Cleaning the little bottleneck cases

I have both SS pins and the small and large ceramic wet drum cleaning systems but I do not use them for the small rifle cases like 22 Hornet and 25-20 WCF due to the media filling and sticking in the cases. Boy!!! you only have to do that once to learn!
I have been using the older walnut system to clean these small rifle cases but it leaves red cases that are not truly clean like the ceramic cleans larger(er) straight wall cases.

What is the word on cleaning these little guys - ultrasound? Something else?

A little bit of mineral spirits and nu finish car wax in the media works just fine for me .

One thing I have learned with the smaller cases is we tend to not put enough of them into the tumbler for them to work against each and they just sort of float around in the media and don't clean good .
I try to take up extra space with something like .223 that's easy to sort out and won't telescope with what I want to clean .

If the inside of the case isn't getting clean enough to suit you
( I have a pretty low standard as long as there isn't a crusty stuff )
You could always just go with citric acid first and a quick tumble after for a polish

I use an ultrasonic with dist water and citric acid. It is a retired diesel injector cleaner and about 15 minutes will clean cases but they will have to be tumbled to be shiny. Citric acid is Ball brand found in food canning section.

Something else to think about , how old is your media ?
It does wear out after awhile and doesn't clean as well .
I change mine once or twice a year ...

For my rotary I use a mixture of hard resin pyramids (25%-30% depending on how tarnished the brass is) and corn cob blast media. Mostly my .223 is just cleaned, not much tarnish, and a lighter mix, mebbe 10% works quite well...

I use corncob media in a vibratory polisher. The corn cob is treated with Iosso polish and nufinnish car polish. I use the corn cob and once well treated I usually just add 2 ozs of alcohol to rejuvenate the polish. I start the polisher add cases and then very slowly trickle the alcohol in. Let run till desired polish is obtained. I prefer corn cob and iosso nufinnish over walnut and the red rouge impregnating it.
AS mentioned above some don't use enough cases to get the desired optimum harmonics to polish good. On the ither hand some use to many and go past the point. This is a matter of tumbler size, amount of media and amount of brass. When loading the vibratory running listen to it and you will hear different tones from just the media to different amounts of brass added. Its hard to describe. Another is to add brass a small amount at a time watching its flow thru the media. You want to see an even flow of the brass running in a circular motion across the bowl. You need to get the harmonics right with the load.

I normally have 3 batches of media being used. 1) is the newest untreated corn cob. This is used for a quick polish of 1/2 hour or so to remove any residues from the brass and it slowly treats breaks it in. 2) is the treated media that's in food shape and used for my fired brass and cleaning polishing. This is treated and still fairly new. Not a lot of dirt and crud in it. 3) last is the old treated media this has been used for awhile is getting a dirty look to it and some dirt and crud can be seen in it when running. This is used for range pick up brass rough once fired military brass and very dirty brass. When this is discarded the #2 becomes #3 #1 becomes #2 and new clean media becomes #1.

Go to the book of faces and search for Southern Shine Media. They sell chips that work like a champ. They are small enough to go through flash holes.

I use this, a cap full in with the corn cob media about 5 minutes before adding brass in vibrating polisher. I do a 15 minute soak in citric acid, blue dawn soap and water bath first.

https://www.cabelas.com/product/Cabe...7.uts?slotId=3

It sure comes out purty!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Burnt Fingers

Go to the book of faces and search for Southern Shine Media. They sell chips that work like a champ. They are small enough to go through flash holes.

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I like mine, works good, and with somewhat sharp edges it brightens badly tarnished brass also.

Using a separator that will hold water it the bucket speeds things up and gets the chips out better since a basket separator that will hold water breaks water surface tension in the brass and the chips just wash out.

I put a 5 gallon paint strainer bag in the media separator with water, then drop the tumble basket/brass in and crank. When done, lift the chips out in the paint strainer bag, no need to dump the bucket everytime to recover chips or pins. No picking those little pieces off a magnet.

Streamline the process when you can!

I use Harbor Freight walnut shells plus NuFinish car polish. When I empty the polisher, I dump in a capful or two into the media to recharge it. Run it for a minute or two to mix then put it on the shelf until the next time. By then the NuFinish has dried and dispersed through the media. I also like to load it up to capacity, I know I get a better polish with a full polisher than a half full one. Currently the polisher is running with 80 30 carbines, 20 06's, 40+ future .256 Mannlichers and about 80 Hornady 6.5, 160 grain Interlocks that need a little spiffing.

The Harbor Freight walnut shells are fine enough, they flow right out of the .22 Hornet/.221 Fireball/.220 Swift/.204 Ruger that I load.

Ultrasonic worked great with the citric acid. No tumble afterwards.

I've tried about anything that I have seen on the various forums and finally decided that corncob media works the best for me. If it's untreated from Midway I'll add some NuFinish to it and let it run for a bit before I add my brass. I had some walnut media and was not happy with it. It didn't clean as well as the corncob and left my headstamps looking like they were painted red.

Years ago I bought a small bag of something green at a gunshow that the vendor said would make my brass ultra shiny. Following his instructions I tried it. It was amazing. In retrospect I should have bought two or three bags. It lasted a very long time and had I bought a few more bags I'd probably still have some. I wonder if it's the same stuff Lyman treats their corncob media with?

I have used SS pins in 17HH and 17REM for 10+ years without a problem.

Never had a cake of lodged pins or a bridge in any sort of way.

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Originally Posted by 17nut

I have used SS pins in 17HH and 17REM for 10+ years without a problem.

Never had a cake of lodged pins or a bridge in any sort of way.

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Depends on the length of pins, diameter of pins, and the bevel on the ends of pins.
Guntap pins work quite well for me in about all brass including .223

I use corncob, walnut, stainless, ultrasonic but the smallest groups I have ever shot were from cases that were hand wiped and brushed. That said there is no reason to treat others like my benchrest brass.

It comes down to volume and what you expect as an end result.

Set expectations.

Thank you for the informed replies. I can see a lot of ways work. ...now remember, this is for the tiny cases like Hornet where they pack themselves full.

Corn cob is high on the list but I have a huge sack of walnut ready to go and I am not sure I want to add corn cob to the inventory too. I basically stopped using the walnut 20 years ago in favor SS pins and then soon put them away and went to ceramic which I like best for normal (308 win) to large BP cases.

For the little cases;
The Ultrasonic I know nothing about and maybe I should.
They are Quick to clean! Hmmmm...
Distilled H2O - citric acid. How well does it clean fired bullet lube on soiled cases?
What unit would be worth looking into?

Thanks again.

I might end up with an Ultrasonic cleaning unit. I am not sure which one might be the best one for me.

However in the meantime, I removed all the ceramic from the tumbler and cleaned the 25-20 and 22 Hornet cases in just water with powdered laundry soap and Lemi-shine.
I was amazed at how well they cleaned up in about one hour running time. Inside and out were very clean and and de-greased. Only the primer pockets were still dirty.

That may be good enough for occasional use.