How long do yu polish your brass?

[ScottsGT]

I've got some old .45 ACP that had some really dark spots on, and I've got about 10 hours on them in the tumbler, but look like they need another 20 hours at this pace. Just wondering if my media is in need of replacing? I've been adding the Midway polish as per directions, but thought it would go a little faster than this.
BTW, how long should corncob media last and how do you know it need replacing?

 

[USSR]

Use corncob for polishing, and walnut shell media for cleaning. Buy yourself some Glass Plus glass cleaner (non-ammonia) and spray the walnut shell. One hour does the same work as many hours without the Glass Plus.

Don

 

[grislyatoms]

I use corn cob with a capful of Nufinish car wax. I usually run it for a couple hours and it comes out really nice and shiny. At 10 hours, i would say the media needs replacing.

 

[kansas45]

I use corn cob in my tumbler.
grislyatoms, you dont have trouble with the wax fouling the brass in anyway? Just a question. It doe's sound like a good idea.

 

[Murphster]

Here's another vote for Nufinish. Works just like the commercial (Midway)brass tumbling polish for a whole lot less. It also doesn't harden in the bottle. It's not made of wax so it doesn't clog. Great stuff. ScottsGT: I don't think I've ever polished brass for more than two or three hours without it looking great. Ten hours sounds like the brass may be real old. Are you familiar with the history of the brass or are they range pickups?

 

[ScottsGT]

Some are range pickups that looked like they sat outside for a while. I can lightly hit them with a buffing wheel and it will knock off the brown area real fast without any effort at all. I'll give the walnut shells a try.
I also have the tendency to let brass sit a few years before cleaning. Tarnish builds up heavy after that long. I think after this cleaning session, I'll clean everything then store it.

 

[Scooter72]

Does it matter if there is a little tarnish on the brass as long as it's polished smooth?

 

[trickyasafox]

i double the midway recommendation and that seems to help a lot. also if your media is discolored it may be getting old. when it gets dark and really dusty i change it

 

[el44vaquero]

 

[RyanM]

0.00 seconds.

Yes, my reloads end up all dull and ugly. But they shoot real good.

 

[P0832177]

I run pistol brass for 2hrs in corn cob media with a dash of Iosso case polish for a spiffy look. I run rifle brass just to clean it for an hour, and then after sizing I polish the brass for about 2hrs.

 

[unloaded]

I don't know why everybody mentions either/or with walnut & corncob. I always use a mixture of both along with a polish similar to NuFinish. I'd been using 12-20 grit walnut and 14-20grit cob. McMaster-Carr sells em in 50# bags for about $25. Couldn't find shipping price at the time of order, it wound up being about $30 so I got 100# for $80. I recently saw some finer 24 grit walnut on sale at Harbor Freight 25# for $9.99 online. Went to get it locally and it scanned at $24.99 they told me to come back with a print out of it and I got one for that price. Tried it out yesterday 5 parts 24walnut 1 part 14-20 cob and a few capfuls of polish. The stuff is really fine like sand, I didn't want to buy a bunch without trying it first. Well it worked better and faster than any of my other mixtures. Less than an hour and even the very tarnished cases where shiny. Also the ends of .223 cases that look discolored from heat, they cleaned up real nice. I do use a rotary tumbler that I made but I'm making a vibrating one now to see how it works. In case there are any other cheapo's like me here's my tumbler:

Runs in this position:

Fill it in this position:

Here's a link to Harbor Freights Walnut, be sure and take a print out with you:
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=92155

peace.
unloaded

 

[grislyatoms]

grislyatoms, you dont have trouble with the wax fouling the brass in anyway? Just a question. It doe's sound like a good idea

I've never had a problem, and it works great, as a couple other posters have attested.

 

[Uncle Don]

I don't at all. Never saw any benefit other than cosmetics.

 

[danang]

All you folks need to look in the nearest "Pet Smart". "Lizard Litter" is the "cat's miow" for cleaning...pure walnuts and cheap. Add the other stuff for polishing. JMHO

 

[ScottsGT]

Just checked out the Lizard Litter on their website. Its 25 lbs for $18.00
Harbor Freight has 25 lbs for $10.00 But I have a Pet Smart in my neighborhood, and Harbor Freight is a seperate trip during my lunch hour. Hmmmm....I'd rather pay $8 more and use my lunch hour more productively, like cruising THR

 

[temmi]

I use Walnut for "Dirty" cases (sounds like you have that) and Corncob to Polish... mu last step is 0000 steel wool. There is some minor inperfections left... but it is as good as it gets. Also I add Frankford Arsenal Brass Polish every month or so. I then to leave it in the Corncob over night

 

[GSPKurt]

I clean first with Kay-Tee walnut litter from PetSmart and I add a few ounces of mineral spirits in it for ~1 hour, then decap/resize, then different walnut with Nu-Finish for another hour and it looks better than new. The dirtier the brass, the longer I leave it in.

 

[EddieCoyle]

I use a mix of corn cob and walnut with a squirt of nu-finish. When I first started reloading, I'd get them shining like mirrors. Now, not so much. I like to get the cases clean enough so that they're easy to inspect. Two hours has them looking like new.

Once, I started my tumbler, forgot that I'd turned it on, and left for a three day business trip. When I got home, I could barely read the headstamps on some of the brass. They were .45 ACP's so I loaded them anyway.

 

[Skpotamus]

I run mine for about an hour in my cement mixer (harbor freight, 1.25 cubic foot mixer I bought on sale). I use crushed walnut lizard bedding I bought at petsmart. It came in a 40lb bag for $18.00. After an hour the brass looks like new.
I haven't had to add anything to the cement mixer to get stuff clean quickly. When I was using my old tinker toy (lyman tumbler), I used to put some new finish in to help speed things up a bit.

 

[ScottsGT]

Thanks for the tips. I bought some of the Lizzard Litter and used it. You should have seen the look on my kids faces when they saw me walking in with that stuff. They thought I bought a pet lizard! Works real fast, but some were so bad, I had to take a buffing wheel to the bad spots
I need to get a life.....I'm now BUFFING my brass. Anyway, I think those were some I bought used that were range pickups that had sat a long time exposed to the weather. But the walnut shells has cut down on my time considerably.

 

[jeepmor]

Nu Finish and Lizzard Litter questions

Nu Finish and PetSmart Lizzard Litter. I have some nu finish in the garage and the Petsmart is much closer than my Sportsman Warehouse, and cheaper for walnut shells at that too. My tumbling routine just changed. Thanks everyone.

How much nu finish do you guys use?
Once per walnut batch or once per brass batch?
Also, how many hours of tumbling before you replace the walnut shells?

I have a Franklin Arsenal vibratory tumbler, not a rolling one if that helps quantify your answers. I learn so much in here, it's so cool.

One last thing, any secrets to keep that polished brass looking polished? I did about 350 rounds of 9mm recently. I used walnut shells to clean them after reloading to remove fingerprint oils and what not. Then, a month later when pulling them out of the cardboard boxes to shoot, they were dull again. They worked fine, but did not have the factory ammo shine. Is factory ammo tumbled with some sort of wax in the media to keep them shiny?



jeepmor

 

[gwalchmai]

Unloaded, did you use the square box to get more tumbling? I would have used a round bucket but you obviously thought more than I.

I got the 24 grit walnut from HF and mixed it with Desert Blend and a capful of NuFinish/Mineral Spirits per load. My brass looks better than ever in two hours time.