Using automotive products when tumbling brass

Chris, I'm not familar with the automotive products, but Lyman sells a green polishing agent (Chromium oxide?) that works like gangbusters with both walnuts and corncobs.

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1064641155

Would seem automotive wax would just polish, not remove tarnish. Automotive rubbing compound might but how would you add enough to the cob media. Lyman makes a liquid, Turbo Case Cleaner, for tarnished cases.
Frankly as long as the cases are clean of grit and properly reloaded bright has little bearing.
Except when looking for them in tall grass.

Long before I had a tumbler I would wash my brass with a bit of citric acid powder added to the wash solution ... makes the tarnish running screaming from the room.

Just avoid anything that could pickle the brass.

It's not an automotive care product, but a little Lemi Shine dishwasher additive will supply the citric acid that GBExpat reccomended.

Just be advised that it can turn heavily tarnished brass pink.

The OP is dry tumbling

Any auto cleaner/wax works. Put a couple of table spoons in your tumbling media before adding your brass and let it run for 15 min or so to let it get mixed in, then add your brass

I use Nu Finish car wax in mine. Just a few drops to help polish brass. As for tarnished brass, I have so much I usually pitch the badly tarnished stuff.

Nature Boy said:

The OP is dry tumbling

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Right!

I use Nu Finish and 1" strips of dryer sheet when I go a tumbling.

When I first read of adding cut up used dryer sheets I was really skeptical, perhaps like many/most of us.

I think that it was cleaning the fillllllllthy "Shooters Dream(Nightmare!)" 7.62x51 milsurp from Century back in, like, 2003(?) that proved the value of that trick to me.

I only had one VCC (vibratory case cleaner) at the time and, IIRC, I was able to run just under 50 rounds at a time.

The dryer strips really kept that corn cob media clean! When they were approaching black I would replace them and I was GtG for another 200-300 rounds.

Nature Boy said:

The OP is dry tumbling

Any auto cleaner/wax works. Put a couple of table spoons in your tumbling media before adding your brass and let it run for 15 min or so to let it get mixed in, then add your brass

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Along these lines; how long do you tumble your brass? Also, how often do you change media? It would seem to me that the wax would build up on the media over time.

Nature Boy said:

Put a couple of table spoons in your tumbling media before adding your brass and let it run for 15 min or so to let it get mixed in, then add your brass

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Very important!

I do the nu-finish and dryer sheets but also add a capful of mineral spirits to my walnut hull, I like the polish to help lubricate pistol cases before sizing. I have some old 30-06 cases that have lost their shine but still shoots well.

I use car wash in my wet tumbler. Adds some corrosion resistance to the brass.

First, start with CLEAN NEW media

Walnut will "clean" better. Corn makes it Shine.

Use any of the space age polymer products like Nu Finsh.

Again start with CLEAN NEW MEDIA.

No research needed

I just tried adding some Automotive rubbing compound and a few cap fulls of acetone to my ground walnut media and I've never seen used brass so shiny. As said above ad it and let it run for 30 minutes then ad your brass.

pighunter said:

I just tried adding some Automotive rubbing compound

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I'm assuming there's a more aggressive abrasive in that than your average cleaner wax? I'd think you'd want to make sure non of that transfers to your dies, and subsequently to your firearm.

But I might be making more of a concern out of it than should be.

Brass tumbling as far as reloading is concerned is a "mechanical" action. Meaning the media's tumbling against the brass does the cleaning, rather than a "chemical" action (as a machinist/mechanic/machine operator I've tumbled parts commercially on occasion). The media type is easily controlled and in my experience the only need for auto wax/polish in a tumbler is to leave a very light film to retard tarnish. After experimenting with a couple dozen media I settled on corn cob blast media, 14-20, which is designed for metal cleaning not pet poop. Works quite well with only a bit of auto wax/polish (I use whatever is handy, Nufinish or Turtle Wax). When cleaning tarnished or lightly corroded brass I'll use a mix of Harbor Freight hard resin pyramids and cob blast media about 10% to 20% resin media. This will get the brass clean and shiny if left longer and is my normal go to for cleaning cases. The resin media is pretty aggressive and when used alone on cases leaves a dull, matte finish. https://www.harborfreight.com/520-lbs-rust-cutting-resin-abrasive-tumbler-media-63672.html

I normally don't get my brass to a virgin looking, high gloss shine except for my 45 ACP brass and my 30-06 Garand brass, because shiny brass is easier to find when flung out into the dirt, rocks, etc. at the "range" where I shoot,I just leave it in my wobbler or rotary a bit longer...

I add a cap full of liquid automotive polish and a cap full of mineral spirits to my corncob media. I'll run the tumbler long enough (15-30 minutes) to mix it well before adding brass. I'll retreat the media about every three batches of brass. If the brass is really nasty I'll give it a bath in hot soapy water using a sealed jug that I can aggressively shake. If its really tarnished I'll give it a soak in citric acid before tumbling. I usually run my tumblers in shifts of 8 or 10 hours.

I wet tumble more than dry tumble these days. I get the same or better results wet tumbling for 1-1/2 hours as I do dry tumbling for 8 or 10 hours.

lightman said:

I add a cap full of liquid automotive polish and a cap full of mineral spirits to my corncob media. I'll run the tumbler long enough (15-30 minutes) to mix it well before adding brass. I'll retreat the media about every three batches of brass. If the brass is really nasty I'll give it a bath in hot soapy water using a sealed jug that I can aggressively shake. If its really tarnished I'll give it a soak in citric acid before tumbling. I usually run my tumblers in shifts of 8 or 10 hours. ...

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Sounds like my process before I got the F.A.R.T. (Frankford Arsenal Rotary Tumbler).

I'm not sure I understand some member's methods, but the only time I run my rotary or my wobbler much more than a couple two to three hours, is if Ma calls me in for dinner and I forget t turn it off. When I want shiny brass I rarely need to run my tumbler more the 4 hours...

I use a Lyman 1200 and a HF dual drum with custom drums. I use corn cob blast media with roughly 10% HF resin media. I use no more than 1 teaspoon of Turtle Wax auto wax/polish per load, and I do occasionally (rarely) drop an ounce or so of paint thinner (stinky mineral spirits) in the media.

A cap full of Nu Finish in the walnut or corn medium is what I use. Put it in and let the tumbler run a few minutes before you throw the brass in or you'll be sorry.

I use a Hornady tumbler (looks like a mushroom cloud) and Nu Finish and corn cob media. The brass comes out almost white it's so shiny!