Cleaning Media

[Mason Stillwell]

Got some 38 brass that needs a little more that your normal cleaning media. I am looking for the  small ceramic media.   Anyone know where I can locate it to purchase??

Hopefully it wont get stuck inside the brass like the longer ceramic media.

Thanks  

I know the photo is a little blurry sorry but that .

Now I am   

[Mason Stillwell]

Bump 

[Deadeye Dick]

Mason,
I'm just as interested as you are. Hope someone replies. I think one of the problems in getting smaller ceramic media is getting it in a small enough quantity. There seems to be industrial media available. May have to go in with several pard's for a group purchase.
Deadeye Dick

[Dick Dastardly]

I have a sample of some very fine CP media.  It cleans ok, but it costs an arm and a leg compared to the standard Big Lube®LLC Ceramic Porcelain media.  I routinely clean 38 Special brass with my BL CP media and don't have a lot of trouble separating the media.  I dump the whole wet load into a french fry basket and shake the devil out of it and 99% of the media drops right out.  Those few pieces that do hang up are easy to pull out with a dental pick with a small hook bent into the tip.  My brass sparkles.

DD-DLoS

[Mason Stillwell]

I looked on your site and could not find the media Dick.

Send me a link and I'll purchase some

[Steel Horse Bailey]

I WISH I could keep the ceramic media I have from sticking inside some of my 45 Colt brass.  (Win. brass, but Starlin & RP, too)  The more I use the media, the less sticking I get, but it gets aggravating - good thing I'm almost NEVER in a rush!  LoL!  When the media was new, I'd have 1 of every 3 or 4 with a piece or 2 of ceramic stuck inside.  Now, it's about 1 in 8.  I LOVE the way the ceramic media cleans, but what's the secret to getting the brass shiny like jewelry?  That's what I get using corncob and Midway's vibratory media cleaner/polish.  My brass comes out of the big red Thumler's tumbler wonderfully clean, but more like it was painted with matte gold paint ... it doesn't "sparkle" like Dick's.  But it's clean and 95% of the BP staining is gone and looks as if it had never had staining. (either green from verdigris or BP gunk)

[Noz]

Steel horse. Try adding more liquid to the mix. It seems to stop some of the ceramic sticking inside the cases. don't know why, but it does.

Run your ceramic a few hours with no brass, drain rinse and do it again. A lot of black gunk tend to stick to the ceramic and reduces it's effectiveness.

[Mason Stillwell]

Dick the link did not work

[Mad Mucus]

Howdy Mason,

This stuff pricked my interest but freight to Australia is BS .....

http://www.stainlesstumblingmedia.com/

[Tascosa Joe]

Steel Horse Bailey:
Try a tablespoon full of lemon juice.   That seems to shine the brass up a little.
T-Joe

[Steel Horse Bailey]

Steel Horse Bailey:
Try a tablespoon full of lemon juice.   That seems to shine the brass up a little.
T-Joe

Mike Golf Joe, I'll try the lemon juice, thanks.

Noz, I'll try adding more liquid ... and with lemon.  When I got the media I did go through the "break-in" process and did get tons-o'-black gunk.  I saw all that goo and decided to repeat the process.  Much better.  Since then I've done about 10 loads, so I think I'm well past the "new" or "break-in" phase.  When I tumble the ratio of brass/media/liquid is about 1/1/1.2 or about 1" liquid over the top of the combined brass/ceramic mix.  Is that enough water/solution mix?  The last couple times I found that I was putting too much brass/media in to start with.  Perhaps I wasn't allowing enough room to get a good "tumble."  The whole mix cam to within 2.0" of being completely full.  I may have been trying to do too much at once.

Thanks for the suggestions fellas.  I didn't want to bug Dick about this and I certainly don't want ANYONE to think that the BigLube(tm) ceramic media doesn't work as advertised!  Dick has done so MUCH for the sport of BP shooting, and I appreciate his efforts to create a "one-stop online shop" for products not available in many places.

I'm just curious here.  Is all the media that the rest of you get have a mix of ceramic pieces of different diameters?  My stuff has at least 4 sizes in it running all the way up to pieces about 1/8" in diameter.  They're all about the same length, It's just the diameter I'm asking about.  With 1/8" translating to 0.125" or about 12 caliber, I'm certainly not worried about the pieces filling a case to overfull!  I just want the darn things to stop turning sideways and sticking in some of the M/T (empty) cases - I've already broken one decapping pin on a piece of ceramic that escaped my rigorous pre-loading inspection!

Thanks ....

[john boy]

Is all the media that the rest of you get have a mix of ceramic pieces of different diameters?

