Tumbler media.....at the pet store?

[tjhands]

I saw some other people talking about this on another thread. What exactly do you ask for at the pet store? One guy said it's lizard cage flooring. I'm all for saving a few bucks, but just wanted to know exactly what I will be looking for when I walk in the door. Thanks, as always.

[JoeHatley]

Ground walnut is usually sold in the "birdie litter" section of our local stores.

Works Great!!

Joe

[caz223]

Lizard litter= walnut
Corn cob is sold as bedding, and is exactly the same as the corn cob tumbler type stuff.

[tjhands]

Coooool, guys. Thanks!

[Zekewolf]

I've been to several different Petsmarts and other pet stores. The walnut's fine. The corn cob that I've seen is really coarse and is not appropriate for tumbling. Finely ground corn cob media can be bought cheaply in bulk at sandblasting supply stores.

[Mark whiz]

Lizard litter is great walnut media, but most of the corn cob you find sold in pet stores is quite a bit larger than "dedicated" reloading corncob.

BUT a cheap coffee grinder can knock the pet stuff down to size in short order...................just don't let "momma" catch ya doing it.

[ForksLaPush]

And here, I've been using rice. This sounds better. I wonder if my wife will notice that rice goes farther than it used to. Thanks for the info.

[tjhands]

Rice!!!

[Northwest Cajun]

Rice,
I might try it, I've beed using the pet shop corn cob but if you use anything smaller than 30 cal it's a pain in the a$$. I have a couple hundred .223 to do
Cajun

[partyguy816]

I asked this question a while back and I was told to get some media recharger / additive to put in it, but I don't know how true that is?

[caz223]

Yeah, the cheap midway brass polish made for media works great.
I leave it untreated until it gets a little dirty, then I add polish to it.
If it gets dirty then, I add a paper towel torn up into one inch pieces.
Then I let it tumble with the brass, until the brass is clean.
All the paper will be black and stuck together, and your media will be cleaner.
My media has lasted for ages.

I would assume that corncob works best untreated, but I haven't confirmed this personally.

[CaptainRazor]

The corncob stuff is actually called "small animal litter", you can find it in the hamster/gerbil section.
I have always used corncob myself, the walnut didn't work out so well for me.
The petstore litter is more coarse than the regular tumbler media, but to me, that is an extra benefit, it's big enough that it doesn't get jammed in the flash holes of deprimed cases, unlike the regular media.
I don't know about the walnut litter, but the corncob litter works just fine, if not better than the regular tumbler media.

[garbageman]

Rubbing Alcohol with the paper towel bits helps clean and keep the dust down when seperating the brass and media.

Pour about 1/8 of a bottle into your bucket and tear up the paper towel into small squares (don't remember if they gave particular size squares).

I read that somewhere and tried it.

Works real well too.

[maxwayne]

You can just add some auto polish, I prefer Turtle Wax myself.

[Cloudpeak]

Has anyone tried Kitty Litter or Floor Dry?

Cloudpeak

[Zekewolf]

Large corn cob yields less polishing surface area and I've found it to be a p.i.t.a. I use Midway polish with the initial batch of cc/walnut mix and refresh it with a cap of Nufinish mixed with a cap of mineral spirits.

[Guy B. Meredith]

PetSmart in our area sells corncob which the label claims to be 1/8". Works fine. I can usually polish a few thousand .38 spl brass with a bag of the cob and some Maguire's Metal Restorer.

[Paul B.]

1.The walnut shells from Petsmart work just fine but are quite dusty. Adding proper cartridge polishing media helps some, but is still dusty. The good news is it's a hell of a lot cheaper than the stuff Lyman sells.

2. Petsmarts corn cob is too large to be of much use. If the neck of the case is large enough, that stuff gets inside and its a primo PITA to have to dig it out. :barf:

3. Adding a tablespoon or two of 70 percent strength rubbing alcohol to corn cob media will make the job od degreasing cases much faster. It will also work with walnut shells, but not quite as good. You can use one of those little plastic cups that comes with some cold medicines like Nyquil. I can use a half a cup for my small tumbler and a full cup for my bigger tumbler.

