I thought I was slick when I ran out of some walnut media one day and topped off my tumbler with the walnut blasting media I bought for $20 for a 60lb bag. Haven't bought "case cleaning media" since lol.
This doesn't just apply to us shootists but also those of us that have boats, ya gotta buy the *marine grade* stuff coz it's just more boaty than ordinary stuff.
One of my friends works in a machine shop. A few years ago, he gave me a 55-gallon drum full of stainless steel shavings, and they work great for case polishing.
Used dryer sheets will collect the dust in a tumbler using crushed walnut. Ceramic car polish is the best additive for treating both walnut and corn cob media. I use the generic usually but sometimes Nu-Finish is on sale. Just one cap full into the media and add a half cup of odor free mineral spirits and let it run without any brass in it until it is dry. I redo the treatment every dozen or so batches. Tip, the less brass you put into a tumbler the longer it will take to clean or polish. The more brass you put in the more it forces all the brass to contact the media. The weight and movement of the brass increases the contact pressure with the media. I use deep fryer baskets to sift my brass and media. I use a few dollar store strainers for smaller cases. The dollar store sells silverware trays that are similar to the trays pharmacists use. They are about 7in wide and 11 inches wide and 2 inches deep. They hold about 500 small rifle cases or 700+ pistol cases. They stack neatly when empty but also stack well with brass in them. I sort my brass in them until they are full, then I tumble them. The bin follows the brass all the way through the loading until the ammo is loaded into boxes.
I have been reloading since 1967. In that time, I have gone from traditional Corncob granules, Rice, Crushed Macadamia shells ( cheap), to the final solution Granulated PVC cable insulation.. a scrap dealer friend ( for recyclable Military source Brass) suggested I try his "product"...he used it in his Pistol reloading ( competition shooting)...I tried it out in a Lyman 3200 ( bottom emptying) and it worked better and quicker than other " shop" types...also, longer life, and No Rejuvenation required....when exhausted ( 20-25 cycles) simply bagged and trashed ( I save it to solidify muddy ground for my vehicle; also as Bullet-stop material for my underground range) Cost, Au$ 130 per 1 Tonne( 1,000kg, 2,204 lbs) Bag. I also re-sell it in 5kg (10.5 lbs) Bags-in-Box for E- mail-order at Au$35 plus S&H. Way cheaper than Imported Lyman etc, and "Locally Produced"....any Non-Ferrous Srapper with a Cable granulator can produce it. But PVC only.. Polyethylene is a static electricity contaminant... PVC granules come out technicolour ( black, white, red, brown,green yellow, orange etc) depending on cable mix ( domestic, industrial, etc). Mediumalso contains copper dust, which acts like jewellers rouge, and extra polishes the brass. I found when polishing public range brass, that mixed. 22RF shells also improved polish effect...soI add afew pounds/ kilos of.22 cases to a Concrete mixer load of shells and media. They are separated from brass with a .375" Punched Grill, along with the media granules ( .223 and 9mm and larger are all retained in mixer drum) I hasbeen about 20 yearssince,I startedusingand selling PVC granulate, Must have sold a couple of Tons ( whichever type) in that time, and used several tons more in-house. Doc AV AVB Tech Services Brisbane Australia
That's really interesting; I've never seen/heard of it before, but I always wondered how they got the insulation off copper wire so I guess I learned two things today.
That pet bedding is huge! I tried it once and had to dig it out of the cases. The rest of the bag went into the trash. A far better option is corn cob blasting media in 20/40 grit. It's small enough that it doesn't get stuck in primer flash holes. A 50 pound bag at Zoro is under $36.00 plus very reasonable shipping as of Aug. 2022. Nice looking hollow points you're loading at the close!
Thanks for this video. We reloaders are hosed for reloading supplies that are available in some other venue. Another one I discovered is a digital powder scale that runs over $50 is easily matched by a jeweller's scale for about $15. Now if only there was a substitute for powder!
Yes you're absolutely right about the scales. Brass dryers are another really bad one; I've seen the exact same unit clearly made at the same factory marketed/branded as a food dehydrator from one company and a brass dryer from another with a markup over 100%. Ridiculous.
@@EricQuinn No, only walnut, but walnut is superior for cleaning brass in my opinion. It also gives a decent polish with just a bit of treatment chemical added. I use a bottle of Berry's Bullets media treatment, and it takes very little to get what I want. I don't try turning my brass into showpieces, as these damn fools who wet tumble with stainless pins these days do.
My brass is cleaned with some hot water, lime juice, vinegar, and a pinch of dish liquid. Throw it in a sealed container or a pale and just swish it around every 5 mins. Wipe them dry and leave them in a dehydrator for a few hours on lowest setting. Or just air dry them for a few days in a dry room. Doing it for 8 years now. Never had any issues. Costs next to nothing.
Well I dry tumble with corn cob media and I don't really do it to "clean" brass, I do it to shine brass. Before I had a tumbler I shined cases with alcohol in a bowl. I shine brass so I can see it to retrieve it after firing and to inspect cases. I just want to get the dark carbon fouling and maybe tarnish off the case. Otherwise I would just shoot tarnished carbon fouled brass. Its going to get shot and carbon fouled anyway.
Very good video buddy. I use a couple of spoons of vinegar and lemon juice that is sold in the green container. Then I neutralize the brass after cleaning with alkaline water. Next time i am planning on trying CLR. I also use coconut oil for case lube. Never had one single issue of case getting stuck. Good luck and happy reloading
Coconut oil for case lube is interesting, but do you find your cases are all gross after? I use a lanolin/alcohol mix and I like the fact that it dries off.
@@TATVCanada well you don't need a lot of coconut oil at all. If you take a couple of drops of coconut oil and rub it in your hands that would be good for 5 cases. Gives me a chance to feel each case for imperfections. After resizing and cleaning primer pockets, uniformity flash holes, debur and chamfer and trimming, I sonic clean them. Once cleaned the brass is perfect to be transformed into long range ammunition
I’m kicking myself for not thinking about this as I recognize this fact for every other thing! Just left Harbor Freight, bought 25 lbs of walnut “sandblasting media” with a holiday coupon for $17.50 (US)! Cool thing too is they offer it in two grits, 12 & 24! Cheers!!!!
