Vibratory with walnut shell.

A clean, polished case is a clean, polished case. What does "efficiency" have to do with it?

steel pins.

Time? Why, do you stand there and watch them?

Order a couple pounds of smaller ceramic media. Go to Kensley North or any rock tumbling site. It’s pretty cheap…smaller works better for me in all my brass sizes…

Tom Klinger

P.S. walnut shell is for old people with a lot of time.😂👍

oneatatime    Which is why my response is followed by a ? Or why even bother. Or time equals money Or?

SS pins, water dish soap and alcohol. Set tumbler for one hour. Consume the Gin and tonic and poof your brass is clean. I got a small VEVOR tumbler for small brass like 32-40/38-55 and smaller.

I’ve used about every method available.  I’ve settled on 3 basic methods for cleaning brass.

Most common for me is throw them in the vibratory cleaner with walnut shell.  Sure it takes several hours, but that’s why they invented those timers for Christmas tree lights.  It can tumble while I’m at work, or sleeping, or doing something fun.  With the timer I don’t have to remember to turn it off.  I don’t use walnut shell from the reloading stores.  I use lizard bedding from the pet store.   

Second most common, and more often used for extremely dirty brass, is to throw them into my homemade rotary tumbler with SS pins, water, a tablespoon of citric acid, and a squirt of Dawn.  Hour later they are clean, but the time waiting for them to dry makes this method a wash time wise when compared with walnut shell.  If the brass is really, really, really dirty, it might take a second cycle of cleaning to get rid of all the schmoo on the brass.  Just dump the water, refill, and tumble for another hour.  I’ve been using the same 10 pounds of pins for 15 or so years.  My homemade rotary tumbler will hold well over 1000 small rifle (like 5.56) or pistol cases and over 500 large rifle cases (like .45-70 or .30-06).  It’ll hold more than that, but the water gets dirtier and needs to be changed if you overload it.

Least common for me is the wipe the necks, brush the primer pocket and load again.

All 3 make functional ammo.

Pretty much everything about shooting and reloading is an inhalation hazard.  I’m not saying we shouldn’t exercise caution, but if fear of breathing dust is a problem for you, you should pick another hobby.

Not everyone is so fortunate as to have such a good and wise buddy as you....

GunBum wrote on Jan 25^th, 2025 at 10:28am:

Only time I cleaned 8.15X46R brass was after using BP. Otherwise it never got real dirty.

If you have a strong need to have your primer pockets clean then angle cut ceramic if very good and the SS pins will also clean the pockets. If you just want your cases clean inside and out and are not worried about the primer pockets then 3mm ceramic balls will work well and will as a rule not stack in your cases. 
I do also feel that no matter what media you use in wet tumbling your cases eventually you will have something stick inside. Ceramic can be a bit hard on a decaping pin. A SS pin can and will do damage to your barrel. I had my gunsmith tell me this as he had seen it in a rather expensive barrel. 
Another alternative is to use an Ultrasonic cleaner and then vibrate in coarse walnut hulls. Hot water, white vinegar and maybe some lemishine will do a very nice job of cleaning up smokeless cases. Doesn't work so great on cases fired with Black Powder.
SAm

I tend to wash my jeans more often than that to be useful, unless you leave the case in your pocket through a few cycles to get it extra clean!!

33 Winchester. Really clean. Don't think the pants pocket method would work on BP fouled cases. 

Wringer washer? Impressive.

Using your Chubby Checker moves will speed up the cleaning process.

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