Tumbler, Vibratory Cleaner or Ultrasonic Cleaner?

[Pauleye]

tumbler with steel pins if you want the cleanest. ultrasound if you want quick clean

 

[OldElkHunter1961]

Vibratory w/corn cob refreshing media with brass cleaner as needed.

Food for thought: each firing deposits a new layer of carbon inside a case and out. This build up effectively changes internal and external case dimensions. In an endeavor where we measure in thousands of an inch it makes little sense not to remove the crud.

 

[Rick Richard]

I use the vibratory method with walnut media.

 

[jessej]

Anybody put SS pins in their vibratory?

 

[SM1986]

SS Pins, a squirt of dish soap and 1x 45 ACP Case full of lemme shine for deprimed rifle cases. Tumble 4 hrs in a harbor freight double rock tumbler, Cold rinse, the let dry overnight Then a quick pass through the viratory tumbler with green Lyman treated corn cob hydrated Nu-finish Auto polish. 1 hr ish.

All but the most tarnished/abused Cases come out spotless and polished to the point you can leave a finger print on them.

Heard the SS pellets/ flakes get stuck in the flash hole less and work just as good but haven't tried them

Pistol cases for bulk USPSA ammo get the corn cob only.

Tried the ultrasonic. wasn't impressed.

 

[Alberta Wexit]

Vibratory with walnut shells

 

[RidgeTop]

I use tumbler with SS rods, hot water, Dawn and Lemon shine. Works great, even does primer pockets. Pins can get stuck in primer pocket - just rinse out no big deal.
Tumbler takes about 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

 

[Calvin45]

Ultrasonic, 2 liters water, a dash of dishsoap and half a teaspoon of citric acid. Rinse in clean water with some sodium carbonate, rinse again in clean water.

Hey that's smart! I see what you're doing there….growing up on the farm when we got a dishwasher we ended up discovering the magic of citric acid to eliminate scale from the super-hard well water.

 

[Calvin45]

corn cob with a dab of polishing wax thrown in for brass. I have used the sonic cleaners for cleaning gun parts and this is where they have shined most for me.

That makes sense about the gun parts.

 

[Calvin45]

Lyman vibratory tumbler with corn cob media.

Want to try rotary and ultrasonic, those have a broader range of uses too. When I was a boy one year my parents bought me an inexpensive little rock tumbler - loved that thing. Can get kids all the stupid toys in the world but, at least if they're like I was, there's nothing like finding a super cool rock and making it shiny!

 

[SM1986]

Hey that's smart! I see what you're doing there….growing up on the farm when we got a dishwasher we ended up discovering the magic of citric acid to eliminate scale from the super-hard well water.

The lemme shine dish washer rinse aid some are mentioning here is basically citric acid component of the same recipe.

That said, I've over done it before with the lemme shine and got pink brass by leaching the zinc out of the brass with It. I'm sure its been done, and amounts are researchable on the internet, but I'd imagine the ease of overdoing it using concentrated Citric acid.......definetly will work, but reccomend treading lightly, or using junk brass

 

[Calvin45]

The lemme shine dish washer rinse aid some are mentioning here is basically citric acid component of the same recipe.

That said, I've over done it before with the lemme shine and got pink brass by leaching the zinc out of the brass with It. I'm sure its been done, and amounts are researchable on the internet, but I'd imagine the ease of overdoing it using concentrated Citric acid.......definetly will work, but reccomend treading lightly, or using junk brass

I too have created pink brass when I was new to this…some were real tarnished so I figured a soak in some vinegar would shine em right up!

 

[KSAv8r]

I see several posts using a polishing compound along with corn cob or walnut shells in their vibratory tumbler. FWIW.....most of the polishing compounds have a very fine grit that speeds the cleaning process. Unless US or other liquid cleaning method is used after tumbling, this grit adheres to carbon residue left inside of the case . When a round is fired, some of this grit is forced down the barrel. The next round that is fired will embed the grit into the barrel and also cause premature throat and barrel erosion. Some of our competitive BR shooters use cases tumbled with polishing compound to speed barrel break-in but discontinue this practice after approximately 100 rounds. YMMV.

 

[gophernator]

This may seem a bit out there but it works amazing. I sonicate pistol brass in my ultrasonic cleaner after covering it with SS pins. I use 5-10 squirts of Dawn Power wash in the gallon of water that the ultrasonic tank holds. I use a large tea strainer to hold the brass & pins while it is in the ultrasonic cleaner. This let's the crud fall out of the cases and let's the detergent and pins do their magic. The ultrasonic bath heats the water and a 30 minute cycle makes for nearly new brass. Inside, outside, and primer pockets. Separate the pins from the brass using case separator tray and air dry.