Brass cleaning media

[ftncityfatboy]

This may appear to be a goofy question, but then again, I like to ask them: I have purchased a brass tumbler and am using corn cob media to clean. Is there an average life span of this stuff? OR, do you just wait until it turns black in lieu of green b4 changing it? I forgot today and left the tumbler on for 5 hrs with 150 shells and man were they shiny when I took them out.

[56FordGuy]

I've been wondering this myself. I've been using the same media for several months, and it has turned a shade of light gray. It's still cleaning well, so I'm inclined to leave it alone until it becomes less effective.

[Westwindmike]

Here is an old trick. Take used dryer sheets and put one in your tumbler while tumbling the brass. It will attract the dust and stuff that dirties up your media. Just throw it away after each tumble session.

Also, you can put a little polish in the media to speed up the shining.

[ukerduker]

Use your media until it turns black. I have been using the same corn cob media for 1000's of cases and it still polishing quite nicely. Occasionally I add a cap full of the Dillon case cleaner. It has turned darker, but not black.

[Rightwinger]

Flitz makes a polisher/renewer that is awesome. I also mix just a cup or so of walnut media in with my corn cob to give it that extra bite.

56fordguy saw some recent work from the winger tumbler and only thing to say was............oh.....shiny!

[Guest 1shot]

The media does not wear out it just gets dirty. The polish agent will loose it's power so just add some to the media and keep on trucking.

[DUXBUSTER]

I was at a local gun shop in Mt. Juliet and there is a product to add to the media. I've been using the media for several years and it keeps on going.... some times I leave my tumbler on for a couple of days for really bad brass. Even though it's only 17-18 dollars a container to replace use it till it's black then use it some more.

[Guest FroggyOne2]

Also, you can put a little polish in the media to speed up the shining.

Just what ever you use.. make sure.. and I mean make sure that it don't have any Ammonia in it!

[rstandley]

I use mothers cleaner/wax. works great

[musicman]

Change it when you feel like it, but it usually lasts a LLLOOOOOONNNNNNGGGGGGGG time!

I don't buy the expensive "tumbling media" that they want to sell you or $15/gallon. You can get a 5lb bag or so of crushed walnut at WalMart (sold a cage liner) for a couple dollars, and if you look around some of the shops that sell media-blasting stuff you can find the right size corn cob media for just a few dollars as well. I like to add some car wax (whatever was cheapest that day) to the mix and let it run for about 5 minutes before adding my brass. I do that every 3rd or 4th tumble.

I really hate dusty media. Adding the polish helps keep it down a little by bonding the dust to the media, but in my opinion that reduces the efficiency of the media over time. For that reason , I actually change my media pretty often compared to most. (Like somewhere on the order of every 8-12 months) BUT, since I buy my stuff on the cheap, I only have like $2-3 worth of media in my tumbler at a time. Not $10-12 like the gun shop media.

Edited July 21, 2009 by musicman