The Firing Line Forums

Go Back   The Firing Line Forums > The Skunkworks > Handloading, Reloading, and Bullet Casting

Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Old April 9, 2012, 08:04 PM   #1
praetorian97
Senior Member
 
Join Date: May 9, 2011
Location: Boise, ID
Posts: 455
Tumbler mix

I know there are a lot of variables but how many cylces are you roughly getting out of your mix?

I'm doing 50/50 Corn and Walnut with some Berrys shine additive. 2 hour cycles on pistol brass. Curious how long I can go before having to change it out. So far I'm on my 4th cycle.
praetorian97 is offline  
Old April 9, 2012, 08:39 PM   #2
wncchester
Senior Member
 
Join Date: December 1, 2002
Posts: 2,832
Tumbling media works by rubbing, it doesn't really 'wear out'; if it's still in kernels instead of dust it will work fine.

When the kernels are coated with a dirty looking gray glaze it's time to quit adding polish and just add an ounce or so of mineral spirts/oderless paint thinner; that solvent will soften the hard glazed, dry polish and rejuvinate it. Or you could do as many others do; just say it's 'worn out', toss it and start over with too much polish until it's glazed over again.

The tumbler companies sell both cob and nut media because both work and there is no practicle difference between them. Some guys use straight cob and are happy, some use straight nut and are happy, some use a mixture just to make sure they use the 'right' stuff and are happy. ??
wncchester is offline  
Old April 9, 2012, 08:52 PM   #3
praetorian97
Senior Member
 
Join Date: May 9, 2011
Location: Boise, ID
Posts: 455
Thanks! I'm a sonic cleaner guy trying to figure out the art of tumbling.
praetorian97 is offline  
Old April 9, 2012, 09:35 PM   #4
jepp2
Senior Member
 
Join Date: December 24, 2008
Location: Loveland, CO
Posts: 1,476
I change my media when it gets really filthy. To prolong the life, I put paper towel strips in with the media to collect dust. But it gets to a point where the brass has a lot of grime left on the surface.

It will depend somewhat on how dirty your brass is to begin with. But well over 100 hours life is what I normally experience before changing it out.
jepp2 is offline  
Old April 9, 2012, 10:33 PM   #5
dacaur
Senior Member
 
Join Date: March 16, 2010
Posts: 733
Quote:
The tumbler companies sell both cob and nut media because both work and there is no practicle difference between them.
Corn cob makes my brass shinier than walnut....
dacaur is offline  
Old April 10, 2012, 11:16 AM   #6
Jim243
Senior Member
 
Join Date: January 5, 2009
Location: Just off Route 66
Posts: 5,067
Change mine about once every 6 months. Depends on how many cases are done and in what condition they are in and how often you tummble.

I will do 223 one day and 9mm the next and so on and so on. I get between 20 to 30 cycles (1 to 2 hours each) from my media before changes.

Jim
__________________
Si vis pacem, para bellum
Jim243 is offline  
Old April 10, 2012, 01:02 PM   #7
praetorian97
Senior Member
 
Join Date: May 9, 2011
Location: Boise, ID
Posts: 455
Thanks for piping in guys. I didn't think I would get that long of use out of my Mix.
praetorian97 is offline  
Old April 10, 2012, 06:19 PM   #8
m&p45acp10+1
Senior Member
 
Join Date: May 3, 2009
Location: Central Texas
Posts: 3,930
I have media that I have used for at least 5 months. In that time I have cleaned well over 35K pieces of brass. I have never ever had any clog a case, ir flash hole ever. I dab some NuFinnish Car Polish on a cleaning patch and drop it in the tumbler with walnut shell blasting media from HF. I do toss in torn up pieces of used dryer sheets as well. I change the media when clean looking brass leaves my fingers looking black after handling it. I still have well over half of the 25 pounds I bought over a year and half ago.

Note the brass comes out clean. More towards the slightly shining side. I do not care for super bling shining brass it does not shoot any better. I like to have the brass clean for trading off for other components.

Super cruddy rifle brass goes into the tumbler for a bit before lubing and sizing. Not so dirty stuff gets sonic cleaned after lubing, sizing, and trimming. I like the sonic cleaner better due to the fact that using my tumbler stirs enough dust to trigger my allergies for a couple of days afterwards. Though the tumbler still gets used quite a bit.
__________________
No matter how many times you do it and nothing happens it only takes something going wrong one time to kill you.
m&p45acp10+1 is offline  
Reply

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 08:42 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
This site and contents, including all posts, Copyright © 1998-2021 S.W.A.T. Magazine
Copyright Complaints: Please direct DMCA Takedown Notices to the registered agent: thefiringline.com
Page generated in 0.10332 seconds with 10 queries