It's 2022 and I'd like to say "Thank You" to FC45LC for all your help over the years. Just an aside, if you don't need 25lbs. of media Harbor Freight has Crushed Walnut Blast Media which is the same also. They have both course and fine media in a 25lb box for around $30.
Nice video. I use the same media you use with perfect results. And I also use fine crushed walnut shells which is lizard bedding ,and it works great on small neck brass like 223. The fine stuff doesn't get stuck in the cases. The coarse stuff I use for larger case necks like 308, 30-06 etc.
jojo123469 - Always great to hear from you…lizard bedding or cat litter, it sure sounds like just what we need…I'll remember to ask for lizard bedding next time if they don't have the cat litter…we do go through a lot of this stuff…Best Regards
I use pet litter from the pet store as well. I also add a cap full of NU-car polish. Some times i add strips of towels or dryer sheets to keep my media clean as well.
I do the exact same thing. "Organic cat litter" is what I use, it is just crushed corn cob, I've never had to buy "commercial" media. I pay around 8 to 9 dollars per bag, which each weight 10.5lbs. It works well but I do get some dust on my cases when I change out to new media. Dryer sheets help a lot.
I also use corn cob cat litter and a liquid polish. The only problem I have with using this cat litter is that a lot of pieces are the perfect size for lodging in the primer pocket. So I have to polish with the used primers still in.
Interesting, I always polish with used primers still in. The reason being I do not want to resize/de prime dirty bass as it is bad for the die. Also I'm not aware of any other way to do it. What system did you use to de cap before polishing? Thanks for the comment.
Check your local sandblasting supply outfits. You can get walnut or corn cob media in various grit sizes by the 50lb bag. This is the most economical route. My favourite is 10/14 corn cob. I found walnut to be very dusty.
Try placing a damp facecloth over the top,of the tumbler while it is running; it will trap all the dust then simply rinse and reuse the facecloth. I made a hole in the center of my cloth so it fits over the spindle which then holds it in place.
Amen brother! I too use lizard bedding (walnut) from the pet store. Much cheaper! I blend a little Nu-finish car polish into it. Put it outside to allow the wind to carry the dust away, turn it on and forget it for a couple hrs. Brass looks like gold:)
Professor, I use the corn cob pet bedding and it works okay. Great for large caliber but poor on the small stuff. You spend more time getting it out of the case. I am going to try milo seed. It is very small and but may be too round, so to speak. I can get it for $4.50/ 50lb bag.
I work at an all reptile pet shop and we use that ground walnut for some of the lizard cages. It's a fine ground walnut made by Zilla and it's about the same price $1 per pound as the stuff you found. Petco, Petsmart or any pet shop that sell reptiles should have it. We sell 20 lb bags of it for $20. You can't beat that lol.
metaltrooper62-Thanks for the additional sources - I just bought another 25 pound bag - when you need new media, those big bags are nice to have around…Best Regards...
I usually buy Kaytee Bird bedding its crushed English Walnuts and has the same consistency as the Lyman or midway media it runs 10 bucks for a 10lb bag at my local Petsmart Ive used it many times and am gonna buy another bag of it in a day or so
I fell for the Zilla brand lizard bedding thing. I tumbled brass for over 20 hours using it with my regular polish and it didn't even come close to cleaning the brass. I went back to the old, dirty, used-up corn cob stuff and it was clean in under 6 hours, like always. I'm wary of trying a new media.
spraynpray-Thanks for your comments - good to hear about that…Can't imagine why you aren't getting clean brass - 20 hours of vibratory polishing - those cases should look like jewelry. I like my Castle Seed stuff - larger walnut media just pounds the brass clean. I never tumble my brass for over 3 hours - all I want is clean, not sparkle - You can see from my videos, that my loads look very presentable (check out my 44 mag and 45 Colts).
don stromberg- Great question, no - it will not clean out primer pockets - for that we have to go to the stainless steel pin tumbling. But when I need to clean primer pockets, I use the RCBS Case Prep Center. But for my progressive pistol reloading, I never clean the pockets and have not had any problems with that ( I do clean the pockets for rifle reloads ). Best Regards...
FortuneCookie45LC I also do the same thing with the pet store media and I also never clean the pockets on the progressive pistol reloads.Been doing it a long time and have never had a problem.Shoot at least 15 thousand of those reloads a year and so far so good
Larry - It's really good for all those newer reloaders who buy tumblers and then stock up with the commercial media. Once they hear about the pet store stuff, they'll never buy another high price bag again…Best to ya...
