Tumbler media recipes.

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btefft

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Tumbler media recipes.

I have been using only plain old corn cob media and Cabelas polish, but wonder if I can do better.

I've read of some reloaders, mixing corn cob & walnut media 50/50 and then adding a cap of Nu Finish car polish, some cut up dryer sheets and a cup if dry rice.

Do any of you guys go to that extreme?

What mix works best you you?

Hack
 
I used 50/50 walnut and corncob media. Works okay for me, use a squirt of flitz in there every few loads which seems to help.

I also use strips of used (or sometimes new, hehe) dryer sheets in my batches as well which DOES gather up the black crud. One note on that however, from my experience at least the dryer sheets are best removed after about an hour as they've gathered about as much soot as they're going to at that point and beyond that they start to disentegrate and add dust/fibers to your mix. Defeats the purpose - learned the hard way.

I tend to remove the strips after an hour and let my batches tumble for 4-5 hours if not overnight though.

My old man uses some crap that looks like HUGE grains of H4350 or some other extruded stick powder, looks like it's made of ceramic. Don't know what it is or where to get some (lil help?) but that stuff is FAST. Don't know if I'd use it overnight though and doubt it'd be very good with liquid additives like flitz, nu-finish, etc etc

Hope this helps, looking forward to more posts as much as you are B.
 
I'm very basic and just use corn cob media w/ a teaspoon of cabelas polish. I leave the tumbler on over night for really really pretty brass.

I was actually wondering how long ya'll keep your media before throwing it out.. The current media i'm using right now has been used for about 120 hours of tumbling/vibrating and is looking darker then my bag full of brand new media. It still seems to be working fine though haha.
 
depoloni said:
My old man uses some crap that looks like HUGE grains of H4350 or some other extruded stick powder, looks like it's made of ceramic. Don't know what it is or where to get some (lil help?) but that stuff is FAST. Don't know if I'd use it overnight though and doubt it'd be very good with liquid additives like flitz, nu-finish, etc etc
Click to expand...

Seems like a growing number of BPCR shooters are using ceramic media in a liquid medium to get the primer pockets and case interiors clean of the BP residue.
 
Blacklabelz,

I wondered the same thing. Now, I may try throwing in a piece of dryer sheet, cut into large pieces, and tumbling it for a hour without brass - just to see if the carn cob media is less dirty.

Hack
 
I resize/decap, soak in hot cider vinegar for a couple of hours, then once rinsed and fairly dry, 4+ hrs. in walnut (to clean) then an hour or so in corn cob for shine. Also, cut up a dryer sheet and add to the walnut stage; these pick up the crud from the media and extend its useful life.
 
I run mine first with dry walnut media from Pet Smart, sold as lizard litter I believe. That gets 'em pretty clean, even inside and primer pockets too. Then I'll run 'em in corncob media with NuFinish car polish in it. That shines 'em up real good.
 
100% Zilla walnut lizard litter from PetSmart, add a drizzle of NuFinish and a couple torn up dryer sheets to get the black crud. I've run this batch of media for 6 months of heavy tumbling (24 hours a day 6 days a week for 6 months) and it is looking like Cocoa Pebbles even with dryer sheets and stuff. It's obviously not as sharp-edged as new stuff but it still works fine and doesn't makes as much dust as it used to- the cases are shinier and the dryer sheet pieces are cleaner than in the beginning of the fresh batch.

Of course, any cases that were in wet dirt get prewashed in the laundry sink to prevent grit and sand getting in the media.
 
If your brass is tarnished: 1C water, 1C white vinegar, 1Tsp salt, 1Tsp dish soap. Mix it up and add brass. Agitate it every few min for about 30 then rinse with clean water. Dry and tumble. For the tumbler: Walnut from the pet store or wallymart and add 1 capful of NuFinish car polish to it. Let it run for 20-30 min and then add the brass. Every 3-4 loads I drop in half of a used dryer sheet cut into 1" squares to keep the dust down.

I decap all my brass then tumble, so I use a Lee decapper to punch out any walnut pieces that get stuck in the flash holes. That also gives you an extra chance to inspect the brass.
 
I reload 223 right now. When I used corn cob media it got stuck in the cases so now I just use crushed walnut from Pet Smart. I use a dryer sheet and Nu Finish car polish. I don't tear up the dryer sheet it works great whole and when tumbling is done I take the sheet out whole and throw it away.

I like the tip about fine corn cob media from Grainger I'm going to try that. I like shiny brass. Actually the brass comes out plenty shiny from the walnut and Nu Finish mix.
 
one half walnut from walmart, one half corn cob that came with the tumbler, one half cap nu finish, 2 quarters of dryer sheet, impaled on the center screw the lid attachs to.
 
Walkalong,
I bought a 50 lb. bag of that stuff from Grainger as well. I love it....

Now I am using it as a 60 - 70% base and adding crushed walnut to fill out the mix. I also add Nu Finish and dryer sheets. BLING!!!!

Cheers...
 
You all are shaming me. I use crushed walnut from the pet store - it's very cheap. Every once in a while, I squirt in some some Hornady OneShot.

Mike
 
You all are shaming me. I use crushed walnut from the pet store - it's very cheap. Every once in a while, I squirt in some some Hornady OneShot.

Mike
Click to expand...

Don't let the troops make you feel inadequate - I'm betting your reloads shoot just as well as theirs do;).

You're not alone - I use the elcheapo lizard walnut bedding from PetSmart. I add a few bits of dryer sheet to each load and some NuFinish to every third or fourth load.
 
it will raise your cost. i use 1 capful of nu finish. drier sheets and a cup full of rice. wow they come out clean.
 
I just bought me a 50 lb bag of corn cob media from Granger, too.

Hack
 
depoloni said:
My old man uses some crap that looks like HUGE grains of H4350 or some other extruded stick powder, looks like it's made of ceramic. Don't know what it is or where to get some (lil help?) but that stuff is FAST. Don't know if I'd use it overnight though and doubt it'd be very good with liquid additives like flitz, nu-finish, etc etc
Click to expand...
I use ceramic media with a wet solution in a rotary tumbler.
The photos speak for themselves.

Primers.jpg

Cases.jpg
 
Links to the products please, that damn rotary with the ceramic media wondermajig has got me interested...
 
Interested in the source of that ceramic media.

My thoughts were that it wouldn't work well with liquid additives like nu-finish, etc. - used dry otherwise. Seems like it'd be awfully tough on the cases. As an agent in a liquid bath, well, that looks like it works GREAT.

I wish I had a picture of the crap in my father's tumbler. He uses it dry, in a Lyman 1500. The sticks are probably 8mm long and 3mm in diameter, cylinders. Has kind of a greenish hue to it. It works fine, but like I said dry ceramic media might be (?) a little rough but it's definitely fast.

I've been getting products from Grainger for YEARS and never knew they had tumbler media. Neither did the lady behind the counter, said she had to track it down in the computer but that's cool, we're good to go!
 
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