Petco "Green Pet" corn cob media question

ledavatar · October 29, 2006, 10:03 PM

http://www.petco.com/Shop/Product.as...10513&#details

I'm about to order some 40lb bags of "Green Pet" naturan corn cob from petco.com for brass tumbling, but I noticed that one of the smaller bags (230 cu. in.) said 1/8" Mini-Cob. Which leads me to think the other ones are coarser? But they don't say how much coarser! Does anyone have experience with using the regular 40lb bags of corn cob media? I would think smaller grains are better.

snuffy · October 30, 2006, 12:36 AM

I bought some of their corn cob bedding litter. I tried to tumble some .223 cases, I had a heck of a time getting it back out of the cases. I actually had to run a twist drill into the cases to get it all out!

I found it worked fine for 40 on up to 45 pistol brass. It may work for 9mm also, didn't try it.

FRANK1669 · October 30, 2006, 02:28 AM

I use ground corn cob and ground walnut shells both that are availbe from a local feed store. If you have one in you area check them out I get these in bulk for about $0.50 a lbs. I am not sure of the coarseness of these but have had no problem on 9mm, or 38 special, or 7mm mag (oh one last thought be sure to add some kind of cleaning polishing additive I use lyman turbo reactivator makes it work a lot better)

Nephilim-777 · October 30, 2006, 12:28 PM

It will probably work okay if you do not decap your brass in advance. For me and the Pet stores, I setted on Lizard Litter as its 100% ground walnut and its very fine. All corn media at my local Petsmart is larger, but I purchased some bird bedding to try out with pistol ammo. I just haven't tried it yet.

woodpusher · October 30, 2006, 07:02 PM

My wife's blender makes short work out of large corncob granuals!

ledavatar · November 6, 2006, 04:55 PM

Well, just an update on the petco corn cob media - the granules are a lot bigger than what I was used to, but it seems to work just as well. They have a shorter life due to less surface area, but all in all a good value. There's very little dusting as to be expected.

benedict1 · November 6, 2006, 09:37 PM

If you use this stuff and aren't very careful, you can get a piece stuck in a decapping/resizing die and it will pop the pin(on a Lee die); or, it will prevent the case from being decapped because the corncob will stick to the decapping pin.

Very annoying. I just decided to spend the money for finely ground media for cleaning--with 1000s of dollars invested in guns and loaders I can pop for $15 worth of media occasionally. Just my two cents.

cdoc42 · November 7, 2006, 11:37 AM

Poking the media out of primer pocket holes gives you an opportunity to inspect the cases as well. Can't tell you how many times I've found extremely tiny cracks in the case mouth as I turned the cases around and the light hit the area just right to expose the crack. Time is money only if you are selling the cartridges.

ledavatar · November 13, 2006, 01:17 AM

Quote:

If you use this stuff and aren't very careful, you can get a piece stuck in a decapping/resizing die and it will pop the pin(on a Lee die); or, it will prevent the case from being decapped because the corncob will stick to the decapping pin.

Yup, happened to me twice. Good thing I had Lee dies and the pin just popped up. Once I actually saw something strange after dispensing the powder (the volume seemed more than normal in the case). So i poured it out to measure the charge and sure enough there were a couple of small media pieces in the case. After that I made a habit of turning the case upside down before I put it in station 1.

ledavatar · November 13, 2006, 01:20 AM

And one more comment - the one thing I didn't count on was how big that 40lb bag was. I had to order 3 in order to qualify for free shipping, and I can barely fit those on my balcony where I keep the tumbler.

October 29, 2006, 10:03 PM	#1
ledavatar Senior Member Join Date: July 27, 2006 Posts: 147	Petco "Green Pet" corn cob media question http://www.petco.com/Shop/Product.as...10513&#details I'm about to order some 40lb bags of "Green Pet" naturan corn cob from petco.com for brass tumbling, but I noticed that one of the smaller bags (230 cu. in.) said 1/8" Mini-Cob. Which leads me to think the other ones are coarser? But they don't say how much coarser! Does anyone have experience with using the regular 40lb bags of corn cob media? I would think smaller grains are better.

October 30, 2006, 12:36 AM	#2
snuffy Senior Member Join Date: May 20, 2001 Location: Oshkosh wi. Posts: 3,055	I bought some of their corn cob bedding litter. I tried to tumble some .223 cases, I had a heck of a time getting it back out of the cases. I actually had to run a twist drill into the cases to get it all out! I found it worked fine for 40 on up to 45 pistol brass. It may work for 9mm also, didn't try it. __________________ The more people I meet, the more I love my dog They're going to get their butts kicked over there this election. How come people can't spell and use words correctly?

October 30, 2006, 02:28 AM	#3
FRANK1669 Senior Member Join Date: July 4, 2006 Posts: 124	I use ground corn cob and ground walnut shells both that are availbe from a local feed store. If you have one in you area check them out I get these in bulk for about $0.50 a lbs. I am not sure of the coarseness of these but have had no problem on 9mm, or 38 special, or 7mm mag (oh one last thought be sure to add some kind of cleaning polishing additive I use lyman turbo reactivator makes it work a lot better) __________________ It is better to be judged by 12 than carried by 6

October 30, 2006, 07:02 PM	#5
woodpusher Member Join Date: September 29, 2006 Posts: 17	blender My wife's blender makes short work out of large corncob granuals!

October 30, 2006, 12:28 PM	#4
Nephilim-777 Member Join Date: October 10, 2006 Location: A nation in distress Posts: 79	It will probably work okay if you do not decap your brass in advance. For me and the Pet stores, I setted on Lizard Litter as its 100% ground walnut and its very fine. All corn media at my local Petsmart is larger, but I purchased some bird bedding to try out with pistol ammo. I just haven't tried it yet.

November 6, 2006, 04:55 PM	#6
ledavatar Senior Member Join Date: July 27, 2006 Posts: 147	Well, just an update on the petco corn cob media - the granules are a lot bigger than what I was used to, but it seems to work just as well. They have a shorter life due to less surface area, but all in all a good value. There's very little dusting as to be expected.

November 6, 2006, 09:37 PM	#7
benedict1 Senior Member Join Date: July 26, 2006 Location: Southern California Posts: 245	If you use this stuff and aren't very careful, you can get a piece stuck in a decapping/resizing die and it will pop the pin(on a Lee die); or, it will prevent the case from being decapped because the corncob will stick to the decapping pin. Very annoying. I just decided to spend the money for finely ground media for cleaning--with 1000s of dollars invested in guns and loaders I can pop for $15 worth of media occasionally. Just my two cents.

November 7, 2006, 11:37 AM	#8
cdoc42 Senior Member Join Date: March 13, 2005 Location: Pennsylvania Posts: 1,687	Poking the media out of primer pocket holes gives you an opportunity to inspect the cases as well. Can't tell you how many times I've found extremely tiny cracks in the case mouth as I turned the cases around and the light hit the area just right to expose the crack. Time is money only if you are selling the cartridges.

November 13, 2006, 01:20 AM	#10
ledavatar Senior Member Join Date: July 27, 2006 Posts: 147	And one more comment - the one thing I didn't count on was how big that 40lb bag was. I had to order 3 in order to qualify for free shipping, and I can barely fit those on my balcony where I keep the tumbler.