That's good to know, I will have to see if any of the pet stores near me have it. It will also save on the shipping cost as well which isn't cheap either! How did you find out about the pet store having this stuff? I would have never thought to look there.
Brian Levin - even though the grade of walnut media is a little coarser, it works well and as it is used, it gets a little finer. I learned about it from another shooter years ago...much information is exchanged if you get into a range shooting community...Incidentally, that is what the Hot Lead Zone is - a TH-cam shooting community...within a bigger shooting community....
At this very moment I am running my first ever batch of brass in my new vibratory cleaner! I pulled three casings out after one hour and plan to let it run one hour more to see if there is any appreciable difference! I am using ground walnut shell bird cage litter. I added a 50/50 mixture of Nu-Finish car wax and Mineral spirits to the media as well because TH-cam told me to. So far it seems to be working really well!
SomeGuyInSandy-When your media gets used, it will become finer and finer so that it becomes dust eventually. You'll know when you dump the media how much dust you have…This dust needs to be kept away from living spaces as it spreads widely and contains primer residues. Best to do the media brass separation outdoors in a breeze. The finer your media gets, the dirtier it gets and becomes less efficient in cleaning and polishing… Best Regards to ya...
I ran the tumbler on the back patio. I was able to complete two batches, run for two hours each for a total of about 400 - 500 38 special and .357 magnum cases. Thanks for the tips. I will keep an eye on the media! The dust was practically non existent. Much less than I was expecting. Probably due to the moisture from the mineral spirits and car wax mixture. I will be sure to heed your warnings. Safety first!
mach1mustang1971- I just bought another 25 pound bag…It's like doing the laundry - there's always more brass to clean…Best Regards to ya…and thanks for posting...
Jon- Thanks for your comments -- and not only that, they'll change it out more often because the price is reasonable, and those 25 pound bags allow it...
I have a curious question: How does one know when it is time to change out the media?? I don't do huge amounts but the media is still same color and consistency. Is there an easy way to tell?
Larry, That's basically it - when it gets dark, it's full of dirt and powder primer residue. We don't want to wait till it's black as the idea is to take that off the cases. We won't put it back on, but new media sure works better - cases come out cleaner, polished, faster...Good question...Thanks
there is no exact way but just keep looking at it after you run some brass through when it starts looking real dark switch it out I usually run one batch for cleaning and i use a different batch just for polishing all the same media its Kaytee bird bedding 10 bucks for 10lb bag but i keep one bucket of it just for cleaning and another bucket of it just for polishing I put Nu Finish polish in with my polishing media and man its makes a World of difference shines like brand new
I just picked up a $10 bag of corn cob media from Petco the other day, I ran it through the tumbler with a bunch of brass and when the brass came out there was a fine powder residue all over every brass case. What can I do about this?
jungblud59-I have gotten that also. We need to do our pours outdoors as that same dust comes up when we do that. As for the dust on the cases, I haven't noticed any problems to my reloading dies or shooting, so I don't let it concern me. After the rounds are loaded, the dust is gone (resizing die shoves it off and it doesn't build up anywhere either). The guys that use the wet tumble with SS pins do that because they don't want the dust. It all depends on the reloader - me? I don't need factory shine on my rounds - just be good safe reliable accurate clean shooting ammo - that's for me. Best to ya...
jungblud59 - I've since reconsidered my attitude towards that dust from our tumbler media - it is still on the cases when we reload and is a source of lead contamination to us - the dust contains lead from the primers commonly used in ammo. I've always done the pouring outdoors as I never wanted the dust mess - but what is still on the casings poses a health problem for us if we process lots of brass. Rubber gloves and ventilation of our reloading rooms would be the way to go. You haven't heard much on this before, but it came to me when one of my brass sources had some employees get high lead levels causing the FBI and other agencies to raid USA Brass company. All that fired brass had lead from primers in it and resulted in the workers exposure. We need to take a lesson from that as well - the wet tumbling boys and girls are on a better track, but even then, the wet tumbler manufacturers aren't boosting this issue...Best to you...
You can get walnut shell media for even less cost from most industrial supply stores. It's also used for sand blasting auto parts. It comes in three different sizes. Course, Medium, Fine. I bought 50 lbs. for $25. Then use a squirt of brasso metal polish to treat the media.
