how can you tell when its time to change your media?

[trickyasafox]

i bought a frankford arsenal tumbler a few weeks ago and the thing is a champ! i've used the same bowl of media to tumble a little over 3500 cases so far, and i was wondering how do you know when its getting ready to change? i feel like the media is finer now then it was, but i don't know if that's just me. does anyone have a rough system for gauging when its time to toss this bowl and start fresh?

 

[dmftoy1]

What I tend to do is gauge it by how long it's taking to clean my brass. If it gets where I need 2-3 hours to clean 200 .45acp cases then I chuck it and put in new. It seems like brand new media will clean it up in an hour or so.

Just my .02

Regards,
Dave

 

[trickyasafox]

i can't tell if my cases are just dirtier or if they just won't come as clean but i am definatly using more brass polish. so i think that'll be my limit, right above 3k. not like the 5-7 bucks is really a bank breaker for 10lbs time to stop being penny wise and dollar folish anyone use rice? how's the lifespan on that? and how does it work with brass polish (i love that hornady stuff by the way)

 

[No4Mk1]

Tried rice and was dissapointed with it.

 

[Primersinmyshoe]

I'm with dmftoy1, using time needed to tell if media is "wore out". I do use Dillon case polish in the media, and it seems to extend the life of the corn cob that I use. If it takes more than 4 hours to make my 45acp cases shiny, then I dump it, and replace with new.

There's my 2¢, now you've got 4¢

 

[ulflyer]

Seems like Walnut lasts forever. Can't even remember how long I've been using mine. Tried some corncob for awhile, then went back to original batch of walnut. An hour if I want real shiney cases. Like the Duracell batteries it keeps............

 

[Dave R]

I have a different method of deciding when its time to change. When the "old" media is a lot darker than the 'new' media, I change it.

 

[JA]

I keep 3 plastic gallon wide mouth jars of corn cob. One contains new untreated corn cob,one has corn cob with brass polish,and third jar has dirty corn cob.
I use the untreated corn cob to clean the case lube off my reloads,corn cob with the brass polish to clean brass,and the dirty for those muddy really dirty range pick up brass. Once the range brass has run a few hours I tumble it in the corn cob with the brass polish to get it squeaky clean.
I use the corn cob with the brass polish till it gets black and I have to run the tumbler twice as long to clean the brass. Then the dirty corn cob is thrown away and the corn cob with the brass polish is poured into the dirty jar. The untreated corn cob is dumped into the tumbler, brass polish added,and after about 20 mins the polish is mixed in well it is poured into the corn cob with brass polish jar. New corn cob is poured into the untreated jar.
By using the 3 jar system and pre-cleaning really dirty brass in the dirty corn cob the corn cob with the brass polish lasts twice as long.
So the drop in cleaning speed is more of a indicator of when the corn cob needs to be changed than the way it looks/color.

 

[Strongbad]

I used to just go by color. When the brass turned a real dark green I'd chuck it., but that was when I was using Midway/Frankfort Ars. polish. I used Flitz on this last batch and it turned green instantly because of the Flitz. I've been using it for about 6 months or so, and it's still working well, but I also have lots of time to polish (let it run overnight etc.) so it's hard to tell if it's not working as well.

 

[ocabj]

When I reuse the walnut media / reptile bedding, I pour a tablespoon of mineral spirits in the tumber. Seems to work fairly well. Gets the cases polished nicely.

 

[W Turner]

I've used rice exclusively since I started reloading and it has worked great for me. I usually tumble 250 rds. of .45acp brass with 3 scoops of rice (scoop is a gatorade mix container) for 2-3 hours and most of my cases look brand new.

-I don't decap before tumbling. Rice is bad about getting in the flash hole if you do.

-Can't beat the price. I think I paid $8 for a 50lb bag at Sams.

-If SHTF, I can always use it as a back-up food source.....lol.


W

 

[ocabj]

-I don't decap before tumbling. Rice is bad about getting in the flash hole if you do.

I decap before tumbling because 1) it's nice to remove the primers which have all the lead in them so you don't make more lead dust while tumbling and 2) it's easy to get media out of the flash holes during the resizing process.

 

[WayneConrad]

GB Wire-Aide Wire Pulling Lubricant

If you don't want to tumble your brass post-sizing, and you don't like powder sticking to the inside of the case neck, you might give GB Wire
GB Wire-Aide Wire Pulling Lubricant a try.

In The Continuing Examination of Lubes..., Mark Trope found GB Wire-Aide produced less case stretch during resizing than the commercial resizing lubes he tested. I happened to have a quart of GB in my garage from the last time I pulled electrical wire, so last week I tried it on a batch of 7.62x39. It seemed to work great. The best part is that it dries dry, so that powder won't stick to it.

I still like to tumble it off, but I'll probably keeping using it just because, at $7/quart, it's a heck of a bargain.


Edited to add: I've since discovered that JB Lube may be corrosive.

 

[goon]

I decided it was time when my brass started coming out dirtier than it was when it went in.