CLEANING BRASS

[shrpshtrjoe]

Howdy. What do you do to clean your brass. I have a rcbs tumbler i use untreated corn cob media and treat it with midway brass polish it gives off a nice citrus smell and makes my brass nice and perrrrty!!!. I was curious how many other guys like perrrrty!!! brass.

[DallanC]

I bought a Lyman tumbler... it was a clearance deal in a store that was going out of business. Think I paid $25 for it new if I remember right. I use the default corncob media. I found a capfull of brasso works great to revitalize older media.

I wish I had a spare tub though as I'd really love to keep some walnut around for a better cleaning / polish.


-DallanC

[shrpshtrjoe]

Howdy. Hey dallan lyman sell's a auto flow conversion kit that lets you drain the media and leaves the brass in the bowl, it should work on yours there about $30 bucks. Then you could switch back and forth from corn cob to walnut. Does walnut do a better job i have never used it.

[DallanC]

I'd have to look it back up... one is a better cleaner, one a better polisher. I think Corncob is the better cleaner, walnut the better polisher. I've only ever used corncob so i dunno. I get a pretty good polish on my brass though with corncob.


-DallanC

[Stormbringer]

I use a Hornady vibrating type cleaner and have had the best luck using Hornady One Shot Tumbler Media (which is treated). I can't stand dirty brass and when at the range usually clean up my case necks with a towel with Butches Bore Shine.

Mike.

[calsibley]

This is merely one mans opinion, but it works for me. I use a Lyman 1200 Turbo tumbler, and put Lyman Tuf-nut media in it. It's a walnut media impregnated with jewellers rouge. I had to do a lot of experimenting before coming up with this solution. Being dry the cases won't come out hazy or cause the media to stick in your cases or primer pockets like damp media does. Also the media doesn't contaminate so quickly with dry cleaning. Cases come out nice and shiny. Best wishes.

Cal - Montreal

[DallanC]

Thanks for the tip cal, I'll look into that type of media.


-DallanC

[popgun]

Walnut media is good for cleaning very dirty brass (range pickup's) and it does not polish to a high luster.
Corncob media cleans and polishes to a high luster and is what I use every day. For an additive I use a cap full of liquid car wax and use the same cap to add one cap full of mineral spirits. Makes a great polish.

[Coyote_Hunter_]

I have a big tumbler I got from Cabelas some years ago. Tried corncob and gave up, went back to walnut. I use Berry's Brass Brite (or whatever its called), but Cabelas and others offer te same stuff. Really speeds up the polishing.

I polish for two reasons - one is to clean the brass, the other is to remove sizing lubricant. It is not unusual for my brass to go through the tumbler twice on its way to being reloaded.

Lately I've been buying my walnut media at gun shows, but PetSmart stores sell it for use in bird cages.

Last year I was going through Stockton, MO, and bought 50 pounds of 20-30 grit from Hammonds, a walnut processor. They sell it cheap and have many different grits available.

[sniper]

I got a tumbler from Midway back when the tubs were orange. It is still going strong. I got a box of ugly greenish corncob media from somebody, and I mix it 50-50 with crushed walnut bird cage media I get from PETSMART . It works nice, and is cheap. I use Dillon polish, and stick a couple of strips of cut up paper towel in with the brass, to collect a lot of the dirt and gunk, keeping the media going longer.

[DallanC]

sniper wrote:

I use Dillon polish, and stick a couple of strips of cut up paper towel in with the brass, to collect a lot of the dirt and gunk, keeping the media going longer.

Huh... never heard of that trick before. How well does the paper towel hold up? How often do you remove it?


-DallanC

[sniper]

I put a couple of strips in with each load of brass, and remove it when I tumble the media out of the cases. It does not tear the paper up much to be tumbled, and they come out really dirty. Throw 'em away, and cut a couple more for the next batch.

[1895ss]

calsibley wrote:

This is merely one mans opinion, but it works for me. I use a Lyman 1200 Turbo tumbler, and put Lyman Tuf-nut media in it. It's a walnut media impregnated with jewellers rouge. I had to do a lot of experimenting before coming up with this solution. Being dry the cases won't come out hazy or cause the media to stick in your cases or primer pockets like damp media does. Also the media doesn't contaminate so quickly with dry cleaning. Cases come out nice and shiny. Best wishes. Cal - Montreal

I agree with you calsibley
I used to use corncob media but now I use the tuffnut and really like it.......

[Bushmaster]

I use a Lyman 1200 Turbo and Olsen's Media. (Finely ground corncob and chromium oxide). Not only does it clean range scrounged dirty brass it polishes to a fine glow. I also cut paper towels into four pieces and tumble them too. It does remove the dirt and dust from the media. Old trick, but I am not old....

[Handloader]

I used a Lyman vibratory for a decade; its a good case cleaner but the capacity is limited. I normally have several hundred 45ACP and 45 Colt cases from my weekly visits to Ben Avery shooting range that I prefer to clean before reloading. Anyway, I sold the Lyman to a customer at our gun store and got the BIG Dillon vibratory that will handle 300 pistol cases easily.

I use crushed corn cob and find that with the Dillon polish that I don't need to change media very often. Point of information: don't decap the cases before cleaning. The primer pockets won't be cleaned by the media and picking the corn cob out is a PITA.