From what he says right off the bat. Yes use pet bedding corn cob in any large caliber. But it is not finely ground enough for 223.... you can make some cases so packed with it it's useless, but for straitwall cartridges it is a cheaper perfect alternative
You can use too much citric acid/lemishine. I find that if I use more than 1/4 teaspoon (even when cleaning swage lube) in my Frankford Arsenal tumbler, my brass "blackens". I do however increase the amount of Dawn when cleaning swage lube. I just found that the Dawn Professional is cheaper than the Ultra, and from what I can find, people say that it's stronger.It has some of the stuff added back in that they removed from earlier formulas. I haven't tried it for tumbling yet, but definitely plan to.
@@chip6954 My bad. It is the Harbor Freight Tumbler. It has 2 compartments and they hold a pretty good amount of brass. I have only replaced 1 belt on mine since I bought mine. That was over 2 years ago. It was not an expensive tumbler at all.
Ditch that Brasso! One the the active ingredients is ammonia, which will badly damage your brass. You probably won't even be able to see it because it will chemically break down the alloy, and you may eventually get a face full of hot gas when a case gives way. Seriously, no Brasso!
I've been going down this exact road lately as well after starting my reloading journey earlier this year, I noticed how ridiculously expensive reloading equipment and supplies have become and want to maximize my profit, so I find as much off-brand stuff as I can. I got my brass tumbler from Harbor Freight, a dual drum rock tumbler for $70. Lemi-shine is way overpriced so I went on Ebay and got a 5 pound sack of citric acid for $30 (about 5 times cheaper than Lemi-shine). The walnut bedding media works great too, that's much cheaper than branded stuff, though it needs a trip through a blender to reduce the particle size for necked rifle brass. Now if I could only find a cheaper source of powder and primers, but unfortunately we're kind of stuck with those prices...
@TATVCanada Thanks, it certainly does the trick. You have to run it through a sieve afterwards to remove the fine dust but it definitely works, I'd rather spend my free time on stuff like that than money...
Awesome video I've been reloading for 15 years and haven't really looked at some of the components you're talking about. I do however save on vibratory machines and wet tumblers by going to harbor freight.
If you want an excellent fine-ground walnut hull tumbling medium alternative, go to Harbor Freight and get a huge box (25 lbs) for about $20. Just add some Berry's Bullets tumbling treatment to the walnut for a much better polish.
I wondered about the citric acid, but I mostly have found that I prefer not to use any. Brass gets just as bright without it, using only slightly more tumbling time, and there's no risk of etching the tin out of the brass alloy.
I think a lot of the citric acid's effectiveness really comes down to the quality of your water. I have very hard water where I live, so for me it makes quite a difference.
It makes a HUGE difference and we live in the same state so water must be similar. I wet tumbled for 2 hours when I ran out of lemishine and brass was clean but still looked dull and nothing like the shiny gold you get with lemishine!
Citric acid will not "etch" the tin out of brass except where it is already badly corroded. This assumes that the brass is only treated for a few minutes. I use a tablespoon of citric acid in a gallon of water at 160°F and it works in anywhere from a few seconds to 3-5 minutes depending on the level of tarnish. I bought a large quantity of milsurp 5.56 brass that was brown from weathering and it cleansed up easily in citric acid followed by a dry corn cob/NuFinish polish.
Good Video, what grade of walnut shell would be good for tumbling, they sell it in 0.2mm-0.5mm, 0.45mm-1.0mm, 0.75mm-1.3mm and 1.0mm-1.5mm for sandblasting.
That's an excellent question, unfortunately I'm not sure! I checked the retailer's website and naturally it doesn't say, nor is the bag marked with anything to indicate.
I bought ground walnut shell sold as bird litter. I compared it to the product I purchased from Midway and it looked identical. I spruce mine up with brass polish from Dillon. Cost a lot less than half the price of products sold for reloading use.
If using corncobb media it can be wahed and reused for a long time. Buy a few travel pillow cases. put your dirty media in, zip tie the zipper end so media will not leak out if zipper cmes loose. Drop two bags in your washing macheine with some dawn dish soap. fill it about half way and start the agitation cycle. add dawn dish soap till you have good suds on top. wash it. during spin cycle you will have to ballance the drum by putting the bags across from each other. I rinse twice and spin out on high the last time. Air dry a few days and it is ready to use some more.
No, do *NOT* do that. You are contaminating your washer with lead. You're also pouring lead down into your septic system (if you have one) or into your municipal water treatment plant. Instead, put several used dryer sheets into your tumbler while tumbling and those will naturally clean out most of the garbage rubbed off of the cases. Just pitch the dryer sheets each time and use them whenever you tumble. You'll probably get at least five times the use that you would without doing that, and you won't be contaminating your washer and waste water treatment.
Only if you reload revolver ammo, and only use carbide dyes, I have a great way to save money.= I never clean brass! The tarnish acts as a natural lubricant for carbide dies.
Hey, nice video but, I have one question. the corn cobb media that you show in the video has pretty large pieces. As you said in the video to use for large neck cases. i would also like to expand the of this media for smaller neck cases. Is there a way to grind these into finer pieces? Thanks
I tried the pet bedding years and years ago, it ruined a whole lot of cases as it got stuck inside everything. I use both corncob and walnut blasting media. Standard media is 14/20, I always get 20/40 as it's smaller and doesn't get stuck in the flash holes as often.
Has anyone one tried wheat litter or other litters based on material other then cob or walnut shell. Most of us are stuck in our rut and we don't want to change. One other thing I found was cheap drier sheets they pick up the dirt and crap in your media keeping it clean and working effectively. Think $0.99 store the cheaper the better.
ya...well you can beat pet store prices at your local feed store I laugh that people pay 10x as much for parakeet feed when I can buy hen scratch...seriously I got my media from Harbor Freight
Yep, that's what I did. I just pour in a tablespoon of Berry's Bullets polish to the media every now and then, and I put used dryer sheets into the tumbler each time, then throw them away after each use. The dryer sheets clean out most of the debris.
