Play With Your Food: Clean Brass With Rice

[ArchAngelCD]

Here's a crazy thought: Instead of all this speculation... why not try something yourselves, and post the results for the rest of us to benefit from?

I did try rice years ago when someone claimed it was "great" for cleaning brass. For me, it was not.

 

[Rule3]

No GMO food. That really falls into the realm of biology.

The definition you cited is what I was originally trained to do. I went on from there to acquire additional training before eventually taking up practice as a forensic engineer evaluating how and why things don't work as expected.

Well your Degree has nothing to do with the "effectiveness of RICE" as a abrasive cleaning method for brass. Sound more like a Lawyer.

I shall leave you all to discuss this fascinating subject.

 

[sirgilligan]

I have wondered if crushed lava rock would do the trick.

One thing about nut shelled based media, it makes me sneeze my head off, I have to wear a painters mask.

In a pinch I will use rice. Thanks for the post.

 

[Master Blaster]

Years ago I tried doing this cleaning brass with rice. Crushed corn cob works much more effectively for a greater number of cleaning cycles and it cleans the brass faster and polishes it better. Corn cob is available from an industrial abrasives supplier online and is much much less expensive than even the cheapest rice in actual use. I quickly abandoned the idea of using rice.

 

[mdi]

Early on in my reloading career, I tried everything I could imagine for tumbling media. Beach sand, pea gravel, wood chips, aquarium charcoal, BBQ briquettes, Good Mews cat litter, rice, peas, beans, commercial ceramic, plastic and glass beads for media, and prolly a few more I can't remember. All worked to some extent and some were failures. The "side effects" with some made them poor choices for tumbling brass. When I chose rice (both long grain, short grain, and brown) it would work fine for a while but then the grains broke down, creating a lot of dust. Usable life about half that of corn cob blast media.

I wound up going with corn cob blast media, 14-20 grit, which is designed for that use, and a bit of hard plastic pyramids, 3/8" for the more stubborn stuff. The commercial hard media is pretty aggressive and I just use it to clean parts, tools and dies.

While my advanced schooling is in Psychology (mainly in Addictions Counseling, gotta love those old drunks!), I do believe my empirical testing has value. White rice is a very poor choice for tumbling media whether used in a wobbler or rotary tumbler. And basically, brass cleaning/polishing is the most talked about but least important part of reloading. So, there!

 

[LiveLife]

Here's a crazy thought: Instead of all this speculation... why not try something yourselves, and post the results for the rest of us to benefit from?

I actually have (and Biochemistry major drop out after 1 year when I switched majors but my empirical lab testing skills with Calculus/physics lab experiments should be good enough for brass tumbling).

Several years back when I was running low on walnut media, I tried some long grain and shorter grain from Costco to see how they worked.

Results using Berry's and Frankford Arsenal tumblers:

- Dry rice DOES work to CLEAN dirty brass fouling but will not POLISH brass.

- If rice collects moisture, it will lose effectiveness so results in dryer climate may be better.

- Unlike crushed walnut/corn cob media, rice loses cleaning effectiveness on subsequent batches (Walnut/corn cob tend to go a long time before cleaning/polishing performance starts to degrade).

- If you are using lubed lead bullets, rice is not a good media choice as grains got coated with lube residue and left brass gummed up.

- I would say rice with harder surface (not polished rice) will do a better job of cleaning brass as long grain rice with less polishing did a better job than shorter grain rice that was polished more.

- You cannot add polish (like NuFinish) to rice - you will have a gummy mess.

- When I bought fine grit walnut media from Harbor Freight, just dry media did a remarkably faster and better job of cleaning AND polishing the brass. When NuFinish was added, it was Model T vs Corvette Z06/ZR1. Sure rice worked, but walnut/NuFinish worked waaaaaay better.

Since my testing with rice, I don't ever plan on using rice again unless there's a worldwide shortage of walnut/corn cob media. But if rice is all you got, it will work to clean your brass. Heck, even Model T will get you from point A to point B but don't expect speed, A/C, power brakes, 1 G lateral turns, etc.

 

[splattergun]

I am not "legal or judiciary authority" and this isn't speculation. I am not an agricultural engineer, nor did I stay at a Holiday Inn last night;
I tried tumbling brass in rice. Didn't care for it. Grains got stuck in the flash holes and it took longer to get the results I got with cheapo walnut media.

And what the heck does "legal or judiciary authority" have to do with whether rice goes in my tumbler or not?!

 

[HankC]

I have never used Rice and do I not ever plan to do so, but I must say, that Rice seems to me to be the perfect size media to stick in those little Primer Holes. That would be highly aggravating!

