How long do you fellas use Walnut media before changing it? What do you recommend or not recommend be added to it? I use Brasso sometimes, but read in one of my reloading manuals that Ammonia is bad for gun bores (Brasso has lots of ammonia). I tumble mostly 45 ACP, 38 spl, and 357.

In the past I used nothing but Lyman's corncob media and two capfuls of Cabela's polishing solution.

A few days ago I read in the Guns & Ammo book by Patrick Sweeney "Reloading For Handgunners" that Lyman makes their corncob media with polishing goop already mixed in.

Knowing this, my future vibrating will be even easier and less expensive since I'll no long need the Cabela's polishing solution.

When the media starts turning from gray to black in color that's when I change out the media. It just depends on how dirty the brass is to start with. Two hours of vibrating is sufficient.

Ammonia is not very compatible with brass either. Ammonia is great for removing organic residue, but it does attack brass. Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc, ammonia forms a soluble ion Cu(NH3)4, so every time brass is exposed to ammonia you lose a little bit of copper. The amount of ammonia needed is not very great to damage brass although the wear and tear of shooting will probably wear out the brass quicker than the ammonia will. This is a much larger problem in cold-metal drawn cartridges than in annealed cartridge since there is less strain internally.

Alot of bore cleaners, see T-14, have ammonia-like compounds (meaning some sort of soluble nitrogen base) and are common components of copper removing solutions. I wouldn't worry too much about hurting your bore with the residual ammonia on your brass. Also, ammonia is volatile, if there is much time between tumbling with ammonia and shooting, the ammonia will have either complexed with the copper or evaporated.

I would offer an alternative specifically for tumbling but I don't tumble, just thought I would throw in my 2 cents chemistry wise. However, at harbor freight they do sell some solution to re-vitalize tumbling media, not sure if it would be useful here though.

I use corn cob media, in the pet supplies at Walmart, and add a capful of NuFinish to each batch. I use the same batch of corn cob for 2-3 tumblings, then pitch it and start with new media. It gets pretty dirty in those few cleanings.

I use corncobs that I add Turtle Wax to. When it takes longer to clean your brass, pitch it.

When I used to tumble (I use SS pins now), I'd add some fine polishing liquid (I had lots around from polishing cars). It worked better than car wax. Nufinish worked well too but I think it's more of a polish than a wax.

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Minimize the variables

I use the medium coarse walnut shell, 25# box from HF about 10 years ago still has a couple good shots left unused. Price was about $9 then.

I like the citrus smell of ?Franklin? but it cost too much so I stick mostly with a cap or 2 of the Blue Dillon cleaner. Jug lasts me a long time, & even with shooting a couple matches a month plus practice plus a buddy throwing his in too, I change mine about once a year if the run-time increases much past 20-30 minutes. My revolvers don't make the brass too dirty these days.

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Dum vivimus Vivamas

I use walnut media. Lizard litter from a pet store. I add a dollop or two of Dillon Polish. The walnut is a bit more abrasive than the corn cob. I pitch it when it won't clean the brass in a reasonable length of time, ie two-three hours. Or if it starts getting really black. There are some ceramic medias as well as the ss pins mentioned. Guess they last forever. Using a dryer sheet along with the media will prolong its life.

Yup...I agree and use the same method/materials as epj

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Armed and Dangerous

I just finished cleaning a load of 9s with Lymans Turbo tumbler media, tumbled for two hours, came out as shiny as new brass. I might try the dryer sheet idea, that sounds interesting.

Before I went to SS pins, I could get about 25 uses out of corn cob media before it was too dirty to work effectively. A few less if I was cleaning lube off rifle cases.

25 lbs of fine walnut from HarbFreight, $17. That's enough to fill my tumbler many, many times. I fill it with enough to reach about 3/4 up the sidewalls of the tumbler. Add about one cap full of NuFinish and one cap full of odorless mineral spirits.

Tumbling for any longer than about an hour does no noticible difference. But the other night I did 3 hrs and it seemed to scrub the inside of the primer pockets very well.

If it still cleans in an hour or so, I assume it's still good, don't add or change.

Sometimes I add some squares of paper towels. Sometimes I don't.


Sgt Lumpy

I've been using walnut media for years. I add about a teaspoon of Brasso every run or 2. I polish my brass to get clean, not win beauty contests... 30 to 45 minutes usually. The brass and media both seem to last forever--and I was reloading 45's & 9's for submachine guns which produced pretty dirty brass. Now, I just polish my 38/357s and 44/44mags. I'd throw the media away when it took longer than about 45 minutes to clean the brass. By then it was about black.

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Randy
Provenance nerd

I'm using WW Grainger ground corn cob I bought in 1996. I just keep adding to the original load as it depletes. Midway polishing compound and a used dryer sheet to trap trash. Tumbling brass is an expense, not an investment, so you got to keep expenses down. How else can one afford a Thumler's Tumbler? Can't be wasting those greenbacks.

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S&WHF 366

Sounds like you guys have a good thing going for you........
I think I will give it a try.

Its got to work better than my...........
egg shells and old coffee grounds.

Happy new year to all.

I used corncob media for years and added Flitz media additive which is a little pricey. I got a 50 lb bag of walnut from a friend for free and I used NuFinish to help polish the brass. It worked great until my tumbler gave up on me and I had been toying with the idea of trying stainless pins in a rock tumbler. My girlfriend got me a rock tumbler for Christmas and I wet tumble with stainless pins now. If I used anything besides the stainless pins it would be the walnut and NuFinish. The walnut lasts longer than the corncob media. I added NuFinish as needed and I would toss the media when it started taking too long to get the desired results.