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Newbie to reloading. Tumbling brass vs ultrasound cleaning

paindoc

paindoc

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Sep 7, 2008
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Peoples Republic of Michigan
I am a newbie to rifle reloading and am getting all my equipment lined up. I have a Dillon tumbler and cleaning equipment but I was wondering if anyone can recommend ultrasonic cleaning versus traditional tumbling.
I have twin toddlers at home and the traditional cleaning tumbler makes quite a bit of noise and I was thinking that the ultrasonic cleaner could clean my brass as well and much more quietly. What do all of you think? Also which ultrasonic cleaner would all of you recommend?
 
Did both. Get yourself a tumbler and some corn cob. Toss your fired brass in for a couple hours to remove powder residue that can damage dies. Then deprime/resize/clean primer pockets if desired and tumble another 2-3 hours. Done.
I did the ultrasonic. Pain in the ass if you ask me, and didn't give the brass that new shiny look. I haven't tried stainless media, but the whole lay the brass out to dry/bore dry/oven dry crap is still a process I don't want to have to deal with.
No wrong way, but corn cob/walnut vibratory tumbling is simple and proven

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I started with a corn cob vibratory tumbler, then went with SS pins in a rotary tumbler, then got a ultrasonic cleaner. I like ultrasonic the least for brass. Obviously SS pins best.
 
Each of the 3 brass cleaning methods has their ups and downs. After it was all said and done trying the 3 methods I use the SS tumbler method exclusively. I put it outside or in the other cabin so the sound doesn't bother me. The PITA with the SS method is it peens the case mouth so I at least deburr if I don't need to trim.

My friend bought a industrial high wattage Ultra sonic cleaner off ebay. Mine is POS compared to his! Get as much power as you can afford.
 
SS = Stainless Steel pins. Used with a water based solution in a rotary tumbler.

Ultrasonic cleaning gets all the fouling out of the primer pockets and inside of the cases.

OFG
 
paindoc said:
Probably a dumb/newbie question but what are SS Pins?
Click to expand...

Google stainless tumbling media. It's basically like tumbling but the stainless steel media(ss pins) last virtually forever. Downside is it is a wet procedure if I remember correctly, which means the brass needs to be dried afterward.

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SS pins also cleans the primer pocket if the old primers are removed. The only downsides to SS pins are the higher cost of the tumbler, and the extra time needed to rinse the soapy water from the brass then let dry.

IMO there is no better method of cleaning the brass, but it does take a little longer just because the brass needs to dry.
 
All said on the SS pins, bottom line is nothing cleans the whole case as well. I have all three, vibratory, ultrasonic and SS pin system. Drying the cases is no big deal IMO, I just lay them out on a towel overnight and they are gtg the next morning. Ultrasonic does not clean the inside of the case or the primer pockets as well as the pins. If I had to use something other than SS pins, I would just tumble in corn cob, and then uniform all the primer pockets to make sure they are clean.
 
I used a tumbler/vibrator for years. I recently got a Hornady ultrasonic and will never tumble a case again. I have a Magnum with heater...I run 15 minute cycles at 100 degrees. Really bad cases take 2 cycles. Once clean I rinse in scalding hot water ( dries really fast! ) then put the cases into a loading block mouth down. I can contiinue loading in a very short time.
 
Kebo57 said:
I used a tumbler/vibrator for years. I recently got a Hornady ultrasonic and will never tumble a case again. I have a Magnum with heater...I run 15 minute cycles at 100 degrees. Really bad cases take 2 cycles. Once clean I rinse in scalding hot water ( dries really fast! ) then put the cases into a loading block mouth down. I can contiinue loading in a very short time.
Click to expand...

As far as the ultrasonic cleaner is concerned I see two in my recent Sinclair catalog. The RC BS is only $200 but the Hornady is almost twice that much. Just wondering if you could comment on that or perhaps another brand out there in case I do go the ultrasound route.
 
