Brass Tumbler Media Homebrew

[Shadowrider]

I use about an 80/20 mix of corncob and walnut hull. I run the biggest Lyman vibratory they have with about 2 caps of mineral spirits and one cap full of Nufinish. I've tried others and just keep coming back to Nufinish. If you use the mineral spirits you only need to use Nufinish in about every 3rd load. No reason to clog up the media with that much polish.

 

[Pokinfun]

this is what I wet tumbled today. it took about an hour. Because I shoot on an outdoor range where the spent cases fly into the dirt, I clean everything before I de-prime and size it. I don't like to trash my dies.

 

[D. Hargrove]

I am seriously impressed. Now if i can only find those results for my vibratory tumbler I could be a happy man. Lots of good recommendations on this thread, can't wait to try a few to get those results.

 

[lasher]

this is what I wet tumbled today. it took about an hour. Because I shoot on an outdoor range where the spent cases fly into the dirt, I clean everything before I de-prime and size it. I don't like to trash my dies.


View attachment 97187

i deprime then tumble (have a dedicated deprimer), then size, trim, chamfer, deburr, tumble again before loading. i don't want that dirt in my dies either, your photo is much better than mine

 

[Pokinfun]

I have an RCBS depriming dies, too. Anymore, I just don't like the extra step or depriming, when I can do when I size the case.

 

[D. Hargrove]

I also deprime before the tumble, but I do small batches of 45ACP. If I was rocking the number of cases that Pokinfun does I might have to enlist some help.

 

[Pokinfun]

I also deprime before the tumble, but I do small batches of 45ACP. If I was rocking the number of cases that Pokinfun does I might have to enlist some help.

I only clean brass a few times a year.
I had a buddy when I was in the Army, that believed you should have at least 10K rounds of ammo for every gun you shot. I am not that bad.
Most of that brass was 7mm brass I traded some dies for on here.

 

[SHOTGUN12]

Back in the day when I first started reloading I used a media that I would have sworn was walnut shell (with red rouge), but after using it again recently, it doesn’t work as well.

I’m wondering if maybe the stuff I used 40 years ago was crushed corn cob, not crushed shells.

I know I have enough (red rouge) abrasive in the mix, but it still ain’t workin’ right. or maybe I need a courser ground shell. I just bought this fine ground shell and hate to have to buy more of the coarser stuff. These photos of all that nice clean brass is what I used to get out of my tumbler (dry) and with what I remember as being crushed shell.

 

[Profreedomokie]

I have three dry tumblers I use walnut or corn cobb with brass polish if the brass isn't too tarnished. I built a wet tumbler that will hold two gallons . I have an old single stage press with a decapping die in it and I deprime all the brass before I wet tumble it. I use my Dillion case separator and spin the steel pins out of the brass and then lay it on newspaper with fans on it to dry. When its done it looks like new.

 

[Gringobandito]

I am currently running a very basic set up for cleaning and polishing but have been suprised how well it works. I take the cases and drop them in a bucket with 2 9MM cases of citric acid and a few drops of dish soap. I fill with water and let them soak for about and hour. The citric acid removes all of the external carbon and gunk. After I rinse them, I run them in a vibratory cleaner for about an hour and they come out very clean.