Better case cleaning medium?

[MIEagle]

I clean my BP brass in small rock polishing size tumblers using ceramic media and a soap/water combo. Does a great job. I also have a Lyman Turbo 2000 that came with a green colored kernel medium that I run my old multi-sourced .30 cal brass in. It does a so-so job but is very dusty, most all of the brass has a kernel stuck in the flash hole, and I just don't like using it. Is there better media that I can use in the Turbo that doesn't have these disadvantages? Thank you.

[dragon813gt]

Harbor Freight fine crushed walnut blasting media. W/ their coupon it’s $1 a pound. It doesn’t get stuck in flash holes. Cleans faster than corn media. But it doesn’t polish as well as corn media. I’m not one that needs bright and shiny brass so I don’t care about the duller polish.

[Hossfly]

Harbor freight has listed 2 diff. Grades fine and course. Is fine better than course? Dragon813gt

[Hossfly]

Going to try in large batch with concrete mixer about 30 # brass.

[country gent]

Graingers MSC Mc Master Carr or local shop supply stores have corn cob and walnut in various grades by the 50lb bag. The last bag I bought was 20 years ago 20-20 grade corncob. small enough to flow thru the flash holes. I believe it was around $15.00. I got this at the Andersons in Maumee Ohio. It can be treated with the case polishes available, nufinish works also. I keep 3 loads going, new untreated for removing the residue of treated media and case lubes. 2nd is treated for polishing and cleaning 3 rd is the number 2 batch that's really cruddy. Thisis used for range brass and really dirty corroded brass.

[dragon813gt]

Harbor freight has listed 2 diff. Grades fine and course. Is fine better than course? Dragon813gt

Yes, I listed “fine” for a reason. It’s small enough to not get stuck on flash holes. I’ve used this media in a concrete mixer plenty of times. If you want your brass super shiny then you want another type of media. If you simply want it clean then it’s exactly what you want.

[JSnover]

If you can't get satisfied with dry media there are a few things you can add to it; mineral spirits, Iosso case polish (I've had really nice results with both), plus a bunch of others.

[billyb]

I use a mix of 50-50 fine blast media from Harbor freight-walnut hulls and the fine corn cob from Grangers and Nu finish. Fresh corn and the walnut is full of fine dust that raises up out of a uncovered tumbler. Used dryer sheets in the tumbler helps capture a lot of this dust. Like Country Gent I use the grungy media to clean brass before I size and after sizing to remove the lube from the cases.

[retread]

I mostly wet tumble with SS pins but I do on occasion dry tumble with walnut shell media. Dust can be a problem but I put in about a teaspoon of paint thinner and it keeps the dust down and seems to make the media work better.

[asmith80]

Crushed walnut lizard bedding also works well and you can get it in any pet store or big box store that sells pet stuff

[lightman]

When I polish with corncob I add a cap full of mineral spirits and a cap of automotive polish. The mineral spirits cuts down on the dust and the car polish leaves a protective coating.

There are several threads about wet polishing using stainless media. It does a great job but it has a small learning curve. Mixing the correct formula, separating the media from the brass and drying.

[cajun shooter]

I've been using the SS media for several years now and it's the best thing I've ever used in my 50 years of loading. There is a slight learning curve with the SS but it's nothing that any loader can't do. The biggest thing is cleaning your pins when you first open them and then again every three or so uses. If not you will do a load of brass that will have a dirty, greasy coating. I use mineral spirits to clean my SS pins and they will last forever.
I purchased a large magnet to pick up my pins and a media tumbler to get them out of my brass. I use Dawn w/oxy soap as my cleaning soap and my cases come out looking as if they were just made including the primer pocket which i not cleaned this bright with any other method. The pins are the only way to do brass!! Take Care

[Schreck5]

I've been using the SS media for several years now and it's the best thing I've ever used in my 50 years of loading. There is a slight learning curve with the SS but it's nothing that any loader can't do. The biggest thing is cleaning your pins when you first open them and then again every three or so uses. If not you will do a load of brass that will have a dirty, greasy coating. I use mineral spirits to clean my SS pins and they will last forever.
I purchased a large magnet to pick up my pins and a media tumbler to get them out of my brass. I use Dawn w/oxy soap as my cleaning soap and my cases come out looking as if they were just made including the primer pocket which i not cleaned this bright with any other method. The pins are the only way to do brass!! Take Care

Where do y'all get the ss pins?

[Rcmaveric]

Surprised no one mentioned used driers sheets to control the dust and prolong the life of your walnut media. Dryer sheets trap the dust and just toss then after a few runs. Wife keeps them for me after the laundry.

I just tried the lemmi shine stuff for the first time and i was quite pleased. Just let it soak over night and brass was quite perty and patina/tarnish free. Its drying now on a towel. I do like to tumble with Nu-finish. I haven't done any official test but it seams that brass i tumble with Nu-finnish doesn't corroded on the shelf. Once a piece of brass starts to rust, if you don't get it out in time it will eat the whole bin. Living on the salt water swamp doesn't help.

[GARD72977]

I have started wet tumbling my 9mm without media. I run it once with a couple drops of Dawn 1hr and rinse. I run it again with Lemishine 15-20 min and rinse. Brass comes out very nice.

I have let the Dawn run for a couple hours before. It cleans the inside almost as nice as S/S media.

[billyb]

Where do y'all get the ss pins? I bought mine from Orisolo here on the board. Midway has them, as most of the reloading supply mail order sites.as well as STM at the top of the page.

