How often to replace media in a brass cleaning tumbler

I think it was five or six years ago that I bought a "Thumler's Tumbler" for cleaning my brass, then got a box of the cleaning media, and a bottle of Lyman "Turbo Brite" Brass Polish for Untreated Shell or Corn Cob Media.  It doesn't seem to clean my brass as well as it used to.

How often are we supposed to replace the media?  I guess I shoot a thousand or so cases a year, maybe, mostly 38 and 45.  I have a feeling I should have replaced the media long ago.

If I remember correctly, my brass used to come out shiny brass color - now it comes out looking not that much cleaner than when I put it in the tumbler.  I usually let it tumble for an hour or so - I think that's what I was advised to do a long, long time ago.

I’m not sure about how often to replace the media, but every once in a while I’ll put some new polishing compound into the tumbler and let it run overnight without any brass in it.  The purpose is just to get the new compound distributed in the media.  I usually use Flitz polish, but you could probably use most any polishing compound I’d guess.  
Neil

My (very old) memory is that the media used to feel "rough".  Now it feels "polished".  If it had rough edges when I bought it, they don't feel that way now.  It's difficult to describe.  

I could try what you suggest, but since I already have the media sitting in a box, I might as well use it.  

I don't think I let it run overnight when I first got it - but that sounds like a good idea.

In theory, you can “clean” the media to extend the life. But for the price of it you can go to any decent “big box” pet store and get either Walnut hull lizard bedding or Corncob. Then you can add polish to that. It’s way cheaper than buying “media”.

I am suprised you have not had more response to your question, so I will add my 2 cents to the mix.  First off I use a rotary thumbler and not a vibratory as you show.  Both work just each has it pros and cons.  Anyway here is how "I" do it!  I first start with clean untreated corn cob media and add enough Flitz Brass Polishing compound until the clean media has a slight oily feel to it.  I usually stir in a couple of good size squirts, don't be afraid to use it I really don't think you can put in to much,  Since my thumbler is a little larger than a gallon capacity I use a 3 lb coffee can to mix in the polish.  I add about 250 rounds of 45ACP brass to the drum and then pour in enough "treated" media to cover the brass with about an inch of media.  Thumble for about 2 hours.  If things look good the I seperate the brass and media, if not I close things back up and thumble a little longer.  Once I have got the brass cleaned to my liking I will seperate the brass and media.  To actually "polish" the brass after cleaning it I then put the cleaned brass back into the thumbler with "untreated" media and thumble for 1-2 hours.  The "clean" media actually removes the oily film that the polishing compound leaves behind and helps add more "shine" to the brass.  Who doesn't like brightly shining brass?  Now as you asked when do I replace the media, here is my response when the "treated/cleaning" media becomes a dark grey almost black color.  Once it gets to that stage I throw the old treated media away and the untreated media that I use to polish with now becomes my cleaning media by getting treated and out comes some new untreated media which becomes my polishing media. Media is an expendable that you must replace.  I load somewhere between 8000-1000 rounds of ammunition a year and a box of media (about 10 lbs) will last me 2-3 years.  I have recently switched over to using stainless steels pins and the "wet method" which is a different ball game all together.

New media will clean brass in about 1-1.5 hrs. Once edges are removed from doing their job, it will take longer. You can add polish/mineral spirits when it starts taking more time to clean, but after a while it's time to retire that batch and get new. 
It will start looking really dirty and feel that way.
Treated media should last a while. Fill the tumbler with media and brass. Don't skimp on the brass, it helps to agitate.
I can clean about 10k rounds of 45 before changing. When i get to the mineral spirits part of the program I throw it out and get new.

When I used to use on of those, I would replace it when it got pretty dirty with fresh. Nothing overly scientific, just a "feel" thing. I wet clean now and have given my vibratory device to another shooter.

weber1b wrote:replace it when it got pretty dirty with fresh. Nothing overly scientific, just a "feel" thing.

I agree. Roughly after about 5,000 cases I estimate. But I add more car polish after every, say, four batches.

I gave up on corn cob media, tends to stick in the flash hole with a smidgen of car polish - walnut media is much finer and more consistent, the polish seems to coat the grains rather than creating "globules".

"Lizard bedding" - good suggestion Wobbley - never heard of that before - you learn something new every day on this forum!

