Longevity of tumbling media?
 

I picked up a 25lb bag of crushed walnut from Petsmart today. How long do you all reuse your crushed corncob or crushed walnut media? How many shells can you clean on a single bowlful of tumbling media? Right now I have about 500 shells of .50 cal that I want to tumble (vibrate). I have a Lyman tumbler/vibrator and I have been using the Lyman corncob media that I bought with it.

Kindest Regards,

-Will in Maryland

RE: Longevity of tumbling media?
 

I have been using the same batch of Lyman crushed walnut for over three years and surprisingly, it still works well. I do probably 100 cases per week.

RE: Longevity of tumbling media?
 

I am lucky for corncob media to got thru 10 different cleanings (running 50 pieces of 44mag brass 10 different times).Especially if you use brass cleaner in it. It will get to the point where you have to vibrate for 4 hours to get clean. Time to toss.

RE: Longevity of tumbling media?
 

Bigcountry, that may end up being the route for me. I just got done tumbling 20 shell casingsof .50 last night for three hours (in corn cob), and they look almost clean.Some of the shells that I bulk purchased have some sort of a black lacquer smeared on them, the tumbler isn't talking it off, neither is the Nevr Dull polish unless you scrub at it for a long time. Looks like steel wool is destined for these particular shells.

Kindest Regards,

-Will in Maryland

RE: Longevity of tumbling media?
 

I have two tumblers because I shoot BP as well as smokless. The smokeless one I use corncob and maybe a little touch of Brasso and it will last along time. When it gets dirty enough to leave a little dust on the shells I replace it and take the old stuff and switch it to my BP tumbler. Add a teaspoon of ZUD or Bar Keepers Helper to it and the BP brass comes out spotless, but a tad dull.

How long either of them last is hard to tell, I just did 3K of dirty 9mm police range cases and since they are small the media looks about the same. Do that many rifle cases and things would be different.

Doug

RE: Longevity of tumbling media?
 

I put three used dryer sheets in the tumbler with every batch. The dryer sheets collect all the dirt and the walnut still looks brand new after many years. The dryer sheets are not reused in the tumbler.

I have heard that damp paper towel also works to collect the dirt.

RE: Longevity of tumbling media?
 

Anyone use rice for tumbling thier brass? Iv'e been told that plain white uncooked works well. It woukd be chaep and easy to get. Just woundering.

RE: Longevity of tumbling media?
 

I've been using the same media for3 years andreload about 500 rds/yr. My brass comes out very clean although I have to wipe it down with a rag to remove the surface grime. I'd be interested to know if dry rice works. That would be nice.