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What's the best cleanning media and size?


AzoneHits

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I've been using the corn cob media for so long since I got a bunch of it when I bought it and is now running out. I'm looking into buying the walnut for cleaning my brass and wanted to know which media is the best and what size do I need to get. Thanks in advance.

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Crushed walnut "reptile bedding" found at pet stores such as Walmart or Petco is the cheapest I have found. And a couple of capfulls of NuFinish car polish- also cheap at Walmart. It just doesn't pay to buy the "reloading media and polish" unless you are donating to the gun industry.

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Crushed walnut "reptile bedding" found at pet stores such as Walmart or Petco is the cheapest I have found. And a couple of capfulls of NuFinish car polish- also cheap at Walmart. It just doesn't pay to buy the "reloading media and polish" unless you are donating to the gun industry.

That's what I use

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Crushed walnut "reptile bedding" found at pet stores such as Walmart or Petco is the cheapest I have found. And a couple of capfulls of NuFinish car polish- also cheap at Walmart. It just doesn't pay to buy the "reloading media and polish" unless you are donating to the gun industry.

That's what I use

Same here with a few capfulls of mineral spirits.

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I buy my corn cobb and walnut media from an industrial supply house that sells it for sand blasting media. You may find it at welding supply places also. The corn cobb is specified as 14-20 and the walnut hulls are speced as 20-30. I think the numbers relate to the sieve opening size used to screen the media. I don't remember exactly what I paid but do remember it was significantly cheaper than buying the same material as brass cleaning media. It comes in 50# bags. Once I open a bag I store the remainder in 5 gal buckets.

I start fresh media cleaning loaded rounds. When it gets too dirty for that I move it to polishing clean cases and when unsuitable for that it's relegated to cleaning dirty range brass before it is discarded.

Keith

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While I'm learning good stuff from the shadows, I thought I'd jump in here and ask how often do you replace a bowl-full of media...when it stops cleaning, after a couple runs, after alot?

THX

I change mine once or twice a year, which is probably 10k rounds or so.

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I have been mixing 50/50 corncob and walnut recently. The corncob I found at Walnut works well but it a little large and the walnut is smaller so it seems to help. I add alittle of whatever cleaner wax I last used on the truck, keeps everything rotating.

I pitch the used media (actually a good bit gets used for bullet casting flux) after cleaning 5-6 thousand rounds, or as soon as I start seeing much dust coming off from the separator. I am not crazy about breathing the stuff!

I should also say that I run 2 cheap Frankford Arsenal tumblers and if I need to run them longer to get whatever level of cleanliness I want I do it...If I ever manage to wear one out, $35 gets another one here in short order.

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I pitch the used media (actually a good bit gets used for bullet casting flux) after cleaning 5-6 thousand rounds, or as soon as I start seeing much dust coming off from the separator. I am not crazy about breathing the stuff!

You got that right - cleaning media is inexpensive enough that it should be changed out often. Like some kind of idiot I didn't change mine for 3 years and it was super dusty. Should've changed it way sooner. I have elevated lead levels and I think dust from my media has been a large source of that problem.

~Mitch

Edited by UW Mitch
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I was tipped to add a used dryer sheet to my tumbling media. It seems to collect the dirt and dust. I just add one to each new batch of tumbled brass and throw the old away. Cut up paper towels works also.

My media is walnut hulls (pet store) with a squirt of nufinish.

Keith

Edited by midvalleyshooter
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