No, mine is Kramer Industries K-2 Ceramic Polishing Triangles, 2x2mm
http://www.kramerindustriesonline.com/tumbling-media/precision-ceramic-media/precision-ceramic-polishing.htm

[Deadeye Dick]

John Boy,
How do they work on smaller brass and bottleneck brass, ie: 22 hornet, 223, 17 rem., etc. Presently I use DD's ceramic media, but it doesn't dislodge easily from smaller brass and can be a hassle getting it out of 44-40 brass.
It looks like one has to purchase a 55 pound box of media from Kramer Industries.
Deadeye Dick

[fourfingersofdeath]

Why not try one of those new ultra sonic cleaners? They are as cheap as chips here, they must be almost giving them away in the States!

[hellgate]

I was wondering if the precision ceramic media in 1mm spheres would work better than anything else? I'm thinking it will not as likely get lodged and still clean smaller cases (.223 as well as 38SPL).

[john boy]

Deadeye, here's the recap:
*  Drove to Kramer, about an hour's drive, and talked to the manager with spent BP 25-20 and 45-70 cases in hand
*  I told him want I wanted to do, clean both calibers with one media.  He scratched his chin  and we went back into the lab
*  He picked the 2mm traingles and showed me the results a product the lab had cleaned with them
*  I was satisfied the 2mm triangles would do the job
*  He said I would have to buy a 55 lb pail of the stuff and I croaked.  I said, what about a small quantity of the used 2mm's in the lab and we agreed for 10 lbs.  I also bought a 5 gal pail of their burnishing solution.  But later found Strat-O-Sheen which works much better

I discussed by email with the Kramer Manager about reloaders wanting to buy smaller quantities of Kramer's media.  He said he would consider it but over time he didn't think hard enough.  So that leaves someone to honcho a 50 lb pail and and do the leg work parceling out of smaller quantities

Discussing the 2mm's and other 3mm's on Shiloh Rifle forum, I've given 5 lbs away for free so plan to keep what I have left

In the 25-20 cases, unless the triangles are really packed inside, I can just shake the cases in the solution and the media drops out.  For the packed ones, I click 2 cases together and that works to drop the media.  Works best when the cases are deprimed

For my other calibers, 30, 32, 38, 43, 45 and 50 - no issues with the media having to be picked out ... it drops out.  Of course, with all the calibers there will be a small quantity of cases where 3 pieces of the media will jam in the primer pocket and have to be dug out

[Dick Dastardly]

Howdy JB,

Strat o Sheen runs $99.00 for a minimum purchase of 25lb.  How much does a 55lb bucket of the triangles run?

DD-DLoS

[Tascosa Joe]

SHB:

I have a RCBS Universal depriming die.  I deprime my BP cases before they go in the tumbler.  When a piece of media gets stuck crossways in the bottom, I can use a drift pin the size of the primer hole and it come right out.  I made the mistake of running some 50-70 cases at the same time as some 38 S&W, now that became difficult.

T-Joe

[john boy]

Strat o Sheen runs $99.00 for a minimum purchase of 25lb

Dick ...  Click on the 'Select Size' drop down menu ... 5 lb will pop up
http://www.riogrande.com/MemberArea/ProductPage.aspx?assetname=33901725

How much does a 55lb bucket of the triangles run?

Dick, I didn't remember so I called Kramer and talked with the Manager:
K-Polish Ceramic Triangles
2mm = $9/lb ... 55lb box = $495
3mm = $7.50/lb ... 55lb box = $412.50

Then I reminded Steve that we had talked previously about selling the media directly in smaller quantities.  He replied they are now cramped for space and not set up to store the smaller packaged boxes'.  They are moving to a larger warehouse and in Nov or Dec will be able to and plan to sell in smaller quantities ... "anything you want"  I mentioned 5 or 10 lb boxes?  Yes.
He said for folks to call him or send an email in the Nov - Dec time frame for orders ... They may even sell the media in less than 5 lb boxes but I don't know for sure
If you call the NJ 732 number, you will get to him directly.  The 888 number is one of those boiler room ordering services
http://www.kramerindustriesonline.com/contact/index.php

[Deadeye Dick]

Then I reminded Steve that we had talked previously about selling the media directly in smaller quantities.  He replied they are now cramped for space and not set up to store the smaller packaged boxes'.  They are moving to a larger warehouse and in Nov or Dec will be able to and plan to sell in smaller quantities ... "anything you want"  I mentioned 5 or 10 lb boxes?  Yes.
He said for folks to call him or send an email in the Nov - Dec time frame for orders ... They may even sell the media in less than 5 lb boxes but I don't know for sure
If you call the NJ 732 number, you will get to him directly.  The 888 number is one of those boiler room ordering services
http://www.kramerindustriesonline.com/contact/index.php

John Boy,
Sounds like the way to go. I'll wait until Nov/Dec and then contact him for an order.
Thanks for the info.
Deadeye Dick