Rice! Aughhh

[dickttx]

I tried rice with two loads of brass. Second time was to be sure the first time was really that bad. It was.
Don't buy rice (swiped what I used from the pantry) but it would seem to me that it would really not be any cheaper than waste products--corn cobs and walnut shells. It leaves an oily film on the brass and really doesn't do any polishing.

Just checked. Walmart shows 20# for $10, which is cheaper than cob/walnut. But weight per volume is much higher, so I would still say it is more expensive.

 

[Comrade Mike]

I use walnut media. I always decap first with the universal decaper, tumble. Then resize, the decaper on the resizing die cleans out the flash holes for me.

 

[RainDodger]

I really think the only rice to use is Uncle Ben's perverted rice. I'll stop right there. Had to say it though. Sorry.

 

[Keeperfaith]

I use crushed walnut shells, a cap full of Nu Finish car polish and a couple of used dryer sheets (to absorb all the dust). Tumbled for an hour or so and I have nice shiney brass...

I only tumble a couple hundred pistol brass at a time. I've tried tumbling 500 + peices of brass but it took a very very long time(8 hours +) for all the brass to come clean...

Steve

 

[Comrade Mike]

+1 on the NuFinish. That stuff works miracles, I need to try the dryer sheet trick when I get home.

A friend of mine has to give up shooting for a while because of elevated lead levels, I told him it was probably his tumbler doing it.

 

[orionengnr]

When I first started handloading (only about six years ago) someone suggested rice.
I tried it.
Using a foodstuff for reloading is like using corn to make ethanol.
It will make someone happy, but it won't be you.
It will make someone wealthy, but whomever that is deserves to be behind bars.

 

[vongh]

I use the zilla stuff from a petstore and some diluted rcbs sidewinder cleaner and one bag of the stuff has done over 10000 cases.

 

[jmorris]

I dam near laughed enough to wake the kid Scott.

I have tried a lot of different stuff over the years. It stopped with kitty litter over a decade ago. That was the dumbest think I think I have ever done, the wife might come up with a better one though.

Cost per bullet loaded using any media to clean is cheap, per bullet, up to and including stainless. If you reload enough.

I know for a fact that I have polished much more than 20,000 rounds, likely closer to 60,000 on an $11 bag of corncob.

That's $.00055 per round at 20k. At only 10k your at a tenth of a cent.

Pick up coins in the gas station parking lot if you want a better use of your time.

If all you have is time, feed your family corn and grind the cobb once they dry. It will be free then.

 

[Boomer4570]

Get one of those stainless steal media tumblers.

 

[Ex]

I use crushed walnut shells, a cap full of Nu Finish car polish and a couple of used dryer sheets (to absorb all the dust). Tumbled for an hour or so and I have nice shiney brass...

I only tumble a couple hundred pistol brass at a time. I've tried tumbling 500 + peices of brass but it took a very very long time(8 hours +) for all the brass to come clean...

Steve

I have gone to using Turtle Wax mag wheel polish. Good abrasive quality (about like Dillon case cleaner) and it has a carnuba type stuff in it that helps prevent finger printing while handling. The carnuba like quality also lends to smoother press operation. I requested and received the fMSDS on Turtle Wax mag wheel polish just to ensure no ammonia. Good to go. And like most brass treatment products, it builds in the polishing media and takes less each successive time.

 

[wgaynor]

Looks like I'm the odd ball here.

I use rice. It works well for me. If it gets stuck in the flash hole (rare), a dental pick gets it out. If strips of dryer sheets are placed in the tumbler, rice can be used many times before it has to be discarded.

 

[hAkron]

In my experience, corn cob is good for general use. Walnut seems to clean brass in the last amount of time, but is really dusty.

Don't tumble tarnished dies with walnut, it just makes a mess, use corn cob.

Corn cob seems to collect in brass. I use a spin type media separator and that makes a big difference.

Those are just some of my observations.

 

[icanthitabarn]

I just got a Cabela replacement tumbler and new CC from pet store. Big 20#? bag for $13. The kernels are large and seem very round. I have been using Zilla walnut but it is dusty and I smell it after opening top and dumping it, works well and a pin punch works quickly to clean rifle PP.

 

[The Bushmaster]

Plug the flash hole with something so the rice can't get stuck in it.

 

[Bmac1949]

Down here in the south we use grits with just a pad of butter.

 

[osprey176]

Mugsy,the trick to using rice is to use short grained rice.It's shorter(duh)but fatter.The fatter grains won't fit in the flash holes.It is a little harder to find and more expensive,but beats poking out the flash holes on every piece of brass you clean.

 

[icanthitabarn]

Forget the rice and the large corn cob too. My 75 .223 cases just took me like 1 1/2 hours to pry,tap,probe and get this... drill :banghead: the animal bedding out.... They were all sized, trimmed and pockets were swaged or I might have chucked them. Sorry for highjack