Which one will produce the best results? And is buying the media with brass polish worth it? I'm close to buying a case tumbler and media. I've got 1000 .22-250 brass that I want to clean and want shiny new looking brass. Which media will get me there.

I like the Lyman treated walnut. I put a little fine liquid polishing compound it and run as long as needed. Sometimes just for a couple of hours, sometimes overnight or longer.

I just got the cabelas special vibrating tumbler/ corn cob media and polish combo and I have cleaned about 1000 .243 rounds that have come out looking great. It usually takes 2-4 hours for 300 rounds depending on how dirty they are. But definately get the polish it takes some time off the process.

There is a shop near Plano Blvd. and Walnut? that will sell you a 50 pound bag of either for about $30.00.

I use both.

I use the corn cob media. I add a squirt of turtle wax car polish and a couple of caps of mineral spirits every other batch of brass or so. Works good for me.

Thanks men. It seems that, after some reading of other reviews that they will both produce shiny brass. Is that right? But since corn cob media is a little more corse it will clean out of the cases easier and won't clog the flash hole as much. Am I understanding this correctly?

WHen tumbling your brass, leave the spent primers in. Deprime after you have cleaned the brass. It will help keep the flash hole from getting plugged.

yes. leave the spent primers in. learned that the hard way and spent tons of time picking corn cob out of the flash holes. The dies will punch right through the corn cob if there is any stuck in the flash hole with the primers. don't know if you can do the same with walnut.

Generally walnut cleans faster, corn cob gives a better final finish in my experience. Avoid any polishing compound with Ammonia, it hardens the brass. Any of the automotive polishes ( they have "grit" in them ) will work. Flitz metal polish will work.
I've tumbled brass after FL sizing to remove the case lube....never again. I just use a water soluable type and wash them off. Picking out the media is a PITA.

About how much car polish are you putting in there? Some years back I gave a hefty shot of some body shop quality 3M polish to my media and ruined it. It was long enough ago that I couldn't begin to know about how much I shot in there. I just know I had to go buy new media. I have a medium size RCBS vibratory cleaner.

Also, for what it's worth I have had better results with walnut hull over corn cob. I think that being finer there is more brass being constantly exposed to the media during the process.

I use a teaspoon or so of fine liquid car polishing compound, sometimes more. I start off with a little and work up. The way I judge it is, if it's dusty I need more. Put it in and let your tumbler run for a few minutes to mix it up good before putting in your brass. Crushed walnut shell is harder then ground corn cob and is more abrasive, it will clean better and still polish good. If it's not as shiny as you want leave it in longer. Sometimes I let it go 24 hours for a real shiny finish. It's not going to hurt the brass.

It dont take much. I just run a thin line of liquid wax all the way around the tumbler.

Having never tumbled brass before, it looks like I get to learn something the hard way. I've already full length resized and deprimed about 800 .22-250 brass. I'll be getting the blow gun for the air hose hooked up to clean flash holes in my near future. I should've asked these questions before I went to work on the brass.

Flash hole are easily cleaned with an unfolded paper clip or something similar.

I have 2 bowls set up for tumbling. Walnut first, with a little Flitz Polish mixed in, then a tumble with dry corn cob media to final polish and clean the red Walnut off. As said above, deprime AFTER tumbling to save a lot of work clearing flash holes!

A couple of hours in each, just 'cause they can run while you're doing other stuff. Probably wouldn't need to be that long.

Which process takes longer washing brass or tumbling after resizeing. I use walnut and run in the tumbler for and hour after resizeing and get about one out of five that may have a piece of media stuck in the flash hole I use a lee trimmer and it fits right in the hole very easy and I can load right then dont have to wait for the water to dry. But I am guessing that you could put them all in a bucket and rinse them around let them dry for about an hour, I dont know trying to figure out which is faster.

try some rice it works great and cheap
not precook or instant

The rice sounds like a good idea. Duh. Why didn't I think of that? Much easier to come by.

Rice work pretty good for media. It is also great for homemade Levi pants benchrest bags. Talk of Town Grocery on Beach St sells bulk rice real cheap.

*** Careful if you put a mixture if brass in a thumbler. 9mm will be lodged inside .45 acp and hard to get out. There arre other that will lodge.

Good stuff guys thanks.

I use walnut media but I go to the pet store and buy Iguana bedding which is ground up walnut shells and it is cheap. The last bag I bought was 10lbs and cost $5.00

I use corn media and use brass cleaner from Midway in the media to renew/ clean the media after a few uses.

If you use a Lee case length guage and cutter to trim the cases the pin goes thru the flash hole and will pop out the media if they are unprimed.

I'll tumble them either way, but usually w/ the spent primer in the brass. I don't like to put the dirty cases inside the resizing die.

Well my tumbler arrived when I was at the fire station last shift, of course. So for the last two days I've tumbled 600 .22-250 cases. Of that 400 had already been deprimed. I had, prolly, 20 or so cases that I had to clean the flash hole, so it wasn't too bad.

I ended up getting the Hornady Case tumbler based on the reviews I read on Midway, and was pleased to find that nowhere on it did it have MADE IN CHINA printed. Ground corn cob media, and about a teaspoon of Flitz, made those cases sparkle like new after two hours in the tumbler. I loaded it with 200 cases at a time, and it gave great results. I also bought the RCBS media separator, that is as handy as a pocket on a shirt. Thanks for all the help guys.

Corn Cob media with some FLITZ mixed in,Works very well.
Bare Cob Media works too, maybe not as bright or safe from fingerprints, without any added paste for the media.

I surprised ya'll need to tumble for so long (2hrs or so).

Are the brass really that dirty or just like them super shinny?

I can understand brass from a range that has been subjected to the weather, but not fired brass that should be kept in the house/ garage covered.