tumblers and media

[Rapier]

Interesting this,

Ok, Losso is a product that was developed to clean water department meters. It will clean dirty brass like magic, only thing is that you have the draining and washing with water and drying after. Water stops the chemical reaction. Leave brass to long and it turns orange. But, according to the mfg., Losso is the only liquid cleaner that is specificly made to use before you tumble or vibrate your brass. It does work and it does work well. I have the kit under my bench. Put brass in fishnet bag, dip in small bucket of Losso, drain in bucket, empty back into container, fill with water, wash brass, drain, dry over night, tumble.

Tumblers tumbler; Double container, rubber drums lay on side and rolls on two rods, polisher for rock polishing. Great for liquid cleaning of brass using copper coated BBs and Dawn DWD. Too small for dry media and high volumes of brass. When I sold mine after 10 years, it was still working like new. Tough machine.

Vibrators, Lyman / RCBS / Dillon / Midway, etc; Same thing just different colors and stickers. Not as long lasting as Tumblers Tumbler but bigger for large amounts of brass to be cleaned with dry media only.

Dillion case cleaner; Smells just like liquid Turtle Wax, wonder why? Yeh, well......

Liquid car polish; Ok, but seems to clog up walnut hulls reducing life of media by about 25%.

Turtle Wax; what took you so long. Use it with any dry media, just a pinch....between the top and bowl.

Corn Cob; OK, a smoother shine, but does not last long, works best with brass kept clean, only buy it if walnut not available.

Walnut Hulls; Pretty much the base line for media, buy it treated and add to it.

Pecan hulls; Huh, you gotta be kidding, nope just about the same as walnut and everywhere in the south. Add Turtle Wax.

Liquid or powdered Jewlers Ruge; White, red or otherwise, what a mess, like powdered dye all over everything.

Abrasives; no, no, no sand, steel, aluminum, etc

From a survey of 1,000 shooters. Most folks who do not clean their brass or inspect their brass see no need to do anything but load and shoot. Those who clean and inspect brass at every outing are also folks who are picky about their loads. Most winners of orginized matches clean their brass on a regular basis. Some champion shooters never clean their brass as long as it will fit into the chamber.

Sorry for the elongated post, I bet you can't guess that I wrote an article about brass cleaning, cleaning products, whys, wharefors, etc, can you.....

Oh, the major benifit to cleaning your brass is not to get grit into the gun OR dies, but as a secondary benifit you also remove any product from the surface that might damage the brass itself. Have you ever seen what grass fertalizer does to range brass?

If you are a match shooter with hundreds of rounds per month burned, get a big vibrator. If you go to the range a few times a year and shoot 50 or less rounds at a time, get a Tumblers Tumbler or a small vibrator. I have a medium Lyman and a big Dillion. I have worn out a couple of the small vibrators, when over loaded the motors burn out.
Ed