Keep my stainless steel wet tumbler or change to a 6 to 10 L ultrasonic cleaner ?

[diopter]

The Thumler's B drum is rubber lined. Have not noticed excessive peening.

 

[Munkey1973]

I also got tired of case mouth peening and switched from wet tumbling with SS media to ultrasonic cleaning.

I use 2 tablespoons of dishwashing liquid and a 1/4 tablespoon of Lemi-Shine in my ultrasonic cleaner. This varies with water hardness and how dirty the brass.

The secret to ultrasonic cleaning is getting the water as hot as possible for the best cleaning.

I put hot tap water in the ultrasonic cleaner and run it for 4 eight minute cleaning cycles. And on the last cycle, the heater light goes out and the brass is good and clean.

Bottom line, the frequency of the ultrasonic cleaner, cleaning chemicals, and water temp affect the cleaning.

If you look at the MSDS of the ultrasonic cleaning solutions they contain citric acid and water softeners. So I use dishwashing soap and Lemi-Shine and save $$$.

Ultrasonic Cleaning 101
https://www.omegasonics.com/resources/ultrasonic-cleaning-101/?ppc_keyword=&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIiJvayYfg6gIVCQiICR3tAwCLEAAYASAAEgLALfD_BwE

I bought a Lyman clone on Amazon below.

Thanks for your helpful advice bigedp51.

The advice you gave me regarding my 308 shoulder bump issue that I had couple weeks was golden...don't let anyone get you down for sharing diagrams and pictures.

I am going to experiment with different detergents and such to see if I can get my Frankford Tumbler tweeked.

But I still going to decent US from Amazon probably this one..

https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0824M4PG7/?coliid=I11Z64I761PZWZ&colid=22LO891TNIAGG&psc=1&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it

I totally agree, seems to me that the ones made by reloading companies (Hornady, Lyman, RCBS) are a bit on the pricy side and I kind of want one that is more than 2 or 3 litres.

 

[bigedp51]

Munkey1973

Nothing cleans better than wet tumbling with stainless steel media, and I bought my wet tumbler because my .223/5.56 cases were scratching my dies. The cases were hitting the ground and picking up drit and grit, and wet tumbling would scrub them clean. And if you trim and deburr the cases every time you wet tumble the case mouth peening is removed.

My pet peeve were my pistol cases that can not be trimmed every time and having to deburr the cases. And for my pistol cases sonic cleaning worked out better than wet tumbling.

That being said I used vibratory tumblers for over 35 years and they also worked very well. I could let the tumbler run all night without any harm to the cases or case mouth peening.

To cut the wet tumbling time down you can let the cases soak overnight in hot soapy water. The helps loosen the powder residue and should shorten the wet tumbling time.

Range pickup brass and cases that have sat for a while are a different story. These type cases will need to be wet tumbled longer than newly fired cases.

At the link below I used the 3rd Chemical Case Cleaning listed and there are other listed cleaning methods.

Homemade Firearm Cleaners & Lubricants
https://www.frfrogspad.com/homemade.htm