What's wrong with my tumber?

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Northman999

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Fellows, I'm new to reloading and got my stuff from a friend. I just ran a box of brass through my tumbler for an hour and the stuff is literally dirtier than when I started.

Tumbler seen here:

Reloading004.jpg


None of the dark grime around the necks of my brass came off at all, which was the major reason for tumbling. The material in the tumber looks like reddish coffee grounds, and feels fairly soft. I have the feeling the material is just too wimpy or too old to be effective. I don't know jack about tumbers or materials.

Any info you have on solutions, or where I can get decent tumbler material for a good price, would be great. Oh and one more thing, I seem to be getting mixed messages about this - do I tumble with old primers in or with primers already gone? Thanks in advance.
 
Sounds like you are using crushed walnut media. You need to tumble longer than an hour, perhaps 3-4+ depending on what caliber and quantity of casings you threw in. No need to tumble with the primers removed because that means you have to put dirty casings through your resizing/decapping die before you tumble them. You can use some bounce sheets to keep down on the red dust that the media puts on everything.

Good material would be, corn cob media or crushed wallnut shells. Some people like a 50/50 mix but CC can get stuck in primer holes. Media Blasting Companies or Pet Supply Shops should have 50LBs bags of the stuff as its used for blasting and lizzard bedding.

GL.
 
I've got the self same tumbler, has worked great for years, I agree with Scotty, sound like your media is either toast or you need to let it run longer.

Generally I leave mine run in my shop all night. Like new in the morning.
 
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