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Old September 8, 2018, 02:26 PM   #1
gregnsara
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Cleaning media

I've been using pet bedding as cleaning media. I recently cleaned my first batch of .223. Cleaned up fine, but now I have 150 casings that are full of cleaning media that I have to dig out. I've read that lizard bedding makes for a finer cleaning media. Anybody have experience with lizard bedding? Is there a certain brand that's better than another?
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Old September 8, 2018, 03:33 PM   #2
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Why are you having to "dig it out"?

I use corn cob and crushed walnut and it never gives me any issues falling out of any brass I tumble. See if the bedding you're using is similarly made.
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Old September 8, 2018, 03:38 PM   #3
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Yes, get the Zilla brand ground up English walnut shells lizard media. It is very fine and will not clog. Available from pet stores. If you are adding polish, make sure the polish is finely distributed throughout the media before tumbling. If it remains in clumps the results can be as you have experienced.
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Old September 8, 2018, 04:57 PM   #4
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Or just buy tumbling media from Sportsman's Warehouse, Midway, etc.
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Old September 8, 2018, 05:31 PM   #5
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I bought a 25 pound bag of fine walnut blasting media from Harbor Freight 8 years ago. I still have 5 pounds left. It was less than $28 with tax included. If I buy more media that is what I will get.
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Old September 8, 2018, 05:36 PM   #6
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1) How exactly are you currently separating/trying to separate your media from your tumbled brass?

2) Are you adding something to your media, like car polish?
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Old September 8, 2018, 06:07 PM   #7
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Did the exact same thing.

Yep, one of my first case cleaning attempts involved "pet bed" corn cob media and hours of digging out 223 cases.

Switched to crushed walnut and it works better save that if you deprime before you clean you have to check the primer hole to make sure it's not clogged.

I have the Franklin Rotary cleaner now and can use steel pins with water and soap etc. That route really makes them shinny and clean but is a pain if you don't have the big magnet designed to pick up the pins and a sink somewhere that you can make a mess. I usually only do the steel pins when I have a whole barrel full of 9mm. Most all else gets tumbled with the walnut shell media.

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Old September 8, 2018, 10:08 PM   #8
CDR_Glock
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gregnsara View Post
I've been using pet bedding as cleaning media. I recently cleaned my first batch of .223. Cleaned up fine, but now I have 150 casings that are full of cleaning media that I have to dig out. I've read that lizard bedding makes for a finer cleaning media. Anybody have experience with lizard bedding? Is there a certain brand that's better than another?


I use a sifter that separates media from brass. I collect the media in a plastic Home Depot bucket.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro
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Old September 9, 2018, 12:24 AM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Prof Young View Post
Yep, one of my first case cleaning attempts involved "pet bed" corn cob media and hours of digging out 223 cases.

Switched to crushed walnut and it works better save that if you deprime before you clean you have to check the primer hole to make sure it's not clogged.

I have the Franklin Rotary cleaner now and can use steel pins with water and soap etc. That route really makes them shinny and clean but is a pain if you don't have the big magnet designed to pick up the pins and a sink somewhere that you can make a mess. I usually only do the steel pins when I have a whole barrel full of 9mm. Most all else gets tumbled with the walnut shell media.

Life is good.
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It was just that experience that caused my switch to The FART and pins. I started with corn cob, added walnut, even threw in some dry rice based on a recipe I picked up from YouTube. Didn’t matter....I still had to sit with a toothpick and poke out hundred of Primer holes...and I still had plenty of media inside my cases that fell out into the Berry’s boxes I use to sort and store clean brass. I’d imagine 223 is even worse since you can’t see inside the cases as easily.

However, I simply use my kitchen sink. No mess, no fuss. The few pins that fall in the sink are stopped by the strainer basket over the drain. Today I did 900 rounds of mixed 45/40/9 (won’t do that again) and didn’t even bother to pull out the magnet. I do have the Frankford Arsenal strainer and the Bucket with rotating media separator. Pour out 90% of water, refill and rinse. Repeat. Repeat again. Pour drum contents into FA strainer over bucket, rinse and stir to get 80% of pins to bottom of bucket. Transfer into FA media separator basket and spin inside water filled bucket. Pull apart nested shells, sort shells into repurposed frozen dinner microwave trays and dump pins into basket. Put towel inside strainer. Add 9mm, fold over towel, add 40S&W, fold over towel, add 45ACP, last fold.

