Case cleaning but in bulk?

[Swede 45]

When my old frontloading washing machine burnt out the heater element I moved it to my garage. I can run several thousands of 9mm cases at once. Since I have no water/sewer connections, I fill it with hot water manually and run the wool program. Slowly rocking motions and no spin cycle. The water stays in the machine so I can pump it out manually into a bucket for later re-use.

[whisler]

Hot water, citric acid and a splash of Dawn works great. All you need for larger batches is a larger container.

[Lloyd Smale]

ive got the big Dillon vibrator. It holds LOTS of cases. It takes a bit more time to clean then my two lyman smaller units and it isn't cheap but it does hold a lot. probably you least expensive alternative would be just to buy a second cheap franklin arsenol vibrating tumbler. I think there around 50 bucks new. there not a bad unit. I had one I used the crap out of and gave to my son in law and another that I dump 10lbs of bullet in at a time and pc coat them. Its done thousands of heavy loads like that and still runs like new.

[6bg6ga]

I use the ultrasonic cleaner and in 15 min or less my pickups from the range go from black to brass color. I rinse them and set them in the sun for a while to dry. Once they are dry if I'm looking for a high sheen I put them in the large Dillon tumbler for 1/2 -3/4 hr and they come out like new.

[lightman]

If you are really looking at tumbling large amounts of brass regularly look at an inexpensive cement mixer. But if you are just trying to get caught up tumbling your brass stash just use what you have and stay after it until you're done.

I have a "Big Dawg" tumbler with their largest PVC drum but I find that I prefer using my Thumlers drum. Last winter I organized my brass stash and spent days depriming, tumbling, drying and sorting brass. As soon as the timer shut the tumbler off I would dump it and refill it. While that batch was running I would dry, resize and sort the previous batch.

This is all for wet tumbling. I also have 2 of the larger Dillon units. I run them with corncob with a splash of mineral spirits and a cap full of liquid car polish. It takes them 12 hours to do what my wet tumbler will do in 2 hours.

[smithnframe]

I use a cement mixer from Harbor Freight!

[T_McD]

I've got a little vibratory cleaner, but I just organized all my spent brass and it is a LARGE amount...
I've got several thousands each 40s, 357s and 44 mags...
Then hundreds (or maybe low thousands) 45-70s, 308s, .223s, etc...
And about 200 tokarev cases (need to load/shoot more of this).

In my little vibratory cleaner, this is gonna take a loooong time...

Anyone have any advice for bulk cleaning?

Unless you shoot AND reload thousands of rounds a day, it will keep up fine.

[robg]

Don't put 357 mag cases in with 45-70 brass they fit inside and you can guess the rest.

[fcvan]

I do bulk, just not all at once, but fast. First, I de prime everything in a single stage as I don't like the residue getting in my press. Brass gets washed in hot soapy water and strained, but not rinsed. I size even if still damp, soap/water residue acts like lube. If lubing rifle brass I put that into a container with lid having dribbled some vegetable oil. Shake vigorously. When sizing, you need to wipe your finger over the case mouth to lube the expand-er ball.

Hot soapy water (twice if rifle cases) with lemon juice in the mix. Strain, save your mix, it will last a while. When funky, replace. My brass goes straight from strainer to tumbler while wet. My polishing media periodically gets a tblsp of Turtle Zip wash in the media. The wet brass does 2 things. 1) it wakes up the Zip wash, 2) it causes the worn media to swell and become abrasive again.

Your brass and media will be dry in an hour due to the vibration/turning over and the heat from the tubmler. The Zip wash leaves a very light wax coating in the pores of the brass which keeps the brass shiny like new for very long periods of time. I like that. While the brass is tumbling I am usually processing the next load of brass for the next hour. You can work an hour at a time or a day at a time.

My polishing media is darkly stained but still very serviceable. Every 10k pieces of brass or so, the media gets thrown in a zippered burlap bag and soaked/agitated in the sink. After a while I rinse until the water runs clear and I'm good for another 10k.

Load your ammo, store. This may not be fast enough for you, but it works for me. IF I needed to do more than I do (wife is a shooter, hard to keep up) I would get the small mixer and use sand as I have seen commercial operators use. I load by thousands, heck, I used to load 250 rounds every morning before work. YMMV

[GRid.1569]

My 25 year old Lyman 1200 shook itself to pieces a few weeks ago and I decided to splash out on the Dillon CV2001.... Oh boy I wasn’t ready for the size of that beast....

I just used to fish out the brass from the Lyman by hand but I think the next thing on my list is a media separater ��

[Conditor22]

I use a media separator when I wet tumble to remove the pins.

I built a 2 gal wet tumbler using a heavy windshield wiper motor and a computer power supply can do over 1000 pieces of 45 acp brass. Got the idea on U-Tube

[44Blam]

Well, haven't been to Harbor Freight yet, but I feel a trip coming... But I am pleased to announce that I am vibrating my way through what seemed like a TON of brass...
I don't shoot 1000s of round/day, but I do regularly shoot about 4-500 a month pretty easily... There are 3 matches I like to attend which are 75-100 rounds each and then I play with loads and like to go to the long range and pick off the little steel fall down targets.

One thing, I believe that my new contraption is gonna up my round count by at least a few hundred / month:
Attachment 247383
I've now got 5 plates ranging from 6" to 12" that are 3/8" AR500 steel... I have a feeling the 2x4's are gonna take some lead.

[gwpercle]

Put cases in a mesh laundry bag and wash with a load of shop rags or old towels .
After going through the washing cycles , put them into the dryer with the towels to dry .
Make darn sure the mesh bag(s) is/are securely tied !

Gary

[Conditor22]

Gary, you need longer chains (or better aim) to help protect the 2x4's

[44Blam]

Gary, you need longer chains (or better aim) to help protect the 2x4's

LOL, I usually miss low and left...

But I'm gonna go though 2x4s, chains and bolts for sure.