When I started using a tumbler, I bought some corncob pet bedding from PetSmart.  It was a lot cheaper than the stuff from Midway, and has worked just fine for everything .30 caliber and larger.

Now, I've cleaned some .223 brass with a very fine media that came with a second tumbler we bought used last summer.  I think it's ground walnut shell, but I'm not sure, as it was not in the original packaging.  It did a good job on the .223 brass, and flowed out of the shells really well.

We were at PetSmart today, looking for a particular pet food for the varmints.  While there, I looked in their lizard/fish/bird sections for something a bit finer than the corncob.  The only thing I found that might work was some aquarium sand.  So I got to thinking, why don't we use sand as a polishing medium?  Is it too abrasive?

Really rough on dies I'd expect. Not too mention all the moving parts in a press.  Unless you're willing to do a rinse and dry cycle after polishing, I'd pass.

Sorry Raptor.  Uh, what scene might that be, anyway?

I was basically going by how nicely the media flows out of the .223s.  Smooth and appears to leave none in the shells.  I guess that "appears" is the problem.

Oops..?
I went ahead and tumbled some media into this thread.

Ben

There was acting in that movie?  Oh, yeah.  Jar-Jar.

And . . .

To bring it back on topic, I won't be buying any sand for the .223 cases.