Sonic vs. Tumbler Cleaners which is better?

[salemsm]

Which is better at cleaning brass and which last longer? Let the debate begin!

[WrxGuy90]

I vote tumbler. Brass gets cleaner IMHO. but that steel pin wet tumbler looks to be nice.... $$$

[Eraser556]

I bought the Thumler tumbler kit from Brownell's after watching a few YouTube reviews The brass comes out looking new. Upside is the super clean brass and never having to buy media. Downside is initial cost and having to deprime brass before cleaning.

[Koppi]

Buy a electric concrete mixer.

[cohland]

I think it depends on how nasty your brass is. Seriously. I'm speaking here of .45ACP only, I know things will be different for rifles and anyting using a small primer.

With new Starline brass that I have fired once and then promptly cleaned, I can get it close to pristine using ground walnut shells, even to the point that it cleans the primer pockets pretty well. Then I follow up with ground corncob and a polishing agent, and then plain ground corncob. I'm sure that an ultrasonic cleaner will do better than a tumbler with relatively fresh brass.

With old, crusty brass, it's a different story. With very dirty old range brass that has been fired many times without being cleaned, it's not possible (for me) to get that clean with just a tumbler, at least with anything short of steel pins. The whole steel pins thing is new to me, so I'm ignorant about that.

With really old dirty range brass, fired several times and apparently never cleaned, I follow this script:

1. deprime it

2. select a batch of about 350 cases

3. run it for four 30-minute cycles in an RCBS ultrasonic cleaner with Hornady One-Shot Brass cleaner at 40:1, using high heat (131° F, if I recall correctly)

4. rinse thorougly

5. run it for 2 hours in a tumbler with ground walnut shells. My theory is that the ultrasonic cleaner breaks up the heavy deposits but just won't remove all of them, the walnut shells finish the job

6. run it for 2 hours in a tumbler with ground corncob with a polishing agent, like Dillon Rapid Polish

7. run it for 2 hours in a tumbler with plain ground corncob.

8. the result is bright and shiny brass, primer pockets are very good, not new, but very good

Chris

Edited April 14, 2013 by cohland

[Steve RA]

Stainless pinning does the best cleaning.

[Heavyopp]

I'm new to this forum, been reading awhile

I haven't found a piece of brass that this couldn't clean using Lemi Shine, liquid dish soap, and stainless media --

Edited April 14, 2013 by Heavyopp

[Steve RA]

Looks good, is that a Bigdawg or did you build it yourself ??

[cohland]

Stainless pinning does the best cleaning.

I've heard that enough that I am ready to believe it, but I have a dumb question: how difficult is it to separate the brass from the pins when you are done?

Chris

[techj]

I use an ultrasonic cleaner and in less than 30 minutes the brass looks quite good to me...for rifle I clean, lube, decap, resize and then clean again. For handgun I just clean prior to other operations. Never felt the need to clean after decapping. No pins/media to separate, doesn't take very long, no dust. Are they as shiny as cleaning via the other methods - no. But then again, my brass is ready to get real dirty much faster!

[Heavyopp]

Looks good, is that a Bigdawg or did you build it yourself ??

Inspired by Bigdawg but modified and built myself -- Aluminum frame, sealed switch and housing, Pulleys and belt inside the frame, 4 agitators inside drum, and I like the big - .062 X .495 pins

Stainless pinning does the best cleaning.

I've heard that enough that I am ready to believe it, but I have a dumb question: how difficult is it to separate the brass from the pins when you are done?

Chris

Separating isn't any harder than it is with walnut or corncob -- I've been reloading for 22 years and been dry tumbling for most of those years -- Switched over to wet and will never go back --

I use my lyman media sifter over a 5 gallon bucket with a crack in the bottom so the water can drain out -- Dump half a load in the sifter, shuffle around with hands, then I grab handfuls of brass and shake

With the larger pins you can hear them easily if they are still inside a case -- I then transfer the brass to a smaller bucket of water for rinsing -- Once the media is all in the bucket I then dump the brass back in the sifter, rinse, then dump back in the small bucket, fill with water, shuffle around, dump in sifter... repeat 3 or 4 times to insure a good rinse -- really sounds more complicated than it is

Lay them out on a dry towel overnight to dry

[Steve RA]

I use a regular seperator, a Cabella's, which I like as it is totally enclosed with the lid down and that way you don't lose any pins. It seems that a lot of companies sell the same seperator, just offer it in different colors.

Heavyopp:

Very nice build. Is it 6" or 8" drum ??

[Heavyopp]

Steve - 6" drum -- I have the materials to build a few 8" drums just never had the need.

I clean 750 to 800 .45acp cases at a time using 10 pounds of the large pins -- takes 3.5 to 4 hours

[Koppi]

Have any of you guys ever tried a cement mixer 1,000 cases, 5 gallons of corn cob and brasso? In 15 minutes they are ready to load.

[Steve RA]

They may be ready to load from a lack of spider webs, etc. but they certainly won't look very good. A friend has a cement mixer and does it with walnut hulls, they are clean enough to load - but - still ugly.

[a matt]

20grit cob, lime-shine and Nu-finish shaken not stirred .

[3G4me]

I use both the Ultrasonic and a tumbler, the tumbler is easier. I drop it in run it, pull it out, give it a good shake and I'm done. The Ultrasonic I let the cleaner heat up run it a few times and then rinse it and while it's still wet I blow out the primer pockets with compressed air and let dry over night. . I tumble all my practice ammo and use the Ultrasonic for match ammo they are both well cleaned but with the Ultrasonic my primer pockets are spotless. I also run tumbled brass through a universal deprimer in my Reloader just to make sure nothing is stuck in the primmer pocket.