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Rice as Tumbling Media

Wolfdog91

Silver $$ Contributor
First heard about this when listening to the primal rights guy in Eric Cortinas podcast . I just use it to clean up after trimming and deburring , seems to clog flash holes but a extra few seconds with a thumb tack takes care or it .
Apparently this is something that's supposed to really help with accuracy but I don't shoot to well to really tell lol. Will say it seems my bullets do seat easier after I tumble in rice. The guy was saying it could be because the rice soaks up gets coated with the lube from the outside of the case and redistributes a very thin layer of it to the inside neck of the case while tumbling, lowering tension,but again ,bit over my head lol. Anyhow anyone elese use it ? Any noticeable results?
IMG_20221215_212703894.jpg
 
I've never tried rice. Thinking about walnut lizard litter. I have a Harbor Freight tumbler with metal chips and I'm not too impressed with it. I have yet to get tarnished nasty brass like some people show but I'm not using lemishine. I have considered rice as I have to poke out corncob media from my flash holes but it's long over due to be changed.
 
I use fine ground walnut shell media and have for years. I like it better than rice or
corn husks for my tumbling. Im not big on cleaning my brass as it shoots just as well shiny or
not. YMMV....everyone seems to have their own process here.
 
I like clean brass. It seems like it anneals more consistently when its clean, plus with PRS shooting or USPSA or any other discipline where your brass ends up in the dirt, cleaning is a must. I've also missed damaged brass when it was dirty, but once clean, split necks and the like are easier to spot.
 
Call me old fashioned and possibly way out of touch, but I use Lyman's corn cob media with some automotive polish tossed in. Use my flash hole deburring tool to remove any media lodged in the holes. That said I never have more than 100 cases in my rattle bucket. Maybe I am too dumb to realize there is a better way. Guess if it ain't broken. I don't attempt to fix it.
 
Corn cob with NOTHING on it. Gets things CLEAN. New brass doesn't come with anything on it so why add something that wasn't there from the beginning?
SS media will get stuck in the flash holes and across the inside if the necks at times. Getting it out gives you just one more time to inspect your brass for problems/defects before it gets to the loading block.
Don't have time for that "extra inspection"?
Maybe take up another hobby.
 
NorCalMikie said:
Corn cob with NOTHING on it. Gets things CLEAN. New brass doesn't come with anything on it so why add something that wasn't there from the beginning?
SS media will get stuck in the flash holes and across the inside if the necks at times. Getting it out gives you just one more time to inspect your brass for problems/defects before it gets to the loading block.
Don't have time for that "extra inspection"?
Maybe take up another hobby.
Click to expand...
Spot on - great advice.

I used that Lyman treated corn cob media and it leaves a residue on the case that will gump up your dies.

Unfortunately, I have a lot of this stuff, so I'm forced to spray some mineral spirits on the cases after tumbling and wipe them. However, next time it will be plain old corn cob media for me.

Like you said, the flash hole and general case condition should always be inspected each reload.

Good post.
 
There are several alternative media being touted as the "Have to use" or "So much better than".

Among them, rice (rarely do they mention whether long or short grain, white or brown; just don't do the wet iPhone thing and put it in cooked rice); buckwheat groats, crushed dried corn kernels among them.

I've used rice; it works OK. Gets dirty pretty quickly, though that's not a deal breaker. I'm a little concerned about whatever it is they coat the grains with (some sort of powder coating as I recall. Which is why Asian families always wash rice before cooking it. And probably is what OP is referring to about the neck lube thing.) I found it does break down eventually, though I didn't run it after noticing (may still clean well.)

I've tried buckwheat groats (fairly pricey where I am, despite Amazon); ended up with heavily white-powdered cases. Looked like the cases had just been removed from a cocaine shipment. I have no idea how to cook the leftovers from that (luckily didn't buy much.)

Went back to using fine walnut shell, with a tablespoon or so of liquid car cutting wax. I throw a Tbsp or 2 of mineral spirits in every 10 runs or so to rejuvenate the polish. If you buy media intended for grit blasting, it's fairly cheap (Home Depot has it, as does Tractor Supply or about any industrial supply place.) Let it run for several minutes after adding any liquid (until any clumping is gone) or you'll pack wet media inside the cases.
 
