Media and polish

S

SmokeyBravo307

New member
As always I have another question what are the best types/brands of media to use as well as polishes?
I know everyone has different opinions I'm just not sure if it's best to use walnut or corncob and why? As well as which polishes work best with each one and why?
Thanks for the everyone!!!!
 
Corncob is more porous and will hold larger amounts of more aggressive polishes, like Lyman's green corncob. It saves time when it's new, as it's the fastest stuff.

Walnut is harder and is usually combined with jeweler's rouge or a similarly finer polish. This produces a glossier shine, but takes a lot longer to get significant soiling off.

Personally, among the commercial dry media, I prefer the corncob and green Lyman polish for dirty cases. For cases pre-cleaned in citric acid and dried, the walnut and rouge work, and the walnut leaves a little bit of walnut oil on the brass to help keep it polished. However, I don't like such a high polish on brass that isn't for display. The slightly duller surface looks brighter in most light, so it shows up better in the grass than a highly reflective surface does, making it easier to find.
 
When I dry tumble, I use Zilla Lizard Litter (crushed walnut shell cheaply bought at pet supply stores) with a cap full of NuFinish car polish and a cap full of mineral spirits.

Don
 
After all my "experiments" with tumbling, I found corn cob blast media 14-20 to be the best all around tumbling media. Blast media is more "quality controlled" than pet litter (harder and size controlled, less dust). There are lots of "tricks" that will be suggested (auto polish, mineral spirits, dryer sheets, etc.) but most of those should be held off until there is a problem. I often just use blast media with a touch of auto polish to prevent tarnish.
 
Media and polish
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I use corn media and nothing; when I want bling is use a home made case spinner, I start with 3M green pads for the worst of cases and finish with steel wool.

F. Guffey
 
Thanks for the information and pointers I hope I get a few more hits I really enjoy learning and trying the advice I have gained from this forum!!!!!
 
There is no 'best' anything. Especially tumbling media. It's crushed corn cobs or walnut shells. Neither the brand nor species of either makes a lick of difference.
When you buy stuff with the word 'gunsmith's' or 'reloading' or anything similar in its name, you will pay more. The small pet/lizard bedding found by the 40 or so pound(some places for unknown reasons sell it by a liquid unit of measure.) bag in a pet supply shop is the same crushed corn cobs or walnut shells. Usually costs a great deal less than the same thing sold by the assorted reloading kit makers. It doesn't go bad so a 40 pound bag will last literally for years. And it's usually better if you can find an industrial plastic part deburring supplier. Same thing. Bigger bag. Goes up to 50 pounds.
You don't need any polish. Brass needs to be clean, not shiney. It is, however, a personal choice.
 
I prefer corn cob for all around use. Only polish I've used has been Dillon's Rapid Polish 290. It does a great job cleaning and adding extra shine plus it cuts tumbling-vibrating time. You can even use a little on a rag to clean tarnish spots. Walnut cleans really dirty tarnished cases faster but it's dusty. Corn cob removes case lube well while for me walnut dust sticks to the lube in case necks and makes a gunky mess. I've even experimented with 3/4 corn cob with 1/4 walnut but it doesn't seem to make much difference over standard corn cob media. I'd recommend straight corn cob media. My opinion, stay away from Lyman media both the red rouge version and green. The red leaves red rouge glued to the inside of cases and is nearly impossible to remove. Haven't tested with the green Lyman media. Don't want abrasive rouge in my loaded rounds. I normally only buy Dillon corn cob media.
 
USSR When I dry tumble, I use Zilla Lizard Litter (crushed walnut shell cheaply bought at pet supply stores) with a cap full of NuFinish car polish and a cap full of mineral spirits.

I have a Thumes Tumbler it has a rubber like liner if you use (an auto polish) it will swell it in no time I got to buy a new liner .
 
I'm with Unclenick with one small detail...
CLEAN with soap, water, steel pins, etc. What ever your choice.
POLISH with softer than brass media, commonly dry, corn cob & walnut being the two most popular.
COAT with wax or sealant.

No sense in plugging up POLISHING media with the oily crud that comes off cases, wash with oil cutting detergent first.
I skip the polishing entirely with non corroded brass, it comes out of the wash just finished to reload.

If the customer orders a high polish, then they get it at extra cost.

I use old polishing media to dry cases instead of the usual heat or air drying.
Walnut shell that's seen better days gets sifted/washed/dried and used pretty well exclusively to dry cases once excess water is slung off them.

I'm not real fond of mixing coatings with polish media.
Walnut in particular can be dust sifted & washed/dried if there isn't wax on it.
If you don't recycle or 'Up' cycle polishing media then this is a non issue.
I'm one cheap SOB, I squeeze every last use out of everything to reduce costs/time.
10 minute dry times significantly reduces processing time.

If the customer orders wax or specific coating, then I simply soak a sponge in that wax and run the batch for about 10 minutes in a rotary tumbler.
 
