Cleaning media

[nedfig]

This may sound kinda goofy, but here goes. Some use ground walnut to clean their cases. Well, I have three pecan tree's in my yard and that seems like an awful lot of free media. I already eat my weight in pecans, soooo, can I just grind up the shells and use it for media.

[Rottweiler]

if you can grind em up to a consistent size, YUP

[capbuster]

After you ground the pecan shells to the desired consistency,would you add a polishing compound like rouge?

[blades67]

I wouldn't.

[WESHOOT2]

Not abrasive enough.

Corn cob, Dillon Rapid Polish.

[Master Blaster]

I have found a cheap source for cleaning media that works great.
Its rice at the supermarket!

Yes I bought a 10 pound bag of cheap shortgrain rice for $3 and I have cleaned 3 loads of cases with it. It works great, and it costs 1/4 of the price of walnut or corn.

I just added a couple capfulls of dillon polish. When I run out of the dillon I am going to try blue coral liquid.

[fed168]

How many times can you use media before changing it?

[Intel6]

I just go to the local pet store or feed store and buy ground corncob or walnut hulls in 25 lb bags cheap. It is used for pet bedding in reptile cages and the bottom of bird cages. The stuff is cheaper when it is a pet bedding than when it is a "cleaning media." As cheap as this stuff is I can't see messing around with grinding your own. Some of the corn cob is ground bigger and won't work so make sure you get the smaller stuff.

You can use the Dillon rapid polish but I will let you in on a secret. The Dillon stuff is just blue car wax, the first time you use it you can smell it, very familiar.

I run two cleaners to clean my brass. The first one is used to get all the crap off the cases and gets dirty real quick. I use a more agressive abrasive in the first one along with a few table spoons of mineral spritis. The second one I use to put a nice final finish on the brass using Nu Finish car polish (orange bottle) and a few table spoons of mineral sprits for every load.

[johnAK]

I just bought 20# rice bag for 2.99$ in the chinese grocery store, even I saw in costco 50# rice for under 10$ yesterday, to clean brass of course not to eat,

[Dogjaw]

Since it'll take about a year to go through $6 of conventional ground walnut media, and it cleans well and is fast, why bother with anything else? It is afterall, the cheapest item in reloading. Seems like trying to spend $10 to save $6 let alone the time and effort involved. As far as using other than conventional media, will it react with gun powder, affect the brass, gum up the action? Make damn sure there isn't ammonia in anything that even comes close to your brass. Ammonia will eat brass and copper up, even the vapors (I'm a refrigeration service technician specializing in industrial anhydrous ammonia systems, take my word on this one). I'll stick with conventional wisdom on this one and spend my time and money elsewhere. Walnut shell or corn cob.

[Chemistry]

Another thumbs up for shortgrain rice. Add Midway's "White Lightning" brass polish, and it works quite well.

Do NOT use instant rice of any kind. It's not hard enough.

[nwgunman]

Re-loaders....you gotta love 'em. Dogjaw has it right, but still....all this creative and innovative energy. Mis-directed? Perhaps, but just what IS one to do with all those Pecan shells? As for rice...organic, short grain brown? YeGods, a macrobiotic handload!

[Dogjaw]

I don't think creative energy is misdirected. After all, how did someone come up with ground corn cob and walnut shells? I just need these guys to come up with a way to cut the cost of guns in half, while making them twice as accurate. This polishing thing is getting in their way!:D

I guess one could buy (or sneak out of the house when she's not looking) a little coffee grinder, chuck those pecan shells in and have a whirl. If you get caught, say your making her some flavored coffee.:rolleyes:

[Blarneystone]

I'll tell you what. Being 1/3 scientist, 1/3 tinkerer and 1/3 geek, I've ground up all sorts of stuff in the coffee grinder. Rice, barley, oatmeal...I wouldn't hesitate for one second to try out nut shells.

Every now and again, my wife will walk into the kitchen, and I'll be grinding some "non-coffee" item in the grinder and she'll do an 'about face' better than your average marine and retreat out of the kitchen. She knows that I'm up to some new project that will probably keep me obsessed for awhile and possibly burn down the house in the process. :rolleyes:

Hey, as far as that blue car polish, is there any particular recipe? Like 1 capful per lb. of media?

Also, you reuse media right? How often must it be changed?

[Poodleshooter]

Change it when it doesn't clean well anymore. You'll notice it slowly darkening with use.