Case cleaning maybe got easier..

[Ranch 13]

A friend of mine was here antelope hunting last week and left me his Hornady Ultrasonic Case cleaner, said it worked ok, but not doing what he wanted.
 So I gave it a whirl today. Had 16 cases that had been fired over a week ago. Used the Hornady solution 1/2 oz to 20 ounces of water, and ran the cases in the same solution thru 2  8minute cycles. The primer pockets could of been cleaner, but I think that's probably more of a problem from how long the case sat uncleaned.  so here we go before ,during and after.

[Blackpowder Burn]

Ranch,

I agree 100%.  I recently purchased the large Hornady ultrasonic cleaner and use it for case cleaning as well as dunking the parts of my revolvers for cleaning.  They sell cleaning solutions for both cases and firearms.  While the brass may not be as shiny as tumbling with polishing compound, they are very clean and the process is easy.  The think I like about the larger ultrasonic cleaner is that is has a timer that will go to 99 minutes and also has a heater.  Works great!

[Ranch 13]

 That's good to know, thanks for the info.
 This one I think will be great for when you've just shot a few rounds, not really enough to fire up the tumbler. Like you say they may not shine like a tumbled case but they're sure clean enough to fire again.

[Advertising]

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

http://www.6mmbr.com/ultrasonic.html

I purchased the cheapest ultrasonic cleaner from Amazon.  Cost $30 + postage.  My son put me on to it as apparently UK shooters have started using them.  He sent the above link from 6mmbr.com that reports on trials with one. My small cleaner seems to have about half the internal volume as the one Hornady sells but seems to work about the same.  Next time  might look for a larger one.

I posted on TOR and a Pard said that it was too slow for the volume of cases he had to process.  He would rather use ceramic media in a large volume vibrator.  I would think he could get a larger commercial cleaner from EBAY and be better off.  

Use a 50% solution of vinager & water.  See the link.  It is a lot cheaper than buying someones snake oil.

[Ranch 13]

I think next batch I'll run with Simple Green just to see what happens. I went to using Simple Green in the tumbler and ceramic, and got alot better results than with the solution that came with the media.
 I don't think the tumbler would be any faster for a large batch of cartridges, but it sounds like an interesting thing for a head to head trial.

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

I think next batch I'll run with Simple Green just to see what happens. I went to using Simple Green in the tumbler and ceramic, and got alot better results than with the solution that came with the media.
 I don't think the tumbler would be any faster for a large batch of cartridges, but it sounds like an interesting thing for a head to head trial.

Read the 6mmbr.com test before you spend a lot of time on your experiment

[Ranch 13]

  Looks like the results he claims to have got with simple green doesn't even come close to how well it works for me .
 Of course it might be the carbon from the smokeless rounds is harder to lift than the bp residue..
But  the 75 he spent on the harbor frieght machine isn't that much cheaper than the hornady unit. The 48 minutes he spent just cycle time with those cases, probably would of been about all the time needed in a ceramic tumbler. My bpcr cases come clean in about an hour and a half in the thumlers.

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

Ranch 13;  I had some Pyrodex case forming loads for the .45-75.  As soon as I got home, I popped the primers and dumped the cases into water & laundry detergent.  When the ultasonic arrived, I rinsed them and popped them into the cleaner with the half vinegar mix for about 15 minutes.  GOODTAGO!

[Ranch 13]

Well that's what I ended up with in this first try of this thing. Just used the Hornady solution, ran the same stuff for 2 eight minute cyles, and they came out looking pretty darn good.
 The fouling was set up pretty hard to as they had been setting for almost 2 weeks.
 I'm pretty happy with this outfit for small batches, now just need to see what happens with say 50 cases at a time.

[sail32]

After trying an Ultra Sonic cleaner without good results I tried a different approach.

I used to use a .45 cal. Bronze brush on a hand held drill to clean the inside of the .44-40 cases. 50 cases would produce enough carbon residue to ½ fill a .44-40 case. The cases were brought home from the range in a jar of water, rinsed and dried before brushing.

The last experiment was to decap the cases at the range and drop them in a mix of water and a strong mix of Pin-Sole, the commercial stuff. The cases were thoroughly rinsed with water at home. The use a bronze brush produced no carbon residue. The case were discoloured and put into a Lyman Turbo Tumbler for a final polish, rinsed and dried again.

The next trip to the range I will try using water with TSP to see how that works on cleaning black powder cases.

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

Ranch13;  Mine will take 50 pistol cases; JUST, and it seems to work OK, but the more cases in the machine the longer it takes.

[Ranch 13]

They say this thing is supposed to be able to take on up to 100 308 cases. So I'm thinking 50 or so 45-70's would just about enough.

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

Sail32;  Be careful when selecting a cleaning solution.  Some affect the brass.  I noted that I have to stop using KABOOM!  I sometimes used CLR, and I think I should cease with that as well.  With the HUMMER, I will revert to vinegar & H2O with the BS (baking soda) neutralizer.

Read the article;        http://www.6mmbr.com/ultrasonic.html

[Montana Slim]

One of my tips with cleaning solutions is  - you don't have to pour them down the drain after one cleaning cycle. I have a gallon jug of vinegar taht i've been re-using for about 10 years. Another small jug of diluted phosphoric acid - had it for 5 or more years. When using the solution, I pour it out slowly...when I get to the sludge at the bottom, I dispose of the crud, rinse the jug and pour the used solution back when finished with a soak cycle.

I'm also the guy who has used the same walnut & corncob media in his tumbler for the past 10+ years by soaking rinsing, draining and drying it. This process removes loose BP & brass residue from the media. Add some more polish & ready to go.

Slim

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

Montana Slim; I have kept my vibrator walnut shell media clean by running a sheet or two of used bounce in each run.  It picks up the fine stuff. I keep a half bag going so long I forget where the rest of it is!