Empty bucket into sink, preserving pins, pour residual water and pins into repurposed Planters Mixed Nut plastic jar which could hold 12-13 pounds of stainless pins so holds my 5lbs perfectly. Folded paper towels in the bottom of jar soaks up significant amount of water. Empty wet pins into heavy duty stainless frying pan...set to medium heat, stirring pins till dry. Brass spread onto stainless cookie sheets, set oven to 170 degrees. Heat for 10 minutes then allow to cool inside oven. Cool pins, pour back into dry nut jar. Recover brass when cool, store as necessary. Fin.
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Old September 9, 2018, 05:57 AM   #10
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i've used corncob and walnut hull media for decades: Never had serious problems. Sometimes the primer hole is plugged; its poked out with a paper clip.

After cleaning, my cases and media are poured into a cheap plastic colander resting on a 5gallon bucket. A little shaking and the media is gone.
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Old September 9, 2018, 10:19 AM   #11
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To much polish? Never had this issue and I use lizard bedding being its easy to grab when Im at the pet store....all the time...

If you have a vibratory tumbler, pop the lid off, turn it on an hold a case on the stem that you screw the lid to. This will quickly shake any media out.
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Old September 9, 2018, 10:28 AM   #12
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I have a hand trim tool for 225 that has a pin in the end that is gangbusters for poking out the media i the primer hole.

I do it while I am cleaning out the primer pocket on the prep tool

Liquid seems to be a whole lot of mess and fuss unless you have water and a sink in your shop.

Not something I would bring into the Kitchen, there is some rasty stuff in that water when done.
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Old September 10, 2018, 10:26 PM   #13
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I have never in 10 years of using fine walnut sandblasting media ever had to clean media from a single flash hole. Hundreds of thousands of cases cleaned. I only had to remove media when I used tough nut by Lyman. The red stuff is coarse and large. The natural colored stuff is still too large. The fine sand blasting media has worked well.
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Old September 11, 2018, 05:22 PM   #14
hdwhit
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Quote:
gregnsara wrote:
Cleaned up fine, but now I have 150 casings that are full of cleaning media that I have to dig out.
First, dry your cases before tumbling.

Second, realize that pet bedding that "includes" walnut or corn cob is not 100% walnut or corn cob, but largely ground-up newspaper.

Third, stop trying to be cheap. Buy 100% walnut or corn cob media from someone like Midsouthshhoterssupply.com or MidwayUSA.com and pay few extra cents per pound to get 100% the "REAL" stuff so you don't have to dig media out of cases.
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Old September 11, 2018, 05:45 PM   #15
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I agree with HDWHIT...100% walnut media from Midway has worked fine for me in a vibratory tumbler. I have never had a problem with media stuck in the flash hole.
I switched to stainless steel pins and wet tumbling about a year ago. Much cleaner brass in much less time.
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Old September 17, 2018, 12:52 PM   #16
gregnsara
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Well, I'm not just trying to be cheap, I've been off work for a while and money is tight. I ended up getting lizard bedding and it works excellently. It's also very inexpensive, I could get 2 bags of it for less than 1 bag from Midway.

Last edited by gregnsara; September 17, 2018 at 01:13 PM.
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Old September 17, 2018, 01:18 PM   #17
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The problem with pet bedding is it's not the right size for case cleaning.
After 50 years of trying all manner of DIY stuff from rice , grits , sand , rock polishing media , kitty litter and several reptile beddings ...I have found that in the long run the best and least expensive is the treated walnut brass polishing media sold by Midway .
It may be called Frankford Arsenal but it's Midway's .
It doesn't clog up , it's treated and lasts a long time....just use it, nothing DIY is better. The Midway stuff is cheaper in the long run ...trust me !
Gary
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Old September 17, 2018, 05:38 PM   #18
gregnsara
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The reptile bedding I've been using is almost as fine as sand and works like a dream. No clogging whatsoever. I just can't justify paying 10 or 12 bucks shipping to get something that I can easily grab when I go through town. That being said, sometime when I'm at a Cabela's or Bass Pro I probably will grab some actual media. The closest one of those is over 2 hours from me. The stuff I got looks like it's gonna last quite a while though. Thanks to everyone for their advice, I appreciate it.
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Old September 18, 2018, 04:50 PM   #19
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"Fine as sand".....anyone ever try clean washed sand?
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Old September 19, 2018, 02:47 PM   #20
condor bravo
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No but it might work. Give it a try, the sand, and let us know.
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Old September 19, 2018, 07:05 PM   #21
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in my opinion sand would be a bad idea, the reason we clean cases is to remove that sort of thing. Sand will have hard granules that will most likely scratch your brass and dies. The walnut and corn cob will not.

