Ultrasonic Cleaning Cases

SauerJohn

Active Member
Does anyone have any experience of this process? I have tried Ultrasonic cleaning using specific Cartridge Case cleaner from APL chemicals, but the cases came out tarnished and oxidised looking terrible, (they might have been clean inside but your
couldn't2016-01-19 14.46.29.jpg tell. I asked APL they sent me a different ultrasonic wash OXIDE REMOVER but that made them worse. APL then refunded me which just leaves me with a load of tarnished cases and lost time.

I see there is Hornady OneShot Ultrasonic cleaner available but expensive.
I have to believe this should be an easy simple process (ultrasonic cleaners are ony £30 and cleaning this way must be better than just tumbling. I would stump up the cash for the Hornady if I know it worked but from experience of APL i am dubious.

can anyone recommend a cleaning process for ultrasonic?
 
Try SeaClean it cleans the cases and doesn't tarnish them, just mix it up according to the side of the bottle and give the cases about 20 minutes, I then discard the really dirty solution and put in some clean and repeat the clean, at the end I save this clean solution for the first run next time.
 
I use the Hornaday one shot cleaner in my ultrasonic cleaner it works fantastic. I have however once had the cases come out as yours have. The reason was because I forgot about it and left the cases in the solution for 2 days before I remembered them. I just used the cases as normal. Don't look nice but loaded up still kill deer.
ILB
 
Hiya

I use a Citric Acid mix (food grade substance available from Chartered Chemists/Brewery Merchants) in an Ultrasonic, which over a cycle or 2 does my brass just great.
Okay - not quite like using a tumbler/media cleaner - as in shiny - but serves its purpose in providing clean brass.

L
 
Try SeaClean it cleans the cases and doesn't tarnish them, just mix it up according to the side of the bottle and give the cases about 20 minutes, I then discard the really dirty solution and put in some clean and repeat the clean, at the end I save this clean solution for the first run next time.

I use the same on all my brass.

not shinny clean but very clean, no bits getting stuck and no mess.

rinse under the tap with warm water, place on a clean stainless tray in a preheated oven for about 20 mins.

job done,

bob.,
 
I place the cases in a jar and cover cases with a 50/50 mix of water and lidl's lemonade, plus one or two drops of washing up liquid. Into ultrasonic cleaner for about 20 to 30 mins depending on initial state of cases. Usually come out bright and clean inside and out.
 
Do a search on here and the web generally...there are lots of recipes. Of the commercial ones I have heard that Seaclean and Hornady ones are good, as born out above.

The system I use is citric acid with a bit of washing up liquid, then after ten minutes or so in th U/S rinse them off in Soda Bicarbonate solution followed by a rinse in clean water. Final rinse is from a boiling kettle with the cases in a sieve, which helps them to dry rapidly. I then pop them on a foil lined baking tray and dry them off in the Rayburn oven or on top of a nightstorage heater.

I have the tank of my cleaner full of clean water and use a honey jar to hold the cases and the citric acid solution. The honey jar contains all the clag that comes off and can be allowed to settle and reused after pouring off the clean stuff and chucking the sediment. Alternatively if you chuck it all away every time it is only a jam jar full, and you do not have to clean out the U/S tank every time.

A 1lb honey jar holds twenty .308 cases and I put a a generous teaspoon of citric acid powder into hot water along with the cases. The citric works on the brass tarnish (more effectively if warm) and the U/S deals with the carbon crud in the primer pocket.

I use a teaspoonful of soda bicarbonate to a honey jar for the kill rinse solution as well.

You can get a very effective pickle with vinegar instead of citric but you have to passivate it immediately with soda bicarbonate. Otherwise it will carry on working as it dries and turn the cases brown just as yours have gone.

BillH on here uses a plastic water bottle base instead of a honey jar, it may be more transparent to the U/S vibrations.

Hope that helps.

Alan
 
Last edited:
My US cleaner hold a 100 .308 and i fill with warm water and a tablespoon of washing up liquid. I turn on the heater that heats the water to 60c and give them 30 mins. Rince in clean water and then onto a tray and into a low oven till they are dry.
 
You have not dried the cases using heat (oven or radiator ) but let them dry over time that has caused the tarnishing.
I use the Hornady solution with the extra large hornady sonic cleaner. I can do 2-300 .50bmg cases at a time.
 
Ultrasonic cleaner with citric acid and hot soapy water is the best solution that I've found. Followed up with a dip in bicarbonate soda and then throw them into the dry tumbler for 30mins to 1hr. Sparkling clean!
 
A couple of teaspoons of Bar keepers friend (available from supermarkets) and a squirt of washing up liquid works great! just make sure you rinse very thoroughly as soon as you remove them from the solution. Cheap as hell and a bottle lasts ages.
 
I've been using Lyman Turbo Sonic Case cleaning concentrated solution with distilled water in their Turbo Sonic 2500 cleaner which heats the liquid. Works very well.
CH
 
Ultrasonic cleaner with citric acid and hot soapy water is the best solution that I've found. Followed up with a dip in bicarbonate soda and then throw them into the dry tumbler for 30mins to 1hr. Sparkling clean!
+1
 
After I've had mine in the ultrasonic bath I dry em out in the airing cupboard then let em have a spin in the tumbler to polish em back up nice and shiny
 
I use the Hornady cleaner. One bottle makes about 6 gallons of cleaner. I US clean, rinse in hot water, dry in oven on a cookie sheet.~Muir
 
I've only just started down the reloading path but have had some success with case cleaning on a budget. I use an old medium format film developing tank (ideal for the job) and first clean the cases in soapy water, rinse and using a 30% solution of white vinegar to water and slosh the cases around in it, then leave for a few hours. I then add about a teaspoon of household bleach to rinse water to neutralise the vinegar, rinse with some wetting agent, towel dry and pop in the oven for an hour at about 100 degrees. Seems to work a treat, and I've now got a large batch of clean and very shiny brass waiting for me to reload.
 
Hi I use a layman sonic cleaner with distilled water and lyman cleaner stuff and I now use a ced brass dryer which seems to stop the tarnished problem then do the die work then in the tumbler good results
 
I have done lots of ultrasound cleaning, but mainly for scuba kit. I tend to be very gentle in cleaning cases in the ultra sound. It looks to me that either the acid levels were too high or the fluid did not cover the brass fully. Something has certainly gone wrong, possibly compounded by the second wash. A number of the cases look very different so have clearly had differing treatments, this is why i believe some were not fully covered.

Basically brass is reasonably cheap and the costs of getting it wrong are high, so i would ditch it and start again. I have chemicals that will clean brass in 30 seconds, but it will always weaken it, and would only use this massively diluted. I use far milder acetic acid and detergent, followed by a solvent wash to dry them.

Super shiny brass may not be the best for accuracy, and it can be made super shiny in seconds, but is so damaging is not worth it. I tend to shoot clean but not polished brass, with none of the strength removed by chemical leaching.
 
Back
Top