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New to case cleaning
- Thread starter Jaco1234
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I do just fine with a vibration cleaner and walnut shell media (easily available and cheap where I live) though corn cob media works as well. A little polish in the media helps shine up the brass. If you pop the primers out first it also tends to clean out the primer pockets, though not as well as the steel pin method. (I pretty much never do this myself.) A dryer sheet in the media attracts a fair amount of crud and helps keep the polishing media clean. Other people may have methods that they prefer but this works for me and has done so for a lot of years.
rockquarry
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If all you want is to clean your brass, get some corn cob media or crushed walnut hull media from a place that sells such for brass case cleaning. No need to cut corners by purchasing stuff at a pet shop. Good media for case cleaning is inexpensive. As for vibratory machines, the cheapest of the cheap will probably last fifteen or twenty years. Media can be thrown out every fifteen or twenty cleanings or so. Worn out media doesn't clean well.
If you get into case cleaning as a hobby in itself, that's different.
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I haven't looked into this, but....
...i've heard that substrate for reptile cages can be used as media.
...i've heard that substrate for reptile cages can be used as media.
I still use the Lyman vibratory cleaner that I bought over 3 decades ago. Crushed corn cob media, maybe just a little bit of a polish like NuFinish or Brasso, plus a used clothes dryer fabric softener sheet to trap some of the fine dust. Seems to work well, cases come out clean and ready for de-priming.
kbm6893
SWCA Member
That’s what I use.
gwpercle
Member
I've tried em all over the last 50+ years ... Kitty litter , pet bedding , Rice , sand blasting media , liquid cleaners , water with pins ... and this is what works best ...
it works best because it is the proper size media and has the proper polish in the proper amount .
Get a big bowl Vibrating unit , get one twice as large as you think you will need and get a good quality unit ... I have one from Thumblers Tumblers and one from Frankford Arsenal (Midway USA brand) and in both I use the Treated Shell Polishing Media from Midway USA , whatever they call their Midway brand . Get a large bag of the media and when it stops polishing ... change the media . This media is not dusty and needs no additives .
Adding car wax to reptile bedding is not a great idea . Most add too much and make the mix too wet... it has to be dry and flow smoothly and pet bedding / lizard litter isn't the right size for case polishing ... trust me ! .
Go with the Midway Media ...a much better product .
Gary
it works best because it is the proper size media and has the proper polish in the proper amount .
Get a big bowl Vibrating unit , get one twice as large as you think you will need and get a good quality unit ... I have one from Thumblers Tumblers and one from Frankford Arsenal (Midway USA brand) and in both I use the Treated Shell Polishing Media from Midway USA , whatever they call their Midway brand . Get a large bag of the media and when it stops polishing ... change the media . This media is not dusty and needs no additives .
Adding car wax to reptile bedding is not a great idea . Most add too much and make the mix too wet... it has to be dry and flow smoothly and pet bedding / lizard litter isn't the right size for case polishing ... trust me ! .
Go with the Midway Media ...a much better product .
Gary
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rockquarry
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Yes, use the right media and you'll have no dust problem. I buy only that advertised for brass case cleaning and it's not dusty.
Model19man
SWCA Member
Got an orange Lyman vibratory case cleaner. I bought some of the walnut shell and some of the corn cob stuff from Bass Pro Shop. I squeeze an inch of Simichrome polish in either one. Mine's more than ten years old and works fine. The media gets tossed every so often when it gets dingy looking.
DeplorabusUnum
Member
Wet stainless steel pins here. No need to ever change out your media. 
Honestly,
i know it is not encouraged, because of lead residues, but when some cases after several firings are crudded up a lot, i put them (mostly several 100 of .357, 9 mm and a few less .44) in a jute sack and add them to the laundry with deactivated spinning program. I take the bag out and spin the remaining laundry. They end up in a bowl which has to rest a while in the sun, then they get resized and deprimed.
Works flawlessly so far, but with soft brass it is better not to add too many of them.
As cleaning cases is purely cosmetic, i do not put down additional money on the process.
My cases can rest for weeks and months till they are loaded again, so i do not have to fear residual water.
Well, i am unmarried and have a bit of freedom of (otherwise potentially lethal) maneuver here.
Happy cleaning!
i know it is not encouraged, because of lead residues, but when some cases after several firings are crudded up a lot, i put them (mostly several 100 of .357, 9 mm and a few less .44) in a jute sack and add them to the laundry with deactivated spinning program. I take the bag out and spin the remaining laundry. They end up in a bowl which has to rest a while in the sun, then they get resized and deprimed.
Works flawlessly so far, but with soft brass it is better not to add too many of them.
As cleaning cases is purely cosmetic, i do not put down additional money on the process.
My cases can rest for weeks and months till they are loaded again, so i do not have to fear residual water.
Well, i am unmarried and have a bit of freedom of (otherwise potentially lethal) maneuver here.
Happy cleaning!
Except those darn lizards are lazy creatures and do nothing!
The OP should search the internet as I think at least half of the know capacity is about case cleaning, they rest is Twitter!
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