What can be used in a Tumbler?

[Kev18]

I have a tumbler and I was wondering what kind of medium I can put in it? I have small bits of corn cobs. Its one I bought at Cabelas a few years ago and the corn came with it...

What else can I put in it? Are some better then others?

Some polish more or more aggressive?

[salpal48]

There are several different media . Basicly all will give the same results
Dry Media : Corncob, Ground walnut shells, Plastic Beads,
Most Loaders will use the first 2
Wet Media , SS pins, Plastic Beads
Pins are The most common
I prefer Dry tumble . I use a Fine Grade walnut not to get it stuck in the primer pockets. To me Thats all I use. . Some loaders Use an additive to make the brass very good shine.
Pin are good also. with the correct combo , pins to water and citric acid . cleans inside and out and some primer pockets.
There is a big choice It's your choice. you make like one or another

[Snow ninja]

My favorite thing to use is ground Walnut shells. Don't buy the stuff from a gun place though, I go to the local pet supply and get Lizard bedding. Same stuff but cheaper. I'm sure there's other things that will get it shinier, but I don't care that much about shiny, I just want clean.

[Stewbaby]

Ditto the pet store lizard walnut bedding. I put it outside to run the first time though so it sheds some of the dust. Add some nufinish for the shine.

...though wet tumbling is best IMO

[mozeppa]

i've even heard of people using spent primers as media.

[Kev18]

I dont care about shine either. I just want clean. Il keep the walnuts in mind.

[Winger Ed.]

i've even heard of people using spent primers as media.

I do that.
I'll wash them to get any Lead dust off, then toss 'em in there instead of buying more
corn cob media as some always gets away.

They work, and ya can't beat the price.

Every once in awhile a couple will try to clog inside a .223.
.30 cal. or bigger, they drop right out.

[pietro]

.


FWIW, I got my fired brass very clean, although not shiny, via washing about 100 at a time in my clothes washing machine, when my Green-Eyed Monster isn't home. :bigsmyl2:



The method I use is to put the brass into a pillowcase, knot the pillowcase mouth, and run a full cycle hot water load of towels with regular detergent & the loaded pillowcase.

.

[Daver7]

.


FWIW, I got my fired brass very clean, although not shiny, via washing about 100 at a time in my clothes washing machine, when my Green-Eyed Monster isn't home. :bigsmyl2:



The method I use is to put the brass into a pillowcase, knot the pillowcase mouth, and run a full cycle hot water load of towels with regular detergent & the loaded pillowcase.

.
Dang, you are one brave dude

[Winger Ed.]

.FWIW, I got my fired brass very clean, although not shiny, via washing about 100 at a time in my clothes washing machine, when my Green-Eyed Monster isn't home. :bigsmyl2: .

You're more brave than the guy who ate the first raw oyster.

[brstevns]

I use cheap dry white rice mixed with a little corncob. They come out clean and shiny, but you do get a piece of rice stuck in primer hole once in awhile. No big deal, deprimer pin pushing it on out with no problems.

[Winger Ed.]

I use cheap dry white rice .

I did that once, but only once.

I think the rice might have swelled in the humidity, I'm not exactly sure.

But I do remember how tedious it was digging rice out of a couple hundred 5.56 cases.

Looking back:
I think the rice would be fine for straight wall pistol cases with the spent primers left in them
if the tumbler was full enough that when the cases came up & over the top,
they dumped the rice out and re-filled when they went back around underneath.

I only use corn cob media now, but unprimed rifle cases all get put in a loading tray
upside down so I can check & use a needle to poke that one piece of media out of the flash hole.

[Kenstone]

.


FWIW, I got my fired brass very clean, although not shiny, via washing about 100 at a time in my clothes washing machine, when my Green-Eyed Monster isn't home. :bigsmyl2:



The method I use is to put the brass into a pillowcase, knot the pillowcase mouth, and run a full cycle hot water load of towels with regular detergent & the loaded pillowcase.

.

Not something I'd do or recommend, could contaminate washer/clothes with lead, the pillow case for sure.
I would suggest you stop, especially if you have children whose clothes get washed there.
:(

[ShooterAZ]

I use corn com media. I buy it by the 100lb bag at a sandblasting supply house in Phoenix. When you buy it bulk like this, it's dirt cheap. You can get various grit sizes, I just use the medium.

[Kev18]

Is there stuff that is more aggressive or is it all the same? Why dont people use sand or beads?

[KCSO]

Go to Earl Mays and get lizard bedding...its ground walnut hull and with rouge it makes excellent case polish. Amd it is way cheaper than commercial case media.

