Seriously, kitty litter in a vibratory tumbler to clean brass?

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Snowdog

Snowdog

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While asking a shooting buddy if he knew whether or not a local and well stocked gunshop/shooting range sold tumbler medium such as crushed walnut shells, he suggested I just use fresh kitty litter as it's cheaper and does the same thing.

Now I've only been into reloading for a little over half a decade and have used only walnut as it's worked great for cleaning brass... but I must say I've never heard of anyone using kitty litter for this purpose. Is this perhaps a trick I haven't heard of yet or did he pull this suggestion out of his, uh... hat.

Thanks in advance!
 
I would think the rock they use would be too abrassive. It might be clean, but it'd be pretty rough. Try PetSmart or other local pet stores for crushed walnut Lizzard bedding. Ground Corn Cob should also be easy to find.
 
I would be concerned about dust clinging to the brass and accumulating in the sizing die. If you buy walnut shell at a pet store, cost isn't a big issue as you can get 10lbs for around $3.
 
I've seen it suggested on the internet several times.

But then, I've also seen Play Sand & Rice suggested also! Yikes! :eek:

My solution is just buy treated walnut or cob media and be done with it.
Unless you are commercial reloader you won't use enough to break the bank anyway.

It's not worth my time to be screwing around with make-do media & car wheel polish!

rcmodel
 
I've seen suggestions to use kitty litter, sand and rice too. Rice would do fine, it's soft, but it's also more exensive than pet store walnut or corn cob from a farm feed or sand-blasting store.

I read the label on a bag of kitty litter; it says "made from clay". Clay is a kind of dirt, dirt is a kind of sand, sand is a kind of abrasive! None of it is something I'll knowingly fire down my barrels, and how could I be sure it has left no residue in the cases? There are valid reasons we use cob and nut so get the right stuff no matter where you find it. Pet stores are an easy source.

Auto polish isn't hard to find and it's cheap. There's no magic in any such soft polish, it's all pretty much the same stuff reqardless of who puts the label on it.
 
Well, I suppose it was smart to post here first before going with that suggestion. I think I'll look for the walnut from petstores.

Thanks for the advice!
 
Rice works. I still like walnut best.

I'd stay away from kitty litter. All it'd take is one time of leaving the lid off of the tumbler, and kitty will leave a surprise for you that you'll never forget.
 
I use kitty litter exclusively for my tumbler. But it's a specific brand. Anything that's made with clay or magic absorbent crystals won't work. Basically, look for the cheapest bag of kitty litter you can find, and there's a good chance that it's made from ground corn...that's what you want.
 
Kitty litter is for kitties...

Ochmude's ground corn kitty litter should work fine.

However, most kitty litter is made from particles of clay. Kitty litter in vibratory tumblers has been tried and reported on. Results: Clay, as has been pointed out, is a kind of rock, so it should be abrasive. However (there is always that darn "however!") the clay particles are so fine that (a) cleaning and polishing with it would take next to forever, and (b) the fine particles fly all over the place, stick to everything, and have to be individually wiped off each piece of brass, and finally (c) you can't effectively clean them out of the inside of the cases short of washing the cases--which wipes out most of the advantage of using a tumbler, to wit, not having to fool with washing and drying the cases.

Now, corncob (finely ground) and walnut shells (finely ground) both work fine, and rice is reported to work also. The coarser ground corncob will fill up and stick in the smaller cases and be heck to remove. Other than that, fine & dandy.

Lizard litter in pet stores, which can be corncob or walnut, is cheaper than the same thing labelled as tumbling medium in a reloading shop.

Bottom line: With so many other very usable alternatives, cheap and readily available, DON'T USE CLAY-BASED KITTY LITTER IN YOUR VIBRATORY TUMBLER!!!
 
Corn cob is also used as a an abrasive media for sand blasting. If you can find a distributor locally that sells sand blasting media, see if you can pickup a sack of corn cob media from them. It's usually crazy cheap, $15 for 50 lbs, and exactly the same as tumbling media. Add a little Nu-Finish and you're all set to clean some brass.
 
I use short grain rice, with some metal polish mixed in. Here is a batch of .223 I just did. BTW a little extra agitation and the rice comes out of the necks just fine.

DSC01611.jpg
 
Not true!

They also perform reliably at stopping leading with cast bullets.
 
Damn yankees....:neener:

Grits are almost a culinary art. The preparation is essential, and if lacking it's easy to get a thick and tasteless porridge, which is probably taken as representative by those who don't know how it's supposed to be.

I take back my suggestion to use raw grits as vibratory media. It would be sacrilege to waste them like that!
 
"Sorry, you guys from below the Mason-Dixon line, but this would be the only valid use for grits."

Fer Pete's sake guys, good grits cost too much now, we don't want to let Yankees find out about 'em! Let 'em keep eating 'taters instead.

Actually, I'm quite sure grits would do a fine job in a tumbler, they are about the same grain size as the cob I use now. But it will cost more than the nut/cob stuff and be a sad waste of some good groceries too.
 
If you have a Grainger's nearby your availability of corn cob media should not be a problem. Just don't leave 50 lbs. sitting around open if you also have cats in the area as they will mark it for you!
 
This one pops up whenever someone is trying to maximize savings and I’ll have to admit I tried it. That brass went into the recycle bucket; it wasn’t made from corn cobs.

After that, I decided to break down my reloading costs and my media costs a whopping $.00075 per round (the polish is more than that). If you are looking to save money and have time start casting or pick up every piece of brass you can and use the ones you load then sell the rest.
 
Alright, so my local pet shop has both corn and walnut litter. I haven't a clue what prices are considered fair for this stuff, but I purchased a 25 pound bag of Kaytee brand walnut litter for $19. I have thousands of 9mm and .45acp cases to clean and I believe this is plenty. :)

Thanks again for the heads-up on the cheap medium.
 
"...a 25 pound bag of..." That'll last you a long time. Buying the same thing in a gun shop will cost you a fortune.
Cat litter in a tumbler will create a cloud of dust.
 
Brass? no.

Rusty old Gunparts? Yes.

Removing bluing? Yes.

Add Ceramic media and you can almost sandblast parts for parking....but you take off sharp edges.
 
How good is rice as a media? And what about adding polishing compounds to it? Wouldnt it swell up?

Lizzard bedding is probably hard to come by here in Norway as those kind of reptiles are illegal to own. Jasmine Rice on the other hand...

BB John
 
Kitty Litter is the same thing as Oil-Dry. It's freaking DIRT. Yeah, that'll be great on your dies and on your guns.

You can get a 50# bag of corn cob at a pet store for a few bucks. Add some polish and you're good to go. In any event, I don't think you're going to use enough media in a lifetime to change your life style even if you paid full price. Some guys spend way too much money trying to save a few pennies.
 
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