Tried some new tumbler media....

[Hitzy]

This is probably old news for some of you, but I was looking for an alternative to the Lyman media... Been using the green corn cob stuff for a long time and finally running low.
Most net searches said you can get Lizard Litter etc at a pet store which is just crushed walnut hulls but nice and cheap. Sure enough, couldn't find any of that ####....
So I find some posts where the guys swear by a concoction of dry white rice, capfull of "Nu Finish" car polish, and 1/4 of a cut up bounce sheet. The rice works like walnut hulls to clean the cases, the polish....well polishes them, and the bounce sheet collects all the dust and dirt which keeps your media clean.
So I bought a $2 bag of rice, still had about 1/8 of the container of Lyman treated corn cob, so I mixed that together (80/20 rice/corn) instead of the car polish, added the bounce sheets and let her run with some 223 and 308. I wanted to see if it would work with the small 223 necks.
Well it worked...really really well. Inside of both case types were the cleanest I have ever had come out of the tumbler, outside was the shiniest I've ever had come out of the tumbler, and no dust on the cases or in the tumbler....it even cleaned the tumbler out too. The bounce sheets were grimey and are only good for the one go, but ####...something on the internet was actually true lol

 

[trebor2880]

Thanks for the tip. I haven't heard of rice media before, but will give it a try.

 

[Magellann]

It always nice to hear about alternatives that work well, I may give that a shot myself.

 

[kamlooky]

Sooooooo, with the rice, didja have to clean them arff our later?

 

[NewfieAB]

I been using the red treated lyman walnut with bounce sheets, and while they come out nice and shiney they are always full of red dust and i usually end up washing the brass off in water. The bounce sheets collect alot of it but not nearly enough. I've tried the lizard bedding walnut stuff but i found it didn't work at all.

 

[ipscgraz]

I have just over 5 gallons of corn cob left. If I ever run out, I will try rice before switching to SS pins.

 

[cigarbufff]

Cool thanks

 

[Chinbullco]

Wheat and field peas make great polishing media. Used to clean and polish jacketed bullets.

 

[f55]

I haven't cleaned brass for a while but will give this a try.

Thanks for the tip

 

[madcow]

Too much starch in dry rice, becomes powdery over time

Coconut husk ground up works

Try brasso instead of wax

 

[Hitzy]

Too much starch in dry rice, becomes powdery over time

Coconut husk ground up works

Try brasso instead of wax

The internet said there is amonia in brasso which isn't a good mix for brass cartridges apparently.

 

[Canuc Shooter]

I've read something about Ammonia making brass casings brittle over time.

 

[Hitzy]

I've done 500 .308 cases now, which isn't much (about 7 bowls worth), but there is no dust or degrading of the media....rice is a bit black but that's it, cases still come out shinier then new brass.

 

[RobertMcC]

Yeah stuff you will find at pet stores ( the bigger ones ) will be very fine walnut and yes can get corn cob media.

 

[ciphery]

You could try rice and a wet media tumbler with a tank heater and make dinner and clean cases simultainiously.