Dry tumbling tips and tricks?

[HaveGun]

What type of media do y'all use? Do you add anything to help out? How often do you change your media?

Received a bunch of range brass pickups from an outdoor range and my tumbler is not making them look very good. Typically, on normally dirty brass, I'll run the brass in a tumbler using Hornady corn cob media and maybe drizzle some old Amway car wax on top if I really want them to turn out great. Makes newer brass look like new and really shine. But, there are a few cases that get clumps inside, so I have to use a Q-Tip and makes sure each case is clean on the inside.

Pretty sure it's time to change out my media. After the last batch of range brass, it looks pretty dirty and the brass doesn't look much better after an hour of tumbling. I've used the same media for a couple of years and tumbled maybe 5000 cases. It's probably due. Still have half a jug left of the Hornady stuff.

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[therealhitman]

The best approach I have found for dry tumbling is to switch to wet tumbling. I change my media every time and it comes right from the faucet. A lil' LemiShine and Dawn and all is shiny goodness!
It took about a year of teasing my Dad about how easy it was to separate our brass after shagging it up since mine looked new every week lol. Now he wet tumbles too, out of shame and jealousy!

 

[FordPrefect]

When I clean the brass after shooting/picking up, I use Lymans Walnut. I can run it as fast as one hour, but I usually start it before I go to work and dump it out when I'm done. I end up using some random corn cob media when I am cleaning the brass if I had to lube the cases.

As for changing it out, I've not had to yet, but what you are describing, I would change it.

 

[ar addict]

Sounds like time for new media.
We use corn cob in a cement mixer, to remove lube from cases.
Two, five gallon buckets last about a month or 150k of 223.
when it takes more than one hour to clean off lube, we replace.
But to clean range brass, wet is the way to go.

 

[BigDog67]

I use walnut sandblasting media. It's smaller than what is sold for brass, so I never have it in my flash holes.
If it is really tarnished, give it a QUICK bath of white vinegar and salt. Swill it around a few seconds(you can see it working) then flush it in fresh water. Then a quick swish in water with bleach to neutralize the vinegar. Rinse in fresh water, dry and tumble. Try this on scrap brass to get the hang of it. It works great.

 

[gmerkt]

Dry tumbling. I don't do thousands at a time. When I tumble, I use a Lyman turbo tumbler, so max. load however many that will hold. But I don't always run it with max load. I dry tumble with dead primers intact.

I say, "When I tumble" because there are times when I use a chemical case cleaner like Iosso or a mild solution of phosphoric acid. I save this process for very oily or carbon coated brass. Rinse well with water. Yes, I know, "do the wet tumbling with metal pins" but at my point in life, I'm not adding any more stuff to my outfit. I'm doing well enough as is.

Anyway, over the years I've used walnut and corn cob media. It's my opinion that the walnut isn't as absorbent as corn cob. So in recent decades, I've kept to using corn cob. And when it's worn out or even close, it's done, don't try to keep using it for reasons of economy because when it's saturated with dirt and oil, it doesn't do a good job. Actually, in extremes, you wind up with greasy brass, sometimes with collected crud in the rim cuts. Of course how dirty your brass is determines how fast your media will wear out. And that's why I give them a chemical cleaning if they are very bad. There are some carbon stains on brass that won't dry tumble off in any reasonable amount of time.

Additives. I've been using Dillion case cleaner additive. I bought one small plastic bottle years ago and I'm still using the same one. It doesn't take much.

If I have small quantities of pistol brass, those go in a delicate garment pouch and go in the washing machine. I decap these first. When I chemical wash rifle brass, I always decap first. I sometimes decap pistol brass that is gonna be chem. washed but not in Summer when I put them outside to dry after rinsing because the process of drying is pretty fast under those conditions.

 

[HaveGun]

Changed the media out, added a teaspoon worth of car wax, and tumbled for 3 hours and the brass came out much, much better.

I got some once-fired brass from an outfit in Iowa that they claimed was pressure-checked and then wet tumbled. That brass was so clean, that separating out the nickel cases was hard since the brass ones were so shiny. They made by best dry-tumbled brass look like dirty range whores...

 

[TTSX]

Been using the exact same corn cob media since I started. It's pretty dirty but it still cleans real well so I'm not overly concerned. I think I "recharged" it once with a TBs of polish. Granted by volume it's 2 containers of that same Hornady stuff you have and I bet it's gone through 10k rounds in a couple years? Going by your results I'm about at halflife

 

[DizzyJ]

I'm not doing it right I guess. I usually let my dry tumbler run for several hours.