MascotAL Thanks for your info on the media supply and use. But there has been a change in the desirability of dry tumbling. Most shooters including me vibratory dry tumbled their brass for many years. I never considered the significant problem of lead dust exposure until I read of brass handlers getting high lead levels at a big fired brass processing company a bit less than 2 years ago. If you do the dry tumbling, be sure to do all the dusty stuff outdoors in a breeze and change your media often. I've gone to the superior wet tumbling (videos on this), and I'd now tell all the reloaders to go that way from day one if they could. Best Regards to you and Happy Holidays
FortuneCookie45LC Very true about the lead warning. Toxic dust is a problem. The metal polish will help with the dust a bit but a well vented outdoor area is best used when separating brass and media. Thanks for the videos FC.
jspdrcrmach5 Good info on the Brasso - I like to use that to remove the burn marks on the front of my stainless steel revolver cylinders - makes that look like factory fresh...Have a great day
Josue Galdamez - Thanks. We are no longer recommending the dry media tumbling - The wet systems are much better and safer...there are videos up on that... Best to ya, FC
Josue Galdamez - No, the wet tumbling is the way to go for several very good reasons...all in videos. But if any shooter insists on dry tumbling their brass, then best would be to change out the media after every other batch of brass - and if so, buying the media as cheap as possible will help... Best to ya, FC
gun nut - Nice Tokarev. Had my chance to buy all those types - inexpensive too. But I was always concerned about ammo availability, and oddball - not easy to get everything needed to reload - so I passed on all of 'em - a mistake...But I bought Colts and S & Ws instead - not a mistake. Should have bought 'em all...
It's 2022 and I'd like to say "Thank You" to FC45LC for all your help over the years. Just an aside, if you don't need 25lbs. of media Harbor Freight has Crushed Walnut Blast Media which is the same also. They have both course and fine media in a 25lb box for around $30.
Nice video. I use the same media you use with perfect results. And I also use fine crushed walnut shells which is lizard bedding ,and it works great on small neck brass like 223. The fine stuff doesn't get stuck in the cases. The coarse stuff I use for larger case necks like 308, 30-06 etc.
jojo123469 - Always great to hear from you…lizard bedding or cat litter, it sure sounds like just what we need…I'll remember to ask for lizard bedding next time if they don't have the cat litter…we do go through a lot of this stuff…Best Regards
I stumbled on reptile bedding for media too. I add just a little liquid brasso come out super clean.
I use pet litter from the pet store as well. I also add a cap full of NU-car polish. Some times i add strips of towels or dryer sheets to keep my media clean as well.
I do the exact same thing. "Organic cat litter" is what I use, it is just crushed corn cob, I've never had to buy "commercial" media. I pay around 8 to 9 dollars per bag, which each weight 10.5lbs. It works well but I do get some dust on my cases when I change out to new media. Dryer sheets help a lot.
I love when people realize prepping doesn't have to cost a lot - there are great alternatives!! Great job!
I also use corn cob cat litter and a liquid polish. The only problem I have with using this cat litter is that a lot of pieces are the perfect size for lodging in the primer pocket. So I have to polish with the used primers still in.
Interesting, I always polish with used primers still in. The reason being I do not want to resize/de prime dirty bass as it is bad for the die. Also I'm not aware of any other way to do it. What system did you use to de cap before polishing? Thanks for the comment.
I had purchased a bunch of brass that had been washed and deprimed, but not polished.
Check your local sandblasting supply outfits. You can get walnut or corn cob media in various grit sizes by the 50lb bag. This is the most economical route.
My favourite is 10/14 corn cob. I found walnut to be very dusty.
Try placing a damp facecloth over the top,of the tumbler while it is running; it will trap all the dust then simply rinse and reuse the facecloth. I made a hole in the center of my cloth so it fits over the spindle which then holds it in place.
Amen brother! I too use lizard bedding (walnut) from the pet store. Much cheaper! I blend a little Nu-finish car polish into it. Put it outside to allow the wind to carry the dust away, turn it on and forget it for a couple hrs. Brass looks like gold:)
Where do you think, That Midway USA gets their Media, At the Pet Supply House, & they just mark it up for a Profit.
Professor, I use the corn cob pet bedding and it works okay. Great for large caliber but poor on the small stuff. You spend more time getting it out of the case. I am going to try milo seed. It is very small and but may be too round, so to speak. I can get it for $4.50/ 50lb bag.
Shawn - let us all know how that works -- Thanks for posting on this...
Thank you.
Unfortunately we pay extra for many things that are sold as specialty items that in reality are just basic products.
How many batches can you do before you need to change the media?
Thank you, I could save a buck or two.