4. Using auto polish to add shine to cases is a bad idea. Most auto polishes have ammonia as one of the contents, and ammonia attacks the brass weaking it.
Paul B.

[Guy B. Meredith]

The Maguire's product I use is free of ammonia. Also hard to find.

The 1/8" corn cob sold by PetSmart is smaller than the standard stuff and is marked accordingly.

I am a shopper and am inclined to say I'd like a better price on the corn cob than PetSmart offers, but realistically the cheaper stuff would probably require quantity purchases that would not make sense in terms of storage.

[tjhands]

Just thought I'd update this thread and say that the Lizard Litter from Petsmart works GREAT! Less than a buck a pound. Thanks for the advice!!!

[Russ5924]

The rice idea sounds good you can always pour it back in the bag when you are done with it,wife will never know

[drinks]

Tumbling emptys is the only thing that actually presents a lead hazard, the residue from the priming compound is a form of lead that is easily absorbed by contact, breathing it is especially bad. The lead compound builds up in the media and any dust from it would be bad for you.

I clean my cases by turning them with a Lee trimmer holder and giving them a quick squeeze with 0000 steel wool, stick a percolator brush in the neck and later clean the primer pocket over the trash can.

[Guy B. Meredith]

What is used in primers? I thought that lead azide had been used and abandoned. Is the current material a lead compound?

[BigSlick]

I have a vibratory Lyman Turbo 2500 magnum and Thumlers Tumbler rotary tumbler.

The Thumlers with ceramic media, one quart of water and one capful of cleaning concentrate leaves the entire case (inside, outside and primer pockets) spotless and squeaky clean.

Cleaning brass with wet ceramic, may seem like a PITA, but in reality, it's pretty simple. The Thumler rotary is QUIET and can run as long as you want to run it without overheating or wearing out prematurely. Tumble the brass, dump it and seperate the media, rinse well and let dry - ready to go.

The Lyman turbo vibratory tumbler is great too. I use TufNut from Lyman as a media. It is walnut with jewelers rouge mixed in. It does a great job of cleaning up funky looking brass. It does NOT clean primer pockets well. For pistol brass on a progressive, this isn't a big deal (to me). It cleans the inside of the case on some, on others only partially.

The Thumlers takes about 3 hours to clean everything. The Lyman takes from 2-8 hours to clean the brass to a good shine depending upon the condition going in. The only downside to the Lyman is that it is LOUD, and you still have to deal with the lead impregnated dust. A used dryer sheet helps keep the dust to a minimum.

I use an old (and I do mean old) FA tumbler with corncob and rubbing alcohol to remove case lube after loading. I tumble loaded cases about 15 minutes with a couple of tablespoons of alcohol. The brass comes out great. I also use a dryer sheet here to keep the dust to a minimum.

I use the stick and ceramic ball media from Sagebrush in the rotary. The ball is better for cases 40 cal and below or bottle necks.

If I had to live with one tumbler it would be the Thumlers hands down. It cleans inside the brass and primer pockets every time. You do want to deprime your brass before using the wet mix for cleaning. The water leeches thru the flash hole and rests in the primer. Not a huge deal if you are going to load the next day, but if you plan to clean up the brass and store it for future use, the water in the primer *can* cause some primer pocket corrosion to set in if left long enough.

I buy the corncob from a feed store. 50lb bag runs about $12. When I first inquired about it, the fellow working there said it would be too 'fine' (small) to do any good on brass. Nice guy, being so helpful and all, but totally wrong about the corncob. It works great.

I split a bag with a couple of shooting buddies. I still have a lot left after a year and a half.

FWIW

BigSlick

[MADISON]

Ask for WALNUT HULLS and CORN COB bedding.
You will usually find walnut hulls in 25 lb and corn cob in 15 lb bags so, you will need a garbage can[S] of some kind.