Sonic or Stainless

[Mozz]

Guys there have been loads of talk about Stainless Steel Media for 'deep' cleaning brass and jackets, but what about Sonic cleaners? Pro'd and Con's?

The only reason I was going to Stainless but the cost seems very high...

[anotherred]

For brass, stainless pins work the best! Ultrasonic is nice on things like gun parts, or 22 jackets prior to derimming.

[Baja_Traveler]

I agree - when my walnut tumbler died I went with an ultrasonic bath, a really good one that was intended for pharmaceutical lab use. No matter how much I varied the heat and citric acid use, I never could get the brass to what I thought it should be. Then there is the danger of over doing the citric acid and leaching the brass, which leaves copper or pink looking brass.
Bought the SS pin system and never looked back - like the saying goes - you only cry once...

[prsman23]

I picked up one of the double rock tumblers from harbor freight awhile ago and it's been great. I think I paid under $40 for it. Stainless pins aren't cheap but they last forever. It wasn't a bad way to go into it. I've just been using it on the brass that won't come clean when tumbling. If you don't need to do huge amounts I'd go this way.

[Sitzme]

I bought my batch of pins on eBay for $50 so it is not much of an expense. I use them on brass and on the .22 shells for swaging. I usually only tumble for about 90 minutes for anything and they come out looking good. There is some effort involved in clearing the pins out but it is not that bad. Certainly easier than some other types of media. Also, don't use the jewelers media with all of the odd shapes on anything other than maybe pistol or BMG. I tried to save a few bucks and tried it first. It works but the media get jambed up in the bottle neck brass and primer pockets. The pins are a little more but really the only way to go.

My tumbler is a small homebuilt unit that uses plastic Folgers 3lb coffee containers as the drum. They press fit into a PVC fitting that goes from something like 7" down to 4". See your hardware store. At any rate a load is about 1/3 to 1/2 a can of brass and it is done except to dump the pins, rinse and dry in 90 minutes. I can't see a down side.

This is not to say that other methods are bad, and maybe someone will expound on the other methods to point out the pros and cons. Maybe even someone who has used multiple methods.

[303british.com]

I just want my brass clean. Shiny is pretty, but unnecessary as far as I'm concerned. I use a sonic cleaner because it cleans up the primer pockets nicely and I never have pins stuck anywhere. That's for any size case - tiny to humungous. I can use my ultrasonic cleaner on lots of other things around the house. The cleaning doesn't take as long as SS/corn cob/walnut, and is quieter too.

WRT jackets made from rimfire cases, I soak and boil the cases to clean out as much gunk as I can before unfolding the rims. They get the ultrasonic treatment after they become jackets.

A sonic cleaner uses hot water and a tiny amount of inexpensive cleaner - citric acid or Lemishine. Everything pours out - no fussing with stuck pins for me. Having things stuck inside the case or primer pockets is what stopped me from using walnut/corn cob. I prefer simple. Now you know why I switched.

In the end, it's whatever makes you happy.

[Sitzme]

303British, can you give a comparison of how long to process a given size batch? Say 50 or 100 rounds of .308 or .303? Also what brand and size cleaner are you using? You seem to be happy with it so it seems relevant so the discussion.

[303british.com]

I am using the equivalent to a Hornday ultrasonic. Same maker, but without the Hornady name on it. I got it from ebay for $50 new.

For cases, I use a Lee universal decapper, remove the spent primers and put 100 hundred 303 or 308 cases into the basket. I have two cleaning solutions. I use citric acid, and I also bought the Hornady cleaner (which I believe is citric acid as well), but won't buy it in the future. Citric crystals are cheaper than the Hornady jugs. Lemishine (which is citric acid too) is also cheaper and everything smells like lemons. :)

I put them through two 480 second (8 minute) cycles and they come out clean. I use hot water, which helps clean better and helps them to dry after the cycle is over. The brass is heated and the cases dry quicker.

In the summer, I put them outside in the sun for a while. The winter, I put them in shop towels over heater vents.

As I said in the other post, it's faster, there's less noise and it cleans everything better IMO. The hot water and solution goes into every crevice around the primer pocket and inside.

[RobsTV]

The on sale $83 "good" HF UltraSonic 2.5L cleaner (same as Lyman Turbo 2500) will cost more than the dual drum 6lb rock cleaner ($50) and SS media ($20) combined. I used the HF UltraSonic for more than a year, thinking it couldn't get any better than this, until I picked up the Dual Drum cleaner and SS pins. Much better results and easier to do (Ultrasonic has to be reset every 8 minutes, or about 4 times per each small batch 40 minute cleaning session). Now the UltraSonic sits unused. Don't forget to use 20% off coupon. Get 2 lbs of SS pins in refresh kit from sponser here (STM).

In the 4+ hours it took to clean the brass from a days worth of shooting in the 2.5L small capacity ultrasonic, (at least double this if getting smaller ultrasonic), the HF 6lb Dual Rock tumbler with SS pins, could do it in 3 hours. Never any stuck pins and primer pockets just as clean, but brass at least twice as shiny. I like shiny, and if I'm going through the time and trouble it must be shiny.

