Ultrasonic vs. Tumbler case cleaning

FRANKFORD ARSENAL not recomended

I had a FRANKFORD ARSENAL.

It died (the motor) after a couple of years.
Ran it 1 or 2 times per week for 1/2 the year.

And stuff tends to last a long time for me...:)
 
I had a Dillon that the motor died in after about 12years. Dillon replaced the whole tumbler, no questions asked.
 
Serious ?:eek: That is some awesome customer service.

Serious! It was right at the start of summer shooting season. They wanted me to send them the old one first. I was trying to get them to send me a motor so I could change it myself to cut down on the length of time I would be without a tumbler but they insisted despite my snivelling.;) The new tumbler actually showed up 11 days from when I sent the broken one in. I wish I had checked the post date of the new one; I'm sure they sent the new one before they received the old one.

The blue guys are awesome!:cool:
 
worth the cost of the pins any day and you dont have to replace them and they are cleaned everytime you use them and rince them

Please explain moose.

You mean after each cleaning you rince the SS or ceramc media off clean and like new in tap water?
Sounds great.
How long does the media last?
Advantages of SS vs ceramic?

Today I cleaned around 150 45/70 brass in a tumbler with new corn cob media. From a BPCR shoot last weekend.
Every flash hole has meda stuck in the hole. Easy to clear, but takes time and the pocket is still not clean.
The media looks like I cleaned 1000 38 special rounds.
 
Please explain moose.


Every flash hole has media stuck in the hole. Easy to clear, but takes time and the pocket is still not clean.
.

This was a minus for some reading the past threads. I know that the guys using the SS cleaning or the US do not have this problem. Were the primer pockets clean ?
 
There a guy named Mark out of the state's that is the originator of the SS process, but he doesn't like to deal with our money order's anymore.His bank charged him $15 to charge the last one's.
I sent him cash 2 1/2 year's ago so it all worked out for me.
There is another source for the pin's in the state's.

Pellets LLC
63 Industrial Drive
North Tonawanda, NY 14120
P:716-693-1750
F:716-693-1880
Web www.pelletsllc.com

Tell them it's for reloading/brass tumbling,they'll set you up.
It's about $25 for 5 lbs, but it cost's more for shipping.
Maybe get a couple guy's together for a group buy?

For the tumbler I used http://www.canadiantreasureseekers.com/, but more specifically


http://www.canadiantreasureseekers.c...t_detail&p=330
 
If you go with ultrasonic, I was given this helpful link when I bought my cleaner: http://www.6mmbr.com/ultrasonic.html

Because my wellwater is "hard", which really means alkaline, a few rinses to counter the acetic acid in the vinegar solution(50/50 water/vinegar, squirt of dishsoap. Vinegar is around 5% acetic acid so in solution is 2.5%) It works well for my purposes and although it doesn't polish to like new, those range pickups from a few months ago, the case is clean. I have cleaned some old empties, that I've head for years and I find the cleaner sometimes leaves three triangles of carbon in the primer pocket. Having a slight case of OCD, a pocket brush does away with the hardened carbon, and the cleaner satisfactorily does the rest.
 
ruger22

rinseing the brass in the tumber clean with lots of water is all that is needed to clean your pins
( I did not do this with my first try and it made my brass spotty but it did that with my US as well)
....your pins should last forever ..or till you spill them down the drain ....yah i could see myself doing that ..
as for ceramic that was next on my list if SS did not do the job i was looking for

OP...how much brass are you going to clean ...pic something that fits your needs ...buy what youl need the first time .....i do 100/200 rounds at a sitting ..more than a small US cleaner will handle
 
I haven't tried ultrasonic, but I have the Frankford Arsenal tumbler you are looking at. If I had to buy another tumbler I would get that kit, but I'm content with my tumbler and a sieve. I use corncob media and it works well enough. There is some dust left on the cases but I haven't detected any problem with the reloads. Clearing primer pockets is a chore I wouldn't miss but it's not bad enough to make me get rid of a piece of equipment that is working and spend more money to try something else.
 
There a guy named Mark out of the state's that is the originator of the SS process, but he doesn't like to deal with our money order's anymore.His bank charged him $15 to charge the last one's.
I sent him cash 2 1/2 year's ago so it all worked out for me.
There is another source for the pin's in the state's.

Pellets LLC
63 Industrial Drive
North Tonawanda, NY 14120
P:716-693-1750
F:716-693-1880
Web www.pelletsllc.com

Tell them it's for reloading/brass tumbling,they'll set you up.
It's about $25 for 5 lbs, but it cost's more for shipping.
Maybe get a couple guy's together for a group buy?

For the tumbler I used http://www.canadiantreasureseekers.com/, but more specifically


http://www.canadiantreasureseekers.c...t_detail&p=330

If you live near the border use an American mail handling service. I did a group buy of 20 lbs of pins a few months back, had it shipped to Canada so I had to pay more for shipping plus duty. Most times when you bring stuff across the border they don't bother charging duty if the stuff is only a few hundred $ or less.
 
I use both methods myself. First I lube and resize my brass then it's off to a hot soapy bath in my ultrasonic cleaner. Once it comes out I camfer, inspect, scrub the inside of the neck etc. Then off to either the rotary or the vibe tumbler with walnut and rouge media to get polished up.

The reason I do both is that the tumbler won't clean off the grease from resizing very well and if the cases are very dirty the rouge sticks to the grease and dirt. The ultrasonic with about 45-50 degree water and some good metal cleaning solution does a very slick job of getting carbon, dirt, grease, etc. off the brass but doesn't do anything to polish it to make it pretty.

If I had to stick to one or the other I'd take ultrasonic cleaning. Nothing gets the dirt off the cases like it.
 
Clean the cases?
After about 8 reloads I use vinegar and water in a margerine container. Shake it good for about 3 or 4 times in 10 minutes. Sometimes blow em dry with compressed air or just stand them upside down on a towel over night.

I noticed the sizing die cleans pretty good and by the time I'm seating the bullet a litttle wipe with a paper towel and we're good to go!
 
when i pick up brass from the range i use my tumbler to clean the dirt and when i deprime/size/case prep i use my US cleaner with metal polish to clean insidenout
 
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