Tumbler, Vibratory Cleaner or Ultrasonic Cleaner?

[Roninco]

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.

When I moved from factory to custom barrels I stopped using polishing compounds in my media for this reason. Plain walnut or corn cob polishing may take a little longer but comes out just as clean.

 

[SM1986]

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!

yep. Done that too. 11 pm no lemme shine and no store open...oops.!

 

[V7750212K]

Anybody use Arrow brand brass cleaner? It's liquid concentrate mixed with water. It does a very good job, especially on very tarnished brass. The brass is more yellow, but after tumbling for a couple of hours in CC media presto, all as new.

 

[Montana'eer]

I use just plain walnut media in a vibratory cleaner, usually prior to depriming. After sizing I wipe case lube off with a cotton rag mildly dampened with either alcohol or mineral spirits. I don't mess with polishing agents.

 

[SM1986]

When I moved from factory to custom barrels I stopped using polishing compounds in my media for this reason. Plain walnut or corn cob polishing may take a little longer but comes out just as clean.

.....Not shooting custom barrels in my case but now questioning my process... Have definitely heard this in regards to residue on the interior of the case affecting burn rate, but never in regards to abrasives being introduced to the bbl. Factory or custom, I'd assume any abrasive introduced ( unintentionally) would be a bad thing... wonder if there's any data on this. Would seem that some firearms/cartridge brass specific polish mfg that is chemical only based would be shouting this info from the rooftops.

 

[Calvin45]

.....Not shooting custom barrels in my case but now questioning my process... Have definitely heard this in regards to residue on the interior of the case affecting burn rate, but never in regards to abrasives being introduced to the bbl. Factory or custom, I'd assume any abrasive introduced ( unintentionally) would be a bad thing... wonder if there's any data on this. Would seem that some firearms/cartridge brass specific polish mfg that is chemical only based would be shouting this info from the rooftops.

Hey maybe it's a good thing haha…essentially firelapping

 

[orkan]

Tumbling in rice is superior to every other method I've used, and I've used them all. If shiny brass is the goal, other methods are better. If accurate/precise brass is the goal, there is nothing better than my method with rice.

Play With Your Food: Clean Brass With Rice :: Primal Rights, Inc

Cleaning your brass is a necessity. Foreign material in or on our cases can cause all kinds of problems. Damage to expensive reloading dies, damage to rifles, and various other issues can arise if proper care is not taken.

www.primalrights.com

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[Wrenches]

I use Seven Eleven cleaner from Texas Refining Corporation with a mix of stainless steel pins and stainless steel chips. I have a Lyman Cyclone wet tumbler and and a Frankford Arsenal 7L tumbler. I add a little bit of Lemishine. Cases come out with clean primer pockets and the inside is shiny brass. Looks just like new. I should add that I use a case dryer after the wet tumbling. I absolutely hate picking walnut shell piece out of primer flash holes.

 

[2Old2Care]

I had brass turn orange when I left it setting in the water/pins/Joy/Lemi-Shine solution over night, but never had a problem with discoloration as long as the tumbler is running and the solution is in motion, regardless how many hours it ran (up to six). I've also learned that water inside the cases either needs to be shaken or blown out with air, since it will stay inside the case long after you think the brass is dry. After rinsing in warm water twice, I dry the brass, about 20 cases at a time, with a towel, shake them out, then place them in a wire basket over a heat duct in the winter, or in the sunshine outside when weather permits. I consider clean brass to be better for long term storage of hunting ammo, my main focus, and use the steel pin method because I never liked cleaning primer pockets. No media dust or polishing compounds for me anymore.

 

[Snakebait]

Liquid Tumbler with steel pins. No mess with dry media. Only drawback is waiting for brass to dry.

I dry with a large sieve and a hair drier. I takes about 2 minutes for 50-100 rounds. They get hot, so careful. I then spread them out on a towel or in the case of bottle necks, put them in a media separator (tumbler) to get any pins held inside by the water to fall out. Sure cut my time down.

 

[tony d willIiams]

Ultrasonic.
Background;
The far corner of my garage has my reloading station. My Ultrasonic Cleaner is on a shelf 18" high, with the two rinsing, clear glass casserole dishes to the left. All lights and power outlets are remote controlled to reduce waste, and help me lower our bill.

Reasons;
The price of the solution, concentrated is not high. Being retired, that helps.
I use ROW water from the units I have installed. Them puppies make great coffee tea, and stews.
I can walk in, turn the unit on.
I can inspect any time for proper cleaning. Can return to cleaner if needed.
The unit is quiet. I can listen to my radio, 33s, talk to friends, play with numbers and data, or just have silence.
Press the warm or heat button if the temperature is close to freezing, or below the minimum temperature of use.
Go about what I happen to be doing
De-prime, and set back into the cleaner, start unit.
Enter garage for any reason, check the cleanliness of my brass.
If needed, turn on unit again.
When parts are clean, set them into first casserole dish, shake to remove air
Place into other casserole dish, shake gently
When clean, place into a SS wire bucket, (BedBathBeyond), hang above my cast iron fireplace, with glass window, to dry.
When clean, the brass is clean inside and out. A bit dull in color, but pretty brass doesn't help my accuracy.
Being lazy, or expecting my equipment to do the work it was designed to do seems natural to me. If the unit will clean with little input or time from me, I get happy. If not, it is time to design a better machine or procedure.

I have a few friends that reload.
They use the vibratory with media.
The insides of the brass still needs to be cleaned as it is still discolored, black with carbon. The wire bottle brush comes out with the drill motor. I prefer not to remove any brass. The media PM, Particulate Matter, are inside and outside of each piece of brass, so they still need a final cleaning. They change their media with great regularity. Seems to be a constant search for a media that works properly. By my estimations, they spend a few hours of their labor and time to clean each batch of their brass.

When my brass is new I number each piece with an acid pen. Then collect the weight, volume, thicknesses, Outer Diameter (@3 places), & length is placed into my "caliber of brass" folder, for whichever size I am reloading/cleaning. After shooting, and cleaning, I enter new current data.

I was an engineer before forced into retirement.
When I started designing machines & programing back in the '70s, I came up with a saying. "Too much information is almost enough".

 

[Pointman]

Liquid Tumbler with steel pins. No mess with dry media. Only drawback is waiting for brass to dry.

I use a food dehydrator that I picked up at a thrift store to dry the brass and SS chips. Gave up on the pins since they're more prone to clogging inside the smaller cases.

 

[Montana'eer]

Tumbling in rice is superior to every other method I've used, and I've used them all. If shiny brass is the goal, other methods are better. If accurate/precise brass is the goal, there is nothing better than my method with rice.

Play With Your Food: Clean Brass With Rice :: Primal Rights, Inc

Cleaning your brass is a necessity. Foreign material in or on our cases can cause all kinds of problems. Damage to expensive reloading dies, damage to rifles, and various other issues can arise if proper care is not taken.

www.primalrights.com

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I'm going to try that- thanks.

Would it be faster to use Minute Rice?

 

[Mike Matteson]

I find this all interesting. I have read that using med grain rice. I de-prime the cases, clean my case. Then anneal them. Using a Redding FL bushing die, I resize the brass, bump back, and check for spring back. I set up but every case into a Gen-3 to reset length again before reloading the cases. Also I will add: All new cases are cut for length first, then neck thickness is done, primer pocket checked, and flash hole are de-burred. If used brass, then it's a different process somewhat, and more work at first. One other is check cases by volume weight.