Rice as a tumble media?

[Jjmwandell]

i read an article about using plain white rice as a tumble media, has anyone tried this?

[farmbif]

have never tried anything except corn cob and walnut but buying a 50lb sack of corn cob media is less than half the cost of rice.

[Dusty Bannister]

Tried it many years ago. Gets dirty, humid weather allows the residue to stick to cases and your mess is multiplied. If that is all you have, go for it, but not in humid areas. So many other things work better.

[lightman]

I've tried it and it works. But there are better things to use. I buy corncob in large bags from places that sell blasting material.

[ascast]

I have used coffee grounds. They work but are messy; lots of fines. Nothing better than corn cob or walnut shell.

[Txcowboy52]

I’ve tried the rice and I don’t recommend it, especially if you live somewhere it’s really humid .

[country gent]

We used rice as a blast medium in the food industry Since it was edible and there it did a really good job cleaning equipment before overhauls.I tried it a couple times in vibratory polishers an while it worked and gave a glossy shine it also plugged almost every flash hole tight. It did seem faster than corn cobs or walnut. I even tried it mixed in with corn cobs and it was okay but again plugged flash holes. I originally thought the shape of the grains would clean corners and tight areas better. But the plugged flash holes were more bother than it was worth

[pjames32]

Plugged. Every. flash hole>>>

[John Boy]

The consensus is ... do not use it

[1hole]

Well, a friend in FL has his loading room in a sealed off corner of his barn; he says mice really love the rice.

[Winger Ed.]

I used it once...... but only once.

[redriverhunter]

I have used rice left 30.30 cases in tumbler over night had a hard time getting rice out of the cases

[elmacgyver0]

By far the best way to clean cases is wet tumble with Stainless Steel pins.
Keeps you from breathing the nasty dust also.

[dragon813gt]

By far the best way to clean cases is wet tumble with Stainless Steel pins.
Keeps you from breathing the nasty dust also.

Best is subjective. I will concede the part about the dust but only if you don’t have a tumbler w/ a solid top and run the media completely dry. My tumblers have solid lids, I run the media slightly wet and it goes directly from the tumbler into a media separator that is enclosed. There is little to no dust exposure.

Does wet tumbling w/ pins clean “better”? Yes it will clean primer pockets, the inside of the cases and the brass will be shinier. But it takes longer, the commercially available units can’t handle as much brass at once and separating the pins can be a pain even w/ a media separator and magnetic pins. You also have to deal w/ drying time for cases and pins. Not to mention that all this time spent doesn’t equal better results on target.

I’m not knocking any cleaning method as I have the tools for all of them. All my Grandfather used to do was wipe the cases off w/ a rag. Just pointing out that there are pros and cons to any method.

[gwpercle]

Rice doesn't work that well . If you must try it get some old rice that has dried out as much as it can . It will be harder ... if you live in a humid climate ...rice absorbs water and gets soft and crumbly.

Don't try Kitty Litter either...trust me !
Gary