• Watch Out for Scammers!

    We've now added a color code for all accounts. Orange accounts are new members, Blue are full members, and Green are Supporters. If you get a message about a sale from an orange account, make sure you pay attention before sending any money!

Anybody using rice to tumble?

Zback

Sergeant of the Hide
Full Member
Minuteman
May 8, 2019
308
253
I have read a few articles about it. If so, what unit are you using? Thoughts?
 
I use corn cob media with a liquid polish added during tumbling. Not had any problem with that and I'm getting great results and consistency so it'd take a lot to change my mind. I'm sure rice would work fine.

VooDoo
 
  • Like
Reactions: camocorvette
I stopped using all media. Its a waste of time.

Corncob - Mess and PITA to clean out
Walnut - Mess and a PITA to clean out
Russian Groats - Mess and a PITA to clean out
Rice - Mess and a PITA to clean out
Wet Tumble with SS pins - Great way to peen your necks and beat up your brass, Have to make sure you flush every one out or you gona trash a barrel.

Wet Tumble with No media and some lemishine & Dawn is all you need.

Gets them clean enough without tearing up brass or wasting god knows how much time trying dick around with media and getting shit out of the cases.
 
I stopped using all media. Its a waste of time.

Corncob - Mess and PITA to clean out
Walnut - Mess and a PITA to clean out
Russian Groats - Mess and a PITA to clean out
Rice - Mess and a PITA to clean out
Wet Tumble with SS pins - Great way to peen your necks and beat up your brass, Have to make sure you flush every one out or you gona trash a barrel.

Wet Tumble with No media and some lemishine & Dawn is all you need.

Gets them clean enough without tearing up brass or wasting god knows how much time trying dick around with media and getting shit out of the cases.
This is the way. Though Brass Juice seems to make slightly prettier brass than Lemi and soap. No idea what they put in it.
 
I used sushi rice, but by far the best thing I’ve used. No mess and the inside of the necks seem to seat bullets a lot smoother. I’ve tried regular rice and every flash hole had rice in it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: seaflar
I've tried damn near every dry media I can think of, including the rice Orkan recommended. I went back to corn cob from Berry's.
 
What is this Brass Juice you speak of?

I am always up for a chemical solution to a physical problem :)
It may have a little salt and vinegar in it. A while back I saw a recipe that had lemon juice, vinegar, and salt. The lemon juice contains citric acid which is what lemishine is.

I never tried it but an old guy once told me a cup of ERA laundry detergent in a gallon of hot water worked great. Soak the brass in it overnight.

My wife is a chemist, maybe I should ask her 😆
 
It may have a little salt and vinegar in it.
Is salt used as a mechanical cleaner in this solution? It works well in other applications as an abrasive cleaner. Obviously it needs to be suspended in a liquid that doesn't dissolve it.
 
I have used it in my big Dillon tumbler. Cleans well but most brands from the local grocery will plug a high percentage of flash holes. I think sourcing some small grain variants would solve this.
 
I was cleaning cases with an ultrasonic cleaner. It was a great tool for the lazy man like me.
Recently I tried the rice media method. It seems to get them nearly as clean, all be it in a longer amount of time. What it does vs ultrasonic is it seems to leave just a touch of slickness to the brass. That can't be a bad thing as far as seating goes.

YMMV
 
I was cleaning cases with an ultrasonic cleaner. It was a great tool for the lazy man like me.
Recently I tried the rice media method. It seems to get them nearly as clean, all be it in a longer amount of time. What it does vs ultrasonic is it seems to leave just a touch of slickness to the brass. That can't be a bad thing as far as seating goes.

YMMV
The starch coating from the rice. I can't imagine having extra "glue" in there is good either, but I've never tested it.
 
I use rice in a Lyman tumbler, works just fine. Same rice that @orkan recommends.

I don't clean primer pockets or flasholes, spent primers are still in the brass when I tumble. So no issues with getting rice stuck in flasholes, and can't say I see any degradation in performance with this method.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Guns&WhiteWater
It may have a little salt and vinegar in it. A while back I saw a recipe that had lemon juice, vinegar, and salt. The lemon juice contains citric acid which is what lemishine is.

I never tried it but an old guy once told me a cup of ERA laundry detergent in a gallon of hot water worked great. Soak the brass in it overnight.

My wife is a chemist, maybe I should ask her 😆
We used to use lemonade mix (unsweetened) to soak brass fittings when I was in the Navy. (When we couldn't get the bulk citric acid powder)
 
  • Like
Reactions: MarshallDodge
Is there a rice brand that does not get stuck in flash holes? Or is there a way to tell size of it before ordering it
 
Is there a rice brand that does not get stuck in flash holes? Or is there a way to tell size of it before ordering it


This wasn't too bad on the 308 Lapua cases I did. Maybe 25% I had to clear.
 