Capful of mineral spirits to keep the dust at bay.

That's for pistol brass. For rifle brass I use a wet tumbler and man oh man does it come out bright and shiny!

 

[Camohunter]

I have two dry media tumblers one with corn cob and one with walnut.
It looks like Santa will be bringing me a wet tumbling system so I am excited to give it a try. I have hundreds of outdoor range pick up in 9mm that will get the first experimental batch.

 

[Ironbar]

What type of media do y'all use? Do you add anything to help out? How often do you change your media?

Received a bunch of range brass pickups from an outdoor range and my tumbler is not making them look very good. Typically, on normally dirty brass, I'll run the brass in a tumbler using Hornady corn cob media and maybe drizzle some old Amway car wax on top if I really want them to turn out great. Makes newer brass look like new and really shine. But, there are a few cases that get clumps inside, so I have to use a Q-Tip and makes sure each case is clean on the inside.

Pretty sure it's time to change out my media. After the last batch of range brass, it looks pretty dirty and the brass doesn't look much better after an hour of tumbling. I've used the same media for a couple of years and tumbled maybe 5000 cases. It's probably due. Still have half a jug left of the Hornady stuff.

Then I saw her face..........

.......NOW I'M A BELIEVER! OK, I admit it. I poh-poh'd wet tumblers for so long. I wanted to believe that my dry tumbler was just as good even if it didn't get the cases as clean as a wet tumbler. I was wrong. I knew from all the range brass I picked up back on 11/15 that I'd need...

www.northwestfirearms.com

 

[Ironbar]

I have two dry media tumblers one with corn cob and one with walnut.
It looks like Santa will be bringing me a wet tumbling system so I am excited to give it a try. I have hundreds of outdoor range pick up in 9mm that will get the first experimental batch.

Add Dawn & Lemi-Shine to the batch, but not too much! Maybe only 1tsp of Dawn, and ¼ tsp of Lemi-Shine. I found out very recently that too much Lemi-Shine actually makes the brass dull.

 

[HighlandLofts]

Once I went with the Frankford wet tumble I never went bsck to the dry tumbleing.
I clean lots of range brass from gravel pits and ruined a new aluminum cast Hornady single-stage Lock n Load press in two years from all of the grime on the ram.
I use to deprime then wet tumble with the pins.
Now I wet tumble with out the pins, let the cases dry and sell them that way with the primers still in place.
For personal use I will wet tumble with no pins, dry the cases, luble and the resize and knock the primers out.
I have the larger size Frankford wet tumble and I use a cap full of ArmorAll Car Wash & Wax
1/2 teaspoon of LimiShine Booster found at Walmart by the dish soap.
And a small squirt of the Blue Dawn Dish Soap.

I fill the tumbler case up with a bunch of cases, add hot tap water and then the aditives, tumble for 45 minutes.
Dump the dirty black water out.
Fill with luke warm water and swish it around and dump that water out to get rid of more grim.
Fill it back up with luke wark water & let it run another ten minutes. The water will be a light gray color.
Dry, then they are ready for the next step.


When you see how dirty black the wate>r is after you wet tumble you will see how much toxic material in on the cases.
Plus you will see how much cleaner the cases come out, inside & out.

For my personal cases I will wet tumnle with out the pins, then resize, then wet tumble again with the steel pins for really better then new cases.
They don't have to be that clean, but it's the way I like them.
Depending on your water depends upon how much Lemi Shine Booster you put in.
I have city water and 1/2 a teaspoon works best for me.
My brother has well water and a 1/4 teaspoon works best for him. If he uses a 1/2 a teaspoon his cases come out a real dull color.

I made up drying racks that work out really good for drying the cases. 16 penny galvinized finnish nails in a block of 2x wood.
I have different size drying racks that hold 50 cases up to 250 cases. I have enough racks to dry 2,000 cases and will make more when I get back home next week.
Most of the brass I sell is in 1,000 pices bundles so four of the 250 case drying racks work out good.

Do what works for you and enjoy the hobby.

 

[po18guy]

Crushed walnut shell + Jeweler's rouge. I get the liquid rouge from Thumler's in Auburn, WA. I have started buying the walnut shell ("blasting media") from Harbor Freight. 99¢/lb and $6.99 shipping on 50 pounds. Cannot beat it. Two grades - the finer of which will not clog flash holes. When the polishing slows, you can freshen the walnut with a touch more rouge.

