Case Cleaning

[mag_01]

As far as tumbling media walnut works for me and to keep it clean I cut up strips of Cotton cloth and anti static material used in dryers--cut it up small but big enough so it dose not enter your cases---Mag

[montana_charlie]

Just need to figure out what polish to mix in with it to make em' shine now.

After Googling for information on that subject over the last few days I have settled on Bon Ami (feldspar)...when I get to town to buy some.
In a 12 pound tumbler barrel, I plan to use a heaping tablespoonful along with a couple ounces of vinegar.

Vinegar has been used for cleaning brass objects for hundreds of years. I suppose it still works...
CM

[monadnock#5]

me thinks i would like to hear more...specifically abrasive vs polishing compounds.

some of the "cleaning" done to br bbls is down right polishing....

i shoot br too

On page 110 in the book "Handloading For Competition" by Glen Zediker, he states that "A well known barrel maker..." found reddish deposits in cross sectioned barrels that had been returned by dissatisfied customers, who claimed the barrels had shot out too quickly. The worst damage, and the heaviest residue was found in the throat area. The residue had the appearance of jeweler's rouge, and the customers had used rouge additives in their media. The advise from the book was to use straight walnut and/or corncob media only.

Ken

[Sundogg1911]

I used walnut with some hoppes in it (A few capfulls) to clean, and then corn cob, with a few capfulls of Dillon rapid brass polish to shine 'em. Shiney cases shoot better....everyone knows that!

[Smitty]

Have been using the same crushed walnuts for some yrs & does a lovely job in just 1 hr or less with a Lyman Turbo. The same media was used in a good Thumb's Tumbler for some 12 yrs.

By "same" I do not mean the same type, but the same from the rock tumbler went into the Lyman to do the job quickly & no addition of anything else. If I were to add then I might use a car polish call Nu-Enough & just a bit to see how it does. That tip comes from a friend that used the same with a home-made unit some yrs ago.

Though do realize I do not polish anything, but h/gun brass of 38 Spl, 9X19 & 45ACP plus a very small amount of 44 Mag.

[ELFEGO BACA]

For my straight walled cases, 45/70 and 45 colt, I use a Thumbler model B rotating tumbler using ceramic media.

At the time of purchase it came with a liquid cleaner. I use about a tablespoon per load mixing it with about a pint of water. After putting the media in the tumbler I then add water until it comes nearly to the surface of the ceramic media.

It cleans up black powder fouled cases quickly about 90 minutes.

I have heard they also have a ceramic media for bottleneck cases but I have not tried any.

[Smitty]

Some yrs back a fellow h/gun shooter asked me how to keep his brass clean. My suggestion was obtain a canvas money bag, close up the top & put it into the washing machine. After all I tried that out & it worked out fine. Mind you I was & still am a bachelor.

Unfortunately he forgot to pull out the bag with brass inside. His wife found it & all 'ell broke out. Part of married life I guess.

[UweJ]

I use walnut and a bit of Flitz.Let it run for 90min.and they come out nice and shiny.

[montana_charlie]

I use a Thumbler model B rotating tumbler using ceramic media.

I am gathering information about ceramic media, prior to deciding if I want to use it. So, tell me how much media you use in your 15 pound barrel.

Would that be,
X volume of media for X number of cases?
Half a barrel full?
X pounds of media for per X pounds of barrel carrying capacity?

Or...some other ratio?
CM

[hawk223]

I bought a 1.75 lb box of Lyman Ceramic Tumbler Media for $20 CA. It works really great with the lemon juice and dish soap method. Cases are like new. I don't have an exact science but I add the ceramic media (that easily is stored in a 1 lb margarine container) and then I add about 4 times that volume of cases. Add 1/4 cup of lemon juice and a generous squirt of dish soap and tumble for 2 hours. The bad is that you have to rinse and dry and if you have hard water you'll need either a soft water rinse or something else so you don't get spots on them. If you want them to dry quickly you can rinse with alcohol stove fuel that is fairly cheap at Home Depot or other hardware store in the paint section. I usually use the oven at 100 C or about 212 F. The ceramic media is as white as the day I bought it.

The Lyman media is just smaller that 22 cal but it is cylindrical and cut on an angle. It tends to get caught in some cases. In 223 you can shake them out and usually need a little nail to poke the bottom one that sticks in the base. This is easy to do. the odd time the case gets full and they don't shake out. When this happens you have to turn the one at the mouth with a nail to get it out and then shake them out. For 45 ACP and 40 S&W they will occasionally stick side but side but flexing the case a small amount between the fingers solves this problem easily.

Does anyone know of other sources of ceramic media that might be smaller than the Lyman?

Also lemon juice is a $1.50 CA for 750 ml (3 cups) (12 batches) (Noname brand) and is way better than vinegar. If anyone tells you to use salt ignore them because it makes a mess and doesn't rinse off ... you have to re-tumble. This method works way better than the RCBS Sidewinder liquid media cleaner. I have tried a few methods and have settled on this one.

I haven't tried the dry medias however. I figured I would want to rinse off the dust anyway and it didn't sound like the insides of the cases would get very clean. What is your experience on the dry methods? I really enjoy the quiet nature of the tumbler and was told the vibratory style are noisy? Of course the noise level does depend on how full you fill the unit. If it is too empty the cases will make more noise as they fall further. Don't fill it so much that they can't move around.

[montana_charlie]

I don't have an exact science but I add the ceramic media (that easily is stored in a 1 lb margarine container) and then I add about 4 times that volume of cases.

I am surprised! I thought the volume of media should (at least) equal the volume of the brass. Otherwise, it seems that most of the cases have to rub each other, while a few are being rubbed by the ceramic. Seems unfair in some way...
I am glad you mentioned the weight of your media and then indicated it's volume (margarine tub). I knew the stuff is 'heavy' compared to walnut and cob...but I had no 'ruler' to measure with.

