I use an old Thumblers Tumbler to clean my brass before loading. I have probably 10# of Lyman Turbo Tumbler Tufnut, which is round walnut shell treated with some sort of red rouge. It works OK, but that darn rouge leaves a fine powder on anything it touches-- esp the brass. Even wiping off each individual piece doesn't get it all off. I read some online comments about using a cut-up dryer sheet or paper towel to absorb the red dust but I'm not convinced, seems like finding something that doesn't leave that dust residue woul be a better idea.
What is everyone else using? I did some googling and it looks like the only plain stuff available is ground corn cob, as just about all the walnut media is treated with something. Has anyone ever tried using beadblasting media (as used in a beadblasting cabinet)?

I have not tried any bead blasting media myself.

I use walnut and corncob "media" from the pet store. Fairly inexpensive, and since it is for use around pets (IIRC birds and lizards) it is not treated or colored.

Being a dry media, they still produce dust, and I do use a dryer sheet with them.

Hope this helps.

I wipe the rouge dust off in bulk and don't worry about it. It's too fine to damage the sizing die. I've used the same lube pad for over 20 years and it's still does not have a red tint from the rouge.

The red rouge comes from Thumlers Tumbler original media treatment as I had ordered an extra bottle of red rouge in 1980 when I ordered the tumbler. I had not used mine for years and decided to fire up and tumble some brass and reload and I dumped all the red tinted media from mine and threw it away and started fresh with finely ground walnut shells and some Nufinish polish and don't have to put up with the red coating on everything like before. I also took naptha and cleaned all the red coating out of the rubber drum and made it look like new. Should have done it long ago.

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James
On the Llano Estacado

That's what I do sophie, lizard bedding and nufinish.

I use the Harbor Freight fine walnut blast media. It is around the 20-40 sieve size which means it is too small to catch in flash holes.

I used Lyman media in the past. Didn't like the red because as you found the red rouge was not desirable. The treated walnut with the green treatment worked better for me just because it didn't leave a residue on the cases.

I switched away from commercial pre treated media mainly for cost and flexibility reasons. I buy plain media and treat it with my choice of additive. As I mentioned, I buy my walnut media from Harbor Freight, and I buy my corn cob from Zoro tools because the price is the lowest.

I have generally avoided using the bedding materials since they "can" vary in particle size substantially. If you can find what works for you, great. I wasn't successful. I use the 20-40 size, but the 12-20 size is more the size of Lyman media if you like that. I find the larger size to much more noisy in my tumblers than the finer size.

I'm having a few issues (long story) with my 30 year old Thumblers Tumbler, so I'm thinking about upgrading to a modern vibrator-type case cleaner. Pros/cons of one vs the other?

I have an old Lyman Turbo 600. I use walnut (untreated) and add a tablespoon of Brasso periodically. Works great.

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Randy
Provenance nerd

My Thumbler's Tumbler is 37 years old. I've never heard of a vibrator type lasting anywhere near as long. I figure the tumbler cost me a little over $3 a year, plus the cost of media. Cheap enough that I'll continue to use it and replace it with another Model B if this one ever burns up.

If it is untreated walnut media you are looking for then here is 8lbs and 15lbs at Midsouth Shooters. Don't know why the 15lbs is cheaper then the 8lbs but I have been pretty happy with it. I like to throw in a packet of the RCBS powder polishing compound every once in a while as not only does it help with the shine on the brass it also "refreshes" the used media a bit and lets you use it a bit longer.

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M&P15 Sport,9Pro,9c,Shield9,45

A vibe-bowl will take 1/10th the time.

I originally had a Thumblers , but after buying a big Dillon FL-2000 (used) , I actually gave the Thumblers away.

I use a vibratory cleaner with corn cob media and a capful of Red Rooster cleaner every 2nd or 3rd load. Brass needs barely two hours and is like new. Use a dryer sheet (used) every 4th or 5th load to remove any dust particles..

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H Richard
SWCA1967 SWHF244

Unless the formula had changed recently, Brasso has ammonia in it which is bad for brass. One of the first thing I was taught when I learned to reload 30+ years ago was never to use anything with ammonia to clean brass or even allow brass to get exposed to ammonia vapor as it will weaken the brass. If you want your brass nice and polished add small amount of mineral spirit to the media. I personally don't care how polished my brass is, I just want them cleaned.

