How often do you change tumbling media?

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I said FF to 3:00. He actually goes into detail about it. For the hearing impaired, or the southern dialect-challenged, here is my best tranlation:

"It actually has window screen on top of the hardware cloth. The reason for that is I take my same concrete mixer, I take my old tumbling media, that gets relatively dirty, I'll put it through there and wash it. You can actually save your corncob media, again. Wash it in that concrete mixer, throw it on this screen, leave it out in the sun a few days, and it's ready to pop, again. It doesn't sound like a lot, but at the end of the year, if you can use it more than once, you're saving a few bucks, and you can buy more bullets."

I do it for the convenience more than the savings. The place where I buy my bullets and primers and powders doesn't sell media. And I'm not going to go and order media, separately, when it takes me all of 5 minutes to wash it. Less time than it takes me to order it and enter my credit card information, and to open and dispose of the box.

Some things I "stock up on" I end up losing before I need it. Heck, I could "save" a lot of money by buying bulk amounts of sharpie pens. But I pay more for one, because in the year it takes for one to run out, I won't remember where I put the rest of them. For something that I need only once or twice a year, it is nice to be able to just refurbish it or order as needed. I already have a hard enough time finding my bullet molds and lead alloys when I need them, and I have a lot of other hobbies and work stuff going on. In this case, refurbishing is easier than ordering. It's not like I have to walk around and pick up little pieces of brass out of the dirt and weeds to do that, after I'm already tired from shooting for 3 hours under the sun. Most of us do that.
 
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ArchAngelCD said:
I add used dryer sheets into the media to keep it clean and that works well.

Media when new has sharp corners and that's what cleans the brass. When those corners round off from use the media doesn't work well. When the media starts taking a very long time to clean the brass I change it out...

The dust is because you are using reptile bedding instead of media meant for cleaning brass. I do too because of costs. If you add a teaspoon or two of Mineral Spirits to the media it cuts the dust a lot. (each use)
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yep! Again I agree
 
a false economy

If worn media takes 2x to 3x as long, that's 2 to 3 times the electricity cost, and 2 to 3 times the wear on the motor.
 
I don't believe media takes longer because it gets worn out or rounded. I think it takes longer because the surface gets clogged. Clean it off, and media works like new, again.

This is why I don't tumble my brass more than necessary. The more you tumble, the more black dust builds up in the media. This black dust is not primarily power residue, contrary to what many people may think. This black stuff is brass. When ground up in little tiny particles, the brass quickly oxidizes, and in that form it looks black.

The longer you leave your brass in the tumbler, the more of this black brass dust you will make, the more it will leave rings in the tumbler bowl, and the more it clogs up the surface of your media. Leave your brass tumbling for 4 or so hours with new media and polish. It will get nice and shiny and bright. When the brass looks like new, blindingly shiny cases, replace your media with new media and polish. Now run your tumbler overnight with new media and that load of shiny cases. Your media will turn black. Change the media out again, and repeat. It will continue to turn black, no matter how clean those cases are. And once your media is black with brass dust, it will no longer work. Add a load of dirty brass, and it won't polish up, even if you tumble it for many hours. Even if you add more polish, it won't help, much. The polish will just mix with the brass dust and clump up as little black smudges on your cases.

Another test you can do is take a brand new shiny yellow case. Put a little Nu Finish on a patch. Rub it on the case for awhile. The patch will turn black. Dirty media black.

Wash media and repeat, and you get clean any shiny brass, again. This is my experience.

You can think of media as tiny sanding blocks. And the polish you add is like fine grit sandpaper. When your sanding block gets clogged up with brass, it no longer cuts. You don't throw the block away. You remove the sandpaper and apply a new piece. With media, you rinse off the old clogged up "sandpaper" and apply some more polish, and you're back in business.

This is not a false economy. I tumble my cases for only 45 minutes to an hour. I've been using the same media for 3 years.
 
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It is 75 cents a pound if you buy a 40 lb box, correct? You have posted Drillspot info so many times, we all know it. Actually, you have posted something like $32.99 with free shipping for a 40 lb box, if my memory serves. That's closer to 82.5 cents a pound.

My tumbler takes about half a Lyman 6 lb jug. So let's say it's somewhere around 3 pounds of media. At your bulk drillspot prices, let's say that's about $2.45 in media.

It takes me about 5 minutes to wash a tumbler full. Hmm. How much money do I save on 50 rds of 9mm? About 3-4 bucks? But that takes well over an hour, including the casting and picking up, sorting, and cleaning the brass. I save a measly couple bucks an hour reloading. And I'm saving $29.40 an hour by washing my media.

There's no operation I can do in this hobby that saves me as much money, aside from picking up spent cases. All's I have is a SS press, though.

Now to be true, I'm a big dummy that pays $17.00 for little 6 lb jugs of Lyman media. A 6 lb jug is only just about two tumbler's full. And that's almost $3.00 a lb! OTOH, 17.00 is much less than 32.99. And two tumber's full of media in a nice, convenient container is all I need to tumble for many, many years. The only loss of media is what gets swept away on the floor because it escaped while separating or hiding in a flash hole.
 
