Steve D. Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 I'm such a noob' to reloading that I have never yet produced a single round of amunition, but I did process 950 rnds of 9mm and .45 brass tonight and this stainless vibrator-tank from Hornady produced some beautiful looking stuff. I deprimed all brass with the Lee Breechlock "Hand-Press" and their universal de-capping die first. This goes like greased lightning when you get into a groove. Most time spent is popping-off the shell holder to dump the primers every 40 rnds. You should be able to do 500 - 600 an hour. For those who are curious, the Lock N Load Magnum basket will hold a Max. of 500 rnds of 9mm or 300 rnds of .45 ACP for a scrub. Cleaning action will be faster if you drop each quantity by 100 for super-ideal cleaning quantities. You only use 2 oz. of the brass cleaning solution (out of 32oz. in little jug) for each 2 Liter Bottle of Hot Water which fills the tank perfectly to cover the basket with the shells. I did all 950 casings with that One 2 Liter bottle of mixeture. The first 500 9mm's were actually pretty well-handeled by the fresh soultion but it starts to get dirty and dark fast... The next 150 9mm went well beacuse there were so few cases in the basket. A Half or 1/3 basket will clean more actively / thoroughly / quickly than a full basket will. The last load was 300 .45's in the basket which came up to the same level as 500 9mm. After 1 cycle of 10 minutes and 130 deg. temp. I broke them in two batches for the VERY dirty solution at that point. Gave them each a 10 min. Zap and they too looked awesome. Two runs of 10 Minutes each with Solution in tank set at 130 Deg. on the thermostat was about right for all loads. If you went more conservatively and cleaned 800 rnds of cases in one batch of Hornady Fluid & Water (1 Two-Liter Bottle ans 2 oz. of juice) you would produce 6,400 rounds of the prettiest brass you ever did see...with ONE of those Hornady "Brass Fluid" jugs. That seems pretty reasonable to me... I know that when my press is set-up and running in a few weeks I will be feeding it Caviar when it comes to the empties. Shiny on the outside, Very Clean to shiny on the inside and primer-pockets that look mostly new. (the primer-pockets are mirror-finished on their sides!) Thats my story and I'm stickin' to it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Babaganoosh Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 I started off with ultrasonic but then made a tumbler and a drum for wet tumbling with ss media. I use the ultrasonic for gun parts now. Put a whole slide in there the other day to get the grime out from under the extractor. Few cycles and the slide was clean as a whistle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hmp32 Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 I already have a tumbler, but currently live in an apartment where I cannot use it. I can use my tumbler at the range. I have been looking at this as an alternative... if I left this in the bath tube, it won't spew crap? And how long does it take the brass to dry without baking it in the oven? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve D. Posted February 21, 2012 Author Share Posted February 21, 2012 (edited) I already have a tumbler, but currently live in an apartment where I cannot use it. I can use my tumbler at the range. I have been looking at this as an alternative... if I left this in the bath tube, it won't spew crap? And how long does it take the brass to dry without baking it in the oven? You can leave this thing on you nice dining room table.. It will not slop or spill ANY solution unless you disturb it with a spoon to "stir the stew" and cause some water to drip or slop over the edge. Amazingly, you are barely able to "see" any vibration on the surface of the solution at all. The unit has soft rubber feet and the noise it makes is about as much as an electric razor but not "raspy" at all. After rinsing cleaned brass in hot water I then rinsed in Distilled water, gave it a shake and pour the brass out on a cookie-sheet with a folded towl on it. Hit it with a hair dryer on hot for about 10-15 minutes while working the collection over the towel will get it almost 100%. Then just let it sit overnight or hit it with a bit more hair dryer. By using distilled water for the last rinse there will be No Water Spots. $0.88 a gallon at grocery. One gallon of distilled has now rinsed 1350 cases and there is still a bit left in gallon. The 2 Liter Coke Bottles are perfect for this processing routine. I to mix soultion in with full neck and little funnel. 2 others with their necks cut off to rinse, transfer, recover, etc. This system Rocks! Hop ethis helps. Steve Edited February 21, 2012 by Steve D. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkCO Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 Have the same US cleaner. Honestly, it's okay, but I would not give it the fantastic label for brass cleaning. The total amount of handling and work, for a small batch is more than using a tumbler with corn cob. The cost of the cleaner, per batch is a bit more than corn cob with polish. And the corn cob actually polishes, whereas the US just cleans, with some oxidation as well. If you are in an apartment, small batches, I'd call it even between the two. Small batches of brass for precision rifle, maybe a better mousetrap, but I have not found any on target improvements yet. Now, for bolts, bolt carriers, shotgun gas pistons, comps, etc. There it gets the fantastic label! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UW Mitch Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 Would it be just stupid of me to "clean" my rifle brass in my ultrasonic then "polish" it in my tumbler? ~Mitch Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkCO Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 Would it be just stupid of me to "clean" my rifle brass in my ultrasonic then "polish" it in my tumbler? Just "un-necessary". Remember, we don't label things our wives do (or require us to do) as "stupid" just "un-necessary". But they still get done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Linear Thinker Posted February 23, 2012 Share Posted February 23, 2012 (edited) Would it be just stupid of me to "clean" my rifle brass in my ultrasonic then "polish" it in my tumbler? ~Mitch I ultrasonically clean the range brass, to get the dirt/powder crud off. Then I resize, then tumble and finally give it another ultrasonic bath. My brass looks and feeds great. Edited February 23, 2012 by Linear Thinker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Babaganoosh Posted February 23, 2012 Share Posted February 23, 2012 Would it be just stupid of me to "clean" my rifle brass in my ultrasonic then "polish" it in my tumbler? ~Mitch I ultrasonically clean the range brass, to get the dirt/powder crud off. Then I resize, then tumble and finally give it another ultrasonic bath. My brass looks and feeds great. Do you have any time leftover to shoot? Damn thats a very time consuming program you've got there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve D. Posted February 24, 2012 Author Share Posted February 24, 2012 Holy Crap...Linear Thinker you are making me look /sound like a "Dumpster-Diver" in my brass prep. & quality before reloading. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Action Pistolero Posted February 24, 2012 Share Posted February 24, 2012 I bought the Hornady cleaner last fall. I guess I must have too much time on my hands also. I have about 8k pieces of practice brass that has been loaded who knows how many times. I know some of it is 10 years old. I don't use the ultrasonic every time. I was getting quite a few mushed primers when loading. I noticed that the primer pockets were getting full of crud and the inside of the cases were sooty. Here's my routine: Tumble brass in corn cob. I remove the primers, powder funnel and crimp die from my 1050. Lube the cases and run them through the 1050 to size and deprime. Dump the cases in the basket until it is full. Add hot water to the cleaner along with the cleaning solution. Run the cleaner for 99 minutes. Water temp gets just above 150 degrees. After it's done, dip basket full of cases in a bucket of water. Shake excess water and dump cases on a towel. I spread them out on the towel which dries the sides of the cases therefore no water spots. If it's sunny and warm outside I'll leave them out in the sun for a few hours and they are dry. Otherwise, I leave them inside overnight. Dump them in the casefeeder and start loading. No need for lube since they have already went through the sizer die. I get very few mushed primers now and the cases look brand new. I'll shoot and reload the brass as normal all season and then next Winter start this routine again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Linear Thinker Posted February 24, 2012 Share Posted February 24, 2012 Would it be just stupid of me to "clean" my rifle brass in my ultrasonic then "polish" it in my tumbler? ~Mitch I ultrasonically clean the range brass, to get the dirt/powder crud off. Then I resize, then tumble and finally give it another ultrasonic bath. My brass looks and feeds great. Do you have any time leftover to shoot? Damn thats a very time consuming program you've got there. You are right, it's time consuming. I only do it for 2 long-range calibers where I use semi-autos - .223 and .308. This guarantees that the brass that hit the dirt is clean before resizing. The bolt rifle ammo does not need cleaning after firing. For pistol brass, I clean it just once. LT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Linear Thinker Posted February 24, 2012 Share Posted February 24, 2012 Holy Crap...Linear Thinker you are making me look /sound like a "Dumpster-Diver" in my brass prep. & quality before reloading. I try to balance the volume and accuracy of my loads, and I'm not the worst. One of my shooting buddies cleans the primer pockets with Q-tips dipped in isoprop alcohol before hand-seating each primer. His handloads are very good indeed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert King Posted February 25, 2012 Share Posted February 25, 2012 When cleaning slides, has anyone seen problems with fiber optic sights? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kalaur Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 When cleaning slides, has anyone seen problems with fiber optic sights? I've yet to see any issues, but I also end up breaking fibers every few weeks anyway (with or without using the ultrasonic). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UW Mitch Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 You are right, it's time consuming. I only do it for 2 long-range calibers where I use semi-autos - .223 and .308. This guarantees that the brass that hit the dirt is clean before resizing. The bolt rifle ammo does not need cleaning after firing. For pistol brass, I clean it just once. LT THREAD DRIFT: Wait, when you shoot out of a bolt gun you don't clean AT ALL? When I'm shooting my bolt gun during target changes I wipe the residue off the necks, then I deprime and ultrasonic clean later. There's still some powder residue to clean out of the inside of the case, right? ~Mitch Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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