Tumbler Medium Sticks in Cases. Help?

Col Defender

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Hi

About a year ago, I began using a bit of Nu Finish, a bit of Mineral Spirits (about half a cap full of each) and a cut up dryer sheet in my Lyman Turbo 1200 Tumbler. Immediately I got shinier cases but the medium stuck inside most of the cases and I had to shake, tap, and poke it out of them. My last batch of .38 Special cases had medium full to the top of every case. Annoying.

Anyone know what I'm doing wrong? It never happened in years of tumbling until I added these ingredients.

Thanks in advance.

Steve
 
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Hi there, sorta sounds like the media is clumping( a technical term used in the study of cat litter!), perhaps your additives are contributing to this. Mine was doing this after addeing some stuff to it. Broke down and bought new media, what a difference! I cannot believe I went through all that crap and extended cleaning time to save a few bucks!
 
When you put any thing in with the media you have to run it for a while before you put any shells in to get it to mix evenly.
 
If you pinch the media and it sticks together, it is too wet. I'd drop the mineral spirits, and be sure any brass cleaner added is thoroughly mixed (run the tumbler 10 min or more). Also never use a new dryer sheet, only one already used in the dryer.

With the sticky mess you now have, its better to toss it and start over.
 
I've always used crushed walnut shells with nothing added and never had a problem. Of course, I just like to get the dirt and grim off the brass and don't care if they come out shiny.
 
The last media I bought was crushed walnut with brass polishing crap already in. Same problem, which I never had before. After reading this, I went and checked the stuff still in the container. Like wet sand at the beach - obviously too wet. Letting the stuff in the tumbler 'air' dry for now. Too much $$ to throw it all out if i don't have to. But if the problem continues - out it goes.
 
I stick with the liquid polish they sell just for that application and use that sparingly. I haven't had that happen; sounds like maybe too damp.
 
Here is a link that you might be interested in. Homemade Firearm Related Products

Check out the media sections. I have the same vibratory bowl. What I use is "lizard" bedding combined with rice. The bedding can be bought at any pet store for a fraction of the "gun" stuff. It is crushed walnut hulls. I get real shiny cases. I sometimes throw in some cheap car polish plus some ordinary paper to suck up the dust. If you have some old leather gloves then cut them up, throw them in and you will get the same effect. The media is so cheap I don't hang on to it too long and then I toss it. It goes into my compost pile. Cornmeal can also be used.
 
Thanks! Experiment Underway!

Thanks to all of you who shared advice - northwest Missouri is sort of all below zero and snowed in - so no trip to the reloading dealer or a real pet store but I did go to the local Walmart and got some "Arm and Hammer, Essentials, Natural Clumping Litter" which it says is actually "natural biodegradable corn fibers".

It LOOKS like tumbler media so I dumped out my old media and put some of this new stuff in and some .357 cases. No additives on this first batch. It's running now. I guess if it is a failure I can always use it on my icy steps and walkways.

Does anybody want a report later today?
 
You can add a bit of auto polish. Just let your tumbler run for 15 minutes or so before you put the cases in.
 
Cat litter does not work well at all, as it is clay based, (to absorb). It will break down too soon and not polish your cases, and don't add any liquid to it, as it will get real wet.

I use corn cob media, and add a "cap-full" of Dillon or Graff's additive to shine the cases. If your media is too wet, try mixing it 50/50 with new dry media, then run the tumbler awhile before adding any brass.
 
I used some new dryer sheets once and it made a royal mess. It left a tar like substance that coated all the brass and the inside of the tumbler so bad I had to wash the brass and tumbler in gasoline and throw away the media. I never did that again.
 
I have a Smart Reloader vibrating tumbler and use walnut media with a teaspoon full of Brasso added each time, always being careful not to put in too much, in case the media becomes too wet.
I keep an eye on the media to make sure it isn't clumping and occasionally mix in the lumpy bits with a blunt knife that I keep for that purpose; I mix this for about 10 minutes before I throw in the cases.
Once the cases are all nice and shiny (usually about an hour) I crank up the compressor, then one at the time, I take them out of the tumbler while it is still running and give each case a quick shot of air to be sure that no media is left inside.
I usually do a batch of about 200 at the time and it doesn't really take that long to blow-out each one.
At least this way I am confident that when it comes to reloading the cases there isn't much chance of any pieces of media being stuck over the primer hole.
Campfire
 
I finally broke down and bought the Dillion Media Seperator a couple of weeks ago. I use nothing but the crushed walnut shells and my cases come out just fine. I run the case cleaner for a while depending on how dirty the cases are then dump the whole works into the seperator. A couple of cranks on the handle and all the cases are in one basket and the media in another. Media goes back in the cleaner and cases to the reloading bench. The decapping tool cleans flash holes just fine.

Guess I must be getting old because I used to mess around with this stuff a lot more than I do now.
 
Walnut shells with anything we seems to "plug up" inside of cases more when liquid is added to it. I use the Lyman treated crushed corn cobs mixed with the Lyman treated crushed walnut shells, 50/50.

Enough "scrubbing" action with some better shine via the corn cobs.

When dry, the lizard bedding works really well on very dirty cases. Like a "pre-cleaning". An hour or so in there then in the regular stuff and you are good to go.

Used dryer sheets work well to get rid of some of the "dust" from the dirty cases. Keeps the material cleaner longer. Using them won't "clean-up" used material.

Your stuff is too wet. Let it dry out or start over. Use the pre-formulated stuff or the lizard bedding with nothing added.
If that doesn't get your cases clean, let them run longer. 3-5 hours is not too long.
 
I am hard to convince that the Brasso is likely to weaken the cases much, maybe over a long period of time but my cases won't be with me long enough for that to happen.
I understand also that the Brasso we have here in Australia has considerably less ammonium than the stuff that is sold in North America.
There has been some debate here in the past about the pros and cons of Brasso and I hope to see the day when one of our scientific types here can lay it to rest, one way or another.
For me it is cheaper than the other polishing products available and it does a brilliant job on the cases.
Campfire
 
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