White rice as tumbling media...Excellent!

[DrMike]

Mike,
Leave the goo on. Brass may not tarnish as fast. And you can snack on it in the field.
Russ

Good thought, Russ.

In a more serious vein, I've never tried rice as tumbling media. However, I have had reports that it breaks down somewhat quickly, forming a dust. Also, I've read reports that it does form a coating on the brass. Whether that is immediate or after a period of time, I wouldn't know. I'll be interested to see how some of you fellows trying this media assess your results. I do know that buying corn cob media in bulk is reasonably cheap for me.

 

[cloverleaf]

Cool! So cool I just might have to gea tumbler to try it out. CL

 

[kraky]

Original post...very in depth

http://forum.accurateshooter.com/index. ... =3796774.0

 

[PJGunner]

Interesting. I have corn cob and walnut media and both are dusty as hell. I'm going to take a run down to Wallyworld and get a bag or two of rice and see what happens. The only thing that I question is the use of rubbing alcohol. I understand thinning the polish but rubbing alcohol can be 50 percent water. Look at the label. The Wallyworld bottle in our medicine cabinet says 50% by volume. The other 50% has to be something else and I think it's water. I know 100 proof whiskey it 50% alcohol and 50 % water so is water in the mix a good thing? Sorry, I won't be using my Yukon jack in the tumbler. :roll: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
I'm thinking of using denatured alcohol rather than rubbing although I'm not sure there's water in the denatured type. I would think that while the alcohol would evaporate quite rapidly, just how long would it take for the water to go? Maybe not too long in my neck of the woods where the humidity is usally quite low but in areas of high humidity? Problem or not?
Paul B.

 

[kraky]

I poured my wax/alcohol in pretty quickly....the mixture got a little thick and slow for about 5 mins......then it started drying down and began moving quickly. I think I had the casings in within 20 minutes. After 4 batches there is no sign of kernal breakdown and the only coating on the brass is slippery car wax. As cheap as rice is I think my sonic cleaner will be collecting dust. Its a cheap experiment...try it and make your own conclusions

 

[runtohunt]

I wonder if a person could just use the Lyman Turbo Reactivator instead of the car polish/alcohol?

 

[Desert Fox]

Basmati? Long grain? Short grain? (Sorry, just had to ask. :twisted: )

I have all kind but we Filipinos would rather eat them

 

[PJGunner]

I wonder if a person could just use the Lyman Turbo Reactivator instead of the car polish/alcohol?

I was thinking about that myself but based on past experience think I would thin it down with alcohol too. Last time I used it it just kept clumping up for hours and I had a mess.

For the record, I made a one tumblerful batch of the rice as media yesterday and ran 150 rounds of Winchester .223 brass that I'd just sized. I meant to pull it out at the end of 3 hours like the OP said but got involved in a good movie and it ran for 5.5 hours. The brass was quite clean but not as shiny as I expected. Maybe 3 or 4 percent had rice stuck in the flash hole but in it's favor was very easy to remove unlike some of the corn cob or walnut media. I had to wipe some of the dust of the cases but it wasn't all that hard. I did make up eneough rice media this afternoon to work all three tumblers chock full of .223 brass and I still have another 450 to tumble. I'll wait till the whole project is done. I do have some of that Lyman Turbo stuff so after this is done maybe I'll thin a bit down and add it to the mix.
Paul B.

 

[kraky]

Don't know how to explain this but my first rice batch seemed to be dustier than the following. Let us know how yours progresses!

 

[PJGunner]

Don't know how to explain this but my first rice batch seemed to be dustier than the following. Let us know how yours progresses!

This is my first set of trials with rice as tumbling media and I was expecting a a little less dust but I guess that was a mistake. Brass is very clear after about 2.5 hours so it's faster th the walnut shell and corn cob I was using. Rice sure did get awfully dirty in one hell o a hurry though. I still hve some clean rice so maybe I'll try the Lyman Turbo in ha batch and see what happens.
Oh what fun I'm havong. :roll: :roll: :roll: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
Paul B.