The large 2.5L HF UltraSonic would hold only about 40 pieces of 40 S&W. Or, if I recall correctly, about 20 pieces of my .303 brass. I found for best results in shortest time, that brass had to have some room for movement in a single layer, and could not be just dumped in or stacked up, otherwise poor results. Also, could not place brass directly into tub (because it is like the cone of a speaker, not made to work that way) or onto plastic tray (absorbs some of the sonic waves). Best results here by far were obtained using a cleaner/brass filled "glass container" (glass meatloaf or bread pan allows sonic waves to pass) inserted into water filled tub (to max line). Google the Ultrasonic brass cleaning method to see videos and tests confirming what seems to work best for most users. Use caution not to leave on too long as brass quickly flips from clean and shiny to dull and nasty looking with just one or two extra cycles (quick vinegar bath, then water rinse with usually get them looking good again. Seems many user still tumble ultrasonic cleaned brass in traditional tumbler with walnut to get brass to look good. I don't have traditional tumbler, and want it done in one process anyway.

Each drum of the HF Rock Tumbler would hold around 125 to 250 40 S&W, depending on how much SS pins were added (or up to 500 rounds per session), and simply turn it on and come back to spotless brass in 3 hours. But if you forget about it, no problem as it does not have the same drawback of prolonged exposure that ultrasonic has.

Of course all of the above depends of the cleaning solution used, and that too is a lot of trial and mostly error with ultrasonic until you get it just right, while the Tumbler/SS method using pinch of lemishine and drop of dawn is fool proof.

I quickly tossed some bad .303 brass into my Ultrasonic container to show what it can hold. A few more pieces would normally be added to this. Trust me, if I could pack in more, I surely would have, but when more is added, even 40 minutes leaves brass dirty and primer pockets nasty. The quantity mentioned was what works best after testing for more than a year.

Again, google for more ideas on how to obtain best results. Maybe the HF unit is just ****? But many of the reviews for the Lyman 4500 at Midway show similar results, requiring much less brass and many cycles before it comes out clean enough.

80315

[customcutter]

Rob,

Thanks for the write up. Good comaprisons.

[303british.com]

...Of course all of the above depends of the cleaning solution used, and that too is a lot of trial and mostly error with ultrasonic until you get it just right, while the Tumbler/SS method using pinch of lemishine and drop of dawn is fool proof.

I quickly tossed some bad .303 brass into my Ultrasonic container to show what it can hold. A few more pieces would normally be added to this. Trust me, if I could pack in more, I surely would have, but when more is added, even 40 minutes leaves brass dirty and primer pockets nasty. The quantity mentioned was what works best after testing for more than a year...

80315

You had problems getting the cleaning mix right? I find that strange. I toss in 1/2 a teaspoon of citric acid and two drops of blue Dawn. Then I pour in hot water. Done. There's no magic formula for cleaning solutions. The biggest thing to avoid is trying to copy someone's magical elixir. These are the types who go on and on about their "surefire" concoction that took them years to discover - complete with a lot of wacky ingredients. Seriously, it's not rocket science.

As an aside, if you just finished shooting those 303 cartridges, it looks like you've got a long chamber.

And you can't put more than fourteen cases into that cleaner? Do you have hard water? Are you heating up the water? Something doesn't sound right to me.

[John Allen]

I have both. I prefer the tumbler with stainless pins. I only prefer this as the brass comes out super pretty. The ultrasonic ones are clean but not as pretty. To each there own.

[sprinkintime]

Another way is just put them on the stove with citric acid and soap and hot water and boil them for a hr or less and they are ready to go. Don't look that great but are clean and you can do large batches at a time.
Sprink

[Mozz]

Thanks guy great feed back, will look at stainless pins again and suppliers in the UK.

[gene10pntr]

Midway USA has SS pins on sale. 5# for $35.00 IDK if that's a good deal or not,but thought I'd post anyway. :)

[Cane_man]

i have all three and use them for different purposes...

really dirty brass, like range brass: hard to beat ss pins in a rotary tumbler, cleans inside and out including the primer pockets

'clean' brass, like brass i have cleaned previously and have now used: ultrasonic cleaner, easy to use and clean up is nothing, can clean inside of bottle neck cases

polishing bullets: ceramic media in the vibratory tumbler, very lightly 'peens' the brass and smooths them out shiny

cleaning off case lube: walnut media with cut up dryer sheets in the vibratory tumbler

[customcutter]

Midway USA has SS pins on sale. 5# for $35.00 IDK if that's a good deal or not,but thought I'd post anyway. :)

Not sure which size, but I do know that one size gets stuck in the primer holes. Might want to find out before creating a headache that's not needed.

[MrWolf]

I do the same as cane_man except I use the a dual drum rock tumbler from HF and just swap out the dry walnut vs wet ss pins as needed.