Problem for me in Sweden were we aint growing much corn and even less walnuts the pet store dont have theese items. And with Sweden being so small i have never seen any candlemaking shops. I did manage to find nut shells at a industrial supplier (did not say what kind) and to get a reasobable price i have to buy it by the ton... Sadly everything in this hobby is more expensive over here. =(
The citric acid is what I use (in the wet tumbler). In the vibratory system I've used Brasso before, although some folks claim it makes the metal brittle.
The ammonia in Brasso embrittles the brass significantly shortening its life. I dry polish and use NuFinish Car Polish (not a wax) and a cap fill of mineral spirits in my 20/40 corn cob. The brass shines like gold.
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In my experience, I visited several pet supply stores in my area (central Kentucky) and, indeed, found corn cob bedding. That's the good news. Upon using this less expense alternative I found that it was very coarsely ground and these chucks with "plug" case mouths and primer pockets. The extra trouble of laboriously taking a small pick and removing these items was simply not worth the time expended. I opted to trash this material and reverted back to using the more expensive finely ground material.
I bought my cleaning media at Tractor Supply. They sell walnut shell in different grain sizes.... fine, medium, and coarse The medium size grains that I buy, doesn't stick in any of my 45acp, 9mm, .270. or .223/5.56 cases. Wasn't a lot of dust from it either like I've found in many of the other media from other companies. 25lbs for 25bucks and shipped to my local Tractor Supply store for free and so 25 lbs for just 25bucks and in my personal situation I'm now likely set for life and wont have to buy anymore again
@@Journey4SureKnowledge-N-Wisdom Thank you kindly for the "tip off." Makes me wonder if this material might also be available from Amazon.com and conveniently delivered to my door. As a further observation from "left field," while I'm well aware of "new and improved" wet and stainless steel pin tumblers the "old fashioned" vibratory tumbler I have will suffice for my needs (particularly in this era of the lack of availability of primers and powder when I shoot few if any rounds) and I'm far from enthusiastic about finding ways to spend a chuck of change on expensive equipment.
@@donball5918 Youre welcome :o) Well I know Amazon sells it and can be delivered right to your door, but I can't say for certain which brand name its sold in and if it would be close to the same price as the pretty inexpensive price at Tractor Supply Concerning the wet pin cleaning method, I have done quite a bit of researching on that process over the past year and personally I will easily pass on it since yes, it costs a bit more money for all of the equipment and materials, is often a messy process, and certainly it is a longer process before being able to use the cases.However from what I've seen, that method does get them cleaner, but I could care less if my brass looks perfect since I'm not taking them to a beauty contest and as I'm sure you already know as well, our brass reloads without any problems with us using the dry media method. Oh and PLEASE dont get me started on the HIDEOUS situation about the lack of primers, powder, etc lol I just had to cool myself down after going to gun Broker dot com (the only place I found primers for sale and for auction) and GOOD GRIEF the sellers are FLAT OUT RIPPING PEOPLE OFF by gouging them ridiculously ... on average I seen a 1,000 primers for average of 200.00 to 250.00 and thats without the HAZMAT fee they make you pay on top of the regular shipping costs :-O
@@Journey4SureKnowledge-N-Wisdom I, too, have had the same "sticker shock" looking at the Gun Broker auction prices. I just want to reload ammunition --not buy a bag of gold coins! Among my circle of gun owning friends, everyone is in agreement that they will not be doing any shooting for the foreseeable future. It's no trouble expending ammunition -- now just try and replace it. Of late, for example, I have seen two shooting supply companies offering a brick (500 rounds) of .22LR for $160.00 (!!!). I don't begrudge someone making a fair profit but please don't try and retire single handily off of me!!! I'm glad that for the past 30 years during my range trips I have been a "brass magnet" and scrounged all the cases I could find. Those cases along with the supplies I have "rat holed" have been a real life saver. Of late, I have chuckled at some reloading supply firms having big special sales on reloading equipment -- so what if you can buy this or that press, powder scale, etc., at a very appealing discount price if there are no components (let's start with primers and powder but bullets and brass have also been catch as catch can) to be had. Granting that this situation might improve I do not foresee that being any time in the near future. As a not totally unrelated aside, I vividly recall a comment I read several years back in one of the reloading web sites: "Invest in precious metals -- buy lead!!"
One of the rip offs, what I consider is a rip off but is probably more accurately said as being another manipulation by the companies, that not many people see is going on is how the manufactures, businesses, retailers, etc will manipulate us into thinking their or that particular product is better than their competitor's product. How many times have you seen it to realize what they're doing or you even bought a particular item to then see it's the EXACT SAME thing as the competitors item? By exact same, I mean EVERYTHING is the same other than the company's logo on the sticker, other labeling, retail box, etc. What china does is mass produced a particular item whereby any company can then contact them to request and certain number of that item to be made and in by doing so, a company will send china their format for how they want their company's name, product's name, images, colors, etc to appear on the item itself and its retail box. So after that or even at the same time, another company was sending the same china factory their request to have a certain number of the item to be made for them and using their own criteria to be placed on the sticker, labeling, retail box, etc of the the exact same item as the other competitor. I mainly have seen this in the reloading supplies with the vibratory case tumblers such as Cabelas is the exact same thing as Harbor Freight's and a few lesser known brands of the case tumblers, at least they once were but I'm not sure if they have since changed some things. The way I know this is that I bought one from Harbor Freight several years ago and from what I quickly learned, like much of what comes out of HF, is made in china junk that in this case lasted approx 4 months until it burned up and that is with minimal use and following the instruction to the T. I seen Cabela's had their vibratory case tumblers on sale a couple weeks after this happened and I bought it. Within minutes of opening and setting it up, I started getting that "hmmm something seems very familiar here" and so I got my burned -up HF case tumbler and set beside the Cabela's case tumbler and it's the EXACT SAME THING down to EVERYTHING other than the labeling on them. Can even see the very distinctive mold lines left over at the same locations from the process, everything is the exact same size and shape, and can see the other tell-tale things that leaves no doubt what-so-ever that they were made in the very same mold and went through the very same processes at the very same factory and the only thing that changed was at the end of the line when it was time for the item to get its labeling such as like said the stickers or if the company wanted an ink stamp on the item instead of a sticker, etc etc This stuff has been WIDESPREAD throughout the market for over a decade. COUNTLESS items that HF has at their store is often the EXACT same item that Northern Tool and other places sells with their name on it. Will see Chicago Electric and other names on many of HF's items but then go to Northern Tool and MANY other companies to see the same item in every way, shape, and form but just has a different name used on them.Yes I have bought many of these things from each company and so I had them right in front of me and even took some of them apart to the things inside were even the same whereby having all of the same components inside. So I find it to be a bunch of bullschit for companies and/or people to say one item is better than the other, from these companies and situations that I'm saying, when the items are identical. Please keep in mind that I never said or implied that every item that places like HF sell is the exact same as every item another place sells.
