What media to get the brightest brass???

[sandman1212]

I need opinions on what media gets your brass the brightest. Crushed walnut, stainless ect. I would like to get my brass as bright as possible. Thanks for the opinions.

Sandman

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[20buellteam]

I'd sure like to see someone try barley. Yep, the same stuff that gets malted and go's into everybody's beer, scotch or malted milk shakes. I work in the industry and that stuff will polish mild steel like its chrome- stuff wears through steel and abrasion resistant (AR)hardend plate. If you live near Vancouver, I'll get you some to try if you want.

 

[Longshot34]

I've used corn cob media the most. But to really get it to work you need a good tumbler. I recently upgraded from a HF special to a Lyman turbo. Toss in a little flitz or similar and then youll really see the brass shine.

 

[Silver02ex]

I use Walnut and NuFinish

 

[Tangent123123]

I use a heavy duty tumbler, a little bit of lemi-shine and dish soap with stainless media. I run it for about 4 hours and do a quick rinse and my brass is sparkly clean. It's not quick but I personally feel it gets my brass cleaner then any other method.

 

[Gunner3456]

One more time. Brass is a mixture, not an alloy of copper and zinc. Zinc is very soft. Acids can leach the zinc from the copper, weakening the brass. Please don't use acidic cleaners of any type.

Most modern auto polishes contain silicon and I don't want that in my cases. It doesn't wash off with soap and water either.

Just for me, if I'm adding a polish to my media it's bought at an auto paint supply store and it's water based only. It still has the fine abrasive in it - probably pumice.

Body shops can't risk having silicon on anything they are going to paint. In fact when painting anything on a used car, they have to use a product like Poly-Cracker to first remove all "wax" which probably has silicon in it or the paint job will blow up into fish eyes.

I want clean and shiny brass that isn't damaged or coated with silicon.

$.02

 

[deadshot2]

If you want total "clean" and a reasonable shine, the Stainless Media is the only way to go. For a jewelry like shine, some corncob media with a good case polish like Frankford Arsenal's or from Dillon. To make the shine just like what you see in the jewelry stores add a bunch of leather strips to the media for a 50-50 ratio. Cut up a chamois into 1/2"x1" rectangles. A piece of an old suede jacket can do well too. The leather will give you the best shine you'll ever see on rifle/pistol brass.

Gunner3456 The amount of silicon that will transfer to your brass from a widely used polish like Nu-Finish isn't going to harm any firearm. Your fingerprints have more harmful "chemicals" on them than this wax/polish. I kind of like Nu=Finish for any brass I'm going to store, either empty or loaded, for any length of time. Let's face it, if something isn't left on the surface of the brass to prevent interaction with Oxygen or Sulfur compounds in the atmosphere, that shiny brass won't be shiny very long.

 

[Gunner3456]

Gunner3456 The amount of silicon that will transfer to your brass from a widely used polish like Nu-Finish isn't going to harm any firearm. Your fingerprints have more harmful "chemicals" on them than this wax/polish. I kind of like Nu=Finish for any brass I'm going to store, either empty or loaded, for any length of time. Let's face it, if something isn't left on the surface of the brass to prevent interaction with Oxygen or Sulfur compounds in the atmosphere, that shiny brass won't be shiny very long.

To each his own. I don't want it contaminating my powder or primer. I want a clean case. I've been known to put some polish on some torn up old t-shirts and hand tumble them in a plastic bucket after the rounds are loaded.

 

[HotRod61]

Walnut and fritz polish. I find if you leave it in there long enough it comes out looking like new. I also put my Hornady tumbler on a timer. Set timer for a set amount and forget about it.

 

[deadshot2]

I want a clean case.

So are you using the Stainless Steel media? If you aren't, and are just using the same old, same old, I can assure you the inside of your case isn't as clean as those that are cleaned with the "pins".

 

[sandman1212]

So as of now it looks like corn cob after walnut, or walnut and nufinish. I am going to try the Barley like 20Buellteam requested. that should be interesting. Has anyone ever tried steel cut oats? Thoughts?

 

[deadshot2]

Has anyone ever tried steel cut oats? Thoughts?

I prefer my oats for breakfast or in cookies

Don't know anyone that's tried them but a lot that have used rice to tumble cases.

 

[Gunner3456]

So are you using the Stainless Steel media? If you aren't, and are just using the same old, same old, I can assure you the inside of your case isn't as clean as those that are cleaned with the "pins".

Deadshot, to me there are 2 types of clean. What I don't want to do is to contaminate the inside of my cases with silicon. Other than that, I don't really care if the insides of my cases are completely "polished." I do get a nice polish on the outsides. I am going to switch to the stainless pins per your recommendation but I'm don't need to do any tumbling right now.

 

[trixter]

I use Walnut and NuFinish, if it isn't shiny enough let it go some more.

 

[ripcity]

I just use corn cob. It seems to work good for me.

 

[mjbskwim]

I'm not selling the ammo,and it always seems to fall in the dirt or mud when shooting.
So I guess I'm the only one that doesn't care if the outside is "jewel like" polished

 

[deadshot2]

I'm not selling the ammo,and it always seems to fall in the dirt or mud when shooting.
So I guess I'm the only one that doesn't care if the outside is "jewel like" polished

But you're supposed to dazzle all your friends when you pull out that golden, shiny, cartridge Right?

I do hope you at least knock off the mud before reloading

 

[FarmerTed1971]

So I guess I'm the only one that doesn't care if the outside is "jewel like" polished

I don't care either. As long as its clean enough so that it doesn't damage my dies I'm fine.

 

[RVTECH]

Recently I tried adding a little Brasso to my walnut shell and it has been working very well but I am concerned about the chemical action of the Brasso on the brass. Any issue here?

 

[elsie]

Recently I tried adding a little Brasso to my walnut shell and it has been working very well but I am concerned about the chemical action of the Brasso on the brass. Any issue here?

My opinion is yes, there is an issue. IIRC, Brasso has ammonia which can break down the brass. Now that might just be an old-wives (old-reloaders?) tale, but having used it when I was in the service, I've seen how aggressive it is on brass. I either use the manufacturer's 'media additive' or some Nu-Finish car wax. Some people might be concerned about a silicon residue from Nu-Finish or similar products, but any additive will leave some sort of residue. Even not using any additive will leave a miniscule amount of dust.


elsie