I work at an all reptile pet shop and we use that ground walnut for some of the lizard cages. It's a fine ground walnut made by Zilla and it's about the same price $1 per pound as the stuff you found. Petco, Petsmart or any pet shop that sell reptiles should have it. We sell 20 lb bags of it for $20. You can't beat that lol.
metaltrooper62-Thanks for the additional sources - I just bought another 25 pound bag - when you need new media, those big bags are nice to have around…Best Regards...
I usually buy Kaytee Bird bedding its crushed English Walnuts and has the same consistency as the Lyman or midway media it runs 10 bucks for a 10lb bag at my local Petsmart Ive used it many times and am gonna buy another bag of it in a day or so
Plumpy E - Thanks for the tip - just another item to add to the Petsmart shopping list… Have a great 4th --
I fell for the Zilla brand lizard bedding thing. I tumbled brass for over 20 hours using it with my regular polish and it didn't even come close to cleaning the brass. I went back to the old, dirty, used-up corn cob stuff and it was clean in under 6 hours, like always. I'm wary of trying a new media.
spraynpray-Thanks for your comments - good to hear about that…Can't imagine why you aren't getting clean brass - 20 hours of vibratory polishing - those cases should look like jewelry. I like my Castle Seed stuff - larger walnut media just pounds the brass clean. I never tumble my brass for over 3 hours - all I want is clean, not sparkle - You can see from my videos, that my loads look very presentable (check out my 44 mag and 45 Colts).
Good job F.C. Will it clean out the primer pockets?
don stromberg- Great question, no - it will not clean out primer pockets - for that we have to go to the stainless steel pin tumbling. But when I need to clean primer pockets, I use the RCBS Case Prep Center. But for my progressive pistol reloading, I never clean the pockets and have not had any problems with that ( I do clean the pockets for rifle reloads ). Best Regards...
FortuneCookie45LC I also do the same thing with the pet store media and I also never clean the pockets on the progressive pistol reloads.Been doing it a long time and have never had a problem.Shoot at least 15 thousand of those reloads a year and so far so good
mark cooper Thanks for the great post…good for others to hear and know…Best to ya...
For rocks??
just go to HF, even less. fumbs down
Luckily I had heard about this from a fellow shooter/reloader. He has been using the 'pet-store' media for years. Thanks for the info!
Larry - It's really good for all those newer reloaders who buy tumblers and then stock up with the commercial media. Once they hear about the pet store stuff, they'll never buy another high price bag again…Best to ya...
That's good to know, I will have to see if any of the pet stores near me have it. It will also save on the shipping cost as well which isn't cheap either! How did you find out about the pet store having this stuff? I would have never thought to look there.
Brian Levin - even though the grade of walnut media is a little coarser, it works well and as it is used, it gets a little finer. I learned about it from another shooter years ago...much information is exchanged if you get into a range shooting community...Incidentally, that is what the Hot Lead Zone is - a TH-cam shooting community...within a bigger shooting community....
At this very moment I am running my first ever batch of brass in my new vibratory cleaner! I pulled three casings out after one hour and plan to let it run one hour more to see if there is any appreciable difference! I am using ground walnut shell bird cage litter. I added a 50/50 mixture of Nu-Finish car wax and Mineral spirits to the media as well because TH-cam told me to. So far it seems to be working really well!
SomeGuyInSandy-When your media gets used, it will become finer and finer so that it becomes dust eventually. You'll know when you dump the media how much dust you have…This dust needs to be kept away from living spaces as it spreads widely and contains primer residues. Best to do the media brass separation outdoors in a breeze. The finer your media gets, the dirtier it gets and becomes less efficient in cleaning and polishing… Best Regards to ya...
I ran the tumbler on the back patio. I was able to complete two batches, run for two hours each for a total of about 400 - 500 38 special and .357 magnum cases. Thanks for the tips. I will keep an eye on the media! The dust was practically non existent. Much less than I was expecting. Probably due to the moisture from the mineral spirits and car wax mixture. I will be sure to heed your warnings. Safety first!
Thanks for all your videos! I find them to be quite informative. You are very thorough and meticulous, which I apprecia
fstgrl- Thank you for the good word…Have a great day...
totally agree..i use the same stuff...has worked perfectly...great tip
mach1mustang1971- I just bought another 25 pound bag…It's like doing the laundry - there's always more brass to clean…Best Regards to ya…and thanks for posting...
Great idea FortuneCookie45LC cheap is good.
Jon- Thanks for your comments -- and not only that, they'll change it out more often because the price is reasonable, and those 25 pound bags allow it...
I have a curious question: How does one know when it is time to change out the media?? I don't do huge amounts but the media is still same color and consistency. Is there an easy way to tell?
