brass cleaners

What's the pros and cons of tumbler versus sonic/vibrator?

That’s a long list with a lot of opinions. I think it’s mostly preference and the results each individual gets. I do both, and I don’t even know where to start on why. I just did a lot of searches on reloading forums, then tried different things, to get my own method. It all works.

Fair enough. I've got a cheap tumbler from a previous hobby. I'll use that until my curiosity puts a sonic cleaner in my garage, maybe. Seems the sonic would get inside the primer pockets better but I don't know.

They do, but they also clean some things some people don’t want clean. It would take me awhile to explain something that’s not overly important. I’m not intending to brush you off or be vague, Gary, it’s just so much easier for you to do a Google search and figure out what’s going to jive with your goals and reloading ways. Then you’re just going to change it up, anyway, as you progress.

I could say, “Do it this way, because that’s how I do it,” and that’s all it would be. The way I do it. It fits my program. It may not fit yours.

Someone may come along and explain everything you need to know, but more than likely, you’ll just get a bunch of “this is what I do.”

I switched to stainless steel media tumblers. Wow, what a difference. Also clean suppressor baffles with it too

Thanks for your honesty Sneaky, and you're right. I didn't think about it but I opened the door for a debate about...blah blah blah. I've got a POS harbor freight tumbler and a jug of corn cob media. I ran some 6.8 brass all night in it without any polish. Cases don't look like I dug em out of the earth anymore. In fact they shine like fools gold, except the primer pockets and extractor groove (or whatever it's called). I'm gonna clean pockets with the tool anyway, and that groove will function just fine tarnished. I really don't care what brass looks like, just don't want to stick extra junk in my dies and chamber. Looks like I too now have a process. Without any blah blah blah.
Thank you honestly for the lack of advise,
Gary

I use ss and corn cob only because I want to and I like the results.

I found the sonic cleaner didn't work well for me since I shoot mostly suppressed and it leaves the cases filthy. Went with a tumbler and stainless steel media and wow what a difference. I'd never go back to sonic, but that's just me.

My sonic is not used for brass. It won't touch tarnish, you need a little buffing action for that. Sonic is best for cleaning foreign material from tight places you can't access. Fishing reels, pistols, wife's jewelry.

I evolved brass cleaning from a vibe with treated corn cob, through walnut and then to a tumbler with ceramic beads and finally to SS media in the tumbler, wet with Dawn and Lemishine. Now I'm happy. Brass is brand new when it comes out. And it's much faster.

This^^^^

I have 4 or 5 different tumblers/cleaners.

Depending on what I'm doing decides what I'm using.

For brass, I've evolved over the years.

Now, for all brass(I get some pretty dirty brass sometimes from ranges)

Step 1 is a Thumlers Tumbler with ss pins that are small enough to go through the pocket. This will usually make the brass shiny and clean. Sometimes, if the brass is really dirty I'll have to run it a second time with clean solution

Step 2 is drying the brass. I dump it into an old baby blanket that I hang over a milk crate to make a cotton 'bowl' that I can grab the ends of and move the brass around like polishing a bowling bowl.

Step 3 is usually the next day, after I know the brass is completely dry. I stick it in a Lyman 1200 with walnut and a cap of NuFinish car polish. You don't have to change the media very often if you ss tumble first because the brass isn't dirty. I do the walnut polish because it gives the case a bit of a waxed finish. I haven't had any tarnish/dullness yet. I noticed the first couple of time I tumbled ss without polishing, the brass would look ddull after a couple of weeks sitting on the shelf.


I rarely clean the primer pockets, the pins get in there pretty well. I do uniform the pockets of all 'fresh' brass that I get and de-crimp if I need to.



I have a much larger tumbler that I use when I get a lot of brass, it's actually a 5 gallon bucket with wooden baffles inside. I haven't used it much since I bought the Thumlers though. I'm honestly not sure where the drive motor is for it.

And I have a couple of sonic cleaners, I only use those for watches and jewelry going to ebay. I did use it on some ink pens made from .30-06 and .308 brass, it worked pretty good, but didn't shine up like I wanted.