I saw in these postings a few weeks ago somebody wrote that he cleaned his brass with rice. Anybody else do this? How efficient is it versus the expensive media? Lastly, would I use white, long grain or wild brown?

I've tried long grain rice, but it seems to get a bit "gummy". You can buy crushed walnut shells in large (25-50#) bags for very little money. Rice is a better food product than case cleaner.

At what kind of store would I buy such a mondo bag of crushed hulls? The media is about 8 lbs for $10-12; kinda high, by my thinking.

Well, like the man said,"There is a price for everything you do in life, and sooner or later you are going to have to pay it". Forgot where I read that.....

I'm looking for an alternative to walnut media because it seems to wear out after awhile. The cases come out with a brushed or satin look to them. I'd like them shiny. Woud Lowe's or Home Depot have the big bags of crushed hulls?

Check with a pet supply store, that's where I got mine.

I use broken rice mixed with a teaspoon of jewelers rouge (or Sidol for the matter...). Most inexpensive and found everywhere.

I have used rice as a stopgap and it does the job but prefer corncob. Possibly a conscience thing. BTW hard stuff like crushed walnut = gold-dust here in OZ and is out of the question on my income.

Dump a cup of rubbing alcohol in the case cleaner while it's running. I don't do it everytime, seems prolong the media life and degreases the cases.
Jim

Arkypete, you mean a CAPFULL ? A CUP (8oz) would be a LOT of alcohol!~ For worn-out walnut hulls, try adding some(teaspoon/tablespoon) automotive polishing compound, or Flitz, to the media & let it run with the lid off for a couple hours. Perks it right up.>>>>>>>>>Bug.

Here's a dumb thing I did while using rice as a case cleaner. I added a bit of denatured alcohol to it. The starch dissolved and I had a tumbler full of sticky rice and .45 ACP cases. The starch stuck to every thing and dried rapidly as the metho evaporated! I had to scrub the inside of the tumbler bowl and hand clean 100 cases. The rice remained tacky for so long (days) that I threw the whole lot away (probably $1.50 worth, but you know how we reloaders just hate to waste anything).
If the walnut media leaves the cases clean but a little dull, give them a tumble in corn media after resizing. Add a bit of paint thinner for a mirror shine. Both walnut and corn media are easier to get out of flash holes compared to rice
Cheeky.

As stated, try large pet supply also feed stores or hobby shops. Some will carry walnut, some corn cob, some both. I have used plain crushed waknut for many, many cleanings before throwing away.

[ 07-26-2003, 04:26: Message edited by: fredj338 ]

The last time I bought walnut hulls I bought it from a company that sells sandblasting supplies. Be sure and take some of your old media down there with you so they can get the proper size. It was in 50 lb bags and was very cheap.

Cheeky

Why do you tumble brass without the old primers in them? I always tumble before resizing and depriming,that way you do not run dirt and other foreign materials into your dies and scratch them.
To each his own but i have never understood why you would tumble unprimed brass?
muskrat
live free or die!

You can find Walnut shells as hamster "bedding" at the pet stores.
As far as bulk, do a search for abrasives or sandblasting supplies on "Google".
You can buy a 50 pound bag of "Grit O Cob" that you can hand down to your grandkids!

Stick with the Walnut shells or corncob media clean up is easier and your case will last longer.

I love you guys! You are all so helpful. Please allow me to say "Thank you" more times than Udai and Cusai are offering apologies to God right now.

Rusty, your sigline says "We band of brothers!" What exactly does that mean? My uncle Frank was in the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, Company E, aka Easy Company. He was chased for ten years by Spielberg and Hanks to be in the movie "Band of Brothers" but he declined because he didn't want to relive it or diminish the sacrifices of his buddies who died. He is not mentioned by name in the movie, but things he did while in the unit and in-country are incorporated into the story, as related by the survivors to the actors. He was just 19 or 20 then and had balls as big as the Hindenburg. He finally talks about it a little, but it's hard for him. He cries about it easily, even after almost 60 years. Do you have a relative who was in that unit? Lastly, I am so fat and ugly with so little hair anymore to cover my chromedome cranium, there will be no grandkids (or kids, for that matter).

[ 07-26-2003, 06:28: Message edited by: rootbeer ]