Changing corn cob media

[Don T.]

Ive been using about a Tablespoon (+,-) of Nu Finish car polish. I don't remember where I first heard it suggested, there's no ammonia in it and it works very well for me.

I also take a sheet of paper towel and cut it in quarters, then dump them in the tumbler before I start polishing. Most of the carbon sticks right to them. It keeps it a LOT cleaner in there. I've also heard of the dryer sheet trick that Steeltown Joe mentioned, but haven't tried it. Not sure if one works better than the other.

[YBNORMAL]

Originally Posted by Don T.

Ive been using about a Tablespoon (+,-) of Nu Finish car polish. I don't remember where I first heard it suggested, there's no ammonia in it and it works very well for me.

I also take a sheet of paper towel and cut it in quarters, then dump them in the tumbler before I start polishing. Most of the carbon sticks right to them. It keeps it a LOT cleaner in there. I've also heard of the dryer sheet trick that Steeltown Joe mentioned, but haven't tried it. Not sure if one works better than the other.

For what it's worth, I am noob to reloading and am just rotating my brass through the tumbler now. I started with 1000 rounds and polished all with just the media, then cleaned out the tumbler and did 500 with the dryer sheets. Then did 250 (of the second 500) with the Nu-finish and dryer sheets.

The first round, they came out looking good, but the tumbler was nasty.

Second round the brass didn't look noticably better but the media and the tumbler looked MUCH cleaner.

Third round, the brass looked fantastic as did the media and tumbler.

What can I say, I'm a sucker for proving theories.

I do wonder if I need to pick out every one of the media nuggets from the flash holes (just about every case), or can I just crush it out when I decap?

[Don T.]

Originally Posted by YBNORMAL

For what it's worth, I am noob to reloading and am just rotating my brass through the tumbler now. I started with 1000 rounds and polished all with just the media, then cleaned out the tumbler and did 500 with the dryer sheets. Then did 250 (of the second 500) with the Nu-finish and dryer sheets.

The first round, they came out looking good, but the tumbler was nasty.

Second round the brass didn't look noticably better but the media and the tumbler looked MUCH cleaner.

Third round, the brass looked fantastic as did the media and tumbler.

What can I say, I'm a sucker for proving theories.

I do wonder if I need to pick out every one of the media nuggets from the flash holes (just about every case), or can I just crush it out when I decap?

I just do that as a matter of fact. Paper clips work great.

I think it was Fingers80002 that suggested tumbling with the primers still in to me. That way nothing gets stuck in the flash hole. I did find this a little easier.

[YBNORMAL]

Originally Posted by Don T.

I just do that as a matter of fact. Paper clips work great.

I think it was Fingers80002 that suggested tumbling with the primers still in to me. That way nothing gets stuck in the flash hole. I did find this a little easier.

The problem I'm seeing is that I am tumbling with the primer still in and I still have a grain of media stuck in the flash hole. On a 223 case, it's going to be so tedious to get anything down there to get it out. So is it a good idea to just smash it out with the decaping die.......?

I'm kinda stuck, If I decap/resize before tumbling, the dies are hogged up, but if I clean first then decap, I will eather have to dislodge that grain from the neck (pita), or crush the grain with the decapping die, or just buy a universal decapping die and dicap without sizing the case.....

[Don T.]

Yeah, That'll take it out even easier than a paper clip. Just run them through the sizer.

[YBNORMAL]

Originally Posted by Don T.

Yeah, That'll take it out even easier than a paper clip. Just run them through the sizer.

Great, thanks

[geist262]

I always tumbled my brass after the resizing stage. so I always poke them(media) out with something. I also use a flash hole uniformer tool to remove burrs. I only do this once though.

[YBNORMAL]

Originally Posted by geist262

I always tumbled my brass after the resizing stage. so I always poke them(media) out with something. I also use a flash hole uniformer tool to remove burrs. I only do this once though.

Some say that doing it this way will hog up the dies, have you found that to be true?

[ham385]

Do you guys keep a 2nd batch of media specifically for getting the sizing lube off the cases? Seems to me like it would make the media go bad quickly.

I'm new to this, just got my tumbler 2 weeks ago, and currently i'm reloading 9mm, so no need for sizing lube yet, but I plan on starting .223 soon.

Oh, and can you use walnut to clean the sizing lube off, or just corn cob?

[geist262]

Originally Posted by YBNORMAL

Some say that doing it this way will hog up the dies, have you found that to be true?

I never had a problem with the dies as long as you don't go heavy with the case lube. I may try tumbling them twice. Once when I get them all empty. Then once again after resizing/decapping. Harbor freight had some tumblers pretty cheap at their store.