While browsing a reloading group on Facebook someone suggested trying out rice and lentils as dry tumble media. They also mentioned using a Clorox wipe to help with getting the carbon. All of these items can be purchased at the dollar store at a cost of about $4 for everything. So, we figured why not.
For this test, we used
- crushed walnut
- 2x bags of rice
- 1 bag of lentils
- Clorox wipes
- Dillion dry tumbler
Doing this test worked out great since I was loading for a local match. To have a comparison we tumbled half the brass in crushed walnut. I had about 400 rounds of brass to clean so about 200 in each test. The brass I was using was for 40sw and was picked up from the local ranges.
After running 2 hours in the crushed walnut (I forgot about it but normally do less time) it came out as you would think. The outside was clean, and a little bit of the inside was cleaned. Acceptable for reloading pistol.
Next, were the rice and lentils with the Clorox wipe thrown in. While I was reloading the first half of the brass, I let the second half run. It ended up being close to 2 hours on the second load as well. And from the photos, they really look about the same. I did notice that the inside of the brass seemed cleaner but not by a ton.
From the comparison, they clean about the same amount with the rice being a little cheaper depending on what crushed walnut you get. We will follow up with how long this media lasts vs crushed walnut.