Thumlers tumbler with SS media is my go to. Cleans it better than ultrasonic, which I also own. I just use compressed air to speed dry, let it sit out for 1-2. Hrs and its dry.
 
paindoc said:
As far as the ultrasonic cleaner is concerned I see two in my recent Sinclair catalog. The RC BS is only $200 but the Hornady is almost twice that much. Just wondering if you could comment on that or perhaps another brand out there in case I do go the ultrasound route.
Click to expand...

I bought my ultrasonic cleaners from harbor freight. I bought one big one and two small ones for under $150. They work fine. I used the big one for stage 1 heavy cleaning(solution of vinegar, soap, water, and some other stuff) and the small ones had the brass polish solution in distilled water. Got them plenty clean. You're paying for the name in hornady/rcbs if you ask me...

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Your original question is at least partially concerned with the noise a tumbler makes. To eliminate that noise, you need to eliminate the tumbler. Ultrasonic does that, and it is a viable cleaning method. It has the advantages and drawbacks of wet tumbling, and in some cases smaller batch sizes must be used.

But it will solve your noise problem.

Another alternative - if you can move your tumbler outside, the noise and dust would move outside with it. I use a $12 timer on an outdoor electric outlet . . . I don't have to be there when the cleaning is finished, can come back next week if I forget. Don't ask me how I know lol.

finally, some folks have stuffed some insulation inside a pail large enough to fit over a tumbler. Makes an impressive sound deadener.
 
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If you have firearms that throw perfectly good brass away and the brass lands on the ground you can not beat wet tumbling with stainless steel media. There is far less chance of dirt and grit staying embedded in the brass and scratching your dies when cleaning with this method. The tumbler is rubber lined and makes very little noise compared to vibrating tumblers.

If you can't use it in a isolated area for wet tumbling, like a basement or garage then a sonic cleaner would work best.
(and you won't wake the baby and get in trouble with "the boss")

Then again you might want to forget cleaning your brass and spend the money on a new crib.

cribbarbedwirejack-daws-mama-tried_zpseaf1e160.jpg
 
I started out with corncob, tried the sonic, but eventually got a bigger tumbler and made my own treated walnut blend that does the trick. The ultrasonic is not a silver bullet. For best results with rifle cartridges, I found you have to stack the cartridges in mouth down, primer pocket up. The 480 second cycle (8 minute) was never enough, so I always ran it twice back to back. The brass needs to be rinsed in distilled water, so assume 1 gallon for every 4 double cycles. The solution looses potency after 2 double cleanings, and it rarely did anything after a 3rd cleaning. IF you leave it in the solution too long, or run too much solution, it will turn your brass a slightly different color (no safety issues found afterwards). When I had really dirty brass, I found myself tumbling for 2-3 hours, sifting, then into the sonic, and just got tired of it. I know a few people who have tried stainless, but you have the same issue with waiting afterwords. Last issue is that the treated walnut makes resizing easier, and having to deprime before going to the ultrasonic made no sense to me.

My advise, after trying a variety of options - stick with a tumbler and try a variety of media's.

BTW - if you think a tumbler (media) is loud, wait till you hear a SS tumbler. I had a neighbor call and ask if I heard that awful racket coming from my garage.
 
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I've also tried all three. Stuck with SS media.

rinse in a biodiesel strainer over a 5 gallon bucket.

toss brass into conatiner with alcohol.

pull them out to dry with a hair dryer, or anneal the brass.

Load.
 
Can't speak for SS or ultrasonic but between corncob and walnut in a vibratory machine, walnut works much better. I always add some polishing goo to it also just for the shiny new look it gives. 3 hours in walnut is my standard.

--- aim small miss small ---
 
ultrasonic, dry, and tumble. I have read all of these fancy cleaning solutions for an ultrasonic (the method on 6mmbr is maddening!), but I have found none of them works better than good ol hot water and dish soap. In the US, I have learned that smaller batches is crucial to obtaining more of a shine, if you don't want to tumble too.
 
