in my opinion sand would be a bad idea, the reason we clean cases is to remove that sort of thing. Sand will have hard granules that will most likely scratch your brass and dies. The walnut and corn cob will not.
I've used the lizard litter with mixed results. first bag I used worked well, second had so much dust in it that I had stuck 9mm cases even after blowing them off with compressed air. I had to re-tumble 1500 cases. it cleaned the cases to a bright finish, but you could see a film of super fine dust. after sizing 50 or so I had a major die replacing type of issue.
The sand blast type of walnut you can get from harbor freight or others has better quality control of particulate size. if you deprime before tumbling your range brass you will get cornels stuck in flash holes. If you tumble off lube after sizing you will get same. Corn cob to tumble off the case lube works better for me. walnut to clean fired cases because it is harder material and works well with the carbon residue. cob to finish polish before loading is working well for me. cob is easier to push out of flash holes than walnut.
to keep your media cleaner try using something to absorb the dirt and dust. lots of folks use dryer sheets, cut up rags, paper towel, and sponges. clean media works best. also adding some wax to the mix seems to be a good idea, your basic car polish or something, not sure I don't use it. the lanolin in my case lube seems to do ok.
my 2 cents
I've used the lizard litter with mixed results. first bag I used worked well, second had so much dust in it that I had stuck 9mm cases even after blowing them off with compressed air. I had to re-tumble 1500 cases. it cleaned the cases to a bright finish, but you could see a film of super fine dust. after sizing 50 or so I had a major die replacing type of issue.
The sand blast type of walnut you can get from harbor freight or others has better quality control of particulate size. if you deprime before tumbling your range brass you will get cornels stuck in flash holes. If you tumble off lube after sizing you will get same. Corn cob to tumble off the case lube works better for me. walnut to clean fired cases because it is harder material and works well with the carbon residue. cob to finish polish before loading is working well for me. cob is easier to push out of flash holes than walnut.
to keep your media cleaner try using something to absorb the dirt and dust. lots of folks use dryer sheets, cut up rags, paper towel, and sponges. clean media works best. also adding some wax to the mix seems to be a good idea, your basic car polish or something, not sure I don't use it. the lanolin in my case lube seems to do ok.
my 2 cents