# Walnut shells or corn cobs for cleaning brass



## 7thcorpsFA (Mar 6, 2010)

Which is better? Walnut shells are cheaper, but are corn cobs better? I don't have a clue. Thanks.


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## scallop (Apr 1, 2007)

Mostly personal preference, walnut is a little harder and more abrasive, corncob is a little softer. For normal tumbling walnut will cut your time by a small margin. As an alternative to buying specific media labeled for case cleaning you can purchase "lizard litter" at your local pet store which is much cheaper and serves the same purpose. Another tip is to cut a used dryer sheet in inch or two wide strips and add to the media. Keeps the dust down and you will be surprised the dirt it picks up, will make your media last much longer. Toss in a cap or two of NuFinish car wax and your cases will come out bright and shiny, which is much cheaper than "case cleaner" you would find at the gun shop.


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## BigV (Nov 11, 2004)

Walnut will clean better, but will not give you the shine corncob does.
As stated above, you can get walnut a lot cheaper at Pet Smart. Its called Zilla reptile bedding. I like to mix walnut and corncob together and get the best of both worlds.

I use only corncob when tumbling my finished rifle ammo to remove the case lube from the outside and put a nice shiny new look on the finished product.

+ 1 on the Nufinish car wax!


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## BottomBouncer (Jan 20, 2005)

I haven't used my tumbler yet. My brother in law said that corn is cleaner. Walnut shells leaves dust all over the place.


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## saugeyesam (Apr 20, 2004)

BottomBouncer said:


> I haven't used my tumbler yet. My brother in law said that corn is cleaner. Walnut shells leaves dust all over the place.


They both will leave dust, i also use the cloth strips and nufinish wax. My brass comes out looking factory fresh every time. One thing I also do before priming and reloading is I will take each cleaned case and blow air from the compressor into each case to remove any dust residue. If left in there it could cause case pressures to be increased causing a ruptured casing or worse a receiver or barrel rupture. Q-tips work well too just swab the inside of the case to check for excess dust residue.


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## BigV (Nov 11, 2004)

BottomBouncer said:


> I haven't used my tumbler yet. My brother in law said that corn is cleaner. Walnut shells leaves dust all over the place.


Walnut and corn cob both leave dust. A simple remedy is cutting used dryer sheets into 2" X 2" squares and throwing them into the tumbler while cleaning brass. The dryer sheets absorb most of the dust.

As far as using an air compressor to remove dust...Overkill plain and simple. The small amount of dust left inside a case after tumbling will not cause any issues with over pressure or barrel rupture.


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## sharon time (Jun 20, 2004)

No expert here. But I found a sandblasting company in Akron that has corn cob and walnut. I bought a 50 lb bag of corn cob for approx $14.00. You would be surprised the amount you get. I may never need to buy another bag. They also carry walnut, but did not inquire about the price. I also put in approx 1 cap full of Nu-Finish.


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## 7thcorpsFA (Mar 6, 2010)

Tried the dryer sheet idea and it worked very well. Told the old lady to buy me some Nu Finish but had already cleaned all 400 brass that I had. Looking forward to trying it out next time. Shame it takes so long to get them nice and shiney. Takes my RCBS tumbler about 5 hours to get it done, and it is loud enough to wake the dead, but they look like new when finished. How many times can you use the walnut or corn cobbs if you do 200 to 300 .38spl. at a time? Thanks for the info.!


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## BigV (Nov 11, 2004)

7thcorpsFA said:


> Tried the dryer sheet idea and it worked very well. Told the old lady to buy me some Nu Finish but had already cleaned all 400 brass that I had. Looking forward to trying it out next time. Shame it takes so long to get them nice and shiney. Takes my RCBS tumbler about 5 hours to get it done, and it is loud enough to wake the dead, but they look like new when finished. How many times can you use the walnut or corn cobbs if you do 200 to 300 .38spl. at a time? Thanks for the info.!


I have 3 different tumbers I use and the el-chepo from harbor Freight ($49.99) is the quietest. I usually clean around 300 to 400 at a time and re-use the media until it turns almost black. I would guess at least 8 to 10 times. I add Nu-Finish every other load. As the media gets older it takes more time to get the brass clean. I mix corn cob and walnut together for dirty brass and it usually only takes about 2 hours to get it clean and shiny. I use only corn cob when I tumble finished rifle ammo to remove any case lube on them. I usually only tumble finished ammo about an hour. 
Speaking of case lube, here a home made recipe that is cheap and works great:

Home Made Case Lube

Step One -Gather contents - 
Liquid Lanolin (100% pure was $7.00 at the local health food store) 
Isopropyl Alcohol (at minimum 91% $1.19 at the local drug store - 99% is best couldn't find it) 
If you go to an Auto Store ISO HEET is 99% Isopropyl I prefer ISO HEET
New or Clean spray bottle (from the "Dollar" store) has ratio markings and ounce markings so it helps 


Step Two 
Warm the Lanolin in warm tap water (110 to 120 degrees F - NO OPEN FLAMES!) 
Do the same for the IPA, this will help in the mixing process. 

Step Three 
Pour 2 (two) ounces of the warmed Lanolin into the spray bottle 

Step Four 
Pour 16 (sixteen) ounces of the warmed IPA into the spray bottle giving you an 1:8 ratio 
This seem to be the ratio that best mimics Dillon Spray Lube (add more IPA if you feel it is too thick in your dies)

Step Five 
Shake until contents becomes homogonized and label the bottle accordingly (so you don't confuse it with CLP or something) 

Then proceed to lube cases as needed. I left some room in case I needed to adjust the ratio depending on the dies and how finiky they may be. This Ratio seems to work fine for me. I did about 30 once fired LC headstamps and it was smooth as silk. 

Let cases dry for 15 minutes before sizing begins


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