Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Cleaning brass, Tumbler or Ultrasonic?

Pro's and Con's of each please, let's hear it...

I have a tumbler and it does ok but have been thinking of giving an ultrasonic a try.

People talk of having dust emanating from Tumblers, I would think the liquid in 'sonics would negate this issue..

Which one do you guys think cleans better all around,ie, Inside, primer pockets and such?

Seems like the prices on 'sonics are close to Tumblers,so cost isn't a factor as I see it.

I do know if you punch your primers first that the media will get stuck in the flash hole and you will need to pick it out before you can reload.

I didn't like the dust in the tumbler and went to sonic. It was a tossup which was more work/hassle.
Now I'm onto using white rice as a tumbling media. It works really well and I think my sonic will be collecting dust.
Uncooked white rice is really cheap...has virtually no dust....and cleans faster than my walnut media.

I tossed the media and tumbler a while back and started using flitz every so often. I hated the mess associated with sifting tumbled brass...

But, I might invest in a new tumbler an give the white rice trick a go....before I deprime the cases.

Had not heard of using rice, will give it a try. Do you put any liquid case cleaner in with the rice or just use plain white rice?

Thanks

I've just started using rice and much prefer it to walnut or corn cob. Only "problem" I've observed is having to push grains out of the flash holes on about 30% of the cases. Upside is no dust, cleans better than other media I've tried and does a much better job of cleaning primer pockets than other media. Some add a liquid case cleaner to get their brass to really shine. I haven't tried that, as I just go for clean. The dry rice does a very good job of that.

John

Yes...add some polish like you would other media. I don't remove primers so the flash hole isn't a problem...I use alot of lee collect dies w/redding body die and a primer pocket uniformer as my routine.

I'll be making something like this soon. I already have the buckets. I have over 4k 5.56 brass to clean. I have tried and still own the ultrasonic unit but it doesn't fully impress me.

Bucket Tumbler

Man, I love this site...always learning something. Great tip, thinking outside the box.

gary

So those of you who do not deprime prior to cleaning, do you clean the flash holes by hand or just not worry about it?

P

I'm a little confused...the decaping pin will clean the flash hole when you size. Some people like to size brass then clean but I can't seem to force myself to run dirty brass into the sizing dies. I always clean...now with rice...then size the brass.
There is just a tiny amount of dust that goes with the rice...probably 1/10 of what I got with walnut. I dump my tumbler and shake the brass vigorously in the sifter. Then I remove the brass clicking them together to make sure any left over kernals fall out.
I toss them onto a towel and give a little rub and place them in the loading block.
I use alot of lee collet dies and redding body dies for my most favored cartridges. For the ones I have normal fl dies for I use rcbs case lube on the outside and redding/imperial dry graphite for the inside neck lube. I love the dry neck lube...I don't have to clean it out and when I seat bullets it seems like they go in smoother and wind up with less runnout. Since I didn't waste time depriming before cleaning I hit the primer pockets quickly with my pocket uniformer......or with a pocket brush in my rcbs prep mate.
Just my system...others like to size then clean. I don't mind wiping down the cases with a damp cloth with my way of doing it.

Sorry, should have said primer pocket.

P

Will rice clean the inside of cases (mainly .223) and also the primer pockets? As you know the neck opening of a .223 isn't exactly "big". Thanks.

Thats a good question....the smallest I've been doing is 270 win. I bought 5#s of Wally worlds cheapest uncooked for $2.98. 2.5#s is a perfect Match for my tumbler so you could experiment pretty cheap. Maybe look over all the brands and look for the smallest cheapest kernals.
In all honesty if I had a bunch of223 to do maybe I'd blow the dust off my harbor frt sonic cleaner cause alot of them is a better fit for that way of cleaning.

I use a hornady ultrasonic cleaner
I also use a vibro bowl with corncob and car wax

The problem with the ultrasonic is it cleans but does not polish
You must deprime before you use an ultrasonic or the case will trap air
It will obviously not clean the primer pocket if there is a primer in the way

But if high lustur brass is your goal you will need to tumble with a polish additive

I've got to try rice in my tumbler!