My new favorite Tumbling Cleaning Media

[37Lincoln1]

Not to mention, that stuff stinks. . .

 

[DanConzo]

amlevin--Never had a problem with that (oil damaging the cases) and after forming is done I clean the gear oil off w/ CLR. What is fustrating is sizing a case body down and @ 1/3 to 3/4 stroke the lube breaks down and you have to withdraw the case (which isn't easily done because of the breakdown, but you can't go upward w/ the case at all), clean off the broke down lube and relube and try again and you and your press is taking a beating usually w/ 90 weight gear oil you seldom run into that problem, Imperial you generally do if its heavy sizing. That is just my experiences, others may have even better lubes and methods and if they do I will definetly try them but in my experiences Imperial will not work well in heavy duty sizing.

 

[DanConzo]

Lincoln--You should use Beeswax Lip Balm for sizing, you'll love the smell.

 

[flatlander]

I've formed a lot of 40-65 WCF cases from 45-70 over the years, using Imperial, and never had a problem. But when I started forming 6 HAGAR cases from 30 Rem, Imperial didn't work worth a hoot. John Harrison - the originator of the HAGAR - recommended using Dillon spray case sizing lube, and it worked without a hitch. It's a lot stickier than anything else I've used, but comes right off when tumbled in plain old corn cob media.

I've never bought any of the walnut shell media; always stuck with corn cob and had good results with it. Don't care for all the dust associated with corn cob though, and am willing to try the white rice, especially since I'm getting to the bottom of the last big 25lb bag of corn cob media, and don't have enough of it left to refill the old large Midway tumbler.

 

[Steve3]

I can't help but wonder is Uncle Ben's Minute Rice will work quicker.

Seriously - Thanks Skeeter!

So bottom line - Comet rice and we can wash it by rinsing it with water several times and let it dry on a concrete floor in a low humidity environment and reuse it?

 

[KMart]

I would think that the Uncle Ben's Minute Rice or any of the processed rice that is meant to be cooked in a few minutes, will crumble and fall apart in the vibratory tumbler.

 

[GrocMax]

I found that it will break down much faster than 90 weight gear oil spread thin for the real heavy jobs,

90 EP is certainly great for high pressure apps but unfortunately brass isn't always one of them.

Before using 90 weight Gear Oil on your brass, check the MSDS sheet for the Copper corrosion rating. A number higher than 1A will mean that the oil is chemically active and will react with the copper in the brass.

Not a lot different than using a polish containing ammonia.

The gear oils to avoid for causing bad brass corrosion are the ones that already have limited slip friction modifiers in them (GL-5 or -6), a GL-4 gear oil intended for manual transmissions (brass synchronizer rings) will not hurt brass.

 

[Juma]

I tried this recipe and it worked. However I rejigged it to thinking twice as much is twice as much oomph. Bad mistake. Rice got stuck badly in cases which had to be boiled for some time then used compressor to fire out the rice plug.It works but stick to 1 tablespoon of each.

 

[James EPS]

Where did you buy the stuff?

 

[Juma]

In NZ you go down to the bulk food store and buy a beeg bag of white long grain rice. Armourall car polish and mineral turps.Essential that you get the additive into the rice for 2/3 hours before your brass. Follow the instructions. Bloody helps to save the agony of cock ups.

 

[bheadboy]

I am on my way to the store, great research. thank you
Bob

 

[pacificman]

Don't know how I missed this thread but I am going to get some rice and try this out! Thank you Mr. Skeeter!

 

[DennisH]

ONLY Comet regular rice? NO long grain? Par Boiled?

Just making sure, I have never seen Comet brand rice is our stores. Mahatma is the most common around here.

 

[gotcha]

Dennis, I'm pretty sure any long grained white rice would work. They had Comet locally but largest bag was 2 lbs. So I went with the "store brand" available in 10 lb. bags. Both looked identical. Hoping they'll work identically. :

 

[gotcha]

Greetings gun nutz, ..... I went with the Comet brand rice just to have an accurate comparison. Went with Skeeters media prep instructions using Dillon polish & Min. spirits. I tumbled Remington .257 AI, Lapua 6BR and LC/ 09 .223..... Lyman 1200 tumbler. The agitation (cyclonic effect) was noticeably faster. Dust pretty much non-existent. 3 hrs. in the tumbler yielded nicely polished brass though not as shiny as corn cob. Out of 55, .257's 54 had a piece of rice jammed into the flash hole. 36 of these also had rice jammed in primer pocket. (not much cleaning going on due to the jam) The wedge shape of the rice caused it to jam up at the neck of the cases and required double the time to evacuate the case holding it against the center stud of the tumbler. Fairly easy to remove rice in large PP's with spear point jag. ....... The smaller flash holes were quite a challenge. If my tumbler had the plug feature that allowed draining of the media the jamming of media in the neck & body MIGHT have been alleviated a bit............. I'll be sticking with treated Walnut.

 

[SF-Guy]

My wife is Filipina and if I tried using rice she'd cut my head off with a bolo knife.

 

[rr2030]

Now that everyone has had the opportunity to try the Rice/car polish/Mineral spirit cleaning method, whats the consensus ? Yea / Nay, love it / hate it ?

 

[ebb]

If it was better don't you think you would have heard about everyone using it, it has had since 2012 to catch on.

 

[rr2030]

datz whut i thunk

 

[danny]

I tried rice twice (first and last time). I don't think that it cleaned any better or worse than the Walnut media I was using, but when it got stuck in the flash holes, it was a lot harder to get out.

Danny