Ultrasonic brass cleaning
- Thread starter Ridersfan
- Start date
I prefer my ultrasonic over tumbling. I use it after i resize my brass and it works wonders getting lube off the cases and cleaning the primmer pockets.
As for brands, I use a hornady i got from a friend (100ish 308 at a time). My Uncle uses a generic one without complaint. what ever you get i recomend getting a heated on and a long timer. the Hornady only has an 8min timer i usualy clean for 30 to 45 mins. Also i picked up a case drier, hornady and frankfort both make them, i recomend getting one makes life alot easier drying the brass.
Food for thought, ive heard great things about ss wet tumbling.
As for brands, I use a hornady i got from a friend (100ish 308 at a time). My Uncle uses a generic one without complaint. what ever you get i recomend getting a heated on and a long timer. the Hornady only has an 8min timer i usualy clean for 30 to 45 mins. Also i picked up a case drier, hornady and frankfort both make them, i recomend getting one makes life alot easier drying the brass.
Food for thought, ive heard great things about ss wet tumbling.
I use an ultrasonic cleaner only for 5.7x28mm FN cases because they are polymer-coated and get damaged using vibratory or wet tumblers. All my other cases are cleaned in my Frankford wet tumbler.
The ultrasonic is exceptional for cleaning handguns and other firearm parts...
The ultrasonic is exceptional for cleaning handguns and other firearm parts...
very very hot water, did I say very hot water?? a 357 magnum case of lemi shine and about half of that of blue dawn for 20 minutes in the lyman brand 2 liter unit, dried on a towel with a hair dryer. look brand new inside and out and haven't brushed primer pockets since going this route
not as shiny as vibratory tumbling, but cleaner over all
not as shiny as vibratory tumbling, but cleaner over all
I have all three types of cleaners.
Vibratory that I started out with. Tried various media to clean brass, walnut shells, plastic beads, etc. Did a good job removing lube from cases, not so good on cleaning the insides and always had to pick media out of the flash holes.
Had a nephew that worked at Wholesale a few years back and when the hornady ultrasonic went on sale for 80 bucks I had him pick one up with his discount. Tried all the different solutions, right from hornady solution to the famous one on the ar-15 website. Works good at cleaning the dirt off of brass if it is already basically new brass that is once fired. Will never clean old brass to make it look new. Works great on pistol/rifle parts and to be honest simple green and hot water works the best for me on small cleaning jobs.
5 years ago I made my own tumbler and bought some SS pins off the internet. Difference is night and day to ultrasonic and vibratory. You can put a piece out of the tumbler next to a new piece of brass and not no which one is which.
I posted on here a test I did with three batches of 30-06 brass that I found at the range that had been there for probably 5 years or more. They where all corroded and green and mud baked. I took 5 pieces each and ran them thru each of the three cleaning methods. As expected the vibratory and ultrasonic got the dirt off but that was it, basically nothing. SS pin cleaning was night and day, brass looked new.
Do you need bright shinny new looking brass, not really but it sure helps the inspection process that the other two methods would have missed.
Vibratory that I started out with. Tried various media to clean brass, walnut shells, plastic beads, etc. Did a good job removing lube from cases, not so good on cleaning the insides and always had to pick media out of the flash holes.
Had a nephew that worked at Wholesale a few years back and when the hornady ultrasonic went on sale for 80 bucks I had him pick one up with his discount. Tried all the different solutions, right from hornady solution to the famous one on the ar-15 website. Works good at cleaning the dirt off of brass if it is already basically new brass that is once fired. Will never clean old brass to make it look new. Works great on pistol/rifle parts and to be honest simple green and hot water works the best for me on small cleaning jobs.
5 years ago I made my own tumbler and bought some SS pins off the internet. Difference is night and day to ultrasonic and vibratory. You can put a piece out of the tumbler next to a new piece of brass and not no which one is which.
I posted on here a test I did with three batches of 30-06 brass that I found at the range that had been there for probably 5 years or more. They where all corroded and green and mud baked. I took 5 pieces each and ran them thru each of the three cleaning methods. As expected the vibratory and ultrasonic got the dirt off but that was it, basically nothing. SS pin cleaning was night and day, brass looked new.
Do you need bright shinny new looking brass, not really but it sure helps the inspection process that the other two methods would have missed.
- Location
- West Quebec
Well said.. I have tried most options and pins win hands down..
I made my wet tumbler as well, and it too comes out like new. I haven't tried the ultrasonic, and it appears that there is no reason to when I get such good results. Also most ultrasonic cleaners look small, and dont have a large capacity. I usually clean the brass 500 to 1000 pieces at a time.
TacticalCanuck
Regular
- Location
- SW Ontario
I went through the decision process of getting a sonic cleaner or a wet tumbler just last fall. For me, the choice was easy - due to the volume of brass I want to clean. A wet tumbler holds 500 cases of most calibers easily. Turn a timer dial on the device to a couple of hours and walk away. The brass is polished and better than new inside and out. Ultrasonic processes less, requires more attention and from what I've seen special cleaning solutions. The wet tumbler uses the smallest pinch of lemi-shine and a few drops of dawn ultra.
The only benefit a sonic cleaner has over the wet tumbler (from what I was able to ascertain) is that it is superior at one thing - cleaning gun parts. If you buy and sell a lot of used guns having a sonic cleaner would make a lot of sense. I take great care of my firearms and may yet get one when I hit a point where it would make sense.
I work hard for my money and think very carefully with how I spend it. I want quality, longevity and practicalicality. When looking at my needs, the wet tumbler was ideal. I guess my advice is, do the same.
