Tumbler capacity

[Ra66it]

So what is a good number of .223 shells to put in the tumbler at one time? I just bought one of the HF tumblers listed in another thread that states it has a 5lb capacity. I figured I had about 1 1/2 pounds of walnut media and about 1 1/2 pounds of brass (guesstimate. It ended up being 121 casings).
From another thread I picked up some NuFinish car polish and added about 3 ounces of that to the media.
It ran with only the media for about 2 1/2 hours and another hour after I added the polish.
The results aren't what I expected. Should I run the next batch longer in the polish? Should I put fewer casings in?
This was the first run so I'm sure I F'd something up. Or at least could have done better.

 

[BUFF7MM]

I use Flitz polish with walnut media. I usually run around 100 rifle cases, more for the pistol.

 

[coopermania]

If I was you I would back off to 100 empty's and put the polish in before you put the brass in the tumbler.
Put your polish in the media and run the machine for a few minutes until the clumps disappear, Then add your brass.

 

[Ra66it]

Honestly the polish was an after thought. That's why I ran just media to begin with.
I'll look for Flitz for later though. Don't get me wrong the casings are clean just not "pirdy" haha

 

[coopermania]

Polishing works better with abrasive.

 

[tony b]

I would add a little more walnut media and run with out brass as coopermania suggested.
Then add your casings. You can experiment with how many to find the right amount for your machine. I believe what may have happened is that the nu finish coated the brass before combining with the media.
Another thing to try is do a new batch of media with no polish for cleaning your brass and the media you have now for polishing . Just find what works for you.
I mostly wet tumble now but when i do use the vibratory cleaner I use walnut for cleaning and corn cob with polish for the shiney brass.
good luck to you sir

 

[Pinecone]

I just add cases and watch how they move in the tumbler. And add some more. You can see when there are getting to be too many cases. They no longer move smoothly, they seem to stack up.

BTW, I never run the cover on my tumbler.

 

[tony b]

then throw a dryer sheet in there to keep down the dust

 

[Ra66it]

Thanks for the advice and tips. I'll start adding shells gradually until I see they aren't moving as well and back off a couple.
I will try the corn cob media as well.

 

[jimbobborg]

The first tumble session is to get the crap off. Lube the cases, resize/decap, then throw them in the tumbler again to get the lube off and they come out looking nice and shiny. That's assuming there are no stains on the brass.

 

[Mooseman]

Were these your shells or range pick ups? It they are range pick ups and have been in the weather for some time they may not get super shiney.

 

[byf43]

I've found with walnut media (no additives!) that the brass gets very clean, but, they're not "shiny".

I usually put 100-150 .223 cases into the Lyman Turbo-Tumbler 1200, at a time.

Clean is what you want, to protect the dies from dirt/scratches.

I put the "shine" onto cases after sizing, to cut the lube off and give that final finish to the brass, using Lyman "Tuff-Nut" media that's got jeweler's rouge embedded/on the media.

They come out of the tumbler, shinier than new.

 

[Ra66it]

Thanks all. I cut back on the number of shells this batch and got better results.
Mooseman, they are range pickup from my departments range after each day of class. It was great! We were shooting rifle and pistol during the class. We left every night and I came in the next day to find that the recruits he'd swept up all the brass and sorted it into two separate buckets for rifle and pistol.
I don't know why I didn't think of this before. After the three day class I ended up with almost 3000 cases for .223

 

[byf43]

After the three day class I ended up with almost 3000 cases for .223

GREAT Karma!!! I'm in!!!!