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AndyC wrote:Although I've tumbled brass in various dry media for decades I'm no expert in what is best.

However, from what I have seen through researching others' use, these seemed to be the general norms:

1. Walnut shell/lizard bedding is most efficient at crud-removal and quickly results in clean yet non-sparkly brass (this is what I use).

2. Crushed corn-cob media (with a capful of an additive such as Nu Finish liquid car polish) seems to work on the finer polishing to get that more sparkly look but takes a lot longer to get heavy crud gone.

3. Some folks run their brass through walnut media first to get the crud off then drop the brass into corn-cob after to get the finer polish - others mix walnut and corn-cob media into the same bowl to do everything in one step.

Me, I'll be trying the latter - getting some corn-cob media and Nu Finish polish and putting that in with my walnut lizard bedding.

Charles L. Cotton wrote:

puma guy wrote:

Charles L. Cotton wrote:

pushpullpete wrote:

Charles L Cotton wrote: All I've ever used is walnut hulls, so I have no experience with cord cob media. I've read that walnut is better for cleaning while corn cob is better for polishing after cleaning. I've never been willing to tumble brass twice, plus I can get a good shine with walnut. It just doesn't get the inside as clean as wet tumbling, but I don't care about the inside. I might feel differently if I decapped before tumbling, that that's never going to happen!

Charles, you don't need to tumble twice, try throwing in some corn cob w the walnut shell. It takes a little longer but
the mix does a nice job of cleaning & polishing. Maybe 20-30% corn cob. You can fine tune to your standards.
Personally, I am ocd anal. I deprime, drop in the Hornady ultrasonic & then the vibratory tumbler 70/30 corn cob to walnut.
YMMV

I didn't realize you can combine walnut and corn cob effectively. I'll give that a try. I have to go to Clemtex and get a 40 lb bag of crushed walnut hulls, so I'll get some corn cob as well.

Thanks for the tip.
Chas.

What does Clemtex charge for Walnut shell. I've been buying it at Harbor Freight.

It's taken me years to go through the last two bags I bought (80 lbs) and I don't remember what I paid. I'll post the price when I go this week.

Chas.

Charles L. Cotton wrote:

pushpullpete wrote:

Charles L Cotton wrote: All I've ever used is walnut hulls, so I have no experience with cord cob media. I've read that walnut is better for cleaning while corn cob is better for polishing after cleaning. I've never been willing to tumble brass twice, plus I can get a good shine with walnut. It just doesn't get the inside as clean as wet tumbling, but I don't care about the inside. I might feel differently if I decapped before tumbling, that that's never going to happen!

Charles, you don't need to tumble twice, try throwing in some corn cob w the walnut shell. It takes a little longer but
the mix does a nice job of cleaning & polishing. Maybe 20-30% corn cob. You can fine tune to your standards.
Personally, I am ocd anal. I deprime, drop in the Hornady ultrasonic & then the vibratory tumbler 70/30 corn cob to walnut.
YMMV

I didn't realize you can combine walnut and corn cob effectively. I'll give that a try. I have to go to Clemtex and get a 40 lb bag of crushed walnut hulls, so I'll get some corn cob as well.

Thanks for the tip.
Chas.

Charles L. Cotton wrote:I use a Dillon CV-2001 with crushed walnut hulls. I typically use the cheapest car polish I can find, but I recently tried Turtle Wax Polishing Compound. I was very surprised how well it works because I had previously tried one of Mequiar's polishing compound and it didn't work at all. Over time, cleaned and polished brass will get dull, but so far, those tumbled with the Turtle Wax haven't dulled at all. I keep them in sealed 1 gallon Ziploc bags, but I'm going to start using 40# dog food storage containers that are air tight. These are stackable so I can have one for each caliber I reload in quantity.

Chas.