Bearing in mind that cases which have turned OD green from exposure will not come back - but they are perfect to cycle and recycle.

 

[Caveman Jim]

What type of media do y'all use? Do you add anything to help out? How often do you change your media?

Received a bunch of range brass pickups from an outdoor range and my tumbler is not making them look very good. Typically, on normally dirty brass, I'll run the brass in a tumbler using Hornady corn cob media and maybe drizzle some old Amway car wax on top if I really want them to turn out great. Makes newer brass look like new and really shine. But, there are a few cases that get clumps inside, so I have to use a Q-Tip and makes sure each case is clean on the inside.

Pretty sure it's time to change out my media. After the last batch of range brass, it looks pretty dirty and the brass doesn't look much better after an hour of tumbling. I've used the same media for a couple of years and tumbled maybe 5000 cases. It's probably due. Still have half a jug left of the Hornady stuff.

I don't think it really matters what type of media you use, I personally like corn cob media and then I use couple of squirts of either turtle wax or Nu-finish car wax. The trick to stop getting clumps inside your brass is to let your Tumblr run for at least 15 to 30 minutes after you squeeze in small amounts in a circular motion. Keep an eye on it and when you see no more clumps circulating you are ready to ad brass. I also use a paint stir stick to get it to break up a lot faster but it is messy, heed my warning.
I clean a lot of brass, I'm talking thousands at a time so I will change out my media about every six months or so, if it looks funky and does not give desired results then sooner.

I've just recently fell into the dark side of wet cleaning brass but I will still keep my media tumblers for cleaning brass before I decap and resize. Tell me wet tumbling is messy because I don't have a utility sink in my shop and Mrs. caveman does not like me cleaning brass in HER sinks...

 

[bentoncity]

Thumblers Tumbler Vibratory ( I have 2) One with the red treated media (walnut?) and the 2nd with corn cob to clean the red media off. Brass is like a mirror. Times left in the tumblers (either/or) depends on what the brass looks like. I've left brass in either one running for 24~36 hours. Tumblers are 15 years? old but not like used daily.

Dan

 

[Helocat]

Agreed on best fix is to switch to wet processing. BUT

Before I saw the light (and move to wet tumbling) I would hold dirty wet winter range brass for summer processing. 5 gal bucket it would go with plain water. I would slosh it around getting most of the muck off it, rinsed it out then dried in the sun. This saved my corncob media from getting full of dirt. BUT summer shooting used to go right in the dry media.

 

[Caveman Jim]

I'm not doing it right I guess. I usually let my dry tumbler run for several hours.

Capful of mineral spirits to keep the dust at bay.

That's for pistol brass. For rifle brass I use a wet tumbler and man oh man does it come out bright and shiny!

As you know I used my new Frankford arsenal wet Tumblr the other night and I'll tell you what I have never seen spent brass that was that freaking nice and shiny.
My wife saw that brass this morning and asked me why I bought NEW brass...

 

[bentoncity]

Never understood why I'd move to wet tumbling and intro more work into processing brass.
Two steps, red media, corncob media & I'm done.
Back through the corncob after sizing and done. When it goes foul... toss it!
FWIW, I 'tried' wet & pins...with a rotary tumbler as a test to see if I should change 50 years of reloading. End result..not no but H*LL NO!
I have some SS pins for sale. Not a lot but a few lbs worth.. you pay for shipping.
I'm dry & proud!
Dan

 

[v8engin]

My wife got me a vibratory cleaner a couple years ago for car parts. Got walnut media from Harbor Freight. Works great for auto parts. Very happy. Never changed the media. Recently, started reloading. Tried cleaning brass. Didn't change the media right away. Did okay. I was happy enough. Recently, I changed the media. Did better.

Then, I accidentally left some dirty .38 brass in there for 16 hours. Oops. But BOY did it clean it! Someone recently gave me a bag of wet tumbled .45 brass (thank you!) and the brass is EQUALLY BEAUTIFUL. One place that I think the wet tumbled brass might be cleaner is the insides. I'm happy with the walnut. It lasts quite some time and it is super quick.

RE: the OP's question, I would say this: The walnut from Harbor Freight is pretty cheap, you get a LOT, and each reload doesn't use too much (which is three ways to say the same thing). From now on, I'm going to change mine out more often, and I'll probably set my vibratory cleaner on a 6 hour timer and see how it does. I'm not paying for wet tumbling---------yet.

See if you can tell the difference between the wet-tumbled in the bag, and my dry-tumbled. There really isn't any (other than the insides!).