I had posted this on another forum and though I would condense the thread and post it here as well.
So, I’m really sick of the dust from my usual standby media (Tufnut) and the price of purchasing it. It seemed to go bad after about 1,000 to 1,500 rounds being tumbled in it. I tried the old Drier Sheet trick, Car Polish/Mineral Spirits, washing the stuff and straining the dirt out of the media in an attempt to extend its useful life with no real success.
So decided to test other media items to see if there was something cheaper, worked just as good, easier to locate near home and could be purchased in bulk.
Alas, I have found the perfect media. You can purchase it in bulk (up to 50 lb Bags) for about $28.00. That’s enough to fill your tumbler up about 16 times and about 75% cheaper than purchasing Tufnut media.
I’ve tested it by tumbling 100 round increments over the past two weeks in the new media and have cleaned over 1,200 rounds of brass to date and compared the effectiveness to Tufnut and documented the results below.
1.) Both cleaned inside the cases as well as the outside
2.) They cleaned about as well as each other except the Tufnut had a little more gloss to the brass
3.) However, Tufnut had large quantities of red dust that got on the tumbler bowls, brass and my Media Separator that had to be washed off
4.) All the brass had a coating of red sticky dust on them that needed to be wiped off, including my dies and shell holders
5.) The Tufnut had three times as many shell flash holes clogged with walnut particles
6.) Neither got clogged inside the cases, even on small 20 tactical brass
I didn’t use any additive for the first 500 rounds but decided to include some after that point to see if it would clean a little quicker if you added some polish and mineral spirits to the mix. Here is what I added. The brass I tumbled without the additive goes for about 5 hours. The brass I tumble with additive works both faster (3 hours) and has more shine.
1.) Take a tablespoon of liquid car polish and a tablespoon of mineral spirits and mix together in a glass baby food jar to thin out the polish.
2.) I distribute within the media by turning on the tumbler and drizzle the mixture into the media while it is running. Make sure you have no brass in the tumbler at this point.
3.) I allow the tumbler to mix this up good for about 3 hours before adding the brass.
4.) This will evenly distribute the polish and allow the mineral spirits to evaporate out of the media (so it doesn’t get packed into your cases.
The results of using the new media with the additive directed above had the following results.
1.) Media cleaned better than Tufnut. Higher level of gloss and zero residues on the cases
2.) Media cleaned the brass in shorter time period. 3 hours over my usual 5 hours in Tufnut
3.) Media separates better than Tufnut. It comes out of all the cases and has zero dust/residue on the inside of the media separator.
4.) Media had a little bit of static, but was easily cured by rubbing inside of the Separator with a drier sheet.
Now with over 1,200 rounds (50+ hours of continuous tumbling of brass) the latest group of brass (rounds 1,000 – 1,200) came out just as clean as the first 500 rounds tumbled. Best part of it ... time to clean. Running at only 3 hrs/100 rounds is much more efficient than 5 hrs/100 and still no dust or residue. I'll probably have to add the additive every 500 rounds or so just to keep the cleaning time down but for the most part, this is a sure fire alternative to historical cleaning media… This is certainly one that I will now use exclusively from here on out for all my brass tumbling.
I think after this last batch of (100) 260 Rem brass currently tumbling, I will try to clean the new media to see if that is even possible. So far, the new media is a clear winner to me as an alternative media source for cleaning your brass.
Want to see what it is .... check out below for some pictures and the answer.
Picture of first set of test brass in the tumbler with new media
Couple of 20 Practical cases tumbled clean by new media
This is batch number 500 another set of 20 Practical Cases Cleaned by new media
Group of 260 Remington and 6mm Dasher cleaned by new media
Before and after media shot, this after 600 rounds tumbled
Shot of Media in hand, notice the lack of dust and residue on the side walls of the separator
That's right, plain white Comet brand rice for about $28 per 50lb bag.
Just so everyone is on the same page here for quantity and pricing. I use 7 cups of white rice in my tumbler which is about 50 oz in weight. A 50lb bag of rice weighs 800 oz's, (800 / 50 = 16) that's 16 tumblers full of rice for $28. Tufnut retails for about $16.00/ 7lbs. However Tufnut is much heavier than rice and therefore takes more per weight to fill the tumbler, thereby giving you only about 1.25 fills for one jug of Tufnut (same 7 cups/fill). You would have to purchase 8 boxes of Tufnut to get the same quantity as a 50lb bag of rice increasing your cost to about $128 for Tufnut over $28 for rice. That's a savings of about 75% when you include shipping.
Give it a try, I think you will be pleasantly surprised with the outcome.
