Brass cleaning - wet tumble or ultrasonic

spittinfire

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Those of you who have used one of these methods or maybe both please share your thoughts.

I’m tired of dry media tumbling and want something that does a better job. I’ll save the corn cob for brass that just needs a good fluffing.

I’m leaning towards wet media but have heard that it can be hard on the brass although that seems like a stretch.


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Wet tumbling for me - never tried ultrasonic, but stainless steel pins make my brass look brand new.
 
I have an ultrasonic cleaner and I only use it for small batches or brass that needs special attention. My black powder cartridges get an US bath when I come home from the range but that's all I use it for.
 
Wet for me, never tried ultrasonic.
 
I’ve tried in this order: corn cob, walnut, ultrasonic, wet w pins, wet w/o pins. I still own the equipment for all but wet tumble 99%.

I found that ultrasonic was better than dry tumbling but not even close to wet tumbling.
 
I clean parts that have a finish in the ultrasonic. Everything else usually goes in the wet tumbler. Most.........parts with a finish are ok in the wet tumbler and i believe the ultrasonic will remove a creakote finish.....at least on titanium. However......some parts have small crevices that the metal pins used in wet tumbling just wont reach......ultrasonic will get them.

Btw..... i have an ultrasonic cleaner for sale......
 
I guess I'm going to get a wet tumbler. I'll have access to an ultrasonic once we get it set up but that's going to be a little while. Thanks guys!
 
I'm a little late to this discussion, but I've done dry tumbling, ultrasonic, and wet tumbling. I only use my ultrasonic to clean parts now. It will get the cases clean but not shiny. All my brass gets wet tumbled now.

One downside I have found with wet tumbling is that it gets the inside so clean that the brass will sometimes stick to the expander (45acp mainly). I never had that problem with dry tumbling. To help alleviate the sticking (as well as to keep the brass from tarnishing later) I switched from Dawn dishwashing soap to Armorall Wash-n-Wax. The Armorall leaves a thin film of carnuba wax that helps lubricate the brass as well as prevent tarnish.
 
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I'm a little late to this discussion, but I've done dry tumbling, ultrasonic, and wet tumbling. I only use my ultrasonic to clean parts now. It will get the cases clean but not shiny. All my brass gets wet tumbled now.

One downside I have found with wet tumbling is that it gets the inside so clean that the brass will sometimes stick to the expander (45acp mainly). I never had that problem with dry tumbling. To help alleviate the sticking (as well as to keep the brass from tarnishing later) I switched from Dawn dishwashing soap to Armorall Wash-n-Wax. The Armorall leaves a thin film of carnuba wax that helps lubricate the brass as well as prevent tarnish.

And I’m assuming the wax doesn’t hurt the powder.


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I'm a little late to this discussion, but I've done dry tumbling, ultrasonic, and wet tumbling. I only use my ultrasonic to clean parts now. It will get the cases clean but not shiny. All my brass gets wet tumbled now.

One downside I have found with wet tumbling is that it gets the inside so clean that the brass will sometimes stick to the expander (45acp mainly). I never had that problem with dry tumbling. To help alleviate the sticking (as well as to keep the brass from tarnishing later) I switched from Dawn dishwashing soap to Armorall Wash-n-Wax. The Armorall leaves a thin film of carnuba wax that helps lubricate the brass as well as prevent tarnish.


I do something similar. Wet tumble to get it clean and shiny and then dry tumble in walnut treated with nu finish car polish. Stops the cases from sticking on the press, doesn't do anything to the powder and doesn't tarnish if left in a box for a few years. The wash and wax is genius, so I may switch to that to eliminate a step
 
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For years I had access to a ultrasonic cleaner...it was large enough to put a full size radiator in for cleaning, 240 volts heater was set 190 degrees. Yes it would clean brass the hottest fluid temp equals the best cleaning.
This unit was set to use a Mill Spec cleaner that would dry cloudy with a film so parts would not "Flash" rust when you took them out

Tom
 
For years I had access to a ultrasonic cleaner...it was large enough to put a full size radiator in for cleaning, 240 volts heater was set 190 degrees. Yes it would clean brass the hottest fluid temp equals the best cleaning.
This unit was set to use a Mill Spec cleaner that would dry cloudy with a film so parts would not "Flash" rust when you took them out

Tom

Once we get it set up the one I'll be using sounds to be a similar size and also heated. If I go that route I'll be cleaning in large batches for sure.
 
