I tried ultrasonic for about a month 15 years ago and tossed it in the trash. To get them sparkling, wet tumble then thrown in a vibratory tumbler for 12hrs or longer with a couple drops of polish in the media.

 

Yep, corn cob and polish is the ticket. I was really hoping they'd get down in the primer pockets, but at least this will hopefully do the job for suppressor baffles.

 

About a teaspoon of dawn and a 9mm case of lemi-shine or just buy cheap citric acid. It will come out pretty damn clean. Wet tumbling with pins is better but the stuff I told you will clean great. The only thing is you may want to hit the primer pockets in not clean enough for you.

 

An ultrasonic will never get brass sparkling like you probably want. That doesn't mean it's useless, far from it. It's one of the best deep cleaners out there, especially for stuff that's a pain in the ass to disassemble, and it's a fantastic way to degrease things. And while they won't leave a silencer perfectly clean either, they'll loosen up a lot of caked on carbon fouling.

Also, don't fill the tank with solution. Fill the tank with plain old water, then put your parts in a sealed bag or jar filled with solution instead. Saves on solution and less nasty grimy crap to dump out when you get done.

Also, it helps for the solvent/water to be warm or even hot. I have a larger Vevor model that has a heater built in. It takes a while to heat up, but once at 60C it does a far more impressive job than it does at room temp.

For brass, either tumble with corncob (or walnut) or get a wet tumbler.

 

Ultrasonics definitely have their place, but for brass, especially primer pockets, they won’t match the results of a good wet tumble with pins. Like Echd said, using hot solution in a sealed jar inside the tank works better and saves cleanup.

Also, citric acid or Lemi-Shine with a drop of Dawn beats Simple Green all day. It’s not wasted money—just needs the right setup and expectations.

 

Lemi-shine is the ticket. You won't get them brand new clean but they're pretty good. I can wet tumble but dealing with the pins is a pain. If I need something fast I use the ultrasonic.

Got to use HOT water too. At least 140F.

 

after all the bragging i see people do about ultrasonic it's sad to see it doesn't hold up in practice