Amen, Timothy. I don't begrudge anyone their right to earn a living but there's a difference between making a profit and just bald-faced exploiting your customers.
Great info I changed over to corn cob from walnut a year ago but my source went by by... so I had to find a better option. But I didn't want to go mail order. I have found a local source.
I use a .45 ACP shell's worth of Lemi-shine from Walmart (less than $4 per bottle) and a tea spoon of Dawn. Everything comes out factory shiny. I clean a fair amount of brass and am still on my first bottle of Lemi.
Some of the UA-cam jocks tutoring on how to clean cases have clouds of dust rising from their tumblers, and eighth inch thick residue on the inside of it, when they open them up and remove the cases. My guess is they used lizard bedding or bird cage filler instead of tumbling media. They may have saved a couple bucks, but looks like they inhaled enough respiratory contamination, to shorten their lives by twice the savings.
I thought I was slick when I ran out of some walnut media one day and topped off my tumbler with the walnut blasting media I bought for $20 for a 60lb bag. Haven't bought "case cleaning media" since lol.
Not the hero we deserve, but the one we needed. 🙏🙏🙏👏
This doesn't just apply to us shootists but also those of us that have boats, ya gotta buy the *marine grade* stuff coz it's just more boaty than ordinary stuff.
One of my friends works in a machine shop. A few years ago, he gave me a 55-gallon drum full of stainless steel shavings, and they work great for case polishing.
I could absolutely see that.
I'd be concerned about finding them stuck in my flash holes, or having bits abrade my dies.
I was about to buy a 18 pound bag of corn cob media for $40 thinking it was a good deal, glad I watched this video
Used dryer sheets will collect the dust in a tumbler using crushed walnut. Ceramic car polish is the best additive for treating both walnut and corn cob media. I use the generic usually but sometimes Nu-Finish is on sale. Just one cap full into the media and add a half cup of odor free mineral spirits and let it run without any brass in it until it is dry. I redo the treatment every dozen or so batches. Tip, the less brass you put into a tumbler the longer it will take to clean or polish. The more brass you put in the more it forces all the brass to contact the media. The weight and movement of the brass increases the contact pressure with the media. I use deep fryer baskets to sift my brass and media. I use a few dollar store strainers for smaller cases. The dollar store sells silverware trays that are similar to the trays pharmacists use. They are about 7in wide and 11 inches wide and 2 inches deep. They hold about 500 small rifle cases or 700+ pistol cases. They stack neatly when empty but also stack well with brass in them. I sort my brass in them until they are full, then I tumble them. The bin follows the brass all the way through the loading until the ammo is loaded into boxes.
Great video. I knew about the corn cob but did not know about the ground walnut being available so cheap!
Glad it was helpful!
Thanks for the video!
I have been reloading since 1967.
In that time, I have gone from traditional Corncob granules, Rice, Crushed Macadamia shells ( cheap), to the final solution Granulated PVC cable insulation.. a scrap dealer friend ( for recyclable Military source Brass) suggested I try his "product"...he used it in his Pistol reloading ( competition shooting)...I tried it out in a Lyman 3200 ( bottom emptying) and it worked better and quicker than other " shop" types...also, longer life, and No Rejuvenation required....when exhausted ( 20-25 cycles) simply bagged and trashed ( I save it to solidify muddy ground for my vehicle; also as Bullet-stop material for my underground range)
Cost, Au$ 130 per 1 Tonne( 1,000kg, 2,204 lbs) Bag. I also re-sell it in 5kg (10.5 lbs) Bags-in-Box for E- mail-order at Au$35 plus S&H.
Way cheaper than Imported Lyman etc, and "Locally Produced"....any Non-Ferrous Srapper with a Cable granulator can produce it.
But PVC only.. Polyethylene is a static electricity contaminant...
PVC granules come out technicolour ( black, white, red, brown,green yellow, orange etc) depending on cable mix ( domestic, industrial, etc).
Mediumalso contains copper dust, which acts like jewellers rouge, and extra polishes the brass.
I found when polishing public range brass, that mixed. 22RF shells also improved polish effect...soI add afew pounds/ kilos of.22 cases to a Concrete mixer load of shells and media.
They are separated from brass with a
.375" Punched Grill, along with the media granules ( .223 and 9mm and larger are all retained in mixer drum)
I hasbeen about 20 yearssince,I startedusingand selling PVC granulate,
Must have sold a couple of Tons ( whichever type) in that time, and used several tons more in-house.
Doc AV AVB Tech Services
Brisbane Australia
That's really interesting; I've never seen/heard of it before, but I always wondered how they got the insulation off copper wire so I guess I learned two things today.
Yay microplastics in your soil
Thank you for the Info. Will definitely save me more money in the long run.
Glad you found it helpful!
Great tip on the citric acid. I have been using lemon juice for the past few years, but since I started swaging, I need a cheaper source.
A few people have mentioned lemon juice; I never thought of it before, but I bet it works well.
That pet bedding is huge! I tried it once and had to dig it out of the cases. The rest of the bag went into the trash. A far better option is corn cob blasting media in 20/40 grit. It's small enough that it doesn't get stuck in primer flash holes. A 50 pound bag at Zoro is under $36.00 plus very reasonable shipping as of Aug. 2022.