I tried rice and that is correct! Also, don't use rice for 223, stuck inside, hard to remove. Rice also breaks down fast. I won't use it again.

 

[AZAndy]

I have tried lots of stuff over the years including rice and the biggest disaster, kitty litter.

Still have one tumbler with walnut and the other with corn cob and one with the only "new" method I tried that worked well enough for me, stainless steel pins.

You tried cat litter too? Glad I'm not the only one. Seemed like a good idea at the time...

 

[Coldfinger]

Pound for pound isnt rice a more expensive media? Regardless of efficacy?

 

[SSN Vet]

If you guys are seriously talking about putting endosperm in your tumbler, I think I might be obliged to report this thread to the mods.

I'll stick with Nu Finnish myself.

 

[Nature Boy]

I hear that this is Uncle Ben's prefered method.

I also understand that minute rice cleans the brass quicker

 

[konertjm]

Never tried rice, never will. Re-started reloading about 4 years ago after a 25 year hiatus.
Purchased a complete setup including a vibrating tumbler with both corn cob and walnut.
Both did what they were supposed to, both created much dust containing particulate matter leftover from shooting. Did not like this in my house, much less breathing it.

Tried wet cleaning with stainless media and never looked back.

I will add that I do not load any rifle yet, so can't really comment on rolling of the case mouth. I have had no issues with pistol brass in 4 separate calibers.

I built my own tumbler based on the http://www.biggdawgtumblers.net/biggdawg-tumblers.html

Can currently tumble 8 pounds of brass.

 

[higgite]

I can't believe that no one has made a corny joke yet about that being the worst recipe ever for making dirty rice. Oh wait, I guess I just did.

 

[Nature Boy]

We save the corny jokes for corn cob media threads

 

[mdi]

I also understand that minute rice cleans the brass quicker

Yep, cuts tumble time in half!

Actually, to me this whole thread is pretty silly. I reloaded 12 years before I got a tumbler, and no I did not have any scratched dies or chambers, and yes I could spot any defects in the brass. I inspect every case I reload, and when I inspected a case I just wiped it off with a mineral spirits dampened rag (back then we just called it solvent). This was per-web so there was no one to tell me my methods were wrong, but my ammo worked quite well.

The only need I've found for shiny, virgin looking brass is for my 30-06 and 45 ACP ammo. My Garand and my 1911 fling brass and it's easier to find a shiny case in the dirt, rock, etc. at the "range"...

 

[Rule3]

The rice in the picture is commercial, polished white rice and is comparatively smooth. In posts #3 and #10, I pointed out that less processed rice with the bran would do an even better job.

Please post" citing to appropriate legal or judiciary authority."

Factual, statistical proof of this statement!

We must have data. pictures, charts and graphs

 

[Rmeju]

I just tried this. I happened to have the exact rice Orkan recommended on hand. It worked amazing, and it didn't even take very long.

I'm sold!

 

[WessonOil]

I have never used Rice and do I not ever plan to do so, but I must say, that Rice seems to me to be the perfect size media to stick in those little Primer Holes. That would be highly aggravating!

Please do bear in mind that most people tumble brass with the spent primer still in place.
The decapping pin would clear any obstructions in the flash hole at time of handloading.

 

[Kaldor]

Orkan brings up an idea, while not perfect, does have it merit. I dont dry tumble anything because I always hated the dust.

I made the switch to wet tumbling when I started loading again a couple years ago, and while not perfect like Orkan suggests, it does work great for working through large amounts of cases if you have a large tumbler.

Orkan - one thing you can do to avoid banging up your case necks is decapp, and size then tumble. This will get you the really super clean cases. Then once clean, trim and prep as usual. It works pretty well for my 308 I load. Granted, Im not chasing 1/4" MOA, not that I dont try, but it might be worth a shot. Ive got to believe that consistently clean necks on the case will get you more consistent neck tension than dry tumbling will. Just food for thought...

 

[col.lemat]

No wonder it did not work and took so long to get my brass clean. I was using puffed rice with milk in my wet tumbler.

 

[Rule3]

So for those of you who use the "wet Cleaning method" and worried about "toxic" dust from dry tumbling, what do you do with the "now toxic" solutions used???

Dump them down the drain into the municipal waste stream? Dump them in the yard to leach into the water table?

At least dry media goes to the contained landfill or incinerated.

Probably the used dirty rice would be great for Weddings, OH wait that is frowned on now, supposed to use bird seed. Hey there is another idea.......

 

[david bachelder]

Is there a link to the article? I don't see anything.

 

[Walkalong]

Click on his sig line link to his website, then click "articles".

 

[ArchAngelCD]

Click on his sig line link to his website, then click "articles".

Hmmmmmmmmm