I've used green cob before and it worked nice on cases for sure, but I prefer the walnut with rouge.
It seems to go farther...
Reply #7 would have us all believe there's little use in anything we do as handloader, I wish he'd write a book so we could educate ourselves as to the only way to do things with low expectations that he does, how nice if you think of it really, it kind like low overhead, or low rent or loading done the very cheapest with no expectation of ever shooting under MOA, because,,, well because there's no need..
 
I have a big Ultra Vibe 45. I can do 1000 30-06 cases at once and the most handgun brass I have done in one run is 1500 9mm cases.

I deprime, then run the brass in walnut/rouge for maybe 3-4 hours.

I then do all my case preps, and do a final clean with corncob with nothing added to remove any contaminants (resizing lube, etc.).

It takes about 18 lbs of media to make the Ultra Vibe do it's job. It also does a good job with smaller quantities, but I try to run it full when I can.
 
USSR When I dry tumble, I use Zilla Lizard Litter (crushed walnut shell cheaply bought at pet supply stores) with a cap full of NuFinish car polish and a cap full of mineral spirits.

I have a Thumes Tumbler it has a rubber like liner if you use (an auto polish) it will swell it in no time I got to buy a new liner .
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Your Thumbler Tumbler is designed to wet tumble. Vibratory tumblers designed to dry tumble can be bought for about $75. I have both.

Don
 
I switched to wet tumbling , I dry tumbled for 25+ years using both corn an walnut . Never added any polish , used mostly corn for cleaning every once an awhile would polish with the walnut. Got tired of the dust but when a shooting buddy told me about wet tumbling with stainless steel pins , I gave it a try an gave my dry tumbler an media's to a friend, will never go back .
 
OP, FWIW; case cleaning/tumbling is probably the most talked about part of reloading and it's the least important. If you ask 10 reloaders what they use, you are likely to get 15 answers, with varying recipes and hacks...
 
^^^^^ This.

I use lizard bedding walnut shells and a healthy squirt of cheap-o liquid car polish. I turm the tumbler on and go to bed, in the morning I have clean shiney brass.

I have no idea why people get so hung up on the amount of time it takes. You DONT need to monitor it. Heck I've even forgotten and gone to work and left it on with no ill effect.
 
what are the best types/brands of media to use
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I clean my brass with a aqueous solution of weak acid (usually citric acid) and detergent. This also imparts a degree of shine to the brass. After resizing, I tumble in untreated walnut media to remove the resizing lubricant. This also makes the shine a little more pronounced.

as well as polishes?
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I do not use polishes or solvents of any kind in my tumbling media.
 
If you go shopping for tumbling media at a pet shop, make sure to get bedding material that is 100% walnut shell or 100% corn cob. Walnut-based or Corn Cob-based material may include ingredients made from cellulose. Get it wet and you'll have a mess on your hands.

Also, check prices carefully. I've bought 15 pounds of untreated media from sellers like Midway and MidSouthShooterSupply for less per pound than it costs at the pet store.
 
I'm with cw308, I resisted wet washing brass for literally decades like the plague...
.... Stupid me....

My first try at wet cleaning was soap & water (hand cleaner soap, dirt cheap) and a gallon jar with screw on cap and a few handfuls of really cruddy brass,
I just rolled the jar around on a bench top, in two minutes the water was filthy, in 15 minutes the brass came out clean enough to reload right then, no polish needed.

The next batch in the test I made some ridges in the jar with instant epoxy to flip the brass, shorter time and very good results!
It still took me a month of screwing around to try a cement mixer, even though I had one out the shop door doing nothing...
SOLD on the first batch!
Two 5 gallon buckets of .223 bras done in 30 minutes, ready to reload!
Talk about a time saver!
Quicker when you don't pick the most filthy brass you can find... nothing like self sabotage...

I tried air drying which is entirely dependent on ambiant humidity, and I live where you can grab a hand full of air and squeeze water out of it about 6 months of the year,
I tried oven drying, gonna need a bigger oven when you are talking 10 gallons of brass at a time (or more). And there is the oven costs, gas or electric, floor space issues, etc.

Now I dump them into a separator and spin, then right back into the rotary tumbler (cement mixer) and throw walnut shell media on them, run them for about 10 minutes and dry to process, back through the seperator and off to the races!

I do warn about processing after washing, if you leave it sit around with other than oven drying, the primers CAN corrode to the case and be exceptionally hard to remove, a lot of 'Ringers' when they corrode.

For small batch, its practical to punch primers (universal decapping die) before you clean.
With volume this isn't practical since you get brass like you find them, full of mud, rocks, other brass etc.
You tumble/clean first then take a crack at the primer with an unobstructed case interior...

Like all newly converted, I will tell anyone that will listed about wet cleaning, sorry you have to suffer through that...
 
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