I have found pet store walnut litter comes in at least two different grinds/grit sizes. The first I bought from PetSmart and was dark, course grind and worked quite well, very clean brass, but not the high polish (don't want nor need high gloss, polished brass!). Second batch I bought was lighter is color, finer grind and while I don't remember the manufacturer, it's called "desert blend" and does not clean as well as the PetSmart brand. Matter of fact not any better than corn cob media; (Econoline 526020G-40 Blast Media, 40 Lbs, Corn Cob, 14/20 Grit). In your case I'd first try the dryer sheets or paper towel pieces dampened with mineral spirits. If that's not to your liking, go with a course lizard litter, blast media, or the DrillSpot stuff...

I found that pre-treating the pet store corn cobb with NuFinish car polish makes my brass a little prettier. And I found that adding a couple tablespoons of denatured alcohol, (SLX, yellow bottle HEET, etc.) helps collect the dust to the sides of the bowl and it evaporates pretty quickly when the bowl is open.

I had to open up the slots in my Dillon media separator to handle the larger corn cobb. I've found that the larger stuff doesn't clog the brass as much as the smaller blasting stuff.

I'm new at this as well. I just bought a Lyman 2500 tumbler and picked up some walnut shell media at Petsmart. I think it's called lizard Litter. I tumbled about 1800 (not all at once) rounds with no polishing compound. each patch took about four hours to get to the point where they looked like new. Then I thought I'd add some liquid car polish and re-due a hand full. WOW!!! Really shinny.

I agree with Post #13 - Do NOT use Brasso as the ammonia will weaken the brass. Don't know about the other products. I use the Dillon case polish with corn cob media.

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Dick

DLA,

I also started using some case polish (came with my tumbler) and it does make for nice looking brass. I will try the NuFinish car polish when mine is used up.

I will try using denatured alcohol, I had not heard that one before - thanks!

I use the tuff nut with the red rouge, then tumble for an hour or two with the pet store lizard litter (fine walnut shells). I think the tuff nut does a good job, and the lizard litter gets the red dust off, at least on the outside of the cases. I need to change out the tuff nut more often. It loses its effectiveness over time.

Mineral spirits and a dryer sheet work great.

Lee Jones

I have a Cabela's vibratory case tumbler that I have had for 15 years. I use Cabela's brass cleaner and corn cob media. Inexpensive and does a good job.

I hit on the idea of using a kitchen sieve to wash the excess rouge out of a tumblerfull of the treated tufnut media. Worked pretty good, a lot of red stuff ran down the drain. The media is still red, but it doesn't rub off on my hands. I spread it out on a couple newspapers on the kitchen counter to dry, which didn't take too long as it didn't really absorb any water. The problem with the tumbler itself was that the edge of the drum as well as the driver rollers got glazed over time, so with a heavy load the drum didn't want to turn- it just spun it's wheels so to speak, which just made the glazing worse. I took a small disc sander and roughed up the surfaces & it works real well (for now anyway).
I've got a small batch of 38 cases tumbling now, guess I'll see in a little while how well the de-rouged media works.

I use pet store crushed walnut for bird cages and Flitz tumbler media additive. The cases come out clean and shiny in 90 minutes, but don't have the high gloss you get with a finer abrasive like corncob media.

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"Liberty or Death"

Before I hit on the idea of washing the treated tufnut, I tried tumbling a small lot of brass in some beach sand fr a couple hours. It came out quite clean but with a sort of matte finish. Tumbling the same batch in the washed tufnut put a shine on it. I wonder if mixing some sand or similar into the washed tufnut might help with the cleaning part.

I have used Brasso and other brass cleaners for years with no ill effect. After the brass is clean, I run it through a second tumbler with untreated corn cobb media. I still use the only batch of Remington .45 AR brass I have ever purchased in 1988 or 1989 (for my 625-2 model of 1988). I have had very few pieces of that brass split. One of the commercial reloaders around Atlanta told me he used brasso exclusively. Dean

Dillon Vibratory Tumbler with a shot of their Blue case Cleaner. Walnut shell media changed only twice in 30 years. Works great!

chief38,

If you had that media analyzed, the EPA, Ralph Nader, Bloomburg and a few others would be looking for you.

Media is CHEAP, change it Sir, your well being is more important.

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NRA Pistol/Rifle Inst. RSO