[Cesure]

I had my first experience tumbling brass and it wasn't pretty. I'd like to know what specifically I did wrong. I used a small cheap rock tumbler that has a volume of about 2 cups. Please don't tell that's what I did wrong. I'll scale up when my friend visits with a tumbler he's giving to me.

I tumbled sixteen old Norma .357 Magnum cases overnight in ground walnut shells. It's cat litter, but it's 100% walnut shells. I think I initially put too much media in, because after two hours there was little effect, so I reduced the amount of media to about 3/4 cup. When I pulled the cases the next morning, the media was fairly well pulverized. The primer pockets were clean. The exteriors were not shiny, but were fairly clean. The interiors were not at all clean. I thought I got all the media out by shaking each case, but some of the cases must have had media packed in pretty tight. I decided to soak the cases in straight vinegar and dish soap to get them cleaner. This made the exteriors much cleaner and almost shiny. The interiors still didn't look any cleaner and in the ones where the media was still packed in, a glob of wet media gelled.

So obviously, I need to get the media out better after tumbling. But I guess I thought the tumbling and the soaking should have cleaned the interiors better. How do I get them cleaner without having to hand scrub the inside of every case with a small bottle brush? Did I have too much media initially or two little afterwards?