Beginner's Guide to Cleaning Cartridges

Post by Madmike

Thanks for this, mate!

I have the same ultarsonic cleaner and I am happy with it.

I don't have the polisher but your rounds look like new, despite the use! Is it good? How much does it cost? My carts are quite clean, but they have gotten dull now. Maybe I should get me such a tumbler ...
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"It's a hardball world, son. We've gotta keep our heads until this peace craze blows over."

Hiya MadMike,

Thank you

The tumbler cost about £70 Sterling, (about 110 Euros?) including the Polishing Medium.
I find it absolutely brilliant at polishing and it does renew old cartridges after 2 or 3 "goes" depending how tarnished they are.

Most Gun Smiths sell them, I bought mine locally.E-Bay lists them sometimes but shipping costs are high as it's relatively heavy.

Cerwyn
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Hobby collector of mainly WW2 era uniforms, headgear, field equipment and replica weapons.

Post by Claymore

great info mate i must get the tumbler been meaning to get one for ages they are advertised in gunmart for about £58 wuth media so must pick one up, in fact i will order one tomorrow seeing as how clean your rounds come out.
keep these instructions on cleaning and loading coming as i really do think that the way the rounds are loaded and cleaned has a dramatic effect on the performance of the modelgun

Post by kickback

Very informative Cerwyn,a great thread,must pick up a polisher too now....more money .


Cheers
Kickback

Thank you Claymore and you too Kickback

I know you won't be dissapointed with the Tumble Polisher, it really is a Godsend.

There's nothing stopping you putting metal detonator chambers and pins in too of course

Just make sure that as silicone and lithium grease tends to leave "wet" sooty deposits it's worth scraping as much out as you can first with the mascara brush (or similar) before UltraSonic washing and then polishing.

I forgot to mention the medium is re-usable over and over again. I've had my polisher for 18 months or so and the medium's still great.

I do hope this thread, including the Beginner's Guide to Loading will be beneficial to those newcomers to the hobby. I don't pretend to know everything (far from it) and don't want to appear like I'm trying to teach Grandma to suck eggs either!

I'm hoping that some of the real experts like you lads will add on hints and tips so we can get our modelguns firing properly

I am starting a Field Strip sequence next, what are your thoughts on something like that?
Remember the video you did for me on how to strip the MP40 Claymore? I am thinking of one like that but as a series of still photos.

Maybe it could be as informative to other newcomers as I found your help mate!

Cerwyn
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Hobby collector of mainly WW2 era uniforms, headgear, field equipment and replica weapons.

I was wondering how those with more than *cough* 9 cartridges managed the cleaning. I was hoping to find a miracle
solvent to clean mine. Even nitro solvent bore cleaner won't dissolve it. Neither will acetone.

I've been putting mine in a plastic bottle, spraying wd40 and something called Kroil, which is a penetrating oil, and is supposed to dissolve carbon deposits too.

You meantioned you had a failure on one or your PFC's recently Cerwyn, do you think from the polisher, the threads may be getting worn down? If so, you could still polish them screwed together.

The polishing medium is, I believe, made from ground up walnut husks apparently and isn't really abrasive.
It only needed a little metal polish (Brasso) adding to it when I first used it.

It is quite possible the threads might be starting to wear a little by now as they've been through the polisher more times than I can remember I think I've had the polisher about 3 years by now.

I've got over 100 of Marushin's MP40/UZI cartridges and fire most of them each session. This is the one and only cartridge I've had that's blown apart i.e. the end cap blew off the threads so I'd guess it's a rogue cartridge rather than overall wear'n'tear.
If the rest of them start popping their ends off I'll start blaming the polisher

One big advantage of polishing dismantled cartridges is that the insides get polished too. They won't come out gleaming like the outsides but it's vital that the bore's as smooth and clean as possible to let the cap or piston slide freely in there.
Polishing them screwed together wouldn't let all that walnut husk in there.

Cleaning cartridges is a slow laborious job but a least the polisher can be switched on and left to get on with it for 2-3 hours while you go and do something else