Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Rice as a cleaning and polishing media????

Friends-

I recently purchased a Caldwell "Tack Driver" Shooting Bag and they recommend that you fill it with kitty litter, rice or corn cob media.

I got to thinking that rice is easy to buy versus corn cob media and cheap. Have any of you thrown some into your tumblers for use in cleaning and polishing your brass. It seems like it ought to work. What is your exerience?

Thanks,


P. Mark Stark



May the wind be in your face and the sun at your back.

Mark, let me be the first to welcome you to the Campfire. I've never tried rice for a polishing media. It's cheap enough though, I don't have any brass that needs to be tumbled at this time, why don't you give it a try and report back the results. Happy New Year Everyone.

Tim

30 Cal,

I've tried rice before and in it's natural form it will stack inside the casing and you will have to pick it out. The bigger the caliber, the less problems you will have.

I then chopped it up in a blender and it worked much better except in the smaller calibers.

As to cleaning, it does as good or better that walnut hull media.

I have gone back to walnut hull media because of the stacking problem. Maybe I didn't chop it up fine enough. It may be worth another try.

Good luck, Rojelio

This post has me wondering, What would sand or silica do?

Tried silica sand on some old junk brass because curosity got the best of me. Can't say it worked any better than cob or shell media. Couldn't put as much in the tumbler bowl as it is heavier than the usual medias, actually noticed a slowing of the tumbler action. Decided to stick with what works.

(( Are you being a sexist, racist, or anarchist, wanting Condoleezza to do your cleaning and polishing? ))

And now, back to our regularly scheduled programming...

Been using rice for years and throwing in a FEW drops of "Brasso"
in my tumbler; works like a charm, altho, you'll have to take
a few grains out of the primer pockets every so often. Start off with less "Brasso" rather than to much. It doesn't take much to
get the rice to gummy/sticky. Even tho the rice gets "gray", you
can use it quite a few times.

Thanks for sharing!
whelennut