Does anyone know of other sources of ceramic media that might be smaller than the Lyman?

Yes. Sagebrush Products carries a type that is 3mm spheres. They recommend it for curing the problems you describe.

There is also a guy on eBay who sells a media which is mostly (about 80%) tiny glass beads. The rest is randomly shaped bits.
However, I have the impression it will remove metal if tumbled long enough...so I have not tried it.

One more thing...what is the size of your tumbler's barrel?
CM

[hawk223]

My tumbler barrel is made out of 4" PVC and is 9.5" long internally. I used one solid end cap and one with a crew lid. Both fit over the 4" PVC. I was in Calgary on business and had the opportunity to see a RCBS Sidewinder. The thing looks flimsy, has a small moter and is over $300. The only thing that one might think is better is the size of the canister and its flat walls. Not sure how many sides it had now but I have had no problems with my round cannister. The lid on it was press in not screw in and I remember reading that people has leakage problems with it. On mine it doesn't matter if a little pressure develops.

[VTDW]

As far as tumbling media walnut works for me and to keep it clean I cut up strips of Cotton cloth and anti static material used in dryers--cut it up small but big enough so it dose not enter your cases---Mag

Mag 01,

I do that too but do not cut the material up. I also cut up ScotchBrite pads into about 3/8" strips. Both work well for cleaning dust and adding a bit of shine to help the media.

Dave

[Joel Chavez]

I use a porcelian ceramic media that is simply put, Awesome!! This stuff works wet with a cleaning solution mixed 1oz to 1gal. of H2O. I start by washing the dirt off with soapy H2O and Dawn. Next, I allow the brass to air dry and then deprime and resize using Lee's carbide dies. I do use case lube(Hornady) while doing this step. It makes it easier and prevents any scratching of the case. Next, I soak the brass in the cleaning solution for 24-48hrs. After that, I toss them in the tumbler(Frankfard Aersenal) for 30min with about 6-8 oz of fresh cleaning solution. With two tumblers going I can clean almost 1000+ in just a few hours. I sell most of the range brass on Ebay so I needed a system that would yield the best looking brass possible. I'm not tooting my own horn, but they sure look prrretty. Take care and hope it's warm and dry where you are.

[georgeld]

man, what progress you guys make.

Berrysmfg.com in St George Utah sells a dandy vibrator for $50, lifetime warranty except on the motor it's two or three yrs. and after that it's $17 to replace.
Used mine since 99 and just replaced the motor.

Powdervalleyinc.com has media. Four yrs ago I split 40# of treated walnut and haven't used much of it. Lasts forever and cleans good. But, don't polish very well. Mostly cleans the nasties off and does that in an hour or so pretty good.

Then IF I want to polish it, change media and use plain corn and that polishs nicely in another hour.

I also final polish after loading too. No harm in that, factory loads are final polished the same way. Just take a tour of any ammo factory and you'll see that.

Have a neighbor friend that made a rolling type tumbler with a plastic five gallon bucket. Just made a set of wheels and one that's powered. Used a soft rubber wheel to drive it with and three others that keep the bucket in place. Has a 1/5th hp motor and don't worry about how long he lets it run. Sometimes he sets the timer, sometimes he don't. They come out with a high gloss polish too. Dandy job. Think he uses straight corn, but, not positive.

I'll stick with berrys shaker for my own.

[montana_charlie]

I use a porcelian ceramic media that is simply put, Awesome!!

Where do you get your ceramic?
CM

[Joel Chavez]

Have you ever heard this? "It's an ancient Chinese secret" Hahahahaha! Sorry, I just couldn't resist. I bought it at Cabela's. It's quite expensive, but you never wear it out. The 5lbs. tub sells for about $65. Its money will worth it though. To date I think I've cleaned maybe somewhere in the neighborhood of 30,000+ brass with it since last year and the stuff is still going strong. Take that walnut media. You can look at my feedback on ebay. It speaks for itself(media). My user name is jazr223. Hope its warm and dry where you are.

[gwalchmai]

I use #24 walnut media from Harbor Freight with a capful of NuFinish in each tumbler load. Makes the cases sparkle and the NuFinish makes the cases slide through dies like buttah.

[alamogunr]

I finally found the corn cob media in the fish, hamster, rabbit, etc section at Wal-Mart. Bought a bag that weighed approx. 10# for $2.57. The granule size is larger than what I had been using but I decided to test it anyway. Put about 35-40 pieces of .30-06 brass in the Midway vibrator and ran it about 2 hours. This stuff is NOT suitable for bottlenecked cases. The large pieces stick inside the case and are hard to get out. Next, I put about 100 9mm cases in and ran them all night since I do this in the shop and it was late when I started. The 9mm worked fine. A few extra turns on the separator got all the media out. Since I can buy this stuff locally, I'll stick with walnut shell for bottlenecked rifle cases and use this cheap corn cop stuff for handgun cases. If I need anything else, I'll order from Powder Valley as posted by someone else either here or on another thread. They are cheaper than the source I found and will sell smaller quantities. Thanks to all who posted. I hope others besides myself benefited.
John

[EDK]

The BLACK POWDER CARTRIDGE RIFLE shooters came up with a really great, but initally expensive solution. ..about $40. Sagebrush Products sells a ceramic media that also uses a tiny bit of chemical added to water in tumblers that will even clean primer pockets in deprimed brass. You haven't seen dirty until you see black powder fouling inside a casing!! The stuff lasts forever and WORKS!!!

Try some of the black powder sites like www.sagebrushproducts or shilohrifle or buffaloarms. They are all good people to deal with and use the products they make and sell.