Texasref wrote:New media will clean brass in about 1-1.5 hrs. Once edges are removed from doing their job, it will take longer. You can add polish/mineral spirits when it starts taking more time to clean, but after a while it's time to retire that batch and get new. 
It will start looking really dirty and feel that way........

I just got off the phone with the support people at http://www.thumlerstumbler.com .  That's similar to what they told me - they suggested I replace my old media with new, to mix in a little of the brass polish (as suggested above) and to leave it running overnight to distribute the polish all over (also as suggested up above).  So that's my plan for later today, empty out what's in it now, fill it between 1/2 and 2/3 with new media, add the polish, and let it run overnight.

There was something noted up above about the media getting into the primer pockets.  For me, that's not an issue, as the old primers are only removed when re-sizing.  That brings up another question, but I'll post it in a separate thread.

Thanks!  

(Apparently there is a difference between tumblers - mine runs so quietly I forget it's even running, and my relative (who bought a tumbler from Harbor Freight) has a device that makes a constant racket.  I guess once again you get what you pay for.

Wobbley wrote:In theory, you can “clean” the media to extend the life.  But for the price of it you can go to any decent “big box” pet store and get either Walnut hull lizard bedding or Corncob.  Then you can add polish to that.  It’s way cheaper than buying “media”.

Switched over to lizard bedding a few years back. I don't treat it with anything, just let it clean the brass. When it takes more than 3 hours to get a lot clean I just throw it out. It's cheap enough that you don't even notice the cost. IIRC it ran $20 for 25# of it. 

Now, without the polish you won't get jewelry store brass. If that's a big thing for you, add the polish. All I want is clean brass, it's bright but not jewelry store bright.

Al wrote:.....Switched over to lizard bedding a few years back......

This???
https://www.amazon.com/Critters-Comfort-Coconut-Reptile-Substrate/dp/B07NFCXYXF/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?dchild=1&keywords=lizard+bedding&qid=1617750348&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUExOExZVlhISE5CNFFGJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwODg5OTkxMTJFS0dNNU41VkRXQyZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwODIwNzI3UU1UV0tBNkwzVjQ2JndpZGdldE5hbWU9c3BfYXRmJmFjdGlvbj1jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ==

No, you want ground walnut.  Go to a petco near you and look.

Wobbley wrote:No, you want ground walnut.  Go to a petco near you and look.

Yup.
This stuff Mike.
Al

I no longer have the package, so I'm not sure what I have, but I posted this question a lifetime ago, and went with the advice here.  It may very well be ground walnut - not sure how I can tell.  It was at Bass Pro Shops, and was sold for the intent of tumbling cases clean.  I also bought the polishing liquid to mix in, along with a bottle of "One Shot Sonic Clean Solution" for when/if I ever try my ultrasonic cleaner on gun parts - haven't gotten around to that.

I do remember that the ground walnut, or whatever it is, did a great job of cleaning my cases.  I can take a photo of it, if that would help identify it.  I doubt I can find my old post here about what to buy - this was perhaps five or six years ago, maybe much more.  I'll look up the date for when I bought my Pro2000 Press, or my tumbler - that will get me to the right date range.

Unless things change, I'll replace my media with the new media, mix in the polishing compound, and let the tumbler run for 8 hours or so (overnight) to distribute the compound.  

Thank you all!

Once every 2 years

Thanks - I will put that in my reloading book, so I won't forget about it again.

When you have to towel off the black remnants of polish and wax and black gunk that has collected around the rim of you bowl and on your brass.

I tried tossing a dryer sheet in my vibratory tumbler and it came out just filthy.

Every two years sounds about right, though.

CONCLUSION - Thank you to everyone who helped with this.

Replaced the media, added the Lyman Turbo Brite, and ran the tumbler for two hours to mix everything.  I then ran two batches of maybe 100 or so cases, the second batch being the most dirty, and checked after an hour of tumbling.  

All the brass came out shiny and clean, looking as nice as new.

Next time, perhaps in two or three years, I'll remember this post, and buy "Ground Walnut".

EOF

Corn Cob good too. Harbor freight sells Walnut cheap.

