It's been a long, long time since I've used a vibrating tumbler with walnut media, having switched over to a Thumblers tumbler & ceramic or stainless steel media many years ago. 

I see that crushed walnut comes in several grit mixes, 8/12, 12/20, 20/40, 40/60, etc.  What grit do you guys use for cleaning cases & general purpose firearm loading?  How about corn cob which seems to come in only one grit?

I would think crushed walnut is more aggressive than corn cob media.

Wayne

OK, I made a decision to go with corn cob media.  Rather than starting a thread on the subject here, I should have searched the Internet for pros & cons of walnut vs corn cob.  I won't be using the vibrating tumble for cleaning cartridge brass.  What I need is a media that will result in a high polish on metal parts, a higher polish than available with a rotary tumbler with either ceramic or stainless .  From everything I've read, in a vibrating tumbler corn cob is less aggressive and results in a higher polish than walnut.

Wayne

I prefer walnut hulls to corn cob. Last time I needed some I shopped around and found out that Harbor Freight sold walnut hulls as blasting media. They sell a coarse and a fine. the coarse is large enough that most of it is too big to get stuck in the flash hole. some does thats just a given. You can get a 25 pound box for maybe $30 or so. If you  want or need a bit more shine. A squirt of superfine auto polish will make your cases really sparkle. 
Sam

silver wrote on Jul 24^th, 2026 at 8:03am:


Are you using the ceramic media with the vibrating tumbler?  I would think that ceramic is too heavy for a vibrating tumbler.

Wayne

Been using crushed walnut for years.

I haven’t cleaned any of my main .32 target rifle cases for over 20 years and they still perform as well as ever. A few needed occasional trimming during the first couple years. I started with 200 cases, and still have ca 150.  Some have strayed, been stepped on, or otherwise lost.

I think polishing them can only damage them.  I see no advantage in trying to make them pretty and shiny.

CHRIS

my tumbler went kaput several years ago- overuse, I suppose. I went ahead and reloaded some cases unpolished. Later, I took to soaking in first, lemishine solution and it held them in a continuous state that was brassy but not polished like aged brass gets. Not bad. Later as an experiment I switched to Birchwood-Casey stuff that they sell for ultrasonic cleaner use. I don't know how I ended up with it. Anyhow, it did, with no more than overnight soak, clean cases a bit more than they were, so I keep using it. A wide mouth jar and a strainer. Then replace the solution back into the jar for next time. Sometimes I change it just because I feel guiltyl.
I either clean the primer pockets before soak or later as I wish. I dry them in a low oven for a half hour or so and then make sure by overnight in our dry, dry climate. So far, so good. And no digging around in walnut shells, ceramic or steel. Who cares if the next guy has prettier ammo? Pull one out, load and fire, back into the box. Nobody see 'em anyway.