Nice looking hollow points you're loading at the close!
Pet bedding is great for pistol brass and straight walled rifle brass , but gets jammed up in necked rifle brass .
Thanks for this video. We reloaders are hosed for reloading supplies that are available in some other venue. Another one I discovered is a digital powder scale that runs over $50 is easily matched by a jeweller's scale for about $15. Now if only there was a substitute for powder!
Yes you're absolutely right about the scales. Brass dryers are another really bad one; I've seen the exact same unit clearly made at the same factory marketed/branded as a food dehydrator from one company and a brass dryer from another with a markup over 100%. Ridiculous.
Harbor Freight has walnut shell for around $1 a pound.
do they have corn cob as well?
@@EricQuinn No, only walnut, but walnut is superior for cleaning brass in my opinion.
It also gives a decent polish with just a bit of treatment chemical added.
I use a bottle of Berry's Bullets media treatment, and it takes very little to get what I want.
I don't try turning my brass into showpieces, as these damn fools who wet tumble with stainless pins these days do.
Thank you for good information.
Thanks for watching!
Thank you for making this video! I wondered if lemishine was just citric acid!
Gotta hand it to the marketing folks out there; they know their business.
My brass is cleaned with some hot water, lime juice, vinegar, and a pinch of dish liquid. Throw it in a sealed container or a pale and just swish it around every 5 mins. Wipe them dry and leave them in a dehydrator for a few hours on lowest setting. Or just air dry them for a few days in a dry room. Doing it for 8 years now. Never had any issues. Costs next to nothing.
Good info!
All true. Good video bud!! Dave.
Thanks, Big Dave!
Outstanding info once again!
Thanks, LoB!
thanks for the tips!
My pleasure; glad you found them useful.
Well I dry tumble with corn cob media and I don't really do it to "clean" brass, I do it to shine brass. Before I had a tumbler I shined cases with alcohol in a bowl. I shine brass so I can see it to retrieve it after firing and to inspect cases. I just want to get the dark carbon fouling and maybe tarnish off the case. Otherwise I would just shoot tarnished carbon fouled brass. Its going to get shot and carbon fouled anyway.
Very good video buddy. I use a couple of spoons of vinegar and lemon juice that is sold in the green container. Then I neutralize the brass after cleaning with alkaline water. Next time i am planning on trying CLR. I also use coconut oil for case lube. Never had one single issue of case getting stuck. Good luck and happy reloading
Coconut oil for case lube is interesting, but do you find your cases are all gross after? I use a lanolin/alcohol mix and I like the fact that it dries off.
@@TATVCanada well you don't need a lot of coconut oil at all. If you take a couple of drops of coconut oil and rub it in your hands that would be good for 5 cases. Gives me a chance to feel each case for imperfections. After resizing and cleaning primer pockets, uniformity flash holes, debur and chamfer and trimming, I sonic clean them. Once cleaned the brass is perfect to be transformed into long range ammunition
I’m kicking myself for not thinking about this as I recognize this fact for every other thing! Just left Harbor Freight, bought 25 lbs of walnut “sandblasting media” with a holiday coupon for $17.50 (US)! Cool thing too is they offer it in two grits, 12 & 24! Cheers!!!!
Can't beat that.
From what he says right off the bat. Yes use pet bedding corn cob in any large caliber. But it is not finely ground enough for 223.... you can make some cases so packed with it it's useless, but for straitwall cartridges it is a cheaper perfect alternative
I have been going to Pet smart for several years now for the desert blend . I think it lasts longer then the corn cob and much cheaper .
Quite a few people seem to like it!
Tumbler walnut media can be purchased at pet stores (lizard bedding). Lemishine is citric acid, vinegar can be used instead (acetic acid).
Awesome video thank you
Glad you found it interesting.
thank you
Nice tips.
Glad you like them!
Stainless steel trim nails 3/4" to 1" mixed with Dawn-Lemishine-Borax. works good.
One big plus about the pet bedding is that its always in stock. Where the gun shop may have one or the other or nothing.
Never thought of that; definitely true.
Great Video my friend! I order the generic walnut shells, in fact, the brand you showed. Try not to go for the gimmicks anymore. Thanks again!
Glad to hear it; it's a real shame to see big name brands take advantage of their customers like this.
AWESOME!!!!
Thank you sir.
good info bro!
Glad it was helpful!
Great info! 🤗🤙✌️🖖
Thank you sir.
You can use too much citric acid/lemishine. I find that if I use more than 1/4 teaspoon (even when cleaning swage lube) in my Frankford Arsenal tumbler, my brass "blackens". I do however increase the amount of Dawn when cleaning swage lube. I just found that the Dawn Professional is cheaper than the Ultra, and from what I can find, people say that it's stronger.It has some of the stuff added back in that they removed from earlier formulas. I haven't tried it for tumbling yet, but definitely plan to.
I've never experienced that issue but then again I don't use a ton to begin with. Makes sense though, acids speed up corrosion.
Home Depot wet tumbler, 2 drops of Dawn dish soap and a 1/4 tsp. of lemi shine. Works great and is a low cost tumbling process.
Can you link the tumbler or leave a SKU...can’t find it! Thx!
@@chip6954 My bad. It is the Harbor Freight Tumbler. It has 2 compartments and they hold a pretty good amount of brass. I have only replaced 1 belt on mine since I bought mine. That was over 2 years ago. It was not an expensive tumbler at all.
@tatv canada - This video was a real eye opener. I'm going to get a dry tumbler and hit Petco ASAP!
Best money you'll ever save.
Easiest money you'll ever save.
Damn i feel line i sucked for getting the RCBS stuff... Good info
Don't feel too bad; there's a reason 152 people liked this video-- We all got sucked in at one time or another.
I went to Pet Smart and bought some bedding. The girl at the register asked what kind of animal I had. I told her a double action .357. 🤣🤣
Depending on how she responded this could be the plot for the next Hallmark romantic comedy!
I tumble dry, and when it gets old, I mix in things that you polish copper with and or wax that you wax the car with.