I guess the bigger question it why are you looking to use rice. Cost? Performance? Like i said before, i tried it and its a huge mess. I wet clean now and still use walnut at times.
 
I used it untill mice got into it. They made a storage facility for the rice in my shop vac exhaust port. Suspects have been apprehended.
 

Attachments

  • 20211231_152113.jpg
    20211231_152113.jpg
    727.8 KB · Views: 33
Is there a rice brand that does not get stuck in flash holes? Or is there a way to tell size of it before ordering it
Medium grain. Its wide enough to not get stuck in a flash hole but small enough to get in close to rub on the case.

In the article it even has a link
1642000905120.png




short-medium-long-grain-rice.jpeg
 
  • Like
Reactions: Papa Mike
I was cleaning cases with an ultrasonic cleaner. It was a great tool for the lazy man like me.
Recently I tried the rice media method. It seems to get them nearly as clean, all be it in a longer amount of time. What it does vs ultrasonic is it seems to leave just a touch of slickness to the brass. That can't be a bad thing as far as seating goes.

YMMV
What are you putting in the US as a cleaner?
 
Medium grain. Its wide enough to not get stuck in a flash hole but small enough to get in close to rub on the case.

In the article it even has a link
View attachment 7782576



short-medium-long-grain-rice.jpeg
Thank you
 
Medium grain. Its wide enough to not get stuck in a flash hole but small enough to get in close to rub on the case.

In the article it even has a link
View attachment 7782576



short-medium-long-grain-rice.jpeg
No man... don't.

Just let them use different rice and then claim the method doesn't work. :LOL:
 
I have read a few articles about it. If so, what unit are you using? Thoughts?

I've been using rice for a couple years now, and I like it. $18 for a 50lb bag of it from Costco.

I don't deprime before cleaning cases anymore so that flash hole problem isn't an issue. I use a Lyman tumbler and the top has holes in it, so while the tumbler is still running I just grab it and turn it over in a bucket. It vibrates all the rice out and theres usually no issue, maybe give it a few shakes and let it run for 30s more; all good to go.

I used it untill mice got into it. They made a storage facility for the rice in my shop vac exhaust port. Suspects have been apprehended.
I tumble on the far side of my shop, and mice were an issue. Now I just put the bag of rice on a bucket away from anything else and haven't had any problem. The old/used rice I'll put in a bucket by the wall with other crap. Mice get in it then can't get out. They die and I throw em out lol.
 
I used it untill mice got into it. They made a storage facility for the rice in my shop vac exhaust port. Suspects have been apprehended.
This is why I don’t do it. In the West here, rodents can carry and spread hantavirus and the plague, as well as other disease. Hantavirus can spred to human via dust from droppings, while the Plague spreds via rodent’s fleas to human, or to pets, then to human.



 
You got mice in your house whether or not you're tumbling with rice. The rice just exposes them.

On a side note, I've had a bag of rice in my garage for about a decade and only this past month or so did mice get into it. I set traps right next to the hole they created and never got one there. I eventually got one along the wall where they travel.
 
+14 on the glue (starch).. Get a wet tumbler land then you don't need media at all..
 
I tried the rice that @orkan recommended. Picked up a big bag off Amazon. Worked great. No dust like I had with the other media. Gonna stick with the rice now.
I got some of it also. The lack of dust compared to walnut media makes it so much better to work with. I can remove it in my loading room instead of taking it outside. I used Orkan's method of leaving the tumbler running and hold the case against the side of the bowl. Did not make any worse mess than walnut.

First load tumbled some Lapua small primer 6.5 Creedmoor and had no rice stuck in flash holes. Next did some LC 5.56 and did get some stuck in flash holes. Also it got packed into some of the cases. Wasn't too hard to remove though. Lapua brass has smaller flash holes so that is probably why. Maybe the rice started breaking down some causing it to get in the LC brass. I'm going to continue using rice for now anyway.

I also have a wet tumbler and use brass juice with it but now mostly just use that for really dirty range brass.
 
What are you putting in the US as a cleaner?

We have an industrial sonic tank. And we use the boretech solution made specifically for cleaning brass in ultrasonic.

Right or wrong, our philosophy and experience is that chemicals specifically mixed for something perform much better than “garage brews.” Most of the complaints we see with wet tumbling or ultrasonic cleaning comes from those using home brews.

It will get things a bit cleaner than people who prefer to leave carbon in the necks. Which is a popular and/or valid theory. We just use other things to either replace the carbon or lubricate things.