What is the best vibratory tumbler media for cleaning brass casings.I got into a mess with treated walnut and fabric softener sheets.I just about threw the hole darn thing away.What have you guys found to work good?By the way I have been doing this for 30+ years.
Tumbler media
- Thread starter jim drury
- Start date
Stainless Steel wet tumble now. But prior to that was a 50/50 mix of corn cob and walnut media + USED dryer sheets that were cut up into 1" squares. I emphasize "used" dryer sheets as new sheets have oils/residue that chemically assist with softening the clothes. You don't want that in your media or on your brass or on in your tumbler for obvious reasons.
just having some fun
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vibratory tumbler
Ive tried several media types
corncob --good for first (dirty brass) but it sticks in the primer hole
large crushed walnut fast --good for first (dirty brass) but never liked that the brass came out with a red powder on them ---- unless it was well used
Now using crushed walnut (sandblast media)
mothers cleaner/wax/ dryer sheets as required -- liked Lyman polish but have not been able to find any (dillon polish not using any more)
I use a timer -- toss in brass set timer and go do other stuff
I have 2 vibratory tumbler a old lyman that has been patched several times (pc of plywood for a top deck to hold the bowl on) motor taken apart and servced -- used for rough first clean media is a dark brown
and a new tumbler that is being slowly tweaked to clean as better as the lyman that i use with new media ( media is the color of cardboard) that i use for a cleaning before i load cases
I have 50 plus pounds of crushed walnut
when media gets dark and slows down (cleaning) it gets tossed ( one load of media cleaned app 3000 rounds of dirty range pickups that i bought from a sponsor) plus other brass
new tumbler just slowly moves media around not enough vibration
Two tumblers also allow me to toss in one lot of brass that Don't want to mix with another lot
Ive tried several media types
corncob --good for first (dirty brass) but it sticks in the primer hole
large crushed walnut fast --good for first (dirty brass) but never liked that the brass came out with a red powder on them ---- unless it was well used
Now using crushed walnut (sandblast media)
mothers cleaner/wax/ dryer sheets as required -- liked Lyman polish but have not been able to find any (dillon polish not using any more)I use a timer -- toss in brass set timer and go do other stuff
I have 2 vibratory tumbler a old lyman that has been patched several times (pc of plywood for a top deck to hold the bowl on) motor taken apart and servced -- used for rough first clean media is a dark brown
and a new tumbler that is being slowly tweaked to clean as better as the lyman that i use with new media ( media is the color of cardboard) that i use for a cleaning before i load cases
I have 50 plus pounds of crushed walnut
when media gets dark and slows down (cleaning) it gets tossed ( one load of media cleaned app 3000 rounds of dirty range pickups that i bought from a sponsor) plus other brass
new tumbler just slowly moves media around not enough vibration
Two tumblers also allow me to toss in one lot of brass that Don't want to mix with another lot
Crush walnut, corn cob, 1" square sheets from dryer, NuFinish. Works great for my own brass, didn't like the dust. For dirty range brass with corrosion didn't clean it well enough to slide through the sizing die.
Switch to WT using franklin.
Switch to WT using franklin.
When I used a vibratory cleaner, I used corn cob. Now I use a rotary tumbler with stainless pins, or ceramic for my black powder cases.
But for smokeless powder cases, I just deprime, and toss them into a bucket of water with a bit of Lemi shine and dish soap, stir occasionally, then rinse.
Works for me.
But for smokeless powder cases, I just deprime, and toss them into a bucket of water with a bit of Lemi shine and dish soap, stir occasionally, then rinse.
Works for me.
I dumped in a bunch of brass after a round in the sonic cleaner(just to shine it up a bit).The brass was bone dry and squeaky clean.After about 4 hours I shut it down to look and WHAT A MESS!
The red rouge or what ever it is all stuck to my sized,trimmed,sorted,inspected,brass.The media in the tumbler was kind of one big lump.I wound up using brake clean and hot soapy water in the tumbler bowel plus scraping with a putty knife to clean it up.All my nice brass was taken out to the shop and soaked in solvent to get the red crap off.I still had to rub and scrape every piece.The only thing that was done different this time was the addition of a cut up no-name fabric sheet. Never again! It was like bits of red concrete stuck to the brass and in the bowel.
The red rouge or what ever it is all stuck to my sized,trimmed,sorted,inspected,brass.The media in the tumbler was kind of one big lump.I wound up using brake clean and hot soapy water in the tumbler bowel plus scraping with a putty knife to clean it up.All my nice brass was taken out to the shop and soaked in solvent to get the red crap off.I still had to rub and scrape every piece.The only thing that was done different this time was the addition of a cut up no-name fabric sheet. Never again! It was like bits of red concrete stuck to the brass and in the bowel.
Going to try that, I have a wack load of rice.
get yourself a nice stainless steel pins wet tumbler ,,,i recommend the frankford arsenal set,,,and you will NEVER go back the dry media tumblers,,it will get your nastyess brass to like new in very short time,,i have put 100,000 cases through mine in the last 6 weeks and can't beleive the quality look of my brass,,,even took some of my lesser quality brass and brought it to like new condition as well,,i clean about 400,000 cases a year and this is saving so much time,,i wish i would have gone wet tumbling earlier
