[varminter]

Well finally got the Hornady sonic cleaner and I figure you guys might want to hear what I think about it. This is certainly not the end all to time consuming brass cleaning. i think the unit is underpowered for what it is for. They advertise that you can clean 200 .223 cases at one time. I'm sure one could probably fit 200 cases in there with some organization, but they will not be cleaned.

I've found that about 20 cases at a time is about what it takes. And to get the brass clean inside and out including primer pockets takes like six to eight 480 second cycles. That is the longest cycle that is programmed. for the unit to be truly effective I wish it could run for like two hours at a time. But alas, whoever designed this thing made eight minute cycles and after three consecutive cycles it must cool for three minutes. This makes the process very time consuming. But I run it while I reload and have got a routine with it and it works. Very very clean brass inside, outside, and primer pockets. I bet in a year or so hornady will come out with an improved version, or another manufacturer will make a better one at a competitive price. Might want to wait for that.

 

[Bigbore4me]

Good information to have. Actually thought about one but I think now I will stay with my old tumbler.

 

[Marshal Kane]

Thanks for the feedback on using a sonic cleaner. My first thought with sonic cleaning is now I have to dry cases before I can reload them. I didn't realize that the longest cleaning cycle was 8 minutes or that in order to clean cases thoroughly and quickly you cannot run at maximum capacity. I like the idea of sonic cleaning since it cleans the cases both in and out as well as the primer pocket. I could put up with drying cases if the unit ran at maximum capacity but will wait for now. I'm sure a future unit will come on the market that will satisfy my needs.

 

[hailstone]

I take it your using the Hornady case cleaner solution. Bought one some time ago but only recently used it. Your correct about being slow and time consuming. Don't know if you noticed the solution get fairly warm by the end of three cycles. After five cycles with the required cooling period the solution is very warm.

Hornady has already announced a larger size available after first of the year. This one has two transducers instead of one. That's the part that creates the ultra-sonic wave cleaning motion. Forget the liquid capacity but its more than double the current model. Photo I saw it looked as if the unit had a stainless steel housing, tall with mostly square corners. It was fairly tall compared too the current model.

I've noticed that if about two dozen cases size of the 6.5 Grendel are cleaned at one time with primer holes oriented towards the center that cleaning action is faster. Cleaned some old 30-06 brass and they required four or five eight minute cycles for complete cleaning. Primer pockets tend too be hardest area to clean. Some brass polishes up while other brass doesn't. Suspect it has something too do with the alloy of brass used.

Haven't tried any pistol cases yet just rifle brass. Does beautiful job of cleaning the inside of the cases.

 

[varminter]

Yes I use the hornady cleaning solution.

Yes surely did notice the amount of heat it produces. I kinda like that though because i was disappointed the unit did not come with a built in heater. I though, well I just put hot water in there and thats what I did. I noticed though it wasn't cooling down and seemed to actualy be heating up, so I tried it with cold water and sure enough it heats it up.

Two transducers I think would be perfect and I sure wish I would have heard about the new one because I would have waited for the new year. OH well. wish in one hand

To dry my brass I wash the cleaning solution off and throw them in an old food dehydrator thats been sitting in my shop. Does a great job.

 

[hailstone]

I usually rinse the cases in very hot water, shake them off and place flash holes up in a container lined with couple paper towels. Let them drain and dry then place in oven after cooking something while the oven cools down. This seems to dry any remaining moisture before being reloaded.

 

[nvshooter]

I love mine...

I have the 2.5-liter model from Harbor Freight Tools. LOVE IT! Beats my old media tumbler all to pieces. I can clean 200-some .223Rem cases in it with no problems. I can clean over 300 .45ACP cases in it. I just stir them after each cycle. Its instructions say not to run consecutive 480-second cycles, so I don't. I just set it for 380 seconds and come back to it every so often and start it again. I don't wait for it; I go off and do other things. I mixed up my own special elixir for cleaning the cases. I use Lemi-shine (available at Walmart), a squirt of dishwashing liquid, lemon juice, a touch of the powder they sell with the cleaner at HF (I have no idea what it is) and water to make two quarts. When the stuff is fresh, it will clean the cases squeaky in just a few cycles. As it gets older, it takes longer. I don't throw it out. I let it settle for days or even weeks, then siphon the clear off the sediment, recharge it with more stuff and use it again. Eventually it gets so weak it's not worth the effort. That's when I make a new batch. I am so happy with it: No longer do I have to spend eons scraping the crud out of the primer pocket. This thing cleans 'em out perfecto with minimal effort on my part. To dry the cases, I just put them in my food dehydrator for two hours or in the oven at 250 degrees for an hour or two. If I'm really in a hurry for the cases, I fry them in a thin-bottom stainless skillet over a medium flame until the poppin' and spittin' stops. I have done this many times. Out of curiosity, I inserted a hi-temp digital thermometer into one case and found they get to about 260 degrees once they become quiet in the skillet. Just stir them around as they heat and you'll do OK. Try it-- it works fabulously.

 

[unclenick]

I think the skillet temperature is the one you want to watch, as wherever your heat source hits it will be hotest. The magic number is 482°F. As long as you stay below that, you won't anneal the stuff.

I've been playing with ultrasonic cleaning, too. I have had a 2.5 gallon Branson with built in heater for 10 years or more. I've been using it at about 120°F and for about 45 minutes (it doesn't require cooling rests). I experimented with solutions and found several using the cleaner's beaker adapter to let me run more than one experiment at a time. Also found that some will interact with each other. For example, obviously, an alkaline cleaner will react with an acid cleaner to reduce the effectiveness of both. But I got some other weirder reactions. TSP reacts with ZEP orange citrus cleaner concentrate to foam then turn it all milky pink. Greased Lightning reacted to leave a kind of oily scum surface on the brass that didn't remove easily. Can't recommend that.

My last cleaning solution was just the old Frankford Arsenal 5% citric acid powder (about $3.20/lb with shipping if you buy 10 lbs) plus about a teaspoon per gallon of Dawn's clear basic formula that has no scent or other additives. That's the stuff they use to clean oil off wildlife, so I figure it's reasonably benign. A few drops of Kodak Photo-flo might have been a good alternative choice.

Primer pocket cleaning was not 100% with this, but pretty darn close. Running still longer does remove it all. I also tried pre-soaking, which didn't do much of anything that I could tell. Since the carbonates in the primer residue fizz out in the citric acid, I think I'll try a pre-soak of just the heads in a shallow pan with some baking soda solution in it. If that gets into the carbon, I thought the subsequent immersion in acid solution may make enough fizz with it to help break the carbon up.

My dad had some LC 72 cases in a bag that got wet during a basement flood. They are featured in the photos, below.

 

[ranger335v]

"This is certainly not the end all to time consuming brass cleaning. i think the unit is underpowered for what it is for."

So, all the hype gotcha, oh, well, we live and learn.

What I've learned is that the wonders of ultrasonices are best used for cleaning small mechanical things like chain saw carborators and to use a vib tumbler for cases. Fiddling/piddleing with small quanities of cases in a common weak ultrasonic cleaner is the pits. Even doubling the Hornady unit's puny power is unlikely to make a lot of difference in the required time and attention to clean a couple hundred cases.

Anyone dying to have a total absence of tiny (and harmless) residual carbon in cases needs to use a rotary tumbler with the stainless steel media in a wet solution. That type cleaner can be fulled to capacity, turned on and forgotten until it's all done.

 

[varminter]

nick, Are those cases in your picture lake city? i.e. the L C stamped on the heads? If so is that military spec? I found a few of those in my .223 batch and I wonder if they will generate higher pressures because the walls are thicker.