Tumbling media for the El-Cheapo in me
- Thread starter philhut
- Start date
We're talking about saving a couple dollars here, why not just buy the media from the gun store?
Maybe I'm not changing my media often enough but I really see no reason to try to save a dollar or two on my tumbling media. I run the same stuff for close to a year, run thousands of pieces of brass through it and just throw an old dryer sheet into it once in a while to grab some of the crud out of it. My brass still comes out shiny and clean. I probably spend $10 a year on media. I can think of a lot better places to try to save money.
I do think I'll give one of the bags of Walnut at Princess Auto a try next though, I'll have a lifetime supply, will actually be more of a pain in the arse to store the bag than the money savings is worth.
Maybe I'm not changing my media often enough but I really see no reason to try to save a dollar or two on my tumbling media. I run the same stuff for close to a year, run thousands of pieces of brass through it and just throw an old dryer sheet into it once in a while to grab some of the crud out of it. My brass still comes out shiny and clean. I probably spend $10 a year on media. I can think of a lot better places to try to save money.
I do think I'll give one of the bags of Walnut at Princess Auto a try next though, I'll have a lifetime supply, will actually be more of a pain in the arse to store the bag than the money savings is worth.
Sherlock Gnomes
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- St.Catharines
I use a mesh bag to keep all the shells and put it in the dishwasher. This way I can clean the brass and also get my m305 cleaned at the same time 
Just trolling. I use the walnut media but have bigger grains which stick in the cases. Use the fine grain stuff to clean well.
Just trolling. I use the walnut media but have bigger grains which stick in the cases. Use the fine grain stuff to clean well.
I've been using crushed walnut I purchased as reptile bedding from a local pet store that has been out of business since 2001. I bought a 50lb bag that ran me less than $20 and I'm pretty sure my heirs will still have tons to use long after I'm gone. The stainless steel pin and wet tumbling is intriguing because of its efficacy, but not enough to justify the cost.
Stainless pins make the brass too clean, leaving a little carbon dust inside them is a nice lubricant for bullet seating. You don't need to have your brass as shiny as new inside and out for it to reload well.
My tumbler has old media in it and I leave the brass in it for a couple hours while I mess around with other projects then just take it out and wipe it off before trimming then load it. No special treatment, no annealing, just make sure it's sized correctly and load it. I get plenty of loadings from each piece of brass and I have a couple loads that are consistent sub moa. All this extra effort may increase your accuracy by a fraction of an moa or get you an extra couple loadings on the brass but my time is worth more than the effort needed to make my brass like new again, especially in something like a 308 or 223 where brass is cheap and can be replaced for a reasonable cost.
My tumbler has old media in it and I leave the brass in it for a couple hours while I mess around with other projects then just take it out and wipe it off before trimming then load it. No special treatment, no annealing, just make sure it's sized correctly and load it. I get plenty of loadings from each piece of brass and I have a couple loads that are consistent sub moa. All this extra effort may increase your accuracy by a fraction of an moa or get you an extra couple loadings on the brass but my time is worth more than the effort needed to make my brass like new again, especially in something like a 308 or 223 where brass is cheap and can be replaced for a reasonable cost.
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Henry Nierychlo
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- Surrey, B.C.
Henry Nierychlo
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- Surrey, B.C.
After a lot of experimenting I came up with the following recipe for dry tumbling media.
50% corn cob
50% crushed walnut shell
1 teaspoon Nu-Finish
1 teaspoon Autosol metal polish paste
1 teaspoon Turtle Wax rubbing compound
approx. 15 pcs of cotton rag (old white T-shirt material 1"X1" or cleaning swabs) this absorbs any moisture, dust & blackstuff, also polishes the brass. Throw away after each tumbling.
I've tumbled 100's of thousands of bras with this recipe & the brass looks like new when it comes out.
Tumble for 3 hours.
Regards, Henry
50% corn cob
50% crushed walnut shell
1 teaspoon Nu-Finish
1 teaspoon Autosol metal polish paste
1 teaspoon Turtle Wax rubbing compound
approx. 15 pcs of cotton rag (old white T-shirt material 1"X1" or cleaning swabs) this absorbs any moisture, dust & blackstuff, also polishes the brass. Throw away after each tumbling.
I've tumbled 100's of thousands of bras with this recipe & the brass looks like new when it comes out.
Tumble for 3 hours.
Regards, Henry
