Cleaning brass - crushed walnut vs. corn cob media
 

Just wondering, what do you guys use to clean your cartridge brass? I've been using crushed walnut media. While it gets the brass pretty clean, it leaves an ample amount of red dust on the brass and every nearby surface, such as my hands, clothes, and plastic containers. If I switch to corn cob media, will it clean as well while not leaving dust all over the place? Alternatively, is there a way to reduce the amount of dust produced by the walnut media?

the residue from the walnut media that sticks to the brass is grease/lube, add a few cleaning patches to the mix, they will absorb the grease, or do like I do use dry white rice, add 1 oz of car polish, 1 oz of alcahol, the smaller cases are a PIA to get the rice out of but they clean up good
RR

What cleaning patches would you recommend?

doesn't matter, the cloth will absord any oils
RR

TN are you using the treated media Like Lymans ?
I use the untreated corn cob and add a little of a car polish called Nu-finish.Some times you may also try putting in a cut up pieces of clothes dryer sheet to collect and hold down the dust but with treated media it may collect your treatment product in the media?
Nu-finish has no ammonia in it.

I also use rice just plain old white rice. There is one disadvantage to it well maybe you would say two really. If you tumble before you deprime it will break decapping pins when they hit a kernel in the flash hole. After you deprime some kernels will be caught in the flash hole but a little flat screw driver removes them.




I started with corn cob media and didn't like the dust and it would hang up in 224 and 6mm case mouths.










:D Al

Yes, I use Lymans treated media.

Interesting. How well does it clean compared to regular media?

TN rice is cheap so just try it and use you own opinion on how well it does.
I've tried it and i don't like how in gets jammed into some cases and it puts a dull shine on your brass unlike the shine from corn cob & some polish!
Get the untreated media it is less costly and add your own polish.
The dust you are getting is jewelers rouge in the media.

Rice cleans well.

Massive pain in the butt for .17rem and .204ruger, packs the cases full and they're a pain to empty out. Everything else, it's just a matter of clearing your flash holes.

I use the Lyman treated corn cob media. I haven't noticed any issues with dust, but I usually run the polisher with the lid closed, unless I'm picking the finished cases out of it. Right or wrong I also polish brass with the spent primer still in them. It usually keeps media from getting stuck in the flash hole.

I use walnut hulls myself for rather cleaner brass and corn cob for the really dirty then finish up with walnut hull. I get my walnut hull stuff at the pet store and it is for lizard cages. Cheaper than the Lyman stuff and I add just some car polish my brother gave me, no ammonia, like others have said. Bad juju for the brass.

I also don't like the rice. Didn't work as good as the others. And then I tried to re-use instead of just throwing it out. Even with hot sauce, it didn't make the pollo loco taste worth a darn!!!!!! :jaw::bash:

i used to put an old sock in there to help suck up the red stuff,,,
then i went ultra sonic...9 worked real well if u kept up the cleaning after every firing...
now i use stainless steel pins... which seems to do the best job
in cleaning...

wonder how steel shot would work?
RR

Just like burnishing beads I would guess ?

http://www.thomasnet.com/profile/005...203&cid=573756


RR - simple is always the best way ! :hail:

u could pic up a casing thats bin in the ground for a few years
put it in the stainless pin wash and u would think it just came out of the bag ...lol.
i think the pins are like 1mmx5mm long
so they can get into the primer pockets a lilttle...
back to the original poster ?...
i heard sum buying crushed walnut from pet shops for lizard cages
it doesnt have the rouge ( polish compound ) in it, if that helps...
i also have 2 vibratory tumblers and when i used to use them i used lymans walnut in one and lymans green corn cob in other.... the corn cob takes longer ....

i dont tumble my brass with the primers pushed out. i leave the fired ones in so the media wont get stuck in the primer space or flash hole. i clean the primer pockets out after tumbling with a primer pocket brush and the flash hole a reamer made for that job. i also use a clean bore brush to clean the inside of the necks to remove any powder residue. then im all set to reload.

Doesn't it get stuck just the same, though maybe not as much, when it enters the case from the mouth and into the flash hole as opposed to entering from the primer end? I would think that this would lead to damaged depriming pins and expander rods with it not having anywhere to go when being deprimed and resized.

I use crushed walnut shells and I deprime first. I inspect each case after cleaning anyway and remove any media in the flash hole. I made a tool for that. I took a screwdriver and ground both edges to form a point in the middle small enough to fit the flash hole and ground the remainder of the head so it will fit into the primer pocket. This way I can clean the primer pocket and clear the flash hole at the same time.
But this is the first time I heard of putting some patches in the media. I'm going to have to try that trick.

Best of all, ultrasonic with citric acid and a little dishwashing detergent.

the flashhole is a lot smaller than the primer pocket. by leaving the spent primers in the casings the media cant get stuck in either hole. found that if you use a primer pocket tool attached to a drill and on slow speed, the job of cleaning the primer pocket is done nicely. also use a flash hole reamer to clean out the flash hole. this job i dont use the drill. i dont get in a hurry when reloading as i enjoy taking time to do the job right. now if you are doing a lot of reloading then its every man for himself.