Do I NEED a tumbler? I have a supersonic cleaner.

[pretzelxx]

I clean brass with water/vinegar and dish soap mix. It comes out ok after a 36 minute wash and rinse. My questions are: is that too short a cycle to get it clean since it leaves residue in the pockets and can that be solved by just vibrator cleaning with walnut or corn media. Is it best for a combination of both? Or is the dry media a polish only system? I'm on the fence. A slight push is all I really need, I suppose. I just love the feedback I get from this group of folks.

Thanks in advance!

[Artful]

Need - No, would it make your life easier - ya, in my opinion it will.

[engineer401]

I have a Hornady magnum sonic cleaner. I use the Hornady brand One-Shot solution with it. I have better luck with the sonic cleaner cleaning the primer pockets than the vibratory cleaner did. After 20 minutes, the brass comes out clean and there is no dust or walnut media in the pockets. I am satisfied with using the sonic cleaner only.

[pretzelxx]

Maybe I'll try the one shot for a few batches. It just seems like with my cheapo clean solution the pockets are still mildly dirty, on my 223 pretty bad actually. If it actually effects performance I doubt it, but for now I was hand scraping them clean, I did about 75 of the 1000 cases and my hand was so cramped up. I hear about SS tumble being amazing, I guess that's the next thing to look at....

[Mk42gunner]

I reloaded a lot of years before I broke down and bought a vibratory tumbler, and I still haven't bought an ultra sonic cleaner. We had some kind of ultra sonic cleaner demoed or on trail to us when I ran a SeaBee Battalion armory about 15 years ago, I was not impressed; although to be honest they were trying to sell it as a mass cleaning item and it just wasn't big or fast enough to clean a jillion M-16's in less time than it took to drink a Coke. Same with the little table top steam cleaner, not really big enough to clean guns with.

Back to brass cleaning, I run my brass through the tumbler with lizard bedding and a bit of Nu Finish wax to clean any grunge off. If you want highly polished bling grade brass use corncob media, but it really isn't necessary for it to gleam.

I find cleaning primer pockets to rank just below case trimming on my scale of handloading jobs to be avoided. I have never proven to myself that it is absolutely needed. Of course I don't shoot benchrest or 1,00 yard competition either. What I do is deprime before tumbling and then resize allowing the decapping pin to clear the flashholes of any stuck bits of ground walnut.

Bottom line is you need to get any dirt or other grit off the brass before it goes into your die. Whether you do it ultra sonically, by tumbling with walnut or corncob media, or even by wiping with a cloth does not matter. Do what you are comfortable with.

Robert

[sidecarmike]

I used a big Thumler Vibratory for 20 years before I was introduced to ultrasonic cleaning. After about 500 shells through the solution, I sold the Thumler.

[mdi]

If you listen to some fellers, you can't reload without an ultra sonic cleaner plus a wobbler, with media prepared with additives and dryer sheets, and a real tumbler with stainless steel pins, not to mention rotary case/media separators, and a shelf full of various chemicals (and don't forget your dust mask/respirator, tumbling outside, and handling the media with nitrile gloves)

I'm like Mk42gunner as I reloaded (quite successfully) for 12 years before I broke down and got a rotary tumbler. My brass was wiped with a mineral spirits soaked rag as I inspected it prior to processing (tumbling brass wasn't considered a necessity in the late 60s early 70s). No, I didn't wear out any dies, no scratches in my sizing dies, no grit in my chambers, and yep, I could spot any defects. I have reloaded quite a few handgun rounds (about 30 years worth) and don't bother with processing primer pockets, and I have had no primer problems with any primer in any of my cases when I seat them properly. I believe it's largely personal preference, if you like/want glossy, shiny brass and don't mind the extra processing, time, and costs, by all means do it!

Yep, shooting BBQ ammo can be fun if you're trying to impress other shooters at the range, but brown cartridges shoot every much as good as virgin looking, glossy shine brass.

jes an old reloader's .02...

[RacingRedGT]

I just tumble. Tumble then sonic clean = super clean brass. But I see it as less prep work the better. I like reloading, just not case prep.

[jonas302]

Unless your going to go stainless a tumbler will not clean your primer pockets very well
Do you need one is up to you the polish is nice and with nufinish in the media I think it stays polished nicely I went a while without one until I was given some lightly corroded nos bullets that needed to be cleaned and that paid for it

[pretzelxx]

Well thanks everyone for the pros and cons. I'll be getting one... down the road when I have all the other tools and dies I need/want more than pretty brass.

[Guardian]

If you're having problems with the ultrasonic getting the brass clean, you may be overloading it. Try running smaller batches. They may even take less time, just a bit more work.

I've got the large Lyman ultrasonic, several vibratory tumblers, and a SS pin tumbler. They each have their purpose and I've no intent of getting rid of any of them. The traditional tumblers I find to be far less work for normal use. Even brass that goes through one of the wet methods goes through one of the vibratory tumblers after resizing to remove the lube and put a final polish on them. With mineral spirits and polish added to the corncob media, dust isn't an issue.

I know shiny doesn't make the brass shoot any better, but its easy to do and makes me feel like I've done all I could to make the time I have in it show.

[Mk42gunner]

I finally got mine when I was at my final shore duty station and knew I would not be going back to sea prior to retirement. I need something tofill out a Midway order and they had their 1292 tumbler kit on sale for some ridiculous price like $49 or $59. Keep in mind that was somewhere around 2000 or so.

The sifter makes things separating brass and media easy, unless you screw up and do either 9mm or 5.56 with .45 ACP. I have ruined cases trying to get some separated. In other words, do not tumble cases that will fit inside one another -- it causes bad words to be voiced.

Robert

[pretzelxx]

Guardian that's exactly what I was doing, I have since changed my ways. All one layer now, works amazingly well now that each piece receives probably 200% more cleaning action.