If I needed something to clean gun parts meticulously I wouldn't hesitate to go sonic.
The only benefit a sonic cleaner has over the wet tumbler (from what I was able to ascertain) is that it is superior at one thing - cleaning gun parts. If you buy and sell a lot of used guns having a sonic cleaner would make a lot of sense. I take great care of my firearms and may yet get one when I hit a point where it would make sense.
I work hard for my money and think very carefully with how I spend it. I want quality, longevity and practicalicality. When looking at my needs, the wet tumbler was ideal. I guess my advice is, do the same.
If I needed something to clean gun parts meticulously I wouldn't hesitate to go sonic.
I've never used the vibratory cleaner and decided to steer away from them because I read comments of noise and dust.
A little over a decade ago I built my own tumbler as the only commercial unit I could find other than a tiny rock tumbler was the RCBS Sidewinder and it was very expensive. I built the container out of 4" abs with a screw lid. At the time I got ceramic media in both pellet and ball form. They both clean the brass like new except the primer pockets. I'm thinking of getting some stainless steel pins for two reasons. One to clean the primer pockets and two so I can use the magnet to pick them up. I have some different cleaning products one that came with the ceramic media (I think it's called Sage bright) and a bottle of RCBS Sidewinder cleaner. Truth be told all I ever used was dish soap (sunlight, dawn etc. don't think it matters) and a shot of the cheapest Noname lemon juice I could find. I've seen no reason to use anything more expensive. I got this from some post on the internet and works great. Come to think of it I should try using only soap as the polish really comes from the tumbling. The cleaners/polish products might just be a solution to a nonexistent problem.
I have an ultrasonic cleaner I bought over a decade ago before there were any reloading specific product for $50 on ebay and it's much larger than the smaller reload brand products. I don't know how it does on brass though as the basket holes are too large for most brass and I'm happy with the tumbler so never bothered putting a screen in it.
Cleaning gun parts in an ultrasonic is interesting but I've been using a technique I saw from a very well respected gunsmith on the AGI videos. I'll strip my 1911 etc. completely, spray down with simple green and use a toothbrush to clean it followed by rinsing in hot water and a dry. The parts need some air dry time/fan/or heater blowing on then to dry completely unless you use an air compressor to blow them off. Afterwards I spray with Breakfree and wipe down. I've found nothing that is as easy and thorough.
A little over a decade ago I built my own tumbler as the only commercial unit I could find other than a tiny rock tumbler was the RCBS Sidewinder and it was very expensive. I built the container out of 4" abs with a screw lid. At the time I got ceramic media in both pellet and ball form. They both clean the brass like new except the primer pockets. I'm thinking of getting some stainless steel pins for two reasons. One to clean the primer pockets and two so I can use the magnet to pick them up. I have some different cleaning products one that came with the ceramic media (I think it's called Sage bright) and a bottle of RCBS Sidewinder cleaner. Truth be told all I ever used was dish soap (sunlight, dawn etc. don't think it matters) and a shot of the cheapest Noname lemon juice I could find. I've seen no reason to use anything more expensive. I got this from some post on the internet and works great. Come to think of it I should try using only soap as the polish really comes from the tumbling. The cleaners/polish products might just be a solution to a nonexistent problem.
I have an ultrasonic cleaner I bought over a decade ago before there were any reloading specific product for $50 on ebay and it's much larger than the smaller reload brand products. I don't know how it does on brass though as the basket holes are too large for most brass and I'm happy with the tumbler so never bothered putting a screen in it.
Cleaning gun parts in an ultrasonic is interesting but I've been using a technique I saw from a very well respected gunsmith on the AGI videos. I'll strip my 1911 etc. completely, spray down with simple green and use a toothbrush to clean it followed by rinsing in hot water and a dry. The parts need some air dry time/fan/or heater blowing on then to dry completely unless you use an air compressor to blow them off. Afterwards I spray with Breakfree and wipe down. I've found nothing that is as easy and thorough.
I have one of these too. Agreed on above. I don't have large volumes or process more than a hundred at a time, but if I did I would be investing a wet SS pin system.
Can't speak for the cleanliness of wet tumbling but the necks from ultrasonic cleaning are "grippier" for lack of a better term when it comes to bullet seating, at least for myself on this end. This caused some seating force discrepancies/seating depth issues when I first started out. Better tooling and dry film graphite lubricant solved that. Again, can't compare to dry or wet tumbling.
This is what steered me away as well.
FWIW, OP.
Regards
Ronr
Just some old Dominion brass - some spots and darker areas. Perhaps it really does not matter...
I was going to order a steel pin/wet tumbling package (pretty cheap in the US). However, I am OK with letting primer pockets stay dirty for pistol rounds (no depriming before dry or wet tumbling). I have a Lyman case prep centre that cleans the pockets quite nicely (though it is slow).
I was going to order a steel pin/wet tumbling package (pretty cheap in the US). However, I am OK with letting primer pockets stay dirty for pistol rounds (no depriming before dry or wet tumbling). I have a Lyman case prep centre that cleans the pockets quite nicely (though it is slow).
- Location
- West Quebec
In my case with target loads yes
Order in. Got the Frankford tumbler, media separator and magnet.
I suppose I could sell the Hornady ultrasonic cleaner now. It does get brass clean enough to avoid scratching your dies, however my OCD won out in the end. I just love the look of shiny, new brass.
I suppose I could sell the Hornady ultrasonic cleaner now. It does get brass clean enough to avoid scratching your dies, however my OCD won out in the end. I just love the look of shiny, new brass.
