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Military Firearm Restoration Corner

Walnut From The Pet Shop


karlunity

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Az was kind enough to send me some .45 brass and as I was working on it I realized that I was out of Walnut media for the tumbler.

It seems that when we moved the corn and walnut got mixed.

Off to pet co. 20 lbs of english walnut 12 bucks.

In the gunstore, they want 20 bucks for 5 lbs.."but it comes is a plastic bottle"

Well, i got a "plastic bottle" at home so it was the pet shop for me.

when you guys need some the pet shop is the place to go ..they have it in the lizard dept.

karl

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Thanks for the tip, Karl. I was tumbling some brass he sent me as well, plus some other milsurp 30-06 I've had for ages. My media is about done. I haven't tumbled any brass in a LONG time, like maybe 15-20 years, but it seems like 3 hours should have had it coming out really clean, like new. Or did I just not wait long enough?

 

Actually, I haven't reloaded anything in >10 years. This 7mm Mauser project is kickstarting me back into it. I now have a barrel vice and action wrench. Should have bought them 3 projects ago.

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Hello Dr. Hess.

I have run the tumbler for 6 hours at times.

It depends on several factors:

The state of your media.

The amount of brass

How clean you want the brass.

Mostly about two hours or so does it; unless the brass is very dirty.

Some gentlemen put some Brasso or other type of polish in the media, I have done that but the more I think about it the less inclined I am to mix polish and gun powder.

karl

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About 15 years ago I was given a 60# sack of fine ground Walnut media. It was intended to be used in a "sand / bead blaster" . Works great. I add 2 table spoons on Frankford Arsenal case cleaner every 2 or 3 uses. Run it for 4 to 6 hours on a timer. I think Walnut leaves the cases cleaner than Cork Cob. I think I still have about 40+ lbs left. Ralph

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Don't know why the   and symbols are showing up in my posts.

<p>My last trip just a couple weeks ago to Pet Smart. I was really surprised by the price increase in ground walnut. Pet Smart used to carry several varieties. Same stuff different price. Depended on how it was labeled and which aisle it was on. For example Hamster bedding might be a few bucks more than snake bedding but it was all simply ground walnut. All they had in walnut this past holiday weekend was labeled pet bedding and it was more than 2 bucks per pound. Instead I bought ground corn cob labeled reptile bedding 25lb bag for 13 and change. Possibly Pet Smart has wised up to reloaders. I made a trip down the road to PETCO but they were closed for the holiday so I turned around and got the corn cob. Corn cob is much faster but does not give it the bright highly polished sheen walnut does. I added some jeweler's rouge to the corn cob, let it run a few more hours and it was as bright as walnut's polish. I suggest you avoid the coarse ground corn cob for a 22 cal bottle neck, get the fine ground if they have it. I had to stick a screw driver down the 223 brass to assure no kernels were stuck inside



You can add life to worn media by adding a few ounces windshield washer solvent as it tumbles. The media gets coated with oil, usually sizing lube and reduces the friction. The washer solvent causes the oily substance to become absorbed in the media leaving a rough exterior and it evaporates pretty quick. If you're really desperate. Put the media in a pillow case the wife wont miss. Soak the media filled pillow case with gasoline, paint thinner or what ever is handy. Hang it up in the sun, let it dry and the media will be as good as brand new

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Been doing this for a lonnnnnggggg time, I mix 50/50 corn cob and walnut, add Frankfort arsenal brass cleaner, a cut up dryer sheet, Bounce, whatever and let the tumbler run.

The dryer sheet picks up the dirt and static.

But by far the best of the best is the ultrasonic cleaners. Decap/full length size and throw them into the cleaner and 30 minutes later-----Like new cases, rinse, dry and reload.

Just my 2 cents worth.

Rebel49

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Been doing this for a lonnnnnggggg time, I mix 50/50 corn cob and walnut, add Frankfort arsenal brass cleaner, a cut up dryer sheet, Bounce, whatever and let the tumbler run.

The dryer sheet picks up the dirt and static.

But by far the best of the best is the ultrasonic cleaners. Decap/full length size and throw them into the cleaner and 30 minutes later-----Like new cases, rinse, dry and reload.

Just my 2 cents worth.

