Tumbling media

My most recent couple of batches of cases to be cleaned I ended up having some clumps of media stuck in the case.

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Is the media corn cob?

Any liquid (even residual moisture) involved?

In Post #19, Gloob, said corn cob media doesn't "wear out". Technically that's not accurate, but I think the point he was trying to make was that corn cob polishes by virtue of its fibrous structure, not sharp edges that gradually wear down as is the case with walnut shells. That fibrous structure can (for want of a better term) "relax" in the presence of moisture and then being subject to agitation adjacent fibers can get pushed together before the fibers "tighten up" again resulting in the clumps. Please note that this is my understanding of how the material would behave in a particular situation; I haven't experimentally verified that's actually what happens.

There was another post about corn cob behaving the same way a few months ago and I think the OP on that one ended up buying some cheap dental picks/probes from Amazon to clean the clumps out of his brass.

What grit walnut?

BigMacMI said:

Decided to hit an older thread vs start a new thread. I am using walnut media.

Cleaned a few hundred 223. media poured right out. No problem

Few rounds of 50 cases of 9mm. Poured out just fine (few in flash holes... not my concern currently)

I have cleaned out the media/replaced (probably way before many of you would).

My most recent couple of batches of cases to be cleaned I ended up having some clumps of media stuck in the case. I ended up having to break them up and kind of scrub them out to make sure they were free of debris.

Interested if anyone knows why this was happening? Static? I am tumbling a set right now with fresh media... which didn't help last time... Has anyone else had this problem? I guess $30 for different media shouldn't be such a big deal... but the idea is to save a bit of money eh?

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It's actually preferred to start a new thread.

Sure as God made little green apples someone will come along and reply to one of the 9 year old posts.

Return just the tumbled cases to the tumbler, with no media, and run it for a minute or two.
That will loosen up/shake out any media caught inside the cases.
works for me,

Clumping/stuck media is usually caused by putting the brass in before the polish has a chance to properly mix in the media. When adding polish, run the tumbler for about 20 minutes before adding brass, to let the polish disseminate thoroughly. You won't have any clumping after that.

Hope this helps.

Fred

ReloaderFred said:

Clumping/stuck media is usually caused by putting the brass in before the polish has a chance to properly mix in the media. When adding polish, run the tumbler for about 20 minutes before adding brass, to let the polish disseminate thoroughly. You won't have any clumping after that.

Hope this helps.

Fred

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This is what I was thinking also. I've had the clumping too from not mixing the polish/media long enough.

Swampman said:

What grit walnut?

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Zilla works for me
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000OQRGF...colid=6T86R8UM8FZ3&coliid=I67ENUQQ2VPZ8&psc=1

I use walnut media, put polish on a used dryer anti-static cloth, wad it up and push it into the middle of the media, cover it up and then load my cases. That process has stopped any clumps that gets into my cases and dry during the cleaning.

gojones said:

put polish on a used dryer anti-static cloth, wad it up and push it into the middle of the media,

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^^^^^This^^^^

gojones said:

I use walnut media, put polish on a used dryer anti-static cloth, wad it up and push it into the middle of the media, cover it up and then load my cases. That process has stopped any clumps that gets into my cases and dry during the cleaning.

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That's what I do as well. Works just fine.

I cut the USED dryer sheet into 2" strips and throw them into the media. They work better and remove most if the dust and dirt from the media.

One of many reasons that I use a rotary tumbler (Thumler's Model B) with water and Tide.

BigMacMI said:

Decided to hit an older thread vs start a new thread. I am using walnut media.

Cleaned a few hundred 223. media poured right out. No problem

Few rounds of 50 cases of 9mm. Poured out just fine (few in flash holes... not my concern currently)

I have cleaned out the media/replaced (probably way before many of you would).

My most recent couple of batches of cases to be cleaned I ended up having some clumps of media stuck in the case. I ended up having to break them up and kind of scrub them out to make sure they were free of debris.

Interested if anyone knows why this was happening? Static? I am tumbling a set right now with fresh media... which didn't help last time... Has anyone else had this problem? I guess $30 for different media shouldn't be such a big deal... but the idea is to save a bit of money eh?

Click to expand...

Wondering what kind of media separator you used, perhaps too briefly. The rolling ball type from Frankford Arsenal does a good job for me at shaking things loose.

cheygriz said:

One of many reasons that I use a rotary tumbler (Thumler's Model B) with water and Tide.

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I have put a hold on washing brass while evaluating whether corrosion of spent primers might be a factor in unreliable decapping. Not considering decapping off the press, so no thanks for any such suggestion.

Seems to me that media that is too coarse could easily jam up the case opening. Clumping though would have to involve some residual moisture...done that.

I have good luck with the lizard litter stuff. Or whatever it is.

wet washing and drying for 30+ years. Never had a problem of any kind.

cheygriz said:

wet washing and drying for 30+ years. Never had a problem of any kind.

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At what point in the process do you decap? Do you reload 223, as in the OP's case? Everything has a context.

9mmepiphany said:

That would be a function of your drying process

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I use a dehydrator right after washing. Runs 2 hours at 154 degrees, with convection. Stored with dessicant in sealed bags.

I do sonic cleaning most of the time but if sometimes I tumble. I have tried all sort of media in my life
and settled with the brass itself. Depending on the case you might use 22LR cases to clean pistol cases and
you can also use shredded 22LR cases (made media) and copper wire clippings. It takes only a couple of hours to get
a large bag and it is virtually free. I prefer this over the stainless media because I don' have to worry if I miss
a bead being fired later down the bore.
I don't think it is the shiniest but it is super clean and I don't use any abrasives and wash the brass anyway.
I think it is a matter of using the right density but brass and copper against brass is very efficient yet non abrasive.
But even if you don't do sonic just washing is a lot better than some of the media that can leave a lot of gunk and abrasive
dust behind and will be a good idea to wash anyway.
Again I don't care about the shiniest brass, just well cleaned cases.

If your going to use dry media get the 40/20 mesh size. It's small enough to fall through the primer holes. Again Zilla is how they recycle the waste. Good media will have very little dust, the edges will be sharper for faster cleaning. I use a 50/50 mix of corncob and fine walnut blast media in my tumbler. I also use the SS wet system too. The use of a couple of cleaning patches, cut paper towels, and drier sheets all work in help controlling dirt left behind from the cleaning operation.

1stmarine, Good idea on using copper wire as a replacement. I may give that a go.

It does a good job and it is nonabrasive, nonperishable and virtually free....



Depending on what type of cases you want to clean and if brass is deprimed (primer pockets) you might
want to either use just copper clippings, shreaded brass or simply the 22LR brass cases that are free at the range bin.