Just as a side note, at AccurateShooter.com many of the shooters with custom made rifles do not like to clean the inside of the neck clean down to bare brass. They say the bullet will bond to the neck and create uneven neck tension, and they just brush the inside of the cases.
 
I tried all 3, precision rifle brass gets tumbled, blasting ammo gets SS media cleaned, US was too much work. Precision rifle loads have a smaller SD/ES from tumbling, the carbon left inside the neck acts as a lube or barrier, less force required to seat bullets and aids in bullet release, I verified this with my chronograph and targets.
 
427Cobra said:
I tried all 3, precision rifle brass gets tumbled, blasting ammo gets SS media cleaned, US was too much work. Precision rifle loads have a smaller SD/ES from tumbling, the carbon left inside the neck acts as a lube or barrier, less force required to seat bullets and aids in bullet release, I verified this with my chronograph and targets.
Click to expand...

With US and SS method...Even though it's a added step I've been swabbing NECO dry lube into the necks with a Q-tip after charging them. Doing so takes care of this problem for the most part.
 
If you don't mind the initial investment cost, go with the SS media setup. If you're tight on cash, grab a vib and if you want to clean primer pockets and the insides of cases, grab the 80 dollar US cleaner from Harbor Freight. This is the route I went and it does work, as stated above. But if you have the $ just go with SS media, the pins last basically forever, and its much less work.
 
427Cobra said:
I tried all 3, precision rifle brass gets tumbled, blasting ammo gets SS media cleaned, US was too much work. Precision rifle loads have a smaller SD/ES from tumbling, the carbon left inside the neck acts as a lube or barrier, less force required to seat bullets and aids in bullet release, I verified this with my chronograph and targets.
Click to expand...

Interesting, never thought about that but it makes sense..
 
bodywerks said:
Google stainless tumbling media. It's basically like tumbling but the stainless steel media(ss pins) last virtually forever. Downside is it is a wet procedure if I remember correctly, which means the brass needs to be dried afterward.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

i use SS media. after i remove the brass i put it in a towel and shake it to get the majority of the moisture out. then i put the brass in a colander and run a hair dryer over the brass while stirring it a bit. let it set for an hour. do it again and the brass is dry. i can dry it in one blow-dry sitting if i take a bit more time.

the hair dryer in a spaghetti colander drys the brass very quickly.
 
I have done all 3 types of brass cleaning methods, and I have to say that stainless steel media tumbler is THE best at cleaning the entire case inside and out.
No other method does what ss media does to the inside of the cases and also the primer pockets.
With that being said, I use both the ss media and vibratory tumbler/corn cob depending on the number of cases I need to prep. There are times when I only
need to prep a few cases and the corn cob tumbler is the way to go for that job. Its very quick with no need to dry the brass. You can reload right after taking
them out of the tumbler. But I have a lot of brass them I bust out the Harbor Freight tumbler and go to town. On a side note, the corn cob method with polish gets the brass
the more shiny then wet tumbling IMO.
 
I have the Hornady Magnum ultrasonic cleaner. I run my cases an hour and a half while repositioning them every 15 minutes. I rinse and then dry by annealing the necks.

With the clean bare brass neck IDs from the ultrasonic cleaning, I have found my ES and SD numbers are half of what just brushed necks were giving me. I am a believer in clean neck IDs now.
 
Saw a youtube video today where a guy bought a 2lb refresher pack of SS media, and a $25 rock tumbler from harbor freight. $50 investment and he has. SS tumbler that works just fine. I will probably be trying this soon.
 
Different strokes....

I've been doing this stuff far too long to get hung up on trivia, I want performance. For what it's worth, both wet methods do get the last thin smear of carbon residue out better than a vib tumbler and all it takes is a lot more investment in money, time and messy clean up effort for nothing that can be seen on target.

That said, I think my US is the one of best investments I ever made ... for cleaning trigger units, small engine parts and carborators; but not cases. I cleaned maybe 800 30-06, .22-250 and .243 and maybe 300 handgun cases in mine before I pulled my 25 year old vib tumbler and 20-40 grit cob media (without polish, glitter is trivia) back out. That was 4 years ago, and I'm not going back!