Rebel49

 

I've seen what the ultra sonic cleaners can do. It does make the brass look brand new both in and outside. The downside is the small capacity. Not in person but posted on other gun boards. I've seen pictures after the stainless steel pins and solvent. It even polishes up primer pockets. Another media not mentioned is rice. I got some rice from a Y2K doomsdayer. Using a cheese grater added some jeweler's rouge from a polishing stick to the rice. After an over night tumbling the brass came out looking like polished gold. The shine was lost though after a trip through a sizing die. The best thing about the rice was absolutely no dust. The dryer sheets work well against static and dust but I've found a few fine mist sprays of water from a pump sprayer a few minutes before shutting it down works nearly as well.

 

Years ago, back when Cosco was known as the Price Club. I used some of the bargain priced dry dog food which is basically corn meal for tumbling media and worked pretty good. I opened the dog food and a mother mouse and a few babies ran out. I was able to stomp on the mother mouse but the babies ran under my washing machine. Took me a few weeks to catch them all in sticky traps. No way I'd feed it to my dogs with mouse turds in it. Needing media at the time I tried it and it worked fairly well in one of the old Thumbler's Tumbler. After I tumbled my brass I dumped the used dog food back in the bag, mixed it up and returned it to Price Club exchanging it for a name brand.

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I have read that adding a bit of Nu Finish car polish works wonders with the walnut media also. I haven't tried it out yet though.

 

Any car polish, wax or glaze seems to speed things up and add some shine. From what I've read on other boards Nu Finish seems to be the preferred brand. Follow up posts in threads regarding polish. Many claim the ammonia in car polishes and Brasso as well breaks down the brass but I can personally say it has never caused me any problems. I'm not a person with a science back ground but it seems to me the ammonia will evaporate pretty quickly before doing any damage.

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We get a kitty litter at wally world. Looking at the label, it is "100% natural corn fiber." Arm and Hammer "Essentials." Practically no dust, just ground corn cob, I guess. About a buck a pound.

 

If you're a real cheapskate like me. I found the cheapest source of kitty litter was oil absorbent. You wont save much buying it at Auto Zone but if you know a mechanic he may know of a source to buy it in bulk. In my short career as a mechanic and even shorter working on forklifts. We always had plenty of oil absorbent handy. Lift trucks are by far the dirtiest, greasiest mechanical devices you can imagine. Numerous oil leaks from various sources, pumps, pistons, reservoirs, oil lines some of which were under pressure. When we'd hear "gotta a pisser" we would immediately come with buckets oil absorbent. I can't recall the price as it goes back to 1979-80. What we couldn't walk out with we could buy dirt cheap through the service dept's supplier.

 

Stuff we were using was not ground corn cob. It was made with Gypsum and clay and it was really effective. I'm told today's kitty litter and oil absorbent are also adding powdered Styrofoam waste. In the cat box back in the day when I had 4 kids and a couple cats we filled the cat boxes with the absorbent and it clumped urine together. Didn't clump as good as the premium Petco brands but it worked. If I remember right my X used a small amount of Pine-Sol to cover the stench long enough for the kids to come home from school. Clean and change the cat boxes. Girls did the cat boxes, boys cleaned up after the dogs in the back yard.

 

BTW Doc, found more brass and possibly some 7MM bullets. I'll let you know and get it in the mail on Monday.

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I got a bag of corncob litter from Walmart a few years ago. The only downside is that some of the pieces are larger than the commercial stuff. Can be an issue in 224 or 243 cases.

Works just fine other than that. Never found Walnut before. Will have to look.

I save all our used dryer sheets and tear them in half and throw them in the pot. It really does well at collecting the dust. They look pretty nasty when you dump them out.

I usually let mine run overnight. It is usually close to bedtime when I am monkeying with them and I don't want to get up in the middle of the night to turn it off. They are usually nice and clean by morning.

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I just did 1K of 9mm brass the other day in the ultrasonic, far more than I wanted to FL size on my single stage press. Now I'll take my time loading a couple of hundred at a time.

I still use my tumbler when I'm not in a hurry, I use the ultrasonic more for parts cleaning on firearms in the shop. It does wonders on AR BC's and dirty pistols.

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