Is tumbler better than vibratory and ultra sonic
- Thread starter gslinger
- Start date
I asked the most experienced guru of reloading at my club what he cleans with and he said "what for? I wipe them off". I've purchased a basic Lyman tumbler regardless but now think he is right. I'm not picking up range brass. Is there really any need, at least if one is shooting rifle from a bench, to doing more than a quick wipe as part of case inspection?
My brass rarely hits the bench, let alone the floor of the range.
My brass rarely hits the bench, let alone the floor of the range.
I reload bottlenecked rifle cartridges.
I use my wife's ultrasonic jewellery cleaner with water and 1 tbsp of citric acid granules. The citric acid is bought by the bagful at the local bulk food store. Cleans inside, outside, and primer pockets. Sort of shiny, but very clean nevertheless. I don't use vinegar as it leaves the brass with a reddish tinge due to the leaching out of the zinc.
The small size of the unit means I can only do 12 at a time but, one cycle of three minutes does the trick. Rinse in hot water and shake the excess water out wrapped in a towel. I set them all out in a pan and use a portable space heater to blow hot air over them. Completely dry in half an hour. I can do about 100 in an hour and a half, which far exceeds my normal requirements. Only had to do that many at a time once.
Hornady ultrasonic cleaner on order via CTC.
I use my wife's ultrasonic jewellery cleaner with water and 1 tbsp of citric acid granules. The citric acid is bought by the bagful at the local bulk food store. Cleans inside, outside, and primer pockets. Sort of shiny, but very clean nevertheless. I don't use vinegar as it leaves the brass with a reddish tinge due to the leaching out of the zinc.
The small size of the unit means I can only do 12 at a time but, one cycle of three minutes does the trick. Rinse in hot water and shake the excess water out wrapped in a towel. I set them all out in a pan and use a portable space heater to blow hot air over them. Completely dry in half an hour. I can do about 100 in an hour and a half, which far exceeds my normal requirements. Only had to do that many at a time once.
Hornady ultrasonic cleaner on order via CTC.
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I have both and prefer the tumbler with stainless pins, but both are more than adequate. With "stained" brass (e.g. Black spots), a chemical solution including vinegar works better than the simple abrasion that a vibratory provides, and I like the clean primer pockets, although they don't need to be spotless.
Don't clean my brass much but when I do I have an RCBS vibratory unit that I filled with corn meal about 25 years ago...When it starts making dust and not cleaning so well I spoon in some more Flitz polishing cream and away she goes shining the brass up without beating it up.
So using an ultrasonic cleaner on its own would do the trick even for range brass? I like the idea of not using abrasives, shorter runtimes and no dust, so I might even pick up a new ultrasonic and sell the vibratory.
Everyone has an opinion,so take mine for what it's worth.
I used to own the big Dillon vibratory cleaner and cage.
It would do a lot of brass,but I really didn,t like the dust from the walnut medium.
I came upon the little Hornady LocknLoad ultrasonic cleaner,tried it out and loved it.
I'll usually do 50 6ppc benchrest cases at a time and 2 x 4 minute cycles get them clean.
I'll do 50 pieces of 45 acp at a time also.
I could fill up with more cases on each load,but find that 20 0z. of water and one tablespoon of solution
will cover my 6ppc cases or 50 acp cases..
If you're doing more brass at a time,definitely get a bigger unit.
I like it because it cleans the brass to like new,inside and out.
I use the Hornady One Shot liquid.
I like the ease of the ultrasonic and there's no mess.
Pull the basket of brass out of the solution,rinse off and dry the brass.
Easy as 1,2,3
Like I said,just my opinion.
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Thanks for the heads up.. I'll probably be going ultrasonic then.. Bought a used reloading kit, keeping most of it, but replacing some of the stuff. Currently got the Poptop with corncob media but I like the idea of less processing time and less of a mess using an ultrasonic.. A 2.5L capacity (twice the capacity of Hornady) ultrasonic can be had for $130ish shipped.
Double the size of mine and you could easily do a 100 at a time,probably more.
Some people make homeade solutions,some use Citronex and buy it by the jug.
I've started with a jug of the Hornady One Shot and will probably stick with it because it works.
I just thought of one other possible benefit - stretching out the useful life of the die.. Clean, shake off the water, lube with water-based lube, size, clean again (mostly for the benefit of the primer pocket), let dry for a couple of days. Cleaning cycles barely going into minutes makes this a pretty quick job, unless I'm missing something?
Are you cleaning rifle brass?
I use a Redding decapper and decap my brass first.
That's all the decapper does.It doesn,t touch the brass.
Once brass is decapped,it then goes into the ultrasonic unit.
No need to clean twice.
I decap my pistol brass also before going into cleaner.
Pistol brass on my Dillon = no lube needed.
Rifle brass I dry,then one swipe with Imperial sizing wax and start reloading.
Contact Rooky that is where I got my pins they come out looking new
