I just bought a Hornady tumbler from a coworker who tried reloading once and never went any farther with it. I've never used a tumbler before so I have a question or two. How much "media" do I put in vs. how many shells? I'm sure this will start a debate (not my intention), but does it really matter which type of media you use? I'll mostly be using it for .35 rem, .308 win and 45/70.

Most tumblers will hold 3 to 6 lbs. of media and you can use corn cob or walnut hull which ever you like, They both do a good job. You can get around 50 to 150 rifle cases in to clean at one time depending on how big your tumbler is.

Hoeram :D

Most generally I do this, my tumbler is the open bowl vibrator type so it is not tumbler but a case cleaner. I put in a generous amount, add cases then add more media after the cases are well into the media. This works well though some media spills before I can get the lid on. That's no real problem as it is inside a large dishpan I have for that purpose. In other words as much as possible, it makes the job quieter and more media seems to get the job done quicker.

I don't know your tumbler so I will offer "my rule of thumb".
Fill the bowl near 1/3 to 2/5s full of media.
Add no more than 1/3 of cases. They need to be able to move about freely in there to get clean.
A tumbler is a "out of balance" machine. Don't overload it.
It is like putting to many clothes in your washer. They won't get clean!
Cheezywan

You might just shoot an e-mail to Hornady with the make and model of the tumbler and ask them for an owners manual/instruction sheet. It'll tell you how much media to put in it and the case capacity and any other pertinent info.

Regards

Thanks for the replies. It's a Hornady M-2 cleaner/tumbler. How much can you re-use the media? Is it pretty obvious when it's time to change?

If it's an M-2 I'm figuring it holds 2 lbs. of media. I'd fill it about 2/3 or so full with media. I buy untreated corn cob and add Jewelers Rouge 1/4 teaspoon sparingly with a teaspoon of Turps (paint thinner) to act as a binder. Run the unit with the lid off for about a half hour to let the Turps evaporate and the rouge to bind with the media. Then you can fill with cases. Fill with just enough cases where you can observe easy movement. If you fill it too much, you will notice the cases bogging down and not moving around the unit through the media.

After tumbling be sure the flash holes and primer pockets and inside of cases are clear of media. Check EVERY one.

Old media will not clean the brass in the usual time you are accustomed too or it will leave the cases dull looking. You can add an activator/renewer or if the media is really dirty looking, dump it.

I use an old collander to strain cases or one of the available hand crank models like Dillons.

Crushed walnut is very aggressive for dirty brass like millitary or unprocessed once fired. I haven't really any need for that so just polish with the corn cob.

Regards

Thanks Everyone!

The media never wears out... you just recharge it... I use Hornady's case polish and rejuvenator... I've had excellent results with it...

I can fit about 75 .25-06 cases in my tumbler.

With continued useage, tumbler media while never wearing out will become less effective as their surfaces lose their sharp corners and become clogged with powder residue. I was amazed at how nice my brass looked after changing to new corn media and brass polish. My fired cases are tumbled in walnut prior to sizing and after to remove any case lube. Then they're tumbled in corn just for appearance. I use my vibratory tumbler a lot so I change the media annually. To think I once used to clean my brass diligently with a rag in front of the tv. A tumbler is one of the best tools I ever bought for reloading. :p

Hope I am keeping on the main thread here, but I have heard that a person could purchase media from pet stores and at a good price. Is this possible?

Yes, glad you brought this up. I was at my local PetSmart pet supply store yesterday and saw 5 pound bags of crushed walnut media by Kaytee for about $5 a bag. It looked fine enough for tumbling brass. I am going to try some since the price is right and I don't have to pay extra for shipping. I was hoping to find corn media there too but that was not the case. One of my last purchases from Midway was for walnut media and corn media. The stuff was on sale so I stocked up. I got hit with sticker shock when the Midway rep gave me the total price. Seems about a third of the total was for shipping. :rolleyes:

I agree with the sticker shock. Know that feeling. I will hit my local Pet store this upcoming weekend, and see what I can find. Will let ya know what I am able to come up with. Thanks..

You can buy ground corn cobs at a feed mill for such a low price you will be AMAZED at what you've been paying for it from the loading companies. It comes in a bag that would be like a 50lb bag of feed for less than $5 last time I bought it. I put in a capful of Dillon case polish when I use new media or when it seems to be not doing it's job as well. When you buy the big bag for cheap you can replace when you have a though that it might be worn out with no real big expense, but it lasts quite a while.

A gun shop in MN, where I grew up, bought the stuff like this and treated it with a liquid polishing agent and sold it in new 1 gallon jugs for a few bucks...the biggest cost was the new 1 gallon jug.

You can buy ground corn cobs at a feed mill for such a low price you will be AMAZED at what you've been paying for it from the loading companies. It comes in a bag that would be like a 50lb bag of feed for less than $5 last time I bought it. I put in a capful of Dillon case polish when I use new media or when it seems to be not doing it's job as well. When you buy the big bag for cheap you can replace when you have a though that it might be worn out with no real big expense, but it lasts quite a while.

A gun shop in MN, where I grew up, bought the stuff like this and treated it with a liquid polishing agent and sold it in new 1 gallon jugs for a few bucks...the biggest cost was the new 1 gallon jug.

Thanks kciH for the heads up on the feed mill prices, I'm going to check out mine tomarrow.

I just bought a Hornady tumbler from a coworker who tried reloading once and never went any farther with it. I've never used a tumbler before so I have a question or two. How much "media" do I put in vs. how many shells? I'm sure this will start a debate (not my intention), but does it really matter which type of media you use? I'll mostly be using it for .35 rem, .308 win and 45/70.


I have the smaller of the Hornady tumblers. Below is what I put in per cleaning, this also gives good action of the brass moving around with 1/2 to 3/4 full of media.

.223 - 200 cases
30-06, 7 MM, 300 WIN Mag - 75-100 cases
44 Mag, 45 Colt - 200-300 cases
40 S&W - 300-400 cases

I use bird cage liner I buy at Petco or PetSmart. A 25 pound bag cost about $13.00. It's just untreated corn cob. I fill the tumbler about 1/2 full off media, then add 4-5 teaspoons of mineral spirits. I tumble this for 10 minutes without brass to distribute the spirits in the media. I add the brass then lid and tumble covered so the spirits wont evaporate. When the brass is almost clean I remove the lid and tumble for another 1-2 hours to evaporate the spirits. The media returns to it's dry state. I got this trick off another reloading web site a few years back. I clean a lot of brass and still working from my original $13.00 bag of bird cage liner and $1.79 quart can of mineral spirits after 2 years. I got tired of paying $13-$15 for 4 pounds of tumbling media and $6-$8 per bottle of 4 oz. brass cleaner. This method takes a little longer but is so cheap to do. I start my tumbling in the evening and let it go all night while I sleep. The cases come out so clean and polished they look like they were machined from solid gold bar stock. Just my $0.02 worth.