sonic cleaners

M

mountainman2

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I have been thinking about getting a sonic cleaner for my pistol brass but I heard that the brass doesn't come out shiny. Is this a problem with the function of the brass or just doesn't look good. Also I heard that a tumbler doesn't get the inside of the case clean could this also be a problem? Any help of advice will be apperciated as I don't have either one. Thanks Roy
 
I have rotary and vibration dry media cleaners and an ultrasonic unit. They all do a good job. I decided to try the stainless steel media and water process using the high speed Thumler unit. I tumbled some deprimed Lapua .308 brass for about 3 hours. The brass was clean and shiny inside and out and the primer pockets gleamed . There's more steps involved in separating the brass and stainless steel pins from the water but the cleaning results are superior. Using Flitz in a vibratory tumbler I can get brass shinier but not cleaner.
 
I too, have a vibratory cleaner, an RCBS rotary tumbler, and an utrasonic cleaner. If you want clean and shiny the rotary tumbler with stainless steel pins, Lemi Shine, a shot of Dawn, and water is the best result.
As adamsgt said, seperating the pins from the cases can be a bit of a pain. I think the results are worth the trouble.
I think Sinclair has the stainless steel pins on sale now.
 
If you have thin necks, you might want to try some out in a friends before buying. I've been reading that they ding up the lip of the neck.
 
When shooting High Power, I used the treated media as it gave a better polish. This media was bought as is with the polishing agent already mixed. This mix was red in color. When I shot my M1-A in the service rifle match, I noticed this red rouge all around the breach face of the barrel. This polish had to be going down the barrel also. From then on, I used untreated media only. This was using a vibratory cleaner. I thought this polishing media must be clinging to the inside of the case, and going down the barrel with each shot.
 
went the route of dry media vibration, followed by Thumbler with ss media..finally investigated ultrasonic cleaning for small parts, brass, and handguns...
Never will turn back..the brass is shinier than new...inside and out very clean. I did buy an expensive device which had a timer, temp control, and sweep feature.
It has a bottom stopcock drain ...company gave me great service..
FWIW here is a link
http://www.iultrasonic.com/ultrasonic-washer-elmasonic-eh150el.html
 
Mildly OT (OP was talking about brass cleaning and I'm going to address cleaning an entire revolver) but I'm something of a believer in ultrasonic cleaning for jobs I just don't want. My sister carries a J-frame in the waistband of her clothes via a DeSantis ClipGrip. The revolver is completely unprotected against her bare skin. After a while, the build-up of dead skin cells in every crack and crevice is grotesque. Yes, I could clean and have done so before it but it's a pain in the posterior.

I dropped it off at a local shop that advertises ultrasonic whole-gun cleaning. I was responsible for cleaning the grip panels (no big deal) but the rest of the revolver looked like stuff was growing out of it and I just didn't want to bother.

It took 'em about an hour, but they returned to me a spotless pistol, properly lubed, that looked as good as the day it was bought. It cost me 40 bucks and, in practical terms, no time since I was on the shooting range the whole time and they told me that if I didn't already have a membership, they would have thrown in a free range pass just to thank me for having the work done.

Count me as a believer in the virtues of sonic cleaners.
 
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