I use the desert blend, good and cheap, and lasts quite a while
I've seen it before, but the sandblasting stuff is just so cheap here, heh.
wish I had seen this before I started reloading. I bought the Hornady ground walnut tumbling media instead of going to the pet store.
We've all done it once lol. Lesson learned.
Good video but I only use barely a cap 9mm full had a bottle of lemi shine 10 years now
I use Irish made Brasso. It works the best for me. I know hand cleaning and polishing is a lot of work, but the results are worth it.
The ammonia Brasso weakens brass casings.
Ditch that Brasso!
One the the active ingredients is ammonia, which will badly damage your brass.
You probably won't even be able to see it because it will chemically break down the alloy, and you may eventually get a face full of hot gas when a case gives way.
Seriously, no Brasso!
Corn cob bedding gets stuck in my rifle casings.
I just found your chanel and realised its canadian. Subsrcibed
Good to see a fellow Canuck!
I've been going down this exact road lately as well after starting my reloading journey earlier this year, I noticed how ridiculously expensive reloading equipment and supplies have become and want to maximize my profit, so I find as much off-brand stuff as I can. I got my brass tumbler from Harbor Freight, a dual drum rock tumbler for $70. Lemi-shine is way overpriced so I went on Ebay and got a 5 pound sack of citric acid for $30 (about 5 times cheaper than Lemi-shine). The walnut bedding media works great too, that's much cheaper than branded stuff, though it needs a trip through a blender to reduce the particle size for necked rifle brass. Now if I could only find a cheaper source of powder and primers, but unfortunately we're kind of stuck with those prices...
Using the blender to make finer media is a really clever idea.
@TATVCanada Thanks, it certainly does the trick. You have to run it through a sieve afterwards to remove the fine dust but it definitely works, I'd rather spend my free time on stuff like that than money...
With dry tumbling you are going to be disappointed if you don't get 2 tumblers. 1 for each media.
lemi shine is a mix of citric acid and washing soda/hydrogen peroxide.
Awesome video I've been reloading for 15 years and haven't really looked at some of the components you're talking about. I do however save on vibratory machines and wet tumblers by going to harbor freight.
Yeah I wish we had HB here.
You can buy a 40lb bag of 1420 Grit corn cob media for about $20 from any chemical supplier ie The Anderson's
If you want an excellent fine-ground walnut hull tumbling medium alternative, go to Harbor Freight and get a huge box (25 lbs) for about $20.
Just add some Berry's Bullets tumbling treatment to the walnut for a much better polish.
Can't argue with that.
Forget pet bedding. Go to your local media blasting suppliers. 50# for $20-$30.
Yes, I mention that in this video actually.
FOUND IT
I wondered about the citric acid, but I mostly have found that I prefer not to use any. Brass gets just as bright without it, using only slightly more tumbling time, and there's no risk of etching the tin out of the brass alloy.
I think a lot of the citric acid's effectiveness really comes down to the quality of your water. I have very hard water where I live, so for me it makes quite a difference.
It makes a HUGE difference and we live in the same state so water must be similar. I wet tumbled for 2 hours when I ran out of lemishine and brass was clean but still looked dull and nothing like the shiny gold you get with lemishine!
Citric acid will not "etch" the tin out of brass except where it is already badly corroded. This assumes that the brass is only treated for a few minutes. I use a tablespoon of citric acid in a gallon of water at 160°F and it works in anywhere from a few seconds to 3-5 minutes depending on the level of tarnish. I bought a large quantity of milsurp 5.56 brass that was brown from weathering and it cleansed up easily in citric acid followed by a dry corn cob/NuFinish polish.
Now lizard bedding will go sky high. Thanks for sharing that to everyone
Buy low, sell high!
Good Video, what grade of walnut shell would be good for tumbling, they sell it in 0.2mm-0.5mm, 0.45mm-1.0mm, 0.75mm-1.3mm and 1.0mm-1.5mm for sandblasting.
That's an excellent question, unfortunately I'm not sure! I checked the retailer's website and naturally it doesn't say, nor is the bag marked with anything to indicate.
TATV Canada thanks for answering, maybe 0.45mm-1.0mm would be ok, than nothing would get stuck, in the primer pocket holes? :-)
Have a nice day.
WaschyNumber1 I imagine any of those would work for you just fine. Go with what's cheap!
I bought ground walnut shell sold as bird litter. I compared it to the product I purchased from Midway and it looked identical. I spruce mine up with brass polish from Dillon. Cost a lot less than half the price of products sold for reloading use.
Citric acid works for me!
If using corncobb media it can be wahed and reused for a long time. Buy a few travel pillow cases. put your dirty media in, zip tie the zipper end so media will not leak out if zipper cmes loose. Drop two bags in your washing macheine with some dawn dish soap. fill it about half way and start the agitation cycle. add dawn dish soap till you have good suds on top. wash it. during spin cycle you will have to ballance the drum by putting the bags across from each other. I rinse twice and spin out on high the last time. Air dry a few days and it is ready to use some more.
I definitely do not want bags of lead dust in my washing machine.
No, do *NOT* do that.
You are contaminating your washer with lead.
You're also pouring lead down into your septic system (if you have one) or into your municipal water treatment plant.
Instead, put several used dryer sheets into your tumbler while tumbling and those will naturally clean out most of the garbage rubbed off of the cases.
Just pitch the dryer sheets each time and use them whenever you tumble.
You'll probably get at least five times the use that you would without doing that, and you won't be contaminating your washer and waste water treatment.
Only if you reload revolver ammo, and only use carbide dyes, I have a great way to save money.= I never clean brass! The tarnish acts as a natural lubricant for carbide dies.
Bird stores sell crushed walnut. It’s advertised for cage bottoms.
Hats off to whoever comes up with this stuff.
Walnut shell is $25 bucks for 25 pounds at Harbor Freight tools. Don't forget to use your 20% off coupon for an even better price!
Boy I wish... No HF here.
I bought a 50lb bag of corn cob media (horse bedding) at Tractor Supply for $10.00 and it works perfect !!!
That has to be the lowest price I've heard yet.
