Best tumbler media?

brenden270

brenden270

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Kootenays BC
Anybody try anything off the wall in their tumbler? I've only ever used the green stuff but I've heard rumours of products from pet feed stores and such. I've been tempted to try silica sand but not sure if it would allow enough vibration to circulate cartridges. Bone meal? Walnut shells? Crushed asteroids?
 
id love to have something that didnt plug the primer flash holes solid. I gota run all my brass from 223 to 300wm though a decapping die just to clean them out.

I tried leaving the spent primers in till after to save a step, but then primer pockets dont get cleaned at all. and makes decapping more harder work.
 
updatelee said:
id love to have something that didnt plug the primer flash holes solid. I gota run all my brass from 223 to 300wm though a decapping die just to clean them out.

I tried leaving the spent primers in till after to save a step, but then primer pockets dont get cleaned at all. and makes decapping more harder work.
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I use a pick from a "nut-cracker"set.After polishing, grab 6 cases at a time,bottoms up in my hand, punch the media out,works great.
 
c1a1 said:
I use a pick from a "nut-cracker"set.After polishing, grab 6 cases at a time,bottoms up in my hand, punch the media out,works great.
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x2. I do the same thing. A little time consuming but what the heck, just the joy of reloading, and as stated, it does work great.
 
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Long grained rice with nu finish car polish - extremly cheap and works well. I hate walnut because of the dust that collects in the cases.

A couple of cleaning patches or ripped up shop clothes also collect a lot of "gunk" and extends the life of the media.
 
I tried the pet shop corncob. Its way to large of chunks. They get stuck inside my 308 and are no fun to get out. I liked the crushed walnut shells(lizard litter), because I add it to my small Lyman corncob for a brighter polish.
I pick out the primer hole pieces as I inspect the brass.
My tumbler takes 6lbs of media, but it lasts for 10000 case cleanings. I used Meguires polishing wax and every one in a while I throw in 6 little strips of cotton, to clean up the dust from the media and bowl.
Starting with new media, it takes 2 hours to polish 300 45acp cases, at the end of the media life cycle it takes 5 hours to get the same results.

Some people use wheat, barley or oats, I haven't tried them, because they are very dusty and require way more additives. I asked my Farmer shooting buddy if he tried flax seed or canola seed, not yet was the answer, they might even come out prelubed, ready for resizing.
 
I use crushed walnut to scour the cases for 1-4 hours depending on thier condition. I then run them in corn cob for an hour to absorb some of the remaining dust.
 
CanAm said:
Likely you used the fancy store bought kind with grit (Lyman, etc). The abrasive grade in the huge sack was dust free for me.
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Over time, the walnut seems to collect dirt and dust. It's a shame, because the sharp edges are still working fine, but I wind up discarding the media because it's too dirty.

At one point I tied to make a dust chamber using 5 gallon pails and screening, drawing fresh air under the media and sucking the dust out the top. It didn't work as well as I'd hoped.:cool:
 
I'm a big fan of wet tumbling with the 1mm ceramic spheres. Makes them look real purdy. ;)

I use a old mesh collender to wash the ceramic every 4-5 batches.
 
glenliz87 said:
x2. I do the same thing. A little time consuming but what the heck, just the joy of reloading, and as stated, it does work great.
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I just use a needle to pick it out, usually about 1 in every three cases gets a piece caught in the flash hole.

I haven't used the walnut media, and the corn cob seems to clean all my brass in about an hour. I usually polish with a paper towel and they look brand new.
 
I bought a big bag of corn cob from the pet store. I figured the chunks were too big so I ground them in a coffee bean grinder. NOT A GOOD IDEA!! Turned it all to a useless powder. Best to leave as is in my book.
 
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