In my quest to save money by reloading, I have tried a few alternatives to real brass cleaning media sold at gun stores, and online. I have been using Lizard Litter in place of standard walnut media with great results, however it doesn't seem to last as long as some of the brass specific medias. That's OK though, because I can get a 10lb bag of it for $3. I have added some aluminum oxide blasting media to "renew" my walnut media. That seems to work OK, but it is VERY heavy, and too much of it will just sit on the bottom of the tumbler bowl. I have even tried some other materials in my tumbler that I don't even care to admit to having tried as they were utter failures.
My most recent cost saving trial involved in using corn cob kitty litter. I have heard on a couple of threads of folks using it, so I figured I would give it a shot... First of all, this stuff has a MUCH smaller grain size than corn cob tumbling media, and I noticed a bunch of VERY small sized particles as well. I figured it can't be too bad, it will just go through the flash hole, and not get stuck. BOY was I WRONG! The stuff packed itself together, inside the cases, and inside the primer pocket. And it packed in there tight! I was lucky that I had only done 200 cases as a test, because I had to use a wood screw to dig the material out of the primer pocket, and the inside of the case, before I was even able to poke the screw through the flash hole. I wasted over 45 minutes getting these cases to the point that they could be then wiped off with a rag, so that the fine particle dust that covered and stuck to the cases as well as the inside of my tumbler, and the tumbler lid could be cleaned off. Then, on top of that there is now a strange pink hue that was left on the cases.
Not sure if I did something wrong, or if I got the wrong stuff, but it was the only corn cob kitty litter that Petco had on their shelves. I may check to see about the bird bedding that is made out of corn cob, but I will tear the bag open in the store before I spend the money. If it doesn't look exactly like the corn cob tumbling media, I'll walk away!
Sometimes suitable substitutes can be found, sometimes NOTHING beats a product that is specifically designed to serve a purpose!
My most recent cost saving trial involved in using corn cob kitty litter. I have heard on a couple of threads of folks using it, so I figured I would give it a shot... First of all, this stuff has a MUCH smaller grain size than corn cob tumbling media, and I noticed a bunch of VERY small sized particles as well. I figured it can't be too bad, it will just go through the flash hole, and not get stuck. BOY was I WRONG! The stuff packed itself together, inside the cases, and inside the primer pocket. And it packed in there tight! I was lucky that I had only done 200 cases as a test, because I had to use a wood screw to dig the material out of the primer pocket, and the inside of the case, before I was even able to poke the screw through the flash hole. I wasted over 45 minutes getting these cases to the point that they could be then wiped off with a rag, so that the fine particle dust that covered and stuck to the cases as well as the inside of my tumbler, and the tumbler lid could be cleaned off. Then, on top of that there is now a strange pink hue that was left on the cases.
Not sure if I did something wrong, or if I got the wrong stuff, but it was the only corn cob kitty litter that Petco had on their shelves. I may check to see about the bird bedding that is made out of corn cob, but I will tear the bag open in the store before I spend the money. If it doesn't look exactly like the corn cob tumbling media, I'll walk away!
Sometimes suitable substitutes can be found, sometimes NOTHING beats a product that is specifically designed to serve a purpose!