Tumbler media question

[lefty o]

I use corn cobb in the 14-20. That is what Federal Cartridge uses in production. Never had an issue with plugging cases with any grit unless you add polish after adding cases. Always add polish first and let the tumbler run for at least 5 minutes before adding cases.

https://catalog.precisionfinishingin...grit/item-4220

where does federal cartridge use corn cob media? i made brass in that plant, and never seen anything resembling a dry media anywhere.

[M-Tecs]

where does federal cartridge use corn cob media? i made brass in that plant, and never seen anything resembling a dry media anywhere.

That I can't answer. I have never been in the Anoka plant. What I can answer is where Federal purchased it from. That was US Abrasive System's which is now United Surface Preparation also in Anoka. Friend of mine was a sales rep for them.

[lefty o]

That I can't answer. I have never been in the Anoka plant. What I can answer is where Federal purchased it from. That was US Abrasive System's which is now United Surface Preparation also in Anoka. Friend of mine was a sales rep for them.

they may use some somewhere for who knows what, but its not used in the actual manufacture of any ammunition.

[M-Tecs]

they may use some somewhere for who knows what, but its not used in the actual manufacture of any ammunition.

Per the sales rep they did. That would have been in the early 90's. He did in plant visits. That's how I got to know him. What years did you work at the Anoka plant?

[lefty o]

Per the sales rep they did. That would have been in the early 90's. He did in plant visits. That's how I got to know him. What years did you work at the Anoka plant?

2011-2104. so lets put it as maybe they used to. now wet tumbled in baird drums is how things are cleaned/polished using primarily sodium bisulphate.

[Bwana John]

how do you guys avoid dust with the lizard litter?

I tumble in the workshop in my basement, I drop in 3 or 4 used dryer sheets each tumble and I still get dust everywhere. Do I need to swap the litter out more often? It still polishes very well, just dusty. I dont put in the Nu Finish but every dozen tumbles or so... basically when the polish quality diminishes. Does the Nu Finish help with dust as well?

I'm basically at the end of my patience with the lizard litter. Don't get me wrong it works great, but coats my workbench and shelves in dust.

The Nu Polish works much better than dryer sheets to keep dust down.
And it polished better.
And it keeps the brass from oxidizing.

[mdi]

You can shortcut a lot of experimenting with dry media and go directly to ground corn cob blast media. 14-20. Blast media is better quality controlled, harder than pet litter and designed for cleaning metal. After a few years of trying different media from lizard litter (dark ground walnut shells), beach sand, cob pet bedding (fluffy, more like flakes), wood chunks, dried beans, peas, rice, cat litter ("Good Mews" worked well), and maybe a dozen more. The dark ground walnut I got at Petmart worked fine (not the "Zilla" stuff) and most others did a so-so job, but the best all around media I found was the cob blast media. I bought a 40 b. bag for around $40.00 a few years ago and still have about 10 lbs left.

The only time I've had any "clumping" or clogged cases was when I inadvertently added too much auto polish to older media.

[gwpercle]

Thanks everyone, I think I'll try the Lizard mix. The stuff I used was a corn cob mix for cat litter. I can't believe how plugged these cases are, I soaked them in a bucket with hot water but I think I made them worse.

That's the problem with using media not designed for tumbling reloaded cases . A 50 lb. bag of corn cob pet bedding isn't worth doodly squat if's the wrong size and packs up in the cases ...now you have to dig the stuff out. That's no savings.
Washing tumbling media in gasoline so you can dry and reuse it...that just sounds so dangerous to me.

I'll just order the Midway ground walnut treated media...it's not that expensive .
Gary

[M-Tecs]

You can shortcut a lot of experimenting with dry media and go directly to ground corn cob blast media. 14-20. Blast media is better quality controlled, harder than pet litter and designed for cleaning metal. After a few years of trying different media from lizard litter (dark ground walnut shells), beach sand, cob pet bedding (fluffy, more like flakes), wood chunks, dried beans, peas, rice, cat litter ("Good Mews" worked well), and maybe a dozen more. The dark ground walnut I got at Petmart worked fine (not the "Zilla" stuff) and most others did a so-so job, but the best all around media I found was the cob blast media. I bought a 40 b. bag for around $40.00 a few years ago and still have about 10 lbs left.

The only time I've had any "clumping" or clogged cases was when I inadvertently added too much auto polish to older media.

You are spot on. Like you I have tested a bunch of different products. My friend that was the sales rep would give me damaged bags of blast media. The 14-20 corn cobb blast media performed the best. He told me that it would but I had to see for myself. It was the quickest cleaning of the corn cobb blast media but you do get some that sticks in the flash hole. Finer grits like 20-40 did not stick in the flash hole but they toke long to clean.

[Tom W.]

Having been a member her for a few years , plus on other sites, I've seen where people are always espousing different things to use for tumbling media.
I've tried a whole lot of different suggestions, and to start with, if it works for you that's great!
But I've always ended up with either treated corncob media ( if it was on sale ) or just get a bucket of untreated corncob media from Midway and add some NuFinish to it.
Once at a gun show in Dothan I did buy something that treated the corncob media and cleaned the brass so that it looked better than new. But that was maybe 20 years ago and never saw that stuff again. I thought it might be something like rouge that's put on a buffing wheel, but it wasn't. I'm going to try a few of those ceramic looking things that Harbor Freight sells if they are not a strange size and lodge in my .30-06 a.i. and 30/30 a.i. brass....

[Pighunter]

Well the "Ground walnut shells" worked great after only about 2 hours, I've never had my brass look so shiny.
I'm going to use a little Nu Finish on the next batch.
Thank you all

[1hole]

Lyman was the first to market vib. tumblers, their 1200, to reloaders and it started a new fad - not just clean but glittery cases! They offered both cob and walnut media so I soon got both with my new tumbler (it's still going but I've replaced the motor twice).

First thing I learned is both cob and nut media are sold because they both work. I also learned the 14/20 grit stuff would plug at least a quarter of my flash holes; fixed that with a bag of 20/40 grit blasting media. (Cause that's the grit I could get easily).

After the fasination of jewel-like brass wore off I decided I prefered my cases to look like new factory, i.e. a soft matt finish, so I dropped the various polishes I'd accumulated.

I now add an occasional spoon full of diatomacious earth. It's the same stuff that goes into white toothpastes to help clean teeth, and gives me the very clean matt finish cases I want. Most big box stores that carry gardening supplies sell D.E. as an insecticide, the fine powder particles choke up bugs on floors and plants and it kills them. It's a low cost, very fine and soft powder that is totally harmless to people, pets ... and guns, but it really cleans cases!

[Winger Ed.]

spoon full of diatomacious earth. It's the same stuff that goes into white toothpastes to help clean teeth, and gives me the very clean matt finish cases I want. s!

The life long friend that got me into reloading back around 1982 used toothpaste as polish.
He had a large size rotary drum rock polisher he used.
He'd grab a handful of paper out of the company shredder, put it in there with a squirt of cheap tooth paste on the sides of the drum.

I wouldn't call it a fast process, but it did a good job for him on 9mm & .45ACP.

[1hole]

I never thought of using (Colgate) toothpaste itself in a tumbler but it would obviously work just as well as the powdered white stuff I use. (IF the user runs his tumbler long enough for the paste to dry, breakup and spread thru the media.)