Hey, nice video but, I have one question. the corn cobb media that you show in the video has pretty large pieces. As you said in the video to use for large neck cases. i would also like to expand the of this media for smaller neck cases. Is there a way to grind these into finer pieces? Thanks
You can buy smaller stuff too.
@@stevejacksoniphone Have you actually tried grinding it in a blender? I did and it didn't work very well. Better to buy the right size initially.
I tried the pet bedding years and years ago, it ruined a whole lot of cases as it got stuck inside everything. I use both corncob and walnut blasting media. Standard media is 14/20, I always get 20/40 as it's smaller and doesn't get stuck in the flash holes as often.
I think it depends on a lot on the caliber you're cleaning. I can't use corn cob on 223 but it does great on 45acp
@@TATVCanada I think it was 38SPL.
I bought a bad of walnut media from harbor freight it was dusty as hell
Has anyone one tried wheat litter or other litters based on material other then cob or walnut shell. Most of us are stuck in our rut and we don't want to change. One other thing I found was cheap drier sheets they pick up the dirt and crap in your media keeping it clean and working effectively. Think $0.99 store the cheaper the better.
That's an interesting idea. Thanks for the tip on the drier sheets; I'm going to give those a try for sure.
That's a pretty neat idea.
I just use Dawn.
Hi what do you think of the brass juice, brass cleaner that is available in the states ?
Haven't tried it, but many friends from the US say you can make your own cheap and easy.
ya...well you can beat pet store prices at your local feed store I laugh that people pay 10x as much for parakeet feed when I can buy hen scratch...seriously I got my media from Harbor Freight
Corn cob at tractor supply is $9.99 for 40 lbs.
Wow that's an incredible deal.
The walnut media is at harbor freight for $25 for 25 pounds.
Yep, that's what I did.
I just pour in a tablespoon of Berry's Bullets polish to the media every now and then, and I put used dryer sheets into the tumbler each time, then throw them away after each use.
The dryer sheets clean out most of the debris.
I use a 35.00 sonic cleaner with citric acid and Dawn works for me !!
I like the sonic cleaners for parts, but they just don't have the capacity for the volume of brass I process.
Once agiaaaan
Problem for me in Sweden were we aint growing much corn and even less walnuts the pet store dont have theese items.
And with Sweden being so small i have never seen any candlemaking shops.
I did manage to find nut shells at a industrial supplier (did not say what kind) and to get a reasobable price i have to buy it by the ton...
Sadly everything in this hobby is more expensive over here. =(
I feel your pain; Canada has better access than Sweden I'm sure, but compared to America it's very frustrating.
@@TATVCanada I think wet tumbling will be the way to go for initial higher cost but im feeling confident its the cheapest in the long run.
Have used grits when in a pinch😂
I bought 50 pounds at Princess Auto two years ago 😁😁
Isn't there a chemical you can add to the media to make the brass polish as well?
The citric acid is what I use (in the wet tumbler). In the vibratory system I've used Brasso before, although some folks claim it makes the metal brittle.
Ryan's Adventure & Info Yes, it's called Brasso.
The ammonia in Brasso embrittles the brass significantly shortening its life. I dry polish and use NuFinish Car Polish (not a wax) and a cap fill of mineral spirits in my 20/40 corn cob. The brass shines like gold.
Geezz guys. Go to SOT and you can get a 40 lb bag of corn cob for 12.00
Walnut hulls also just a bit higher.
What’s SOT?
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In my experience, I visited several pet supply stores in my area (central Kentucky) and, indeed, found corn cob bedding. That's the good news. Upon using this less expense alternative I found that it was very coarsely ground and these chucks with "plug" case mouths and primer pockets. The extra trouble of laboriously taking a small pick and removing these items was simply not worth the time expended. I opted to trash this material and reverted back to using the more expensive finely ground material.
I bought my cleaning media at Tractor Supply. They sell walnut shell in different grain sizes.... fine, medium, and coarse The medium size grains that I buy, doesn't stick in any of my 45acp, 9mm, .270. or .223/5.56 cases. Wasn't a lot of dust from it either like I've found in many of the other media from other companies. 25lbs for 25bucks and shipped to my local Tractor Supply store for free and so 25 lbs for just 25bucks and in my personal situation I'm now likely set for life and wont have to buy anymore again
@@Journey4SureKnowledge-N-Wisdom Thank you kindly for the "tip off." Makes me wonder if this material might also be available from Amazon.com and conveniently delivered to my door. As a further observation from "left field," while I'm well aware of "new and improved" wet and stainless steel pin tumblers the "old fashioned" vibratory tumbler I have will suffice for my needs (particularly in this era of the lack of availability of primers and powder when I shoot few if any rounds) and I'm far from enthusiastic about finding ways to spend a chuck of change on expensive equipment.
@@donball5918
Youre welcome :o)
Well I know Amazon sells it and can be delivered right to your door, but I can't say for certain which brand name its sold in and if it would be close to the same price as the pretty inexpensive price at Tractor Supply
Concerning the wet pin cleaning method, I have done quite a bit of researching on that process over the past year and personally I will easily pass on it since yes, it costs a bit more money for all of the equipment and materials, is often a messy process, and certainly it is a longer process before being able to use the cases.However from what I've seen, that method does get them cleaner, but I could care less if my brass looks perfect since I'm not taking them to a beauty contest and as I'm sure you already know as well, our brass reloads without any problems with us using the dry media method.
Oh and PLEASE dont get me started on the HIDEOUS situation about the lack of primers, powder, etc lol I just had to cool myself down after going to gun Broker dot com (the only place I found primers for sale and for auction) and GOOD GRIEF the sellers are FLAT OUT RIPPING PEOPLE OFF by gouging them ridiculously ... on average I seen a 1,000 primers for average of 200.00 to 250.00 and thats without the HAZMAT fee they make you pay on top of the regular shipping costs :-O
@@Journey4SureKnowledge-N-Wisdom I, too, have had the same "sticker shock" looking at the Gun Broker auction prices. I just want to reload ammunition --not buy a bag of gold coins! Among my circle of gun owning friends, everyone is in agreement that they will not be doing any shooting for the foreseeable future. It's no trouble expending ammunition -- now just try and replace it. Of late, for example, I have seen two shooting supply companies offering a brick (500 rounds) of .22LR for $160.00 (!!!). I don't begrudge someone making a fair profit but please don't try and retire single handily off of me!!!