Wolfdog91 said:
First heard about this when listening to the primal rights guy in Eric Cortinas podcast . I just use it to clean up after trimming and deburring , seems to clog flash holes but a extra few seconds with a thumb tack takes care or it .
Apparently this is something that's supposed to really help with accuracy but I don't shoot to well to really tell lol. Will say it seems my bullets do seat easier after I tumble in rice. The guy was saying it could be because the rice soaks up gets coated with the lube from the outside of the case and redistributes a very thin layer of it to the inside neck of the case while tumbling, lowering tension,but again ,bit over my head lol. Anyhow anyone elese use it ? Any noticeable results?
View attachment 1392656
Click to expand...
I use it after FL sizing my cases. And like you've described, since I use Imperial sizing wax, where a thin coating of the lube does get distributed to in inside of the necks resulting in a nice even and reduced seating pressure. I don't use long grain rice it gets stuck in the flash holes and I didn't like that. So, I use medium grain rice and that solves that problem, once in a great while, a chip of the rice will find its way into the flash hole. More often, some rice will get stuck in the primer pocket, but it few and easily enough removed. I don't reload cases like 223's, so I've not experience an issue for get the rice to come out of the case after tumbling.

Here's some cases that were processed this way (though the necks were first cleaned with steel wool after being annealed, then sized):

1671208594047.jpeg
 
Walnut here. The downside is that it often clogs in my .17-caliber cases, but a few taps to the side of the vibrating tub usually breaks it up. Even on larger cases there is also the occasional clogging of flash holes. Since I'm one of those that obsesses about clean primer pockets, I always find the clogged holes while cleaning pockets after tumbling. No big deal.
 
Straightshooter1 said:
I use it after FL sizing my cases. And like you've described, since I use Imperial sizing wax, where a thin coating of the lube does get distributed to in inside of the necks resulting in a nice even and reduced seating pressure. I don't use long grain rice it gets stuck in the flash holes and I didn't like that. So, I use medium grain rice and that solves that problem, once in a great while, a chip of the rice will find its way into the flash hole. More often, some rice will get stuck in the primer pocket, but it few and easily enough removed. I don't reload cases like 223's, so I've not experience an issue for get the rice to come out of the case after tumbling.

Here's some cases that were processed this way (though the necks were first cleaned with steel wool after being annealed, then sized):

View attachment 1392698
Click to expand...
What you using for annealer?
 
If your brass does not fall on the ground or otherwise get dirty, you may find you don't need to tumble clean very often (if you are not annealing every time).

Recommendation: Get some Aerosol Ballistol or similar solvent. Using large cotton patches, sprayed with the Ballistol, wipe your cases off AT THE RANGE, immediately after firing.

Do this minutes after firing your groups, if possible.

If you wipe off the carbon before it hardens, you may find you do not have to tumble to get the brass very clean. Not super shiny but clean enough...

Added bonus -- you may find that with the carbon in the necks, loosened with a couple strokes with a nylon brush, your bullets actually seat more consistently than with media-tumbled brass, and you don't have to add any lube inside the neck.

Super-shiny does not necessarily mean better accuracy. My 6BR set a local range record with 4X fired brass that had never been tumbled, but wiped off after the relays.

NOTE: Before you ANNEAL your brass, tumbling or other inside and outside cleaning method may be necessary.
 
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I used rice. I had many moly coated bullets I purchased. The rice did a nice job removing the moly. The rice then went it the garbage. It will attract the critters. Always liked and use walnut or corn cob media. Probably some combination of the two in an unknown percentage of which. The cases come out clean from a vibratory machine. Does it look like jewelry? No. Then again I never entered a match that graded how the brass looked. If the groups decrease in size I’m interested. Otherwise I just don’t care one bit.
 
I replaced the walnut media with rice in my vibratory tumbler and it works really well. I add a tablespoon full of baking soda to the batch of rice. It seems to give it a little more grit. The rice will get hung up in the flash hole but I punch it out with a pic. I don't clean more than app. 30 pcs. of brass at a time so the chore is not a huge deal.
 
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