Been using a tumbler with corn cob media with good results, but I'm curious as to how much better the ultrasonic cleaners are. Please enlighten me!
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stainless tumbling media. save yourself the trouble and forget the rest.
Thank you for all the info guys! Will be looking into both options.
One last question. What are the benefits of the cleaner brass ? Is it worth the extra $300?
Not worth it. Wet tumbling is superior. Tried it both ways. WT won.
Whats not worth it? Stainless or ultrasonic?
I have both. A lyman 2500 & lyman 6000 Turbosonic & Hornady small Ultrasonic unit.
Do not buy a small ultrasonic unit. They are not worth the money. They do not come with heaters (hot water is essential for cleaning) and the time settings dont run long enough, so u constantly have to keep monitoring and starting them up over and over again.
The large ultrasonic units are where its at. They have heaters, longer timer settings (up to 30mins), more powerful inducers, etc.
As for cleaning, ultrasonic units cleans far better than a vibratory unit. Tumbling will get brass exterior shinier...much more shiny than you can with an ultrasonic unit. Primer pockets will still be dirty w a tumbler, and the interior is also not very clean.
Another advantage a big ultrasonic unit has is that it serves double duty as a firearm cleaner. Large pistols, AR uppers, AR bolts, and firearm components will all get cleaned better than you can scrub with manual means.
I have no experience with SS tumbling...it might well work better than ultrasonic cleaning, however, I would loose the advantage of being able to clean firearms and firearm components.
That said,
Monmouth,
If you read my post, i clearly indicated that i have no experience with SS tumbling.
While it may be equal to or superior to UT cleaning, it has a major disadvantage compared to UT; You can't/don't want to clean your firearm/firearm components in a SS tumbler.
That alone was huge for me...cleaning things, be it firearms, reloading components etc, and i abhor it.
Anything that saves me time is worth something.
Get the small cheapy one from harbor freight. I got mine on sale for like $20. Look for the additional coupon in various magazines. Now you have to manually hit the cycle button every 4 minutes but after 3 sessions (yes 12 minutes) you get pristine brass. The small us cleaner holds 20pcs of 308 perfectly. I only use it for my bolt guns but if you want to go anal it's the only way. Super easy. Super simple. There's a great article in 6mmbr.com if you're interested. Way less effort than lizard litter or stainless wet mess.
* speaking of bolt gun precision brass only. Not mass quantity pistol or carbine.