Sand as a tumbling media?

Biathlonjimmy

Well-Known Member
All,

I'd really like to hear if has anyone effectively used sand as a tumbling media?

My thoughts are that it may be too abrasive thus shortening the usable life of the cases - I am thinking of trying very fine decorative/play sand as opposed to sharp sand.

Aside from the above it seems like an ideal media - abundant supply, cheap, easy to clean, and most importantly too fine to get stuck in the flash hole.

As ever questions, comments and concerns welcome,

James
 
be buggered if i would mty even kiln sand!!! i live by the seaside and i would dream of putting my £100 cases in the sand and roll em around :eek: i use corn cob works just fine a small plash of t'cut when it gets old works just fine,or the ultrasonic . but ha ho give it a go you may just have found the golden egg,
 
I'm now using ultra fine ground walnut media with some jewlers rouge brass comes up like new and it seems to clean them inside as well!
 
Top man you know it makes sense ,and prob why the trade don't sell sand to clean your brass :norty:
 
Works fine, the cases are clean when you can see through the side walls:confused:

Don't do it, stick to corn cob as paul'o says.
 
In a vibratory cleaner it does not work because the weight of sand is more then that of brass, hence it does not turn over it just vibrates and the brass stays in one place, i tried it!

Ian.
 
I use ceramic with water and a small amount of cleaner. I have large ceramic for large calibers (over 9mm) and smaller for everything else. Only down side is you have to rinse the cases and then dry them before you can load. Same applies to using stainless steel media. SS media has the advantage though of being small enough to pass through the flash holes.

SS.
 
I've never used sand as a tumbling medium.

I do use corncob in the vibratory tumbler, and stainless steel pins in the rotary.

Both media work very well.

Ceramic tumbling media sound interesting, but I've never seen any small enough to clean the insides of small-calibre cases.
 
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