Skeeter
So, I’m really sick of the dust from my usual standby media (Tufnut) and the price of purchasing it. It seemed to go bad after about 1,000 to 1,500 rounds being tumbled in it. I tried the old Drier Sheet trick, Car Polish/Mineral Spirits, washing the stuff and straining the dirt out of the media in an attempt to extend its useful life with no real success.
So decided to test other media items to see if there was something cheaper, worked just as good, easier to locate near home and could be purchased in bulk.
Alas, I have found the perfect media. You can purchase it in bulk (up to 50 lb Bags) for about $28.00. That’s enough to fill your tumbler up about 16 times and about 75% cheaper than purchasing Tufnut media.
I’ve tested it by tumbling 100 round increments over the past two weeks in the new media and have cleaned over 1,200 rounds of brass to date and compared the effectiveness to Tufnut and documented the results below.
1.) Both cleaned inside the cases as well as the outside
2.) They cleaned about as well as each other except the Tufnut had a little more gloss to the brass
3.) However, Tufnut had large quantities of red dust that got on the tumbler bowls, brass and my Media Separator that had to be washed off
4.) All the brass had a coating of red sticky dust on them that needed to be wiped off, including my dies and shell holders
5.) The Tufnut had three times as many shell flash holes clogged with walnut particles
6.) Neither got clogged inside the cases, even on small 20 tactical brass
I didn’t use any additive for the first 500 rounds but decided to include some after that point to see if it would clean a little quicker if you added some polish and mineral spirits to the mix. Here is what I added. The brass I tumbled without the additive goes for about 5 hours. The brass I tumble with additive works both faster (3 hours) and has more shine.
1.) Take a tablespoon of liquid car polish and a tablespoon of mineral spirits and mix together in a glass baby food jar to thin out the polish.
2.) I distribute within the media by turning on the tumbler and drizzle the mixture into the media while it is running. Make sure you have no brass in the tumbler at this point.
3.) I allow the tumbler to mix this up good for about 3 hours before adding the brass.
4.) This will evenly distribute the polish and allow the mineral spirits to evaporate out of the media (so it doesn’t get packed into your cases.
The results of using the new media with the additive directed above had the following results.
1.) Media cleaned better than Tufnut. Higher level of gloss and zero residues on the cases
2.) Media cleaned the brass in shorter time period. 3 hours over my usual 5 hours in Tufnut
3.) Media separates better than Tufnut. It comes out of all the cases and has zero dust/residue on the inside of the media separator.
4.) Media had a little bit of static, but was easily cured by rubbing inside of the Separator with a drier sheet.
Now with over 1,200 rounds (50+ hours of continuous tumbling of brass) the latest group of brass (rounds 1,000 – 1,200) came out just as clean as the first 500 rounds tumbled. Best part of it ... time to clean. Running at only 3 hrs/100 rounds is much more efficient than 5 hrs/100 and still no dust or residue. I'll probably have to add the additive every 500 rounds or so just to keep the cleaning time down but for the most part, this is a sure fire alternative to historical cleaning media… This is certainly one that I will now use exclusively from here on out for all my brass tumbling.
I think after this last batch of (100) 260 Rem brass currently tumbling, I will try to clean the new media to see if that is even possible. So far, the new media is a clear winner to me as an alternative media source for cleaning your brass.
Want to see what it is .... check out below for some pictures and the answer.
Picture of first set of test brass in the tumbler with new media
Couple of 20 Practical cases tumbled clean by new media
This is batch number 500 another set of 20 Practical Cases Cleaned by new media
Group of 260 Remington and 6mm Dasher cleaned by new media
Before and after media shot, this after 600 rounds tumbled
Shot of Media in hand, notice the lack of dust and residue on the side walls of the separator
That's right, plain white Comet brand rice for about $28 per 50lb bag.
Just so everyone is on the same page here for quantity and pricing. I use 7 cups of white rice in my tumbler which is about 50 oz in weight. A 50lb bag of rice weighs 800 oz's, (800 / 50 = 16) that's 16 tumblers full of rice for $28. Tufnut retails for about $16.00/ 7lbs. However Tufnut is much heavier than rice and therefore takes more per weight to fill the tumbler, thereby giving you only about 1.25 fills for one jug of Tufnut (same 7 cups/fill). You would have to purchase 8 boxes of Tufnut to get the same quantity as a 50lb bag of rice increasing your cost to about $128 for Tufnut over $28 for rice. That's a savings of about 75% when you include shipping.
Give it a try, I think you will be pleasantly surprised with the outcome.
Skeeter