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No, no. Drillspot is no longer the place to buy. They no longer have FREE shipping.

ZORO is were to buy CORN media. Free shipping so it is is either $25 or $27 for 40 pounds delivered to your door.

That comes to a whopping 0.67 cents a pound!

Now if you want to wash that nasty stuff full of lead and other contaminants, feel free to do so. What do you do with the toxic rinse water??

(I used to work with hazardous chemicals) There is a whole long thread on this.

Harbor Freight has Walnut media for $25 for $25 ponds so a $1.00 a lb.

Again peanuts in the overall cost of reloading.

Folks are big into the SS pins and Lemi shine. Fine to each their own but you need to wash, rinse, and dry How much is the water and electric plus the Lem Shine??

When I used to dig brass out of the sand and dirt, I would wash it in a bucket and dry it in the sun Then tumble it.

DSC02398Medium-3.jpg
 
Personally, I don't bother trying to eek extra longevity out of my media. As has been stated, it is extremely inexpensive. I change my every 10 or so loads. Even doing that, I am still on the original 40# bag I purchased about 2 years ago.

On another note, I will probably be giving up dry tumbling starting tomorrow. I have a Frankford Arsenal rotary tumbler on the way. A buddy just bought one and, after seeing his brass after about an hour in that tumbler vs. mine after like 4 hours in mine, I made the plunge.
 
Now if you want to wash that nasty stuff full of lead and other contaminants, feel free to do so. What do you do with the toxic rinse water??
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I initially used a collection jug with a coffee filter in it. I just left it out on the back patio to collect the solids, and I disposed of those in the same old powder containers where I put my casting dross. But it's been awhile since I have kept that up, I have to admit. I'm pretty sure 99% of the guys using SS pin tumblers are just pouring the water down the drain.

I don't see that it's any much different putting your old media in the garbage can. Or that primer residue that collects under your press after decapping. It ends up in a land fill somewhere. If you pour it down the drain, it ends up somewhere similar, after the water is processed. It might actually be better to pour it down the drain?

Adjusted to 67 cents a lb:
It takes me about 5 minutes to wash a tumbler full. Hmm. How much money do I save on 50 rds of 9mm? About 3-4 bucks? But that takes well over an hour, including the casting and picking up, sorting, and cleaning the brass. I save a measly couple bucks an hour reloading. And I'm saving $24.12 an hour by washing my media.
 
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GLOOB said:
I don't see that it's any much different putting your old media in the garbage can. Or that primer residue that collects under your press after decapping. It ends up in a land fill somewhere. If you pour it down the drain, it ends up somewhere similar, after the water is processed. It might actually be better to pour it down the drain?
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Exactly. Where do you dump your spent primers? It all goes somewhere.

I believe if you are on city sewer, and you wet tumble, putting the waste water down the drain is probably the best thing to do. That water is treated and tested.
 
I'm saving $24.12 an hour by washing my media
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If you turn your underwear inside out, they say you can wear it five days longer, too. ;)

( This will save you HALF OF YOUR ASSETS in a divorce, by avoiding marriage. )
 
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The irony is you are picking up and washing brass cases to save a few bucks an hour, reloading. And most of you guys don't realize you are throwing even easier pickings into the garbage can. Next time I wash my media, I will record a video. Is ridiculously easy.

If you think $24/hour is not much, calculate how much money you are saving sitting in front of your press, picking up brass, tumbling and separating your cases, casting and lubing or pc'ing your bullets, or w/e else you do for this hobby. You will be sorely disappointed when you add up the numbers. The only people that can touch that are the guys who have a free source of lead and a progressive press.

Chances are about 100% that your comment about being cheap applies better to the reloading process in general than it does to washing and reusing media.
 
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In my case the used media goes in a plastic bag and into the trash. The trash goes to the County incinerator and generates electricity.

As another poster stated it's a false sense of economy. Heck I am as cheap as the next guy but there comes a point.;)

I don't cast my own bullets either as there is no free lead in Florida. WW are a Haz Mat and need to be picked up by a licensed company. No way I am mining the berms when it's 90 degrees and 90% humidity either to gather up lead.:eek:
 
All this discussion and my addition to it would be that tumbling media costs are probably the least expensive part of reloading. Even those who change media often will tumble several thousand rounds before they change it. My tumbler takes a few dollars worth at a time....spread over $5000 rounds, that's cheaper than the primers, bullets, brass, and maybe the case lube!
 
Do you know what happens when you incinerate lead compounds? The highest lead contamination we have in this country is from leaded gasoline from the 70's. The lead in the fumes has settled in the dirt on the sides of our highways.