[Ramson222]

Is there stuff that is more aggressive or is it all the same? Why dont people use sand or beads?

Sand in a chamber would be a very bad thing.

[Mk42gunner]

I use the Ground English walnut Lizard bedding from a pet store. I read somewhere that English walnut hulls are a bit harder than black walnut hulls, true or not it works well and doesn't clog flash holes too badly. The bags I get are a finer grind than most of the black walnut media I have seen.

I also decap with a Lee die prior to tumbling, then when I resize the case the decapping pin in the die takes care of any stuck media.

Robert

[pietro]

Not something I'd do or recommend, could contaminate washer/clothes with lead, the pillow case for sure.

I would suggest you stop, especially if you have children whose clothes get washed there.




Worry about nothing - I've got it covered...…….

After the cases are clean, the old pillowcase is likewise clean - but I also run the machine again after I'm done with the cases (using detergent)

I've been doing that since the mid-70's, and my 3 kids (now 54, 51 & 48 years old) are just fine.

Thanks for caring, though. :)

.

[Kenstone]

Is there stuff that is more aggressive or is it all the same? Why dont people use sand or beads?

Too heavy, brass would just sit on top of it.
jmo
:roll:

[Kenstone]

Worry about nothing - I've got it covered...…….

After the cases are clean, the old pillowcase is likewise clean - but I also run the machine again after I'm done with the cases (using detergent)

I've been doing that since the mid-70's, and my 3 kids (now 54, 51 & 48 years old) are just fine.

Thanks for caring, though. :)

.

Go buy a lotto ticket
:bigsmyl2:
:o

[Kev18]

Iv'e tried the dishwasher method when I was testing loads or just shooting BP and they cases were pretty dinged up. Yours dont kink anyhwere?

[Catch22]

Are you talking about a vibratory or rotary tumbler?

In the vibratory, I use cob or walnut. If I'm doing brass, I put a squirt of car polish/wax in it. Nothing if I'm polishing parts or what have you.

In the rotary I use stainless steel chips rather than the pins. I don't have near the issues with pins sticking in the necks or elsewhere. A squirt of Dawn is all I use.

[pietro]

Iv'e tried the dishwasher method when I was testing loads or just shooting BP and they cases were pretty dinged up. Yours dont kink anyhwere?

I use a clothes washer, not a dishwasher - but cleaning them within a towel load results in clean cases w/o any denting/etc.


.

[Kev18]

I use a clothes washer, not a dishwasher - but cleaning them within a towel load results in clean cases w/o any denting/etc.


.

I meant a clothes washer also. Dont know why I said dishwasher, sorry. My cases got beat up.

[Kev18]

Are you talking about a vibratory or rotary tumbler?

In the vibratory, I use cob or walnut. If I'm doing brass, I put a squirt of car polish/wax in it. Nothing if I'm polishing parts or what have you.

In the rotary I use stainless steel chips rather than the pins. I don't have near the issues with pins sticking in the necks or elsewhere. A squirt of Dawn is all I use.

Vibratory, I got it at cabelas. Its a Frankford arsenal I think.

[Elkins45]

A squirt of automotive chrome polish makes a big difference in how fast a load gets clean in my experience.

I like walnut more than corn cob just because it’s faster and it also seems to last longer before it needs replacement or charging with some sort of polish or abrasive. You can find it cheaper than the gun shop if you buy some brands of reptile bedding or kitty litter.

[1hole]

Don't try to over think something as simple as case tumbling. Men have reload brass cases since about 1880 and until about 1980 without tumbling at all so it's obviously not mandatory.

Our fetish about shiney cases, inside and out, is cosmetic, it adds nothing to accuracy or case life. Fired cases used to be wiped clean when each one was picked up for sizing and that still works quite well.

Both crushed cob and crushed shells are sold for tumbling media because both work very well and are moderately inexpensive, especially considering how long either one will last if we don't glob it up with excessive "polish" (as seems most folks actually do).

Don't use sand in a tumbler, not only will it abrade the brass but any particles of grit left inside will surely scour your bore. Steel pins are quite expensive; they're heavy and they ONLY work in (wet) roller tumblers, not common viberators.

Don't know what kind of "beads" is being talked about but largish beads won't work as well as smallish and enough smallish beads to do the job (at least a quart?) would likely be much more expensive than cob/nut.

Worry about what you will but I don't think primers contain traces of "lead styphinate" anymore and they haven't for a long time. If the lead content in primers were a legitimate health problem we'd have frantic California type warning labels all over the cartons; there aren't any. And, if spent primer lead was a hazard, I'd have been stone dead 40 years ago; as it is so far I only look and smell bad.

