I just bought a new ultrasonic cleaner and used it once. I ended up having 10+ FTF in 200 reloads of .45ACP. What happened is I washed the brass after and put it into the oven for maybe 20 minutes at 170F. I noticed that some of the primer pockets were not totally dry and I assume this is the cause of the fail to fire events. I'm wondering what people do to ensure the brass is dry? I thought of running the brass through the corn turbo shaker to dry it out and make it a little shiner but it is a PITA. I ran the cleaner for two 8 min. cycles than washed the brass in tap water.
Reloaders using ultrasonic cleaner
- Thread starter rustynut1
- Start date
if you are in a hurry to reload it you can put it in a bullet tray from an ammo box, most of them have open bottoms, then place them over a heating vent and let the warm air dry them. I used to do that. Now i just let them dry on an old towel for a couple days.
After I use the ultrasonic I rinse the brass and put it on the floor on top of a towel. It sits there for about 2 days before I even consider reloading it. More if it is rifle brass, those dry much slower. Basically the solution is to have a huge stock of brass so you never need to go direct from the cleaner into the reloader.
- Location
- Edmonton,AB
When you rinse them off, use hot water, as hot as you can get. Drain the water off, and towel dry ( I made a bag with a towel and string). Then as suggested place over a heat vent or use a hair dryer to remove last little big of moisture. Allow to cool before installing primers as sometimes the primers will fall out if the case is still to warm.
ive never used an ultra sonic cleaner but i wet tumble.
my drying process is the same as adamg except i leave pistol brass out to dry for 24 hours (48 hours for rifle brass). never had an issue with my reloads this way.
my drying process is the same as adamg except i leave pistol brass out to dry for 24 hours (48 hours for rifle brass). never had an issue with my reloads this way.
As they suggest the drying for 2 days or so. However before rinsing I let them batch soak in the sink's clean tap water for few minutes first, agitate by hand, drain and rinse with sprayer. I then spin them in a salad spinner, you be surprised how much water comes off.
I roll mine around in an old towel for a minute, then blow them all out with compressed air and use the time to inspect them. I still wouldn't load them for a day or two. I have enough brass that mine usually sit for a while before I use them. I only load rifle, but have never had an ftf.
Longshot338
CGN Regular
- Location
- Southern Ontario
I rinse them in hot tap water and roll them in a towel. I then place them in a toaster oven at 200 degrees for 2 hours. Never had an issue...
After an exterior wipe I'd use q-tips and wipe out the inside of each round.
I found grey sludge in there every time.
Today I got what I asked for for Christmas. A vibratory tumbler for dry media.
It's happily vibing away as I write this.
I'm done with wet cleaning.
I found grey sludge in there every time.
Today I got what I asked for for Christmas. A vibratory tumbler for dry media.
It's happily vibing away as I write this.
I'm done with wet cleaning.
- Location
- Aaaaaadmontin AB
Hmpfffffffff.
I am a curmudgeonly old fart and dismissed those new fangled cleaners as crap! It seems I may have been mistaken yet again!
Back in the day it drove me nuts because my daughter's cats loved to crap in my brass tumbler. I could never catch the bastids doing it either. I would sift out my clean brass and find a great, big, dried out stub of a turd mixed in with them too - it STILL makes my blood boil 20 years after the fact. I DID catch one them crapping in my gun case once and put him in the sink under the faucet for his troubles. It cost me 5 quartz of blood but it was worth it. Cats have a disgracefully poor sense of humour and need to be reminded of it on occasion. Do you think a cat might be tempted to crap in an ultrasonic brass cleaner...?
Oh dear gawd - I'm rambling again. Merry Christmas, fellas! Shoot straight in the new year!
Effin cats!
I am a curmudgeonly old fart and dismissed those new fangled cleaners as crap! It seems I may have been mistaken yet again!
Back in the day it drove me nuts because my daughter's cats loved to crap in my brass tumbler. I could never catch the bastids doing it either. I would sift out my clean brass and find a great, big, dried out stub of a turd mixed in with them too - it STILL makes my blood boil 20 years after the fact. I DID catch one them crapping in my gun case once and put him in the sink under the faucet for his troubles. It cost me 5 quartz of blood but it was worth it. Cats have a disgracefully poor sense of humour and need to be reminded of it on occasion. Do you think a cat might be tempted to crap in an ultrasonic brass cleaner...?
Oh dear gawd - I'm rambling again. Merry Christmas, fellas! Shoot straight in the new year!
Effin cats!
Scooter Money
Regular
- Location
- In partibus infidelium.
I'll second that. I have more volume and use the kitchen oven with them on cookie sheets.
Best post in a long time.
I have only ever used an ultra sonic. You have to set for about 8 minutes using hot water and something like "one shot" then rinse and do it again. I now take the wet brass and lay it out on a container with paper towels to help dry faster, but it is still 2 days. If I am in a big hurry, I use a heat gun (stronger than a hair dryer) to dry about 20 pieces at a time when the brass in in a ceramic bowl or similar. The heat gun is maybe a $30 ish purchase.
shadowstang
CGN Regular
- Location
- somewhere in the middle
After i run them through and towel dry em for an hour or so i put them in the rock tumbler with some lizard litter (cheap crushed walnut shells) and polish em for an hr and they come out perfectly clean and dry.
Your only choice would be either in the oven for MUCH longer, or buy a food dehyrdator. I put 100 308 win brass from the wet tumbler into the oven at 200 F for 30 minutes. I do the same as shown above with the towel, then straight into aluminium tray (disposable) into the oven for 30 minutes. If you can blow out the water from the primer pockets, it can be dry within 15 minutes at 175F. Otherwise, wet primer pockets have been dried in 40 minutes at 200F. It probably would take less for pistol cases to dry as there is no neck, but I dont reload pistol so I haven't had to dry any.
