What did I do wrong?

Since I started loading my own ammo, I have always used Lyman pre-treated crushed walnut to tumble my cases in. I have always heard that corncob media polishes cases to a higher shine than walnut, so I borrowed a few cup fulls to try. I treated it with Hornady case polish and let it tumble for about a half an hour to mix it all in and get the clumps out. Then dumped in 100 223 cases.....

results? The corncob is so packed into the cases that it is a real fother mucker to get out and it really didn't shine them up...and that is after they had been through the walnut tumbler,sized,trimmed,etc...
I wiped a few off with a rag and they are shinier than they were before....but it seems like it isn't worth the extra effort(would be simpler to hand polish each one)

Thoughts?

lol You didnt do anything wrong I will not use corn cob media for that very reason. Its just too large to get out of 223 cases. if you deprimed them then you may be able to blow it out with a air compressor.

Yep, it was the 223, not you. I have had some of that with my 22-250. It may be time to go ultrasonic

Grrrr....so it will work with pistol cases and larger rifle cases?

What about sending the corncob media through a coffee bean grinder first...???

yep, I'm a cheapskate,LOL

LOL..... Been there done that. I had actually gotten a good deal on some 223 because the person did not know this either and found it to be a PITA to clean them out and was gonna toss em.

You can empty your tumbler out and toss those into an empty tumbler and let them tumble. It wil help knock alot out. It worked during shipping....

I had to use a pick to pick some out and like Reload said, no primers and you should be able to blow them out.

Yes, they are for the larger calibers and mostly straight walled cases. Bottle necks is ok... .270 will work ok, but you still have to shake the cases pretty vigrously to get it out.

Some have tried the grinding but never posted their results. They just said they went back to walnut. If you do try it, could you post results??

I belive Dartfreak did grind some, I hope I am naming the wrong person, but can not remember the results....

Walnut should create a better shine than corncob. I only use corncob for very very dirty brass or range pickup and like the others I also stay away from corncob in bottleneck rifle rounds under 308.

Reading your post I also wonder if the corncob was still too damp from the polish.

XbonesX wrote:Walnut should create a better shine than corncob. I only use corncob for very very dirty brass or range pickup and like the others I also stay away from corncob in bottleneck rifle rounds under 308.

Reading your post I also wonder if the corncob was still too damp from the polish.

it could have been too damp,idk...That's what I get for following the directions on the bottle of case polish.

It seems whatever I try, I never get a really good shine out my rifle brass. It's clean, but still kinda dull and used looking. My pistol brass always cleans up better and shiny....

For the longest time I blamed it on the case lube(since I don't lube my pistol cases before sizing) but even a second trip through the tumbler doesn't really help the rifle brass.

like mentioned above....time for a ultrasonic cleaner,I guess.

My brass comes out looking pretty and new. But I leave it in there a LONG time I will put it in say around 9pm or 10pm and leave it in there over night on my way off to work i will go in and unplug it.

Reload3006 wrote:My brass comes out looking pretty and new. But I leave it in there a LONG time I will put it in say around 9pm or 10pm and leave it in there over night on my way off to work i will go in and unplug it.

I thought about getting a timer to plug the tumbler into....over night,really?
Do you have any problems with the headstamps polishing off?

I might have to try that.....usually I never let them go over 4 hours.

no never had a problem losing the head stamp.

some say if you polish the cases too shiny it causes the brass to flow more in the chamber and reduces case life.

When I add polish to my media, I like to add it, let it run for a bit to mix and then leave set over night.

However, with corn media, wet or dry, they still get stuck in the cases and a PITA to get out.

Now a little trick, I like to use untreated corncob to take off the case lube of my rifles. It is a little more work, however, if you take some cotton ball or something and place it in the mouth of the case, then the corncob won't get in there. on occasion, I did get a very small amount seem to push the cotton ball in further. The cotton ball isn't hard to get out. I use a long wire to use through the flash hole to puch the cotton out.... I guess I could just use untreated walnut. I buy my stuff at pet stores. The walnut is from the lizard bedding. Walmart had the corncob media in the pet section as well...

XbonesX wrote:some say if you polish the cases too shiny it causes the brass to flow more in the chamber and reduces case life.

I know who they are and they never say that. Just poking fun bones

I use the corncobb stuff for everything I reload I've never had any problems with it getting stuck in .223. You have to make sure it's kept really dry and I use the flitz case polish it only takes a spoon full unless the media is new. I use a timer set for 2 hours and it gets my brass shiney as new. I dump it out of the tumbler into my home made brass seperator and flip it around a few times then there's very little left in the cases when i get them out. I use the frankford arsenal brand corncobb media I tried the pet store stuff and never could get it to shine anything it seems to be treated with something to make it not absorbe the polish and it's alot courser then the frankford stuff.

I have tried the walnut media but never could get any shine at all from it I now only use it for really dirty brass just to keep from dirtying up my corncobb.

As far as the brass flow from the cases to shiny I haven't seen it I think it depends on the caliber and the gun it's fired in more then how shiny it is. Mine are shiny but not a mirror finish at all.

just get yourself a good media separator and make sure that the media is dry. the separator will remove all the media in the cases. any media stuck in the flash holes can be either removed using a decapper die or the sizing die when you start to reload will do the job. also if you are using corn cob media from the pet store such as Bed-Of-Cobs it comes in two sizes...1/4" and 1/8" you will want the 1/8" size.HTH.
Rick

I use cob for everything.... I have never used walnut.... I just get cob really cheap from the media store (andersons they sell everything from sand blasting media to soda for soda blasting).... it is 50lbs for $20.00.... we tumble tons and tons of brass and that lasts us all year.... We just reuse it over and over till it turns black and the more you use it the better it seems to work for us.... We always used a little teaspoon of brasso.... but the price went up on brasso so we have been trying other things.... except we have run out of brass to tumble.... If the brass is real ugly like range pick up just load it up and turn it on and go to bed.... turn it off in the morning.... nice new looking brass.... cleaner brass is just few hours of tumbling....

I dumped the corn cob and tossed just the cases back in. This got 90% of the crap out of the cases and I had to pick the rest out. I then added a fresh batch of walnut media and sent the cases back through another cycle to clean off the dull film left by the corn cob media...they look great now.

Thanks everyone...problem solved!

Rick459 wrote:just get yourself a good media separator and make sure that the media is dry. the separator will remove all the media in the cases. any media stuck in the flash holes can be either removed using a decapper die or the sizing die when you start to reload will do the job. also if you are using corn cob media from the pet store such as Bed-Of-Cobs it comes in two sizes...1/4" and 1/8" you will want the 1/8" size.HTH.
Rick

That is what I use to get the cob out of my 223 never had any trouble when NOT deprimed.

To much polish! I did the same thing the first time I add polish. Jest add more corn cob.

The few times I used walnut media in a lyman tumbler I dumped it over a bucket while it was still running to get most of the media out of the cases. I didn`t like the red dust inside the cases so I went to an ultrsonic cleaner and then to a steel pin tumbler due to the limited size of the available ultrasonics.

I have used the cob for years and have never had that happen to me in 30+ years. I never deprimed before cleaning. I do use the Dillon to get the cob out. I now have a Lyman Ultrasonic that only takes 10 min to clean them. BUT a good day to air dry. It is best to deprimed first if you go Ultrasonic This gives me time to do odd jobs or honey do jobs this keeps the wife happy.