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hey guys- sorry for the dumb question but what is an average time to tumble pistol brass ?

There are no dumb questions but Boy Howdy, you should see some of the answers.

I tumble my pistol cases a couple of hours or so with a cap of car polish. Do a search for "tumbling" in this forum and you'll be overwhelmed with info and opinons.

Pssst, you got any pistol primers?

Look out now. Some of them answers are mine.

If it is range pick up like I get a lot of & dirty I add a couple of hrs. Use polish too.

hey guys, thanks for the info and your right i did a "tumbling" search and wow it sounds like maybe i should take my brass to the carwash !!!

A couple of more questions: how ofton do youchange your media ? If you don't tumble for awhile can you save used media in a zip lock? and last but not least once you have tumbled how do you seperate your media from clean brass without buying a seperator etc. ???

I'm using the same media I started with last fall but I'm not a production reloader. I'll be interested in the answer to this question as well as hear comments on Walnut vs Corn Cob media.

I change my tumbling media after every 1000 reloads. I use a squirt of Turtle Wax brand Liquid Clay Bar with each cycle.

As far as my other media, I haven't changed it since Fox news first went on the air...

You tumble until it's clean enough for your needs.

I am not making jewelry, so I tumble for a half hour or so to remove grit (rifle), then size, and it there is an unacceptable level of carbon and/or tarnish, I put them back in the tumbler for a couple of hours. Check and tumble more if needed. Repeat as necessary...

For pistol brass I do all the tumbling before sizing, but with the same check periodically and continue.

Media lasts a lot longer than you think, but it starts taking longer and longer to clean... Once again, find your own preference. I get probably 7-14 days of total tumbling time from my vibratory unit before I toss the media depending on how grungy of cases I am trying to clean up.

Tumble till it is as clean as you want it. Here's a few tips I'v picked up over the years.

Grungy range brass. Decap with a DECAPING die soak in a mixture of 1 Qt white vinegar and 1 tablespoon salt for about 30 minutes, Rinse well with hot water and set out in the sun to dry or, put in oven at 200 degrees until dry. Tumble as usual.

Media, you can use the ready mix or you can make your own, I prefer to do the latter. I buy corn cob and walnut hull at the pet store, it is sold for litter in bird cages etc. Add the polish of your choice (Turtle Wax is good) go to town. Medium grain rice makes a good media for cleaning very dirty brass and is cheap. Don't use Brasso the ammonia in Brasso will weaken your brass. If I am wanting really shiny brass I do it in two steps, first run in walnut second in corn cob. Walnut is more aggressive corn cob polishes better.

I use an old basket out of a deep fryer for a separator. You can also build a simple wooden frame and attach hardware cloth to sift your brass and media. Use the 1/4" mesh the 1/2" mesh won't hold all the brass back.

concur i tumble till its clean enough for me, which is purt near new looking.
our range is outside so all of my brass gets a bit of sand
it get tumbled in my dirty media first then the tumble in the cleaner stuff, as it ages the clean goes in the dirty bucket and the dirty goes in the yard, for some reason it keeps the deer out of my gardens ????

MoJo wrote: Media, you can use the ready mix or you can make your own, I prefer to do the latter. I buy corn cob and walnut hull at the pet store, it is sold for litter in bird cages etc. Add the polish of your choice (Turtle Wax is good) go to town. Medium grain rice makes a good media for cleaning very dirty brass and is cheap.

MoJo, Is there some reason not to use medium grain rice for fairly clean brass that need a bit of a polish? Does it leave micro-scratches or something? I really like your ideas and was wondering if other things around the house would make satisfactory media, like maybe rice and sawdust. What other things have you tried? I'd like to learn from your experience at this as I have never experimented in this area before.

I use corncob media with Dillon polish, I usually run my brass a couple of hours. I have a Dillon vibratory cleaner and a Dillon separater. Before I bought the separater I used a couple of methods, one was an old kitchen colander, it worked bet was messy. If you use a Dillon separater you won't use anything else.

Gyrogearhead wrote:

MoJo wrote: Media, you can use the ready mix or you can make your own, I prefer to do the latter. I buy corn cob and walnut hull at the pet store, it is sold for litter in bird cages etc. Add the polish of your choice (Turtle Wax is good) go to town. Medium grain rice makes a good media for cleaning very dirty brass and is cheap.

MoJo, Is there some reason not to use medium grain rice for fairly clean brass that need a bit of a polish? Does it leave micro-scratches or something? I really like your ideas and was wondering if other things around the house would make satisfactory media, like maybe rice and sawdust. What other things have you tried? I'd like to learn from your experience at this as I have never experimented in this area before.

The rice doesn't polish as well as walnut hull and corncob but boy does it clean! Put a little chrome polish in with it or even some dry Bon Ami scrubbing powder and see all the black and tarnish dissapear! I use rice on grungy range brass that has been out in the weather or is muddy.

There are a lot of things that will work that are free or low cost. As you mentioned, sawdust especially hardwood sawdust will polish to an almost jewel like finish if that's what you want. I just want my brass clean and semi shiney for the most part. To speed up the cleaning you can add a few wooden blocks to the tumbler also. Something like some 1X2 cut 2" long 6-8 of them will really keep things stirred up.

I tried tumbling with rice but it just made a big mess. Tried two kinds, steamed and fried rice, both just gummed everything up.

tfrazier wrote:I tried tumbling with rice but it just made a big mess. Tried two kinds, steamed and fried rice, both just gummed everything up.