just about shot and I'm needing to get some more. I've always used the corncob because that's what the gunshop carried, but now they're closed for good and I'm going all mailorder, so I have a choice; corncob or walnut hull?

So what's your pick?

Thanks,
Ridge

Simple: walnut cleans faster, corncob polishes better.

You like super shiny brass, or do you want to clean it quick and be done?

You can buy walnut at a pet supply house, intended for lizard litter. They will have corn cob also, but it is too coarse for tumbling. Get some walnut and try it. I usually use both. Separate operations, walnut, then corn.

I prefer corn with some car polish.

Media is graded by the abrasiveness of the material.

We used to clean the vanes of a gas turbine periodically with ground pecan hulls. Just dump some in the intake and it does the chore very well. If the vanes weren't too dirty, we used ground peanut hulls. They were softer and less abrasive.

After 40+ years of doing without a tumbler, I finally bought a Midway that was on sale. I didn't choose to buy any media, which is outrageously expensive for the waste material it is. Sure, you can make nylon out of corn cobs, but there are easier ways of doing it, so it's still waste material.

I chose to use cedar sawdust as a media. It really doesn't have enough abrasiveness, so I added some diatomaceous earth (DE), which is the skeletal remains of diatoms.

Now, after two hours of tumbling, it's clean enough for government work and it suits me just fine.

Sawdust is pretty easy to make. All you have to do is saw little slivers off of a board with a table saw or Skill saw and scoop up the saw dust. The choice of material is up to you and could include walnut or oak as being more abrasive due to the greater density.

For my 30-30 brass, I just used some rice that had gone bad (some worms or some other critters) with a little brasso.

Usually I use walnut hulls. Since I live within a 1/4 mile of a walnut dehydrator, I get all the crushed shells I could ever want.

I have found over the years that treated walnut hull media works the best for me. I've used other media including rice. The treated walnut hulls give an excellent shine. besides looking good, shiny brass is easier on your reloading
equipment. It is also much easier to find on the ground.

Sgt Preston here. Not only is the material important, but the size that it's ground to is very significant. If it to big or too small, it will either not clean well or it may get stuck in the flash hole. I use 100% corn cob with a "wax" type additive. I load 15,000 rounds per year & replace my corn cob once a year. I choose to buy mine from a company that knows the best stuff to use for reloaders. I buy from Dillon. They sell both Walnut(#F27-13287, 15 lbs @ 19.95) & corn cob (F27-13496, 10 lbs at 11.95). I also use their "Rapid Polish 290" additive,(F27-13804 $8.95). Prices listed are as of the "Blue Press" March 08. www.bluepress.com. Hope this helps. Sgt Preston USMC LLA

I use walnut only for really dirty brass. Since I don't use range pickup any longer, I seldom have a use for walnut. Corncob with the Dillon or Graff's polish does a great job.

I get my walnut in the pet department at Walmart. I forgot how much it cost or how much I got but it was enough to fill up the tumbler twice and it cost less than $10. I use some brasso to spike it a little and make it clean faster.

I just use rice, which cleans brass but does not polish it. I avoid Brasso because I worry that it could make the metal more brittle. Clean unpolished brass has a soft luster that I find attractive. And the rice leaves microscopic dust on the brass that lubricates it somewhat in the dies.

I use only fine ground walnut , treated with Dillon Rapid Polish. It cleans fast , inside and out and it's fine enough that it won't clog flash holes like corn. Corn also expands with humidity , walnut don't.