How about this?
https://www.amazon.com/Ground-Walnut-Shell-Media-18-40/dp/B07CV7925F/ref=sr_1_7?dchild=1&keywords=walnut+ground&qid=1618075931&sr=8-7

My experience so far is the words "cheap" and "shooting" don't belong in the same sentence.

I bought a Thumbler's Tumbler for what I thought was a reasonable price.
My brother bought a Harbor Freight tumbler for maybe 1/3 of what I paid.
My tumbler could even sit in my living room without annoying me.
His tumbler is obnoxiously loud, and annoying.

I have no idea if 18-40 grit us what I want, and hopefully I can buy just one pound.

Multiracer wrote:When you have to towel off the black remnants of polish and wax and black gunk that has collected around the rim of you bowl and on your brass.

this, 

probably should have done it before,, but it is i a good indicator for me


I've been using walnut and cob,  and some Dillon polish

works well, 


I'm getting low, so next time I'll use the lizard litter,  since I am a bit of a tightwad, 




re the tumblers, 

I had a Midway cheap tumbler,     and it was so loud I put it out in the yard to run so I could work in the shop, 

then got a  big Dillon (still noisy but not anywhere near as bad as the midway,,  you could have a conversation with some one in the room)

and a Lyman  tumbler,   that is very very quiet compared to the others

My Dillon tumbler is pretty loud, so I run it down in the basement with a timer.

I'm a little disappointed Cecil hasn't shown up here to drop the mike on Mike.  I Googled the same question which has already been answered one hundred and ninety-eight million times.

You are probably referring to primer tube detonations.  Assuming Cecil uses a Dillon, he is wise enough, and experienced enough, that he is as safe loading with one of those machines as I am making a cheese sandwich.  But I'm not Cecil, I do NOT know what he knows, and while I've been reloading since the 1970's, I was warned way back then about primer tubes, and have avoided them for my whole life.  

To me, the three biggest causes of "problems" are double-loads, "squid" loads, and primer tubes.  As I see it, being extremely careful, looking into each round before placing the bullet on top, or using a "lock-out die" can pretty much eliminate this, ESPECIALLY if the press is auto index (and you run the lever through the whole stroke each time).  In my simplistic view of the world, using those tools eliminates the problem.  Empty loads can be eliminated as an issue by looking at the powder level, or using a lock-out die.  Even so, a friend of mine had a problem when the powder in the powder hopper "clumped" because of humidity in the outdoor loading area.  I don't keep much excess powder in my powder hopper, I'm reloading in my air conditioned condo, low humidity, and I used to (and am trying to find a way to continue doing so) use a mirror to verify powder in the case.  That leaves mechanical issues in the press as a possible cause of powder detonations, and for every write-up I have seen on this forum, the loader was an experienced person, and didn't notice something was wrong until after the detonation.

I don't trust myself to find issues like that, and that's part of the reason I bought the RCBS Pro2000, as the primers are separated by plastic, and there is no way they are going to detonate while using the press (at least nothing I'm aware of, and after all these years, I've never seen it written about.


I guess what I say or think doesn't mean very much.  My brother wanted to reload, based on the pretty Dillon booklet he got in the mail every month.  His excuse was that it would save him $$$.  I told him that I thought this was an insane idea, and if he really wanted to reload, to get a single station press first, and learn how to do it. I was ignored.  There's more to the story, but that's not relevant here.

I don't remember the details, but in the 1970's, when a friend of mine sold me his A1 Big Max press, along with everything else, he had me using the bench mounted RCBS primer installer, but NOT using the primer tube.  I don't remember the reason, but I was manually putting one primer in place, then seating it.  So I've got 50 or so years of reloading without ever using a primer tube.  Old habits die slowly, if at all.

In my imagination, Cecil is experienced at everything pertaining to shooting, reloading, and everything else.  By comparison, I'm maybe in the second grade.  Cecil points out things that become "obvious" to me, but they never were "obvious" until he pointed them out.  Anyway, just because something is good for one hundred ninety-eight million other people, does not automatically mean it would be good for me.  I think I'm well aware of many of my limitations, and I try to avoid things that I think might not be good for me.  For almost anything else, including loads, I ask here, and follow the advice from you guys.

Sorry for how long this got.  If I get time, I'll try to find the old posts in this forum that bothered me the most about primer tubes.