I've used the lizard litter with mixed results. first bag I used worked well, second had so much dust in it that I had stuck 9mm cases even after blowing them off with compressed air. I had to re-tumble 1500 cases. it cleaned the cases to a bright finish, but you could see a film of super fine dust. after sizing 50 or so I had a major die replacing type of issue.

The sand blast type of walnut you can get from harbor freight or others has better quality control of particulate size. if you deprime before tumbling your range brass you will get cornels stuck in flash holes. If you tumble off lube after sizing you will get same. Corn cob to tumble off the case lube works better for me. walnut to clean fired cases because it is harder material and works well with the carbon residue. cob to finish polish before loading is working well for me. cob is easier to push out of flash holes than walnut.

to keep your media cleaner try using something to absorb the dirt and dust. lots of folks use dryer sheets, cut up rags, paper towel, and sponges. clean media works best. also adding some wax to the mix seems to be a good idea, your basic car polish or something, not sure I don't use it. the lanolin in my case lube seems to do ok.

my 2 cents
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Old September 19, 2018, 07:47 PM   #22
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I clean so much brass that I've really put my redneck brain to work over the years looking for shortcuts/better ways. I use walnut media when I vibrate but still check flash holes. However, invested in the Thumler some years back and lucked on to an oblong strainer at Bed, Bath and Beyond. It is large and fits over a 5 gal bucket perfect. After the Thumler I pour the brass and pins into the strainer and use the magnet. Works really good. 6 drops of Dawn, 6 drops of laundry detergent, and cream of tarter makes brass look like new. When I go to this effort there is no need to vibrate in walnut. However, you still have to check flash holes for pins.

Nah, don't frequent BBB, don't go there...
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Old September 19, 2018, 08:39 PM   #23
gregnsara
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I use a cut up dryer sheet and car polish with the lizard bedding and it takes care of the dust. The first batch was a little dusty but I've cleaned several batches since with no dust problem. As I said, when I get to a real sporting goods store I'll get some real cleaning media. I just have to use what I can afford at the moment though.
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Old October 9, 2018, 06:36 PM   #24
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I use pet bedding, never had any issues. make sure the shells are dry first, other wise the media will stick inside the shell.
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Old October 10, 2018, 06:31 PM   #25
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given enough time and grime, any organic tumbling media will powder and clog..... First corn cob media I used was imbedded with red jeweler's rouge and I used it to death at which point that red crap filled every nook & cranny - never again.......

I have a few gallons of corn cob , but I only use it to pre-clean really dirty outdoor range brass any more. Corn cob never cleaned all the GSR out of the insides of the case for my liking. Crushed pecan and crushed walnut was only marginally better. If you're still using these - put a square piece of an old cotton dish towel into the tumbler before adding media and lastly brass - the cloth you'll throw away each time - it'll catch and hold your fine particulates and prevent most of your clogging.

I had planned to try using pulped bamboo had I not gotten my wet tumbler, but didn't get around to it beyond having a piece of it in the garage waiting to be cut up to try to make my own media.

Otherwise - I'm wet tumbling with stainless steel pin media in a weak acid solution to remove tarnish and GSR - it does the best for me.

Issue with wet tumbling is chemistry which you'll learn over time. detergents and a piece of cloth with the SS media will remove oils and grime build up. Polishing fluids and/or lemishine with your SS media will remove your tarnish. Every 5th or 6th load needs to be a detergent run to remove oils and sludge from your drum followed by a shorter regular polishing load.

I remove primers before tumbling, some others here don't. I've not found a primer pocket problem tumbling out yet and prefer pristinely clean primer pockets when reloading to prevent any GSR flake blocking the primer blast.
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