I'm glad that for the past 30 years during my range trips I have been a "brass magnet" and scrounged all the cases I could find. Those cases along with the supplies I have "rat holed" have been a real life saver. Of late, I have chuckled at some reloading supply firms having big special sales on reloading equipment -- so what if you can buy this or that press, powder scale, etc., at a very appealing discount price if there are no components (let's start with primers and powder but bullets and brass have also been catch as catch can) to be had. Granting that this situation might improve I do not foresee that being any time in the near future. As a not totally unrelated aside, I vividly recall a comment I read several years back in one of the reloading web sites: "Invest in precious metals -- buy lead!!"
By the way -- I did NOT add the strikethrough in my previous posting.
One of the rip offs, what I consider is a rip off but is probably more accurately said as being another manipulation by the companies, that not many people see is going on is how the manufactures, businesses, retailers, etc will manipulate us into thinking their or that particular product is better than their competitor's product.
How many times have you seen it to realize what they're doing or you even bought a particular item to then see it's the EXACT SAME thing as the competitors item? By exact same, I mean EVERYTHING is the same other than the company's logo on the sticker, other labeling, retail box, etc.
What china does is mass produced a particular item whereby any company can then contact them to request and certain number of that item to be made and in by doing so, a company will send china their format for how they want their company's name, product's name, images, colors, etc to appear on the item itself and its retail box. So after that or even at the same time, another company was sending the same china factory their request to have a certain number of the item to be made for them and using their own criteria to be placed on the sticker, labeling, retail box, etc of the the exact same item as the other competitor.
I mainly have seen this in the reloading supplies with the vibratory case tumblers such as Cabelas is the exact same thing as Harbor Freight's and a few lesser known brands of the case tumblers, at least they once were but I'm not sure if they have since changed some things. The way I know this is that I bought one from Harbor Freight several years ago and from what I quickly learned, like much of what comes out of HF, is made in china junk that in this case lasted approx 4 months until it burned up and that is with minimal use and following the instruction to the T. I seen Cabela's had their vibratory case tumblers on sale a couple weeks after this happened and I bought it. Within minutes of opening and setting it up, I started getting that "hmmm something seems very familiar here" and so I got my burned -up HF case tumbler and set beside the Cabela's case tumbler and it's the EXACT SAME THING down to EVERYTHING other than the labeling on them. Can even see the very distinctive mold lines left over at the same locations from the process, everything is the exact same size and shape, and can see the other tell-tale things that leaves no doubt what-so-ever that they were made in the very same mold and went through the very same processes at the very same factory and the only thing that changed was at the end of the line when it was time for the item to get its labeling such as like said the stickers or if the company wanted an ink stamp on the item instead of a sticker, etc etc
This stuff has been WIDESPREAD throughout the market for over a decade. COUNTLESS items that HF has at their store is often the EXACT same item that Northern Tool and other places sells with their name on it. Will see Chicago Electric and other names on many of HF's items but then go to Northern Tool and MANY other companies to see the same item in every way, shape, and form but just has a different name used on them.Yes I have bought many of these things from each company and so I had them right in front of me and even took some of them apart to the things inside were even the same whereby having all of the same components inside.
So I find it to be a bunch of bullschit for companies and/or people to say one item is better than the other, from these companies and situations that I'm saying, when the items are identical. Please keep in mind that I never said or implied that every item that places like HF sell is the exact same as every item another place sells.
My bum hurts now. I just got swindled on all these items lol
Welcome to the glamourous world of firearms ownership ha ha.
I bought 35lbs of walnut reptile bedding for 17$ on amazon
Can't beat that.
Citric acid also cleans your toilet better than anything else can.
Truth!
Media can be cleaned and recycled.
Yeah it's ridiculous to me how these people that supposed to be a gunners friend overcharged for this stuff so bad just out to make a buck
Amen, Timothy. I don't begrudge anyone their right to earn a living but there's a difference between making a profit and just bald-faced exploiting your customers.
Yes indeed.
Capitalism!
"Off-ten"
You can also fill your bag rests with pet bedding walnut
I use rice but that's a great idea. I always worry about mice deciding to make a lunch of it; maybe walnut would be a better choice.
anyone buying from bass proshops for reloading stuff, deserves whatever he gets. they have to be the highest priced store anywhere.
I've seen a few independently owned gun-stores price this stuff so high it practically needs a flight plan.
50 pound bag of walnut for 20 bucks at Clemtex
Better not have any Cats in the house where you store that corn cob or walnut media....
I was able to buy medium crushed walnut shell at a Mom and Pop tool supply. 25 bucks for 50 lb. sack.
Good god, man, that's an incredible deal! Well done.
Thanks. Was about a year ago so price might have gone up a bit since then. Al's supply house in Chilliwack B.C. has it.
Great info I changed over to corn cob from walnut a year ago but my source went by by... so I had to find a better option. But I didn't want to go mail order. I have found a local source.
Always the way to do it if you can; especially with bulky/heavy materials that cost more to ship than they're worth.
17 dislikes from big walnut and corn cob.
lol
I buy ground walnut in 3000lb totes I run a sandblasting company
You win ;)
HF walnut blasting media, $25 for 25 lbs
I use a .45 ACP shell's worth of Lemi-shine from Walmart (less than $4 per bottle) and a tea spoon of Dawn. Everything comes out factory shiny. I clean a fair amount of brass and am still on my first bottle of Lemi.
Some of the UA-cam jocks tutoring on how to clean cases have clouds of dust rising from their tumblers, and eighth inch thick residue on the inside of it, when they open them up and remove the cases. My guess is they used lizard bedding or bird cage filler instead of tumbling media. They may have saved a couple bucks, but looks like they inhaled enough respiratory contamination, to shorten their lives by twice the savings.
Steadfast conservative. Conserve that money yeet