more aggressive cleaning media

Clean brass, protects your dies and your chamber from scratches due to dirt.
It also helps you see defects when sorting brass.
They feed a bit better too.
And it makes it near impossible for your non reloading buds to tell factory from reloads.
 
fogducker said:
how often should you clean your brass??is this just to make it look purdy???lets say i have some brass.....its dull as hell but no defects are seen on it....do i have to polish it up??and why?
thanks for any help here as im a newbie at all this :oops:
cheers all
Click to expand...

I clean after every firing, but I use atumbler.

If you are only shooting rifle, and not alot of it, a quick wipe will work.

You can also clean cases in soapy water and then dry them out on a sheet.

Frankly, I dont' know why everyone who loads doesn't buy a tumbler. They are not expensive, and they save you tons of time.
 
Walnut is by far superior, I only use corn cob if I have to. As for dust, I made a tray out of 1/4 " hardware mesh and I just pour the media through it into a bucket in front of a fan to separate the brass from the media. Quick, simple and effective. I don't like pretreated media because of the film it leaves but Dillon rapid polish seems to work pretty good. I have some size 12/20 ground walnut shells 50 lbs.-$50. if you are interested. Mitch
 
The first time I saw corn cob media advertised for use in tumblers was in an early edition of Handloader magazine.

The target market was commercial or large quantity reloaders.

The proposed use was for degreasing loaded rounds.

The first time I bought it was outside Camp Perry from a vendor selling 50 pound bags of it (the 'commercial row' inside the camp was full so vendors had set up on the side of the highway outside the guard post).

For the most part the best media for regular brass cleaning is medium ground walnut shells which I buy from an industrial supplier in 50# bags for about $25.00.

The target market for this product is the commercial painter who uses this material to 'sand blast' a structure prior to painting.

I've found no easy way to tumble clean severely corroded cases even though I've experimented with different media and different combinations of media including beach sand.

I've tried every type of grain and grain by-product for use in tumbling but they do not last and are only of interest if you can obtain them without cash outlay.

The best grain by-product for use in tumblers is wheat scalps.

By tumblers I refer to the 4 I use, 2 large Lortone rock tumblers, a Hornady Vibrator and the large Dillon.
 
SLAVEX: soak your badly tarnished brass in KOOL-AID add no sugar and use hot water, after an hour or so rinse in hot water then dry( I have a running shoe dryer which is a rack that fits on the door of our cloths dryer ). The citric acid works on the tarnish, really bad tarnish can be soaked for longer times.
 
I bought some liquid jewlers rouge at the Kenworth truck supply store. I just put a little in the corn cob media once in a while. It gets them sparkling clean in as little as an hour in a rotory tumbler.
 
I have found that my media works much better if I wash it every couple of years. Just pour it in a pail, add hot watter and dishwasher soap and stir the hell out of it. Drain, pour media in a clean pail and run water in until it run s clean, drain and spread on a piece of plywood to dry. Put some Dillon rapid polish, or whatever your preference is, in the media when back in the vibrator. I have found the media actually works better when it is still slightly damp.
 
I use fine walnut, 1/2 a cup of mineral spirits and a good squirt of turttle wax for a large dillon tumbler. You can get the walnut at an company that sells abrasives.

Andy
 
I use a variety of medias. My main one is walnut shells. I also use w mix of walnut and corncob, and plain corn cob. I also use turtle was mixed with corn as the final polish, or corn with turtle was "chrome polish" for a more abrasive scrub. It does'nt shine the case but scours them clean. If you have super dirty brass you can use a sand blast media like copper slag "green diamond" or even fine sand. They both work well for cleaning inside and out and do a good job on primer pockets.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom