Tumbler Media Woes

[Wee Hooker]

I've been using Frankford Arsenal brand treated walnut for many years. It's been good to me. Lasts a long time, cleans and shines well (especially with a splash of NuFinish 2000). Little to no residue left on cases.
So I processed a batch of 3000 especially grungy 45 acp range brass this week and it used up what I had left of the FA walnut supply. No problem I figure, I'll just get some of that crushed walnut lizard bedding I've been reading about to finish the job. Well that stuff worked, kind of, but left the brass with a burnished /not glossy look ( regardless of how much polish I dumped into the vibrator.)
Ok, so off to the only LGS that has media. They had FA Corn Cob and Lyman "tough nut". Tried the Lyman. It worked OK but leaves Everything (including me) covered in Red Rouge polish.

When will I ever learn to stick with what works.
I'm going back to the FA treated Walnut ASAP.

I know this general topic has been discussed here before but I figured I'd ask if anybody else has any particularly interesting success/ horror stories to share on their vibrator media selection.

 

[arjay]

After using up my original stuff,I tried cat litter,rice,water with barkeeper's friend and who knows what else.Right now I'm using some ground walnut bedding from petsmart with some nufinish and I like it

 

[H Richard]

I gave up on walnut media years ago, and switched to corn cob with a cap-full of Rooster brand brass polish (no amonia content). Been happy with it for over 30+ years.

 

[AveragEd]

I recently learned from a shooting buddy about something that for him has made tumbling obsolete. It's called - don't laugh - Krazy Kloth and it removes even the stubborn powder burns on bottleneck rifle case necks. I now spend a few minutes while my barrel cools wiping my cases with one and they are positively as clean as three hours of tumbling - and that's after I wipe the necks with Flitz! I'll bet they work wonders on revolver cylinder faces and might not even remove bluing in the process. They sell for $3.99 in stores but there is a vendor on eBay who sells three of them for $8.91 including the shipping. Search for them on eBay and his ad is one of the first on the list.

The literature with them states that you are never to wash or in any way try to clean them; the dirtier they are, the better they supposedly work. I know, it sounds krazy...

Ed

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

I started 37 years ago with Walnut shell and varied and returned several times. I used home made 5 gal. drum and 7 or 8 vibration systems. % years ago I bit the bullet and got a Thumbler's Tumbler and Stainless Steel pins. It is fantastic for my needs, and cleans the cases inside and out. The One drawback is the batch size is limited to 2 pounds of brass for my size tumbler. A very dirty batch takes about 2.5 to 3 hours. Now that I'm retired I can run batches all day (kind of reminds me of doing laundry). But when doing batches of 10,000 9x19 and 20,000 223, I never could have put up with the low cleaning rate.

Ivan

 

[Wee Hooker]

After using up my original stuff,I tried cat litter,rice,water with barkeeper's friend and who knows what else.Right now I'm using some ground walnut bedding from petsmart with some nufinish and I like it

Interesting. The Petsmart 'dessert blend" walnut and Nufinish is what I tried. I'm getting dull cases. ( Bag says walnut but I almost wonder if there is sand mixed in.) Is you brass coming out dull?

 

[Frank46]

I gave up on the bottled medias the likes of which Lyman and other are selling. Check out a large welding supply house. Get a bag of corn cob media (they use it for blasting paint for restorations. big 50 pound bag will cost about $20 bucks and when it does get nasty throw it on the lawn as its biodegradable. And ask about the grits of crushed walnut media same thing get a 50 pound bag of that. Keep in a sealed containes as it will attract rats and other little critters. To prevent that,get a couple of really large rubbermaid tubs like they sell at wally world and keep the walnut and corn cob media stored in that. Frank

 

[MJFlores]

I like corn cob media, treated with some Dillon polish and some dryer sheets. Once I get the mix right it lasts me over 2 years and I hate to change it because it works so well. A few hours and cases are literally new looking again. I still use a primer pocket cleaner because the pockets still have a little black in them, but it forces you to check flash holes more pieces of media so no big deal.

 

[elpac3]

Bite the bullets and switch to SS pins.

 

[Huskerguy]

I had the same woes. I didn't know much about what I was doing, picked up corn cob media and it worked great. Didn't last a long time and it was fairly dusty, even with dryer sheets. Cases looked great, nice and shiny. Then I heard about the pet smart lizard stuff. Price was right. Gets initial cleaning done well but does not give that final shine even with a polish additive. I run for a while in the walnut stuff to get things clean and then finish off with the corn cob for that extra sparkle if I want to. I am not as concerned as I once was about the shine on my brass as long as it is clean.

 

[arjay]

Interesting. The Petsmart 'dessert blend" walnut and Nufinish is what I tried. I'm getting dull cases. ( Bag says walnut but I almost wonder if there is sand mixed in.) Is you brass coming out dull?

I'll have to check the name on the bag,but the brass looks very close to new.

edit: All living things ground walnut shell bedding
It's a fine grind,doesn't clog flash holes.

 

[Magload]

I bought the pet store stuff and had a lot of 223 brass it got stuck in. Had to pick the stuff out. I then bought a box of finer stuff off the internet and it is great. i finish up the brass with it after the SS pins.

 

[StakeOut]

I use a 50/50 mix of Lyman Tufnut/lizard walnut on decapped cases in a FA tumbler.

I have to inspect primer pockets after and clean out some with an awl but about 100 cases 2X a week is no big deal for me

 

[Frank46]

I add some flitz brass cleaner and the cases really shine. About an ounce or so but let the machine run with the lid on for about 30 min so as to allow the flitx to mix well with the corn cob. Then toss in your cases. Frank