Polishing brass

I have had the best luck with the Flitz brand. It can be had at midway or most any other seller. Also get my media from the pet store, for half the price.

I add nothing to my green Lyman corn cob mixed 50/50 with walnut shells. Using 100% corn cob gives a very shiny case. 100% Walnut does a better job of cleaning the tough stuff and leaves a much lower gloss.

You might want to do a "search" in the old threads.....there's lots of earlier stuff posted on tumbling, media to use, etc.

anyone ever use lyman media rejuvenator? I used some fo this stuff (looks like car polish) and it left a wax like film on all of my cases. This had to be wiped off and greatly increased the amount of time it took with case prep.

I think i am gonna stick to media only from now on.

I dump a cap full of Dillon Rapid Polish in with every 1000 or so rounds of pistol brass when I tumble. Two cap fulls for the rifle brass.

http://www.dillonprecision.com/#/content/p/9/pid/23664/catid/8/Rapid_Polish_290__8_oz__Bottle_

-Steve

I don't polish my brass, I clean it. With dirty brass, I spray the brass and walnut media liberally with Glass Plus non-ammonia glass cleaner. Cuts down substantially in the amount of time that the tumbler needs to run.

Don

A couple of tablespoons of plain old low odor mineral spirits from the hardware store (Lowes Homie Depot) does wonders for very minimal cost. Thsi is what I primarily use. I'll use Flitz every once in a while as well.

If you have some really nasty range pick up brass nothing beats wet ceramic media with the magic sauce from Cabella's. It's overkill for your regular brass though.

Remember to use an old *used* dryer sheet or two when tumbling with dry (walnut corn cob etc.) media.

Also get my media from the pet store, for half the price.

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What do you buy at a pet store that doubles as media for tumbling brass?

Walnut and corn media is also used as lizard bedding, costs half as much as reloading supply places, and is the same size and consistancy, last time I bought some, think it was $8 for 22lbs

I do the PetSmart walnut shells with Lyman polish in a F.A. tumbler, with superb results after about 4 hours.

Feed Store

Go to the feed store. 50# bag of walnut shell is like $12.

My 100% Lyman green cob or the 50/50 mix of cob and 24 grit walnut shells with no additives takes about 45 minutes or so to do a really good job with a couple hundred .40 S&W or .45 auto. Forgot about some brass once (maybe 100 or so) in the FA tumbler with cob only, for about 2 hours or so while I was reloading and the brass was like a mirror- Really. I add nothing to mine other than whatever Lyman may put in their green cob.

For really tarnished brass (range pickups) I soak them in a solution of 1 cup, vinegar, 1 cup water, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp regular dishwashing detergent for 15-30 mins (shake every 2 or 3 mins). Then I rinse them very good and throw them in wet into walnut (medium size) with a cap of NUfinish car polish every 5 loads. Cleans them up really nice. Double the amounts for a bigger batch.

Just a Bounce dryer sheet. It picks up all the crud off the media (in my case, walnut), extending its life. I also do the vinegar soak overnight before I tumble, which gets a lot of the soot out of the inside of the case and primer pockets and shortens the in-tumbler time. Not the shiniest brass in town, but verrrry clean.

Just a Bounce dryer sheet.

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Make sure it's used. I've found even when used, they cause a film in my tumbler bowl.

I'm surprised it took this long for someone to mention Nu-Finish polish.

Personally, I use corn cob with a teaspoon of Nu-Finish(liquid, orange bottle) every couple loads with torn up paper towels to pick up the dirt. I change my media yearly when it discolors. Two hours will make anything shine.

Dillon rapid polish.

I usually use Turtle Wax. Last month I ran out and used the expensive Mequiars.

Pet section for media both corn cobb and crushed walnut at Wally World.
Nu finish of any of the brass polish from firearms dealers. Don't use anything
with ammonia like Brasso, not sure about Fritz. A sheet of Bonce or simular
cut up extends the life of the media. Chemicals or soap, unless black powder
doesn't get it. Used Case Brite years ago but turns bad places pink,etches
the cases and is clean, but looks crappy

RCBS Vibrator.

I only use 100% Walnut media; Walmart.
Fill up my tumbler 3/4 of the way with media.
Place in 4 large hand fulls of 223, and turn on.
Wait for all the media to flow into the 223 cases.
Take a 'new' dryer sheet, and cut it into 1" pieces, then add it into the tumbler.
Once I know that there is the right amount of media, adding more as it is swallowed up by the brass.
I add two cap fulls of NuFinish car polish.
Let tumble for 2-4 hours.

Range brass comes out looking better than new factory brass.


Juker008

As a reloader and dealer of hundreds of pounds per month of polished once fired, I have tried EVERYTHING! I have found that a 75/25 mix of corncob and walnut in FINE untreated with a good polish is best. The dillon polish is expensive and less effective than most and Flitz is the very best but also very expensive. I use a product that produces similar to flitz brightness but comes in quarts and costs much less. Beyond that it's a trade secret that I have only shared with a few of my competitors and they have not been able to perfect it themselves according to them!

I use a little bit of Nu-Finish car wax in lizard litter (crushed walnut.) Be sure you run it a while before putting in your brass though so the wax has a chance to spread out on the walnut. And since my tumbler is out on the patio, I run it until I remember to go out and turn it off.

I would purchase a 25 pound bag of walnut shells from a pet store for less than $12.00. Throw the entire bag of dry walnut shells in my small cement mixer, throw in 2 boxes of my brass (the size of the box is a USPS flat rate box 8-1/2 x 5-1/2 x 11) run the mixer for a minute or so then add in two cups of mineral spirits. I do this because if you have wet walnut shells going into the casings, the walnut would get plugged in most of the cavities and you'll spend time taking them out.

After a half hour of tumbling, I would turn off the mixer and let it sit overnight. I found that this will give the mineral spirits to do their job by loosening oxidation etc then after that run the mixer for two hours. By this time, the mineral spirits have already evaporated and you would end up with the dry media to do the rest of the job.