Tumbler question

[doc25]

Ok I hear you guys have tumblers that work. I have a Hornady (I think it is the M-1). Anyways the thing has never really polished brass all that well. It came filled to the top with corn cob media and wouldn't polish well. I was told to use some Hornady one shot polisher. I did and it still doesn't polish very well. I kept adding more one shot now it just coats the cases and doesn't clean them very well. I have never seen brass out of my tumbler that looked almost new.

So ... is it the media, what should I use and where can I get it? I would really like nice brass without going to steel wool.

[brshooter]

I believe you are saying it is filled to the top with media. Are you using it that way? If so. it is not doing any tumbling when everything in the tumbler is packed solid. You should only have the tumbler barrel no more than 3/4's full for the media and brass to spill around.
Try this, empty the barrel, fill the barrel 1/3 full of brass and add 1/3 more of media, run it this way for a couple of hours and then get back to us. If the media now is saturated with one shot polisher you may have to mix it 50/50 with new corn cob media, I believe I would do this anyway. Jon

[freedom475]

What brshooter said.

I put in my brass, turn it on, then start adding media until the mixture begins to "roll"

I have to get the brass to media to capacity ratio mixture just right for it to polish well.

One more thing, if you have a bunch of additive in your media you have to take the brass from the mix as soon as you turn the tumbler off or the additive will spot your cases, at least mine will.

Good shooting:Fire: and Merry Christmas

[Marshal Kane]

Do what the guys suggest. When you add too much polishing additive, the media can get sticky and cling to the brass both inside and out. The brass may come out looking flat and not shiney. You could probably replace about half your treated media with fresh corn and get a better polish. Keep the replaced treated corn in a container for reuse in the future with fresh corn. You didn't mention how long you are tumbling but IME, four hours in a vibratory tumbler should just about give you that factory finish. Be aware that a factory finish will not make your cartridges shoot any better than clean and over an extended period of time will run up your electricy bill. Adjust your tumbling time to suit your needs.

There should be enough space in your tumbler to allow the brass and media to flow when tumbling. A bit more brass is better than more media as the additional weight tends to help polishing. There will come a time when your media will wear out (the sharp corners will get rounded or the surfaces will get impregnated with powder residue) so be prepared to replace it. Nothing lasts forever. I trash my media once a year. Your mileage may vary.

Hope this helps.

[TNsailorman]

Good ideas on the tumbling. I use the walnut hulls ground that is available in the pet bedding department at Wal-Mart because it is cheaper and lets face it--I am cheap. If using walnut hulls or corn cob media they tend to be a little dusty when you first buy it. Take it outdoors and slowly pour the media from one container to another and let the wind carry the dust away. Note: stand up wind or sideways to the wind, never stand down wind when pouring the media from one bucket to another. I think that most people start out using too much polish/cleaner in their media. I know that I did. Too much only gums up the media and doesn't polish/clean one bit better. It also coats the inside of the tumbler. My experience anyway.

[August]

Walnut media will get you where you want to go!!!!

[bigborefan]

I use ceramic media in my Tumlers Tumbler. Once you go this route, you'll never go back to the other medias. I shoot blackpowder cartridges along with smokeless. If you shoot black powder cartridges you would know how nasty looking they get after just a couple firings. With ceramic media and a liquid soap that they sell for it, my BP cases come out shinier than they were new in less than 2 hours of tumbling. Inside and out. I read about it on one of the BPCR boards and had to give it a try after all the good reports that they were giving about this media. They sell bags of 6-8 lbs of this ceramic media for something in the $40 range and you will never have to replace it. It doesn't break down and lasts forever.

[13Echo]

I use plain walnut from Midway or the petstore with excellent results and I shoot black powder. I start the tumbler with a charge of walnut, add three to four caps full of mineral spirits, and, if the brass is really foul, a couple of tablespoons of Bon Ami powder. When the mineral spirits are uniformly distributed add the brass. If it isn't corroded with pits it will be clean after 1 to 2 hours and shiny after three. The Bon Ami is a cleansing powder that is used to clean glass so it will not injure the brass and it is a great help with really dirty brass. It's a good enough method that I haven't been tempted to get the ceramic media.

Jerry Liles

[Ken O]

I use walnut media, I dribble GM TEC (top end cleaner) on it. The TEC is a carbon cutter that works much better than the Dillon or Midway polish and only cost $6 a quart from any GM dealer. I also cut up a dryer sheet and throw it in the mix, it cleans the media and picks up the carbon the TEC pull out. For Black Powder cartriges I soak in hot soapy water first.

As was posted above, you need the right mixture of brass to media to get a good roll going.

[Lloyd Smale]

what ive found is just use enough polishing additive to keep the dust down and change your media often. It doesnt pay to be cheap and try to get the most life out of it. Also your asking alot to have your tumbler clean brass perfectly in a couple hours. I sometimes leave mine run all night also if your cleaning alot of brass get a tumbler big enough for the job. Packing a smaller tumbler doesn work well. One more thing. Get a good tumbler. I have two dillons a frankfort arsonal and had a small lyman and if you watch the brass in the tumbler the big dillon probably moves the brass twice as much. So its defineatly going to clean faster. I gave the lyman away becaue it was so lame.

[EMC45]

I have since abandoned my old standby of Tuffnut by Lyman. I think it got old and it started to deposit the red rouge from the media on my cases. It looked bad. I use some corn cob that MGD45 gave to me.

[38 Super Auto]

I have seen a lot a good information. Without being tooo redundant [smilie=1:, A coupla things that I have learned from experience and many others are:

1) Corn cob media tends to work and give high luster for lightly to moderately dirty cases. I like and use walnut shells as well

2) I use NuFinish car wax or Midway case polisher as a polishing additive.

3) I add two or three teaspoons polish every time I use the case cleaner - I run in pretty large batches for efficiency - 400 to 800 cases in my large Dillon. It works a little better if you add the polishing juice and let it run a few minutes - it won't totally coat the media until you start tumbling.

4) Throw in two or three used dryer sheets - they keep dust down and soak up the fine black particulate

5) As a precautionary measure, I use a cheapie dust mask while I am loading case cleaner or seperating cases from media. I figure I get enough exposure from regular shooting. I don't mean to dwell, but I also wash my hands anytime I touch any firearms, casting or reloading equipment.

I am with Lloyd Smale - I like clean and bright cases - I tumble for a number of hours. With clean brass, I figure it's less grit that I am putting back in the chamber, cylinder, and bore.

I like the larger, cheaper corncob "natural litter" from pet stores. It's local and quite a bit cheaper than the traditional finer media.

I am going to try Ken O's idea of using GM TEC for polish.

[EMC45]

Another thing to consider is ACE hardware sells some Flitz Liquid and it has a "recipe" on the back for tumbling brass. I am on my second bottle and am happy.