[abunaitoo]

Throw some fresh orange peels, or any other fruit skin like it, in when vibrating.
Keeps down on the dust, and the acid helps clean.

[Walter Laich]

I started with SS pins and moved on to SS chips.

get them from a guy on Facebook--I had to send a message and got a reply on cost. They cut the time in half compared to pins.

My entire contact with him is a happy customer--not in anyway part of the operation

https://www.facebook.com/southernshinetumblers/

[Thumbcocker]

Can you wet tumble in a Dillon vibratory tumbler?

[lightman]

Can you wet tumble in a Dillon vibratory tumbler?

Probably not. I doubt that it would hold liquid without leaking. They were designed for dry media.

[sniper]

I like good-looking brass, so I use a 50-50 combo of Lizard bedding from the pet store, and some fine corncob I bought what seems like a lifetime supply of a couple of years ago. Then I add a capful or Mineral Spirits and some sort of polish. When I run out of case polish, I may try Mother's. But...a question I have... does the Mother's mag polish leave a coating, and will that make brass more slippery, increasing thrust/pressure on the slide or frame of the revolver?

[kevin c]

Probably not. I doubt that it would hold liquid without leaking. They were designed for dry media.

I can't say that this shows that the Dillon's are leak proof, but I have put citrus based liquid cleaners in mine to soak overnight, to get built up dried polish and other crud off, and didn't see any leaks.

The wet tumblers I've seen (I use a FART now, and my club has just invested in a small HF cement mixer) or heard about all rotate to agitate the brass. I'm not sure a vibratory brass tumbler meant for dry media would work with liquid media, whether leak proof or not.

[tankgunner59]

I use a Lyman 1200 Turbo vibrating tumbler with reptile bedding walnut media. I put a little Nu Finish car wax and a little mineral spirits after about three runs. Get an occasional grain stuck in a flash hole, but the brass comes out clean and bright. For the dust I have my wife give me her used dryer fabric softener sheets, cut them in three and put them into the tumbler. They collect the dust and I just throw them away after use. Works great for me. The reptile bedding is really inexpensive.

[gwpercle]

After trying just about every home made case polish, grits, rice , sand , kitty litter, pet bedding, various blasting medias , lizard bedding, with and without nu-finish, Turtle Wax Chrome Polish and Rust remover and other liquid wax products added to the beddings, Lyman's green and red treated media's ........The Best Is,,,drum roll please......

Midway's Frankford Arsenal Treated Walnut Brass Cleaning and Polishing Media .

It's ground to the proper size and comes altreated with the correct type of brass polish...
For the money it's the best deal and it just works ! Lyman's media's didn't do as good a job or last as long as the FA medias.

Gary

[greenjoytj]

I used my RCBS tumbler with Lyman green corn cob media, I was never happy with the results vs the time it took. Yes the outside of the cases got perfectly cleaned. The carbon coating inside the case was just polished shiny, I was expecting the carbon to be removed. I cut up a drier sheet into 1” squares to mix with the media to control dust and I added some Dillion blue case polish.
I always push out spent primers and clean the pocket prior to the cases going into the tumbler.
I do this to reduce the amount of fouling entering the media and it speeds up the tumbling.
I still had to separate the cases from the media and wash the cases to remove a greenish slime then dry the cases. That’s the way I cleaned my cases for about 6 years.

I read about cleaning with stainless steel pins (SS) so I gave it a try and have been very happy with the results. Only the 22 Hornet case fail to be cleaned inside (cases are too small pins can’t move about).
My cleaning solution is: 15 ml powdered “Cascade” dish washing machine detergent. Plus 15 ml of TSP. Plus 7.5 ml Lemi Shine detergent booster. The 3 chemicals get mixed with 1 L of hot tap water.
These cleaning chemicals are low suds. Liquid Dawn made too much suds that could support and float away my SS pins. 2 hours in the tumbler then check the level of clean, usually 2 hrs is enough. A large plastic “Pan” sieve placed over a ~3 gal bucket catches the pins.
I do the sieve work in the laundry tub with the short hose from the tap rinsing the SS pins out and soap off all the cases. I punched a line of small holes on one side of the bucket to keep the in flowing water just below the bottom of the sieve.
If I want to add wax I do that by soaking swirling 50 cases in Simonize car wash & wax in a 2 pound margarine tub.
I have 2 large baking sheets I line with cheap Walmart cotton towels to dry the cases on.
To speed up the drying I twist a half sheet of paper towel into a rope and twist it into the cases, cut off a ½” of wet towel rope every 3-4 cases. Case dry overnight or if I ‘m in a hurry
I’ll use the clothes dryer I put the stationary rack inside, towels on top, cases spread out on the towels. I have used the oven to dry the cases on the baking sheet (no towels).
I dry the SS pins on the baking sheet in the oven on 300*f temp.
A telescoping pick up magnetic wand is a must have. Being super careful not to drop or spill any SS Pins a few pins always get into the laundry tub and or down the drain or on the floor.
All are retrieved with the magnetic wand.

I also have an Hornady ultrasonic cleaner it works. Not quite as well as the SS pins.

[Bama]

Harbor freight has listed 2 diff. Grades fine and course. Is fine better than course? Dragon813gt

The course will bridge flash holes and requires punching out but the fine does not usually bridge the flash hole. Fine is less aggressive but this can be off set with a little Nu finish

[hpbear101]

Bon-Ami cleaner makes an effective additive for tumble media. I use a spoonful added to rice.