Hornady ultra sonic cleaner vs rotary tumbler

[MartyK2500]

My actual mix is 3/4 corn and 1/4 walnut.
And add some media polish.
I use to go 100% corn, but took more time to get heavy carbon out.

I am preaching the dry tumble benefits quite a bit.
Just be aware of the possible major drawback.
Lead dust in your environment.

That is why i use media polish, to minimize dust.
Tumble and seperate media under a basement window with a fan.
Handle brass with latex gloves.
Too many people around me got lead poisoning for a combination of reasons (maybe tumbling had or not something to do with it), just being careful.

Many positive opinions around wet tumbling, so take my opinion with a grain of salt.
Myself, dry tumbled for 1 year, wet tumbled for 4 years, and now went back to dry tumble for a year.
In my opinion, dry tumble is the way to go, as long as you’re aware of the health hazards it «may» pose (unproven) and act accordingly.
Dry tumbling means no lube required on brass when doing pistol, and much less when doing rifle, everything glides in press/dies much easier, and brass keeps its luster for a very long time.

 

[dogzilla]

I prefer corn cob to walnut. I find walnut too fine. I just use Lyman stuff. My lgs sells it in big boxes and I get about a year out of it so I don't worry about the price.

 

[Potashminer]

I started with a vibratory case cleaner, wasn't happy with dust and having to clear the flash hole, then I went ultrasonic but wasn't happy with the lack of shine and the inability to clean the primer pockets as much as I wanted. Rotary seems to do the best cleaning job but is the most labor intensive to clear out the media after and is in my mind to violent to clean sized brass.

I pretty much went through the same progression - vibratory with walnut first, then tried ultrasonic, now have rotary tumbler with stainless steel pins, for the same reasons. I do not load handgun, just rifle in a single stage press. De-cap with universal die first, run the batch through the tumbler if grungy, dry the cases (usually overnight), roll them on case lube pad with RCBS Case Lube-2 and size them. Each one into a Lee holder on a hand drill - I use Lee case length trimmer, de-burr and chamfer, quick spin in dry rag to clean off lube, load with powder, seat bullets.