Do you know what happens to the corn cob I don't buy? I don't. But maybe it gets burned for energy. Or eaten by pigs. I dunno, and I don't care.
I admire your frugality.
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All you have to do is understand the time and work involved. It is almost none. I do it more for the convenience than the savings, even though the savings are relatively large, if you look at my calculations.
My tumbler takes a few dollars worth at a time....spread over $5000 rounds, that's cheaper than the primers, bullets, brass, and maybe the case lube!
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If you can make a brick of primers in 5 minutes, then your argument makes sense. And if you can get 5000 clean and shiny cases out of 1 tumbler full of media, then you ought to post a guide. I understand where you're coming from, here. Let's imagine you needed $1000 worth of gold to make a million dollars worth of "stuff" over the course of a few months, - "stuff" for which you will make $30,000 dollars of gross profit. Your company is grossing $333 a day. Now let's say that at the end of that 3 months, you could reuse that same gold if you spent a day to clean it up. Would you just throw that gold into the garbage can? Your argument is that since the company is spending over $10,000 a day on other resources, that it should toss the $1000 of gold, every 3 months. But recycling that gold is going to be more profitable than the rest of the operation. It would save $1000 in one day, minus the $333 you didn't make that day through your regular production, grossing you $667, which is double. This is just made up numbers; reusing media might be even more. If my numbers are even close to accurate, it will probably be more. It will be a good use of time. No one has challenged any of my numbers.

I don't cast my own bullets either as there is no free lead in Florida.
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I don't have free lead, either. And I agree with you. I only do it because I shoot cast and gas checked rifle bullets. That's where the big savings are. I cast 9mm and 357, sometimes, because there are some savings to be had there, and because these bullets are extremely accurate with no leading. But I also buy cast 9mm and 357 when available at the right price or when I run low. I primarily buy cast 45ACP, because the savings are almost none for casting myself, and the bullet I buy is extremely accurate with no leading. But if I didn't shoot cast rifle bullets, I wouldn't cast at all. It wouldn't be worth the bother. As it is, I only cast up bullets maybe once a year, and whatever I make in rifle bullets in a couple sessions has offset the cost of all my casting equipment.
 
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Do you know what happens when you incinerate lead compounds? The highest lead contamination we have in this country is from leaded gasoline from the 70's. The lead in the fumes has settled in the dirt on the sides of our highways.
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So adding more to the problem makes it OK?
 
If you can make a brick of primers in 5 minutes, then your argument makes sense. And if you can get 5000 clean and shiny cases out of 1 tumbler full of media, then you ought to post a guide. I understand where you're coming from, here. Let's imagine you needed $1000 worth of gold to make a million dollars worth of "stuff" over the course of a few months, - "stuff" for which you will make $30,000 dollars of gross profit. Your company is grossing $333 a day. Now let's say that at the end of that 3 months, you could reuse that same gold if you spent a day to clean it up. Would you just throw that gold into the garbage can? Recycling that gold is going to be more profitable than the rest of the operation. It would save $1000 in one day, minus the $333 you didn't make that day through your regular production, grossing you $667, which is double. This is just made up numbers; reusing media might be even more. If my numbers are even close to accurate, it will probably be more. It will be a good use of time. No one has challenged any of my numbers.
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Ground up corn cob, contaminated with lead compounds, "not elemental lead" is a far, far cry from GOLD!
 
I don't have free lead, either. And I agree with you. I only do it because I shoot cast and gas checked rifle bullets. That's where the big savings are. I cast 9mm and 357, sometimes, because there are some savings to be had there, and because these bullets are extremely accurate with no leading. But I also buy cast 9mm and 357 when available at the right price or when I run low. I primarily buy cast 45ACP, because the savings are almost none for casting myself, and the bullet I buy is extremely accurate with no leading. But if I didn't shoot cast rifle bullets, I wouldn't cast at all. It wouldn't be worth the bother. As it is, I only cast up bullets maybe once a year, and whatever I make in rifle bullets in a couple sessions has offset the cost of all my casting equipment.
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Man, I'm lucky, I get/have all the free lead I want, currently have six 5 gal buckets yet to smelt, let alone the few 1,000 lbs. I have cast into ingots.

I save money in other ways, like driving 45 on a 2 lane road to get better gas mileage, while pi$$ing off those behind me.


Just joking to those that think I actually would do this!
 
Ground up corn cob, contaminated with lead compounds, "not elemental lead" is a far, far cry from GOLD!
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No, it's exactly the same thing. This is an analogy. Corn cob media and gold are just tools used to make a final product. I see you are failing to grasp the concept.

So adding more to the problem makes it OK?
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How am I adding more to the problem? I am making the same amount of lead compounds as you are, per each primer I fire. I'm using less corn cob. I said that in response to Rule3's comment:
In my case the used media goes in a plastic bag and into the trash. The trash goes to the County incinerator and generates electricity.
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All you have to do is understand the time and work involved. It is almost none. I do it more for the convenience than the savings, even though the savings are relatively large, if you look at my calculations.
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I do understand the time & work involved. Dump spent media in bag, toss bag in trash, fill tumbler with fresh media. Man alive, I can accomplish all that in less than 2 minutes. But then, I'm good.
 
I can order 1000 new cases in 5 minutes. That's way faster than picking it up. Have a nice day.
 
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