Best media for cleaning?

[boogalou]

Got a tumbler for Christmas along with some walnut media and seems to work fine. It doesn't clean up grungy brass real well though. I also don't get a real nice sheen on my brass, looks more satin looking. Do I need to use a polish to make the brass look factory new, or would a different media like corncobs or rice work better?

 

[MonkeyMan]

As it was explained to me, walnut is a better cleaner and corn cob is a better polisher. I've seen rice mentioned but I've never actually tried it. For really bad grungee brass, let it soak in apple cider vinegar for 15-20 minutes, rinse it off good, dry it, and toss it in the corn cob. Comes out looking like new and your wife or SO won't complain about the smell.

 

[oscar]

Add some sort of brass polish. Turtle Wax works just fine.

 

[Standing Wolf]

I add a little brass polish to crushed walnut shells once in awhile, and it does a great job. I add about an ounce every fifth or sixth time I tumble brass.

 

[Sunray]

Brass doesn't need to be factory shiny for reloading. Clean is good enough. And buy your new media in a pet shop or feed store. Get the largest size you can get. It's much cheaper in a pet store. Bedding for some rodent. 40 lb bag for less than you'll pay in a gun store.

 

[ChairborneRanger]

I, too, tend to prefer the walnut hulls with polish. Corn cob is good for polishing, too----maybe better than walnut, but, it seems to get 'clogged up' with the dirt from the cases, polish, etc., and doesn't seem to last as long as walnut. Good luck!

 

[Jeeper]

I agree with Sunray. I used to really care if my brass was all nice and polished but now I just want it clean.

 

[E357]

Sunray's got it right the Pet store is where to buy your media - I get the crushed walnut bird bedding. Add a little of any polish and it will be fine. A tiny, tiny bit of mineral spirits or light oil will also make the reloading go smoother.

Elliot

 

[Zero]

Try this

I got a small needle nose pliers and removed all the diamonds from the wifes tennis bracelet, and tumbled some really dirty brass...Unfortunately all that was left after 30 minutes was some brass powder.

 

[Route 66]

I only use corn cob which does a decent job of cleaning up and some polishing of the brass. I've read some of the posts and I have to ask perhaps a dumb question but here goes anyway. I've seen some posts that say to add different types of polishes to the corn or walnut media. In some cases that must be either a paste or even liquid. Is that what you actually do? It just seems like it would "ball up" the media. Help please!

 

[KP95DAO]

I buy my ground corncob from Wally World in the pet section. To that I add about 1/8 cup of Turtle Wax-ZIP Wax and about one tablespoon of ZUD kitchen cleaner. At first the Zip Wax will appear to ball up but it will distribute over the rest in short order. This results in a satin finsh. I then take the cases and rub them in a towel to remove any residue. This is done before sizing and after priming and before loading if they have been sitting around for a while. Happiness is an accurate, good looking round.

 

[grenadier]

For grunt cleaning, crushed walnut works the best. Often times, I find that walnut, combined with Berry's brass polish (or MidwayUSA's White Lightning) does an excellent job of cleaning and polishing, although if I want the absolute brightest finish, I would use a final stage of corncob tumbling.

In a pinch, short grain rice works surprisingly well. Having come from a Korean family, I know it sounds sacreligious, but I've always been in the habit of buying rice in the 50 lb bags, so using it for such a purpose didn't put too much of a dent in my grocery budget. I suppose that my use of uncooked rice in mesh bags as a cheap dessicant would also qualify for such sacrelige!

If you choose to try rice, there are a few important details to which you must pay attention:

1) Short grain rice works much better than long grain rice.

2) Don't use the abomination known as "Instant" rice, or any rice that has already been pre-cooked in any way, shape, or form. This is too soft and too weak to work properly.

 

[Thirties]

Grenadier,

For the past six months I've been reading about using rice to clean brass, but you are the first person who explained it in some detail. Thank you for your info!

 

[Alan Smithiee]

my wife likes nickeled brass for her CAS shooting, what I have found works very well is a couple of hours in walnut (bought from a pet store), and toss in half a used dryer sheet (static sheet) they attract a lot of the powder and oils and help lengthen the life of the media. use em once or twice and toss em, then dump the media into a coffee can and replace with corncob and 2 cap fulls of turtle wax.

gets the brass so shiney it's distracting to the other shooters