Media and cleaning solution etc

[Marshal Tom]

Hi, loaded for many years then took a long break. I have the large Dillon vibrator cleaner with old media in it that had not been used in years. It is fairly clean though and I was wondering what to put in with it to clean shells the best. I also have one of the stainless steel pin tumblers with all the stuff that it comes with and it works really well. Last time I used the Dillon shaker, it did not polish the brass as well as the pin system. What do I put in with the media to get the brass really clean.

 

[BE Mike]

Ground walnut shells. Add SMALL amount of Dillon Rapid Polish, Liquid Flitz or NuFinish car wax. There is as much discussion as when people ask which gun oil to use. Check out this existing thread: Brass polishing...I am confused

 

[Model19man]

I have been using Lyman Pecan shells with a bit of Simichrome polish. It works very well in my Lyman Turbo 1200 Pro.

 

[Mike SC Hunter]

NU-SHINE CAR POLISH........Available at any parts store......Have been using it for years. Make brass look factory new.

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

I the early 80's, Jewler's rouge was the rave to add to walnut shells. Then cave Unfinish, then semi chrome polish. I found that plane walnut shells work great until they don't! They get rounded and smooth. I bought large bags of shells from places like Harbor Freight. They were about the same price for a 20-25 pound bag as one bottle (about a gallon) of Lyman's treated shells. No expensive additives.

11 years ago, I had a stroke and while recovering reevaluated most of my life choices, including reloading. I went to wet tumbling with stainless steel pins. The only disadvantage I've found is smaller batches of brass at a time. The advantage is the brass is clean as new, inside and out, and if decapped, the primer pocket too! Ino longer do batches of 5000 handgun of 20,000 rifle like I did in the 80's and 90's, so 150 to 200 (handgun) in a couple hours at a time is just fine.

My fired Black Powder brass never came clean with walnut, just knocked the fouling off, but the pins got it like new!

My father-in-law used to load 400,000 rounds of 38 special a year for his department and used untreated corn cob, and threw it away when it didn't work any longer. A batch was about 10,000 cases for 2 or so hours for nickel cases and 3 to 4 hours for brass cases. His tumbler was a 30 gallon barrel at about 3 RPM. I patterned my first tumbler after it: a 5 gallon bucket at 10 RPM. Too fast and too noisy!

If your media won't clean, don't spend money on treatments, replace it!

Ivan

 

[ArchAngelCD]

I've post this before, for me I use a 50/50 mix of crushed walnut shells and corn cob media. I feel that works well and have no reason to change.

 

[BLUEDOT37]

They should call it TUFNUT Minus

For years & years I've mixed the two different types of Lyman Turbo Tumbler Media, Corncob Green and TUFNUT, in a 2 to 1 ratio.

The old TUFNUT had plenty of "rouge" in it but the new TUFNUT Plus sucks & I'm almost out of the old style.

.

- TUFNUT & TUFNUT Plus -
.


.

 

[BE Mike]

There is a difference in cleaning brass and polishing it. One has to do with getting the dirt and grime off and the other has to do with looks! If you collect your brass where there is sand, gravel and dirt, you should get that stuff out of the media before running more brass through it. The biggest complaint I hear about water, detergent and stainless steel pin cleaning is that all lubrication is removed from the cases which tend to make them sticky in the sizing and belling dies. Of course that can be remedied somewhat by lubing the cases. That takes care of the outside, but then there is that problem with the cases not getting lube inside the neck and then them being sticky upon belling the case.

 

[mikld]

I don't use any kind of abrasive, rouge, or polish. While it's not often reported, transfer to dies and even chambers it possible. After years of experimenting I have settled on corn cob blast media 14-20 with a bit of auto wax mixed in. I often mix in about 10%, 3/8" hard resin pyramids. Works well for hard to clean brass and does allow a good finish on the brass. https://www.harborfreight.com/5-lb-rust-cutting-resin-abrasive-tumbler-media-63672.html

 

[DeplorabusUnum]

Forget the mess, forget the car polish. You have stainless steel pins. Use them. A couple drops of liquid dish soap and a quarter teaspoon of Lemi-shine and this is what your brass will look like:

As for the concern about brass being too sticky to size: I use carbide dies for straight walled pistol cases and have never had one stick. Bottle neck rifle cartridges get lubed, so they don't stick. It's basically a non issue.

Not knocking vibratory tumblers. I know lots of people happily use them, but you have both. If I were you, I'd use the wet pins. Try them both and see which you prefer.

 

[Roofuss]

I have used corn cob media and crushed walnut shell mix...works for me .

 

[BE Mike]

Forget the mess, forget the car polish. You have stainless steel pins. Use them. A couple drops of liquid dish soap and a quarter teaspoon of Lemi-shine and this is what your brass will look like:

As for the concern about brass being too sticky to size: I use carbide dies for straight walled pistol cases and have never had one stick. Bottle neck rifle cartridges get lubed, so they don't stick. It's basically a non issue.

Not knocking vibratory tumblers. I know lots of people happily use them, but you have both. If I were you, I'd use the wet pins. Try them both and see which you prefer.

I don't think the issue is that the cases get stuck. It is that they get harder to size and bell. If it works for you, that's great! About the only advantage for polishing brass is it makes them easier to find in the grass.

 

[mikld]

Bright, shiny brass kinda looks cool, but for me, meh! If I leave my tumbler running longer (I do forget sometimes) and get polished brass, fine. If my brass is just clean and tarnish free, great. My guns can't tell how shiny the brass is and function is no better, no worse during use. Loading is no different and I have no one to impress at the range. My pride and satisfaction is based on group size and zero malfunctions. The only use I have for shiny brass is they are easy to see in the dirt, rocks, trash at the "range".

I have found case tumbling, cleaning, polishing to be possibly the most talked about, but least important part of reloading, but I keep reading these threads hoping for something new, nuttin' yet...

 

[rockquarry]

Bright, shiny brass kinda looks cool, but for me, meh! If I leave my tumbler running longer (I do forget sometimes) and get polished brass, fine. If my brass is just clean and tarnish free, great. My guns can't tell how shiny the brass is and function is no better, no worse during use. Loading is no different and I have no one to impress at the range. My pride and satisfaction is based on group size and zero malfunctions. The only use I have for shiny brass is they are easy to see in the dirt, rocks, trash at the "range".

I have found case tumbling, cleaning, polishing to be possibly the most talked about, but least important part of reloading, but I keep reading these threads hoping for something new, nuttin' yet...

Certainly among the most practical posts on this thread.

 

[BLUEDOT37]

I know it's hard to imagine but different people want different things.

Crazy, huh?

.

 

[DeplorabusUnum]

...Try them both and see which you prefer.

Post shortened. All bias removed.