If you put too many cases in a vib tumbler for the amount of media you have in it you will get a metallic rattle, loud. If you leave the center rod nuts holding the bowl and lid on the base too loose, the bowl and lid will plastic rattle, very loud. But if you get it all right, vib tumblers make remarkably little noise. Neither the tumbler nor cases will need personal attention during the process and cases will be ready to use the moment they come out; it's a no brainer to me.
 
A lot depends on what you are trying to do.

I want my brass to be clean of grit and dirt. I don't need super shiny brass. And I use tumbling to remove case lube.

I use a vibratory cleaner with corn cob media. A bit of Dillon Polish.

Normally tumble for maybe 30 minutes before sizing. 15 minutes after sizing to remove the lube.

A few turns in a Dillon separator and off and running.
 
Heh....10 different people, 10 different answers! But there's some good advice here. I think I'm going to pick up an ultrasonic from Harbor Freight and either a Lyman or Cabela's tumbler.

$75 for the tank and about $55 for the tumbler. With only $130 or so total investment, I should be set just fine to experiment with both and see what works.
 
Diver160651 said:
Tried just about everything. Just hated like others the drying eats $&@ with SS or Utra sonic..

My go to is giving me clean inside of the cases and primer pockets, is to do both.

25 minutes in the ultra sonic - then 30 - 1hr in the corn Cobb tumbler to dry resulting in perfect dry, clean and shinny brass.

ezu4eme8.jpg



Jt

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Click to expand...

+1 for both

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fnbrowning said:
Ok, don't be shy! Spill that proprietary "treated walnut blend" with us all! ;)
Click to expand...
It works better in summer when it is hot as hell, but similar results can be had with a space heater (on low) placed about 12 inches from your tumbler. The fine walnut can absorb a bunch of nufinish, but it needs to get above 85 degrees I have found. Either summer outside, in a hot garage or heat the tumbler and start adding nufinish. About 2 tablespoons as a time, and wait for your walnut to get the color of light mahogany of a deep cherry color. Leave some fresh, untreated aside and it can always be added back in if the walnut gets tacky. It should be free flowing, yet much darker than per treatment. Best part is that it can be retreated, last practically forever, and the dust is 99% gone. I use a Lyman 2500, which is black and can cook walnut (while running) outside in 25-30 minutes. Never add nufinish when there is brass in the tumbler.
 
I use the SS tumbler for 2 1/2 hrs with 50pcs of 300 WM brass and use the tennis shoe dry rack in my cloths dryer to dry my brass if I'm in a hurry then lube the necks with dry lube after they cool. They are dry in 30 mins. And works much better than the other two methods.
 
I started with Corncob and switched to Walnut almost immediately and the Walnut works MUCH better. I've had the same walnut mix in my vibratory for several years. The walnut media I use is "Lyman Turbo Tumbler Walnut" and it gets the cases looking like brand new on the outside.

I don't have the patience to mess with wet.
 
I haven't been doing brass prep for as long as some folks.I only started about 1955. Vibratory machinery, and walnut shells with recently added Nu Shine works for me. Much less trouble and time consuming in the long run. Whatever the super-anal folks want to do they can. I feel that we are getting toward an irreducible minimum. Put the cases into the vibe and turn it on. Go away. Come back tomorrow. Clean, polished and ready to go. Anals, tell me...what else is needed? What am I missing? .308W. 1.25 at 400 yards. Will SS media do better? I doubt it. JMHO
 
Disclaimer - I have never used ultrasonic.

I have been very impressed with SS tumbling. Upfront cost is low ($50 for dual 3lb Harbor freight tumbler + $20 for SS pins + $15 for lemi shine and soap), result is great. Much cleaner than corncob/walnut shell vibratory tumblers. Probably better for your lungs too with no dust/ lead particulate in the air.
 
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