Brass Cleaner - Sonic or Vibrating?

[stangfish]

rfurman is correct but doesn't tell the whole story. When ultrasonic or wet tumbling the metal is left raw. Galvanic reaction welds the necks to the brass causing spike pressures. This is not an issue if the brass "rests" for a month or longer allowing a very fine layer of oxidation to form. Ben Stienholts (shootsdots on Accurate Shooter) Uses a nylon brush and cleans the dirty necks then uses the same brash to prep his wet tumbled brass necks with a film of carbon.

 

[bob4]

Properly cleaning your brass, and using Imperial Sizing Wax on the inside and outside of the necks does the same thing, but the brass is still clean.

With sizing wax on the inside of the case neck are you loading one at a time as I'm wondering how they react in a magazine in a higher recoil rifle say for hunting? Bullets changing seating depth?

 

[MudRunner2005]

With sizing wax on the inside of the case neck are you loading one at a time as I'm wondering how they react in a magazine in a higher recoil rifle say for hunting? Bullets changing seating depth?

No issues here. At the range I typically load one at a time, but hunting has given me no issues, as well.

The only issue with the wax is when filling the cases some powder kernels will stick to the inside of the neck, so you will need to take a toothpick and poke them down before seating a bullet. Just takes an extra few seconds, but if you're single-stage loading like I am, it's not a big deal.

 

[SilverbulletMAG]

I have both a Hornady ultrasonic and a Frankfort Arsenal wet tumbler. The ultrasonic does fine if you don't care about shiny brass and pristine primer pockets. The way I use them now has worked well and leaves the brass shiny and spotless.
After removing the primers, I throw the brass in the wet tumbler with some dish soap and lemi. After a couple hours, they come out almost perfect. Then resize everything and throw them in the ultrasonic for 15-30 minutes when done to remove resizing lube.
Only draw back to this is the need to dry everything before you can add powder of course. They have dryers for this but I just let them air dry overnight and plan accordingly.

 

[MudRunner2005]

When I was running the ammo processing plant, we would use massive vibratory tumblers (5-gallon buckets of brass at a time) with dawn and lemishine and let the brass agitate each other to clean themselves.

I can't tell you the rest of the process (proprietary), but that seems to be how most professional processing plants initially clean their dirty once-fired brass before starting the processing.