Such thing as too much tumbling?

[Walkalong]

my little Lyman sounds like it is slowing down

I was serious. It looks like I am going to have to get a new Tumbler. Think how long it would have lasted if I had not "over tumbled" all these years. I am stil going to do it that way though. Just lazy and that way is easy, plus I really like em shiney.

 

[RexDart]

I bought an outlet timer at Wal-Mart. I set it for 3 hours, and let it run before I go to bed. Gets things nice and clean.

I've found walnut shells will scour out the dirt and grime, but corncob with non-ammonia brass polish gives that bright "new brass" shine. Possibly overkill, but presently I use both media sequentially, for a total of 6 hours of tumbling/load. It did put a good finish on some ugly-as-sin Indian surplus 7.62 NATO brass.

This all happens in down time, and I'm not producing at the rate some folks here do. Were I in a serious production mode, I'd just use the walnut shells and not worry about "pretty."

 

[Bullet]

RexDart
I've found walnut shells will scour out the dirt and grime, but corncob with non-ammonia brass polish gives that bright "new brass" shine.

Same here.

 

[RustyFN]

Fatelvis What do you guys do with the dryer sheet? Just throw it in with the brass/media when it tumbles? What does it do? Thanx-

Take a used dryer sheet and cut it into 10 or 12 pieces. Add them to the tumbler. After you are done tumbling throw them away. They will collect a lot of the dust and junk. They will keep your media cleaner and the cases won't come out dusty.
Rusty

 

[sublimaze41]

Tried that dryer sheet trick today except I didn't cut it up. I cleaned 300 heavily soiled .223 cases with new media and it kept the media looking VERY good. I just chucked the old sheet and repeated with another load of brass.

 

[Pumpkinheaver]

I'll have to try the dryer sheet trick.

 

[cpttango30]

I have accidently left brass in my cleaner over night. It has not hurt the machine or the brass. But man did that brass sparkle. Looked better than new.

I use walnut to do all the heavy duty cleaning then use corn cobb to do a final finish polish.

 

[RustyFN]

I have been hearing a lot of good things about 50-50 walnut and corn cob. I haven't tried it yet but I think I will try it soon with some pistol brass. I had a bad experience with corn cob getting stuck in some 223 cases.
Rusty

 

[GaryL]

I have been hearing a lot of good things about 50-50 walnut and corn cob. I haven't tried it yet but I think I will try it soon with some pistol brass.
Rusty

Works for me, maybe even saves a step. I do start tumbling with a batch of dirty media for a half hour or so, and then switch to the cleaner stuff with a little polish (polish and NuFinish actually) and let it run for a couple of hours. I just mix it all ~50/50.

I had a bad experience with corn cob getting stuck in some 223 cases.
Rusty

There is corncob media that is very course, maybe 3/16" dia. Corncob for polishing brass is more like ground coffee. It gets into the flash hole, but gets punched out during the reloading cycle.