dhom

I use a walnut media but, it does not clean really dirty cases even after 4 or 5 hours. What is the next step up for dirty cases?

Lethal Threat

Got a hold of some ceramic media I use in mine. I add about a cooking cup or so to my cleaning walnut media. It removes most. If they are range brass I have picked up and they are way bad tarnished, I still run them through this, just knowing they are not going to mirror finish. Oh yeah, this ceramic media is the size of rabbit pellet food. And not overly agressive.

James6591

Only just starting, but I have had good results just with corn cob media.

ironhat

I've asked this question over the years and the best answer has been three tablespoons of Bon-Ami or Barkeepers Friend to a full tub of media and a half dozen spritzes of Orange-Glo to the same media and my brass shines like new. One recommendation I received said to use mineral spirits but that is not good for the brass or the plastic of the tub.
Enjoy,
Chiz

Breadman03

I put a little wheel polish in my media and let it disperse before dropping the brass in. I am using paste until empty, but liquid is the way to go.

MW surveyor

Cap full of NuFinish works great.

Geoff

I use the same fomula that I used to clean large batches of silver jewerly. 2 cups of loead shot, 1/8 cup Solvent Green and water to cover in a vibtrating tumbler for 30 minutes. Rinse brass and dry, rinse shot and oven dry. This only removes the tarnish and real, real fine scrathes.

sp101er

Love the liquid ultrasonic... (FAST!... 2-3 minutes)... Still need to tumble (or hand polish) afterwards to take off the liquid residue but it sure gets the crud out and off... These are @ $60... Small batches but it's so fast that doing a few batches is still very easy... I got mine from Midway:

Lyman Products Your Primary Source for Reloading Equipment

hal

If you are using walnut media from a gun site or mfg is it probably very fine and has a rubbing compound mixed with it. and does not do a very good job. Go to a pet store and ask for lizard litter or snake bedding, it is rough cut walnut and mix a couple of tabelspons of turtle wax chrome polish with each batch, let the polish get asorbed before putting the brass in. been doing this for years and the worst range brass comes out fine, and it is a lot cheaper than regular media.

stargeezer

After 40 years of rolling brass, tumbling brass, shaking brass, this year I started WASHing my brass. First I de-capped my brass and had my wife make a old pillow case into a bag that I could tie up real good. Then I take my shop towels and the brass bag to the laundry mat where I run it through a cycle. The wife forbids me to wash shop towels at home. I open the bag at home and spread the brass out on a towel in the sun. In a few hours its dry enough to sort out. I give it a couple days minimum in open, flat containers before reloading it, to avoid any chance of moisture.

So after several satisfying cycles like this, I buy the larger harbor freight ultrasonic cleaner. It's been running 6 months now with around 500-1000 pieces of brass in it a month. I still rinse the brass in my shop sink and then spread it out for drying in the sun.

In the beginning I was still cleaning the gunk out of the primer pockets by hand, but after I once got them all clean, the USC does a good job keeping up with them. The mixture I used for my cleaner solution is simple green, lemon juice, water and some thing I can't remember right now. I mixed up a two gallon jug of concentrate by a formula I found on YouTube. It was cheap, easy and will last a year or two. About 3oz of this to a 1/2 gallon of water.

That's how I do it now.

Smithy

I've always mixed 50/50 by volume, walnut and corncob media turned and folded (cooking term) in a 5 gallon bucket and slowly add the media treatment like from Midway and stir as I add it. I use the whole bottle and then load up the vibrators to get a good mix. Then it all goes back into the bucket for a final stir and I'm pretty well convinced by then that it all has been mixed evenly. Then I pour what I need in each tumbler that I'm using (usually two). What the walnut won't get, the corn cob does. Smithy.

dhom

Thank you all for your replies.

Atlanta Arms

Try corn cobb media or just add a small amout of brasso

MW surveyor

Brasso is not good to used due to the ammonia in it.

radiac

+1 on the lizard litter. I use a little bit of Flitz in mine.