Larry, That's basically it - when it gets dark, it's full of dirt and powder primer residue. We don't want to wait till it's black as the idea is to take that off the cases. We won't put it back on, but new media sure works better - cases come out cleaner, polished, faster...Good question...Thanks
there is no exact way but just keep looking at it after you run some brass through when it starts looking real dark switch it out I usually run one batch for cleaning and i use a different batch just for polishing all the same media its Kaytee bird bedding 10 bucks for 10lb bag but i keep one bucket of it just for cleaning and another bucket of it just for polishing I put Nu Finish polish in with my polishing media and man its makes a World of difference shines like brand new
FortuneCookie45LC Some people wash their media and keep reusing it. Such as Jerry Miculek. I need to try that.
I just picked up a $10 bag of corn cob media from Petco the other day, I ran it through the tumbler with a bunch of brass and when the brass came out there was a fine powder residue all over every brass case. What can I do about this?
jungblud59-I have gotten that also. We need to do our pours outdoors as that same dust comes up when we do that. As for the dust on the cases, I haven't noticed any problems to my reloading dies or shooting, so I don't let it concern me. After the rounds are loaded, the dust is gone (resizing die shoves it off and it doesn't build up anywhere either). The guys that use the wet tumble with SS pins do that because they don't want the dust. It all depends on the reloader - me? I don't need factory shine on my rounds - just be good safe reliable accurate clean shooting ammo - that's for me. Best to ya...
Toss in a dryer sheet cut into quarters. It'll remove the static electricity caused buy all the rubbing around.
jungblud59 - I've since reconsidered my attitude towards that dust from our tumbler media - it is still on the cases when we reload and is a source of lead contamination to us - the dust contains lead from the primers commonly used in ammo. I've always done the pouring outdoors as I never wanted the dust mess - but what is still on the casings poses a health problem for us if we process lots of brass. Rubber gloves and ventilation of our reloading rooms would be the way to go. You haven't heard much on this before, but it came to me when one of my brass sources had some employees get high lead levels causing the FBI and other agencies to raid USA Brass company. All that fired brass had lead from primers in it and resulted in the workers exposure. We need to take a lesson from that as well - the wet tumbling boys and girls are on a better track, but even then, the wet tumbler manufacturers aren't boosting this issue...Best to you...
don't let the government know you're using it against the it's intended purpose. but what they don't know wont hurt me.
kf4dcy1- You can say that again...:)
You can get walnut shell media for even less cost from most industrial supply stores. It's also used for sand blasting auto parts. It comes in three different sizes. Course, Medium, Fine.
I bought 50 lbs. for $25. Then use a squirt of brasso metal polish to treat the media.
MascotAL Thanks for your info on the media supply and use. But there has been a change in the desirability of dry tumbling. Most shooters including me vibratory dry tumbled their brass for many years. I never considered the significant problem of lead dust exposure until I read of brass handlers getting high lead levels at a big fired brass processing company a bit less than 2 years ago. If you do the dry tumbling, be sure to do all the dusty stuff outdoors in a breeze and change your media often. I've gone to the superior wet tumbling (videos on this), and I'd now tell all the reloaders to go that way from day one if they could. Best Regards to you and Happy Holidays
FortuneCookie45LC
Very true about the lead warning. Toxic dust is a problem. The metal polish will help with the dust a bit but a well vented outdoor area is best used when separating brass and media. Thanks for the videos FC.
Brasso contains ammonia which will make Your brass brittle, it is not good for tumbling ammo cases.
jspdrcrmach5 Good info on the Brasso - I like to use that to remove the burn marks on the front of my stainless steel revolver cylinders - makes that look like factory fresh...Have a great day
te. Keep up the good work!
great information n video
Josue Galdamez - Thanks. We are no longer recommending the dry media tumbling - The wet systems are much better and safer...there are videos up on that... Best to ya, FC
so your saying not to use this method anymore?
Josue Galdamez - No, the wet tumbling is the way to go for several very good reasons...all in videos. But if any shooter insists on dry tumbling their brass, then best would be to change out the media after every other batch of brass - and if so, buying the media as cheap as possible will help... Best to ya, FC
So...I have a Petrified Walnut
Cool vid gota love midway USA I uploaded a new vid finally
gun nut - Nice Tokarev. Had my chance to buy all those types - inexpensive too. But I was always concerned about ammo availability, and oddball - not easy to get everything needed to reload - so I passed on all of 'em - a mistake...But I bought Colts and S & Ws instead - not a mistake. Should have bought 'em all...