I just started reloading and only have a media tumbler, I rand 1000ish pieces of brass through raw walnut shell and the brass was just a little cleaner than before it when in.

I found an additive called “One Shot” made by Hornaday that you add to the media and it is amazing stuff, my brass now looks new.

I’m sure I’ll move to a wet tumbler once I start reloading more and buy a Dillon setup, but for now it will work.
 
So guess what popped up for sale not far from me? Never used, $40 cheaper then I could find online with no shipping or tax.

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I’ve heard lots of folks say that they dry tumble after wet tumbling. I’ve heard lots of folks tumble in lizard media. I’ve heard lots of folks add a little ca wax to the media.

I tried the above, I ended up with brass covered in a thin layer of slightly sticky dust, had to wipe each piece with a rag.

Also tried with dry brass and the hornady green and red medias, got brass with thin layers of green or red compound that I had to wipe off with a rag.

Threw everything away except the “tumbler”, maybe I’ll try again one day. Any suggestions or is wiping off he brass after dry tumbling just something everyone does but nobody discusses?
 
I’ve heard lots of folks say that they dry tumble after wet tumbling. I’ve heard lots of folks tumble in lizard media. I’ve heard lots of folks add a little ca wax to the media.

I tried the above, I ended up with brass covered in a thin layer of slightly sticky dust, had to wipe each piece with a rag.

Also tried with dry brass and the hornady green and red medias, got brass with thin layers of green or red compound that I had to wipe off with a rag.

Threw everything away except the “tumbler”, maybe I’ll try again one day. Any suggestions or is wiping off he brass after dry tumbling just something everyone does but nobody discusses?


Been using a dry vibrator tumbler for years. I do not need to wipe my brass off. Walnut and a cap full of Dillon polish is all I use. At some point, the media needs to be thrown away and start over with new. Corn Cob has also been used. Corn Cob sometimes leaves a little dust when it gets old.
 
I’ve heard lots of folks say that they dry tumble after wet tumbling. I’ve heard lots of folks tumble in lizard media. I’ve heard lots of folks add a little ca wax to the media.

I tried the above, I ended up with brass covered in a thin layer of slightly sticky dust, had to wipe each piece with a rag.

Also tried with dry brass and the hornady green and red medias, got brass with thin layers of green or red compound that I had to wipe off with a rag.

Threw everything away except the “tumbler”, maybe I’ll try again one day. Any suggestions or is wiping off he brass after dry tumbling just something everyone does but nobody discusses?

I don't think I've ever wiped my brass off after dry tumbling. Ive always used corn cob and I've used treated and untreated with no issues.

Now, the hands down best improvement in dry tumbling media that I've found was completely by accident. I had a 5 gallon bucket full of 9mm brass that I needed to tumble so I sent it with a friend who had access to a HUGE tumbler already loaded with corn cob. The brass came back looking amazing so I asked him what they used and he brought me some. It was corn cob but it was ground up much finer so that it was more like a very fine sand. Since then I've been doing a two stage tumble with course corn cob and then this fine stuff. The fine stuff makes nearly no dust at all.

Since I'm on batch # 3 of this wet tumbler I can see my process being deprime, wet tumble, trim, dry tumble, load....at least that what I'm going to try.
 
Since I'm on batch # 3 of this wet tumbler I can see my process being deprime, wet tumble, trim, dry tumble, load....at least that what I'm going to try.
For pistol brass, I just deprime and then wet tumble with pins.

But for rifle brass that needs to be lubed, I have settled on the following. I first decap the brass. Then I wet tumble for about 10-15 minutes, just to get the dirt off so I won't scratch my dies. I use Dawn dishwashing soap for this, no Lemishine. If I am going to anneal, I do it at this point. I then lube and resize. (Some people skip the separate decapping step and decap when they size). Then I go back and wet tumble again, with pins, using Wash-n-Wax and a little Lemishine. I finish processing the brass at this point (trim, chamfer, swage if necessary, etc). A little extra work to do it this way, but it makes me happy. :D
 
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