[brstevns]

I did that once, but only once.

I think the rice might have swelled in the humidity, I'm not exactly sure.

But I do remember how tedious it was digging rice out of a couple hundred 5.56 cases.

Looking back:
I think the rice would be fine for straight wall pistol cases with the spent primers left in them
if the tumbler was full enough that when the cases came up & over the top,
they dumped the rice out and re-filled when they went back around underneath.

I only use corn cob media now, but unprimed rifle cases all get put in a loading tray
upside down so I can check & use a needle to poke that one piece of media out of the flash hole.

Never had that problem. Glad I didn't :lol::lol:

[Bazoo]

I think sand would work and have been tempted to try it myself to get a better clean. I don't see how any sand could be left on or in the casings.

I do get walnut dust inside and out using lizard bedding. Walnut cleans better than cob, so if I use it I run again in cob to remove the dust.

Winger Ed, sir,
Tell me more about using spent primers. Is it the cups, the anvil, or both? And what ratio to media do ya think works the best?

[Wayne Smith]

I use lizard litter and have a separate bowl with 2mm ceramic beads I use for BP brass. I use water and a squirt of soap in that, then move them to the lizard litter.

[Bazoo]

I've not heard of ceramic beads. How do they do for cleaning vs stainless pins?

[samari46]

Forget going to a gunshop for tumbling media. look for a large welding supply house instead. Should have both corn cob media and crushed walnut shells in 50 pound bags. Do the math and you should find you will save money buying the 50 pound bags. Where I worked we had a 6000 HP gas turbine. Had a few oil leaks which basically killed the efficiency of the turbine. take the cap off a small air inlet and filled a 2 pound coffee can with crushed walnut shell. When you take the cap off the sir inlet it's like a vacuum. take the can and stick it over the inlet. Will suck out all the walnut shells.Then the whole turbine room smells like roasted walnuts. Then go back to the control room and watch the efficiency go up. Was called feeding the turbine. I haven't even used half of the corn cob and walnut media so far and bought the bags some years back. Frank

[Winger Ed.]

Tell me more about using spent primers. Is it the cups, the anvil, or both? And what ratio to media do ya think works the best?

I always have a little media get away as I go through the process with it.
One day, instead of buying more, I had a bunch of spent primers that had accumulated in the loading room.
I threw them in there for filler. It worked pretty good.

I had a little trouble with some of them getting into bottle neck cases and had to poke 'em a time or two to fall out.
I've since bought new corn cob media, but I save it for the bottleneck cases.

I use the old stuff for straight wall cases, and the spent primers are about 10-15% or so by volume.
I wash them for possible lead dust residue before I toss 'em in, and wash & dry the media itself when it gets sort of greasey feeling.
Its just a easy fix when ya get low on media and are gun shy about using rice.

I wouldn't recommend it specifically, and I let the tumbler run all night in the garage so I don't know if its faster or not with them.
Its a cheap solution when ya get low on media, or are too tight to buy more until ya find a deal on it.

[Zingger]

Lots of great advice here- Lizard litter and NuFinish are my go-to's. I have also gone to Harbor Freight and bought the coarse grit walnut blasting media. $25/25# and mix it with the litter for a "Kentucky Windage" method of medium. Works like a charm.

[Charlie Horse]

I quit tumbling my cases. Tarnished brass is the badge of an experienced reloader. Kids tumble their brass.[smilie=p:

[Zingger]

I quit tumbling my cases. Tarnished brass is the badge of an experienced reloader. Kids tumble their brass.[smilie=p:

I do have to say tumbling/polishing makes the brass much easier to find in all seasons. Unless you shoot only indoors on concrete. Western ND gets a bit on the brown side and while some of the calibers are easily replaced.... some not so much without forming.

[mazo kid]

For dust control when using dry media, throw a used dryer anti-static sheet in with the brass and media.

[Kev18]

I quit tumbling my cases. Tarnished brass is the badge of an experienced reloader. Kids tumble their brass.[smilie=p:

I only tumble to clean, but its rare. Old brass has character and looks ****** in a cartridge belt ;)

[pacomdiver]

i use a harbor freight concrete mixer with 10lbs of 1/8 stainless ball media , abt 3 gal of water and a teaspoon of dawn, i can do 6000 9mms or 2500 plus 223s at a shot, then spin them thru the dillon monster media seperater to remove the water and stainless media, then batches in a 1 gal bucket with enough Isopropal alcohol to cover then, a couple side to side twists to make sure the cases are fully soaked, then back thru the dillon seperater to remove the alcohol and onto a 2ftx4ft 1/4" screen box with a window fan blowing on it to dry them overnight