Stainless Steel pins for tumbling media

[Omega]

I deprime with my Lee universal deprime die, then wet tumble, then process the brass if it requires it, trim, chamfer, debur etc. When I first got my Frankfurt Arsenal Rotary Tumbler, FART, I did all my brass, and stored it in boxes until I'm ready to reload them.

Omega, do you trim after tumbling due to the pins dinging the case mouth?

I haven't noticed any dinging (see pic). I do it after because the cases are not sized yet, and they may not need to be trimmed. I have noticed a lot of brass shavings, on once fired 300 Blackout cases, (twice if you count the 5.56 shot) which means either I left shavings in the cases, or the chamfer/debur process wasn't as smooth as I thought.

Brass shavings

The cases come out much cleaner than with the vibratory method, this is after cleaning, "clean" cases using the dry method.
The left pile was done with walnut media, the right was SS pins, dawn, and lemishine.(middle cases are opposite). You can't see the primer cup on the right, but it is as clean as the bottom of the case. The primer cup on the right, as you can see, require cleaning as a separate step. I also have to inspect the cases after dry tumbling due to media getting stuck in the primer hole. I have one of those rotary media separators that, once you get the hang of it, speed, number of turns etc, separates all the SS pins out of the cases, even the bottleneck ones.

Water after cleaning the dry cleaned cases

 

[fairchaser]

I deprime with my Lee universal deprime die, then wet tumble, then process the brass if it requires it, trim, chamfer, debur etc. When I first got my Frankfurt Arsenal Rotary Tumbler, FART, I did all my brass, and stored it in boxes until I'm ready to reload them.

Omega, do you trim after tumbling due to the pins dinging the case mouth?

I haven't noticed any dinging (see pic). I do it after because the cases are not sized yet, and they may not need to be trimmed. I have noticed a lot of brass shavings, on once fired 300 Blackout cases, (twice if you count the 5.56 shot) which means either I left shavings in the cases, or the chamfer/debur process wasn't as smooth as I thought.

Brass shavings

The cases come out much cleaner than with the vibratory method, this is after cleaning, "clean" cases using the dry method.
The left pile was done with walnut media, the right was SS pins, dawn, and lemishine.(middle cases are opposite). You can't see the primer cup on the right, but it is as clean as the bottom of the case. The primer cup on the right, as you can see, require cleaning as a separate step. I also have to inspect the cases after dry tumbling due to media getting stuck in the primer hole. I have one of those rotary media separators that, once you get the hang of it, speed, number of turns etc, separates all the SS pins out of the cases, even the bottleneck ones.

Water after cleaning the dry cleaned cases

Thanks for sharing your detailed steps Omega. Those brass shavings could be where the pins are taking some off the edge of the case mouth. I'm not sure if you could see it without a microscope but they say you can feel it when you seat the bullet. If you trim after cleaning with the pins it doesn't matter however. Also when you trim and debur, there is usually some brass fillings that remain in the case. You could tumble again but that's three times. I've see some people use compressed air to blow this out. I'm just trying to reduce the steps without compromising precision. It seems like the more steps you have the more chances you have to do something inconsistently. Then you start getting wide ES numbers and you don't know why.

 

[DaveB]

I use a drywall bucket and the hose for rinsing. I have a pull down attic stair and I take my brass into the attic, turn off the gable vent fan, lay the brass on a towel in an orderly fashion.

Serious, the brass gets pretty warm.

Have also laid them on a towel on back porch so the afternoon sun drys them.

I had discoloration of my brass when I left a bunch of walnut media in a case. Dry tumbled to clean them up.

The magnet pickup tool is a requirement. FYI if you are careless with the pins and do not pick up every last one do not complain when one sticks your foot. Good news is you can see the pin through the blood really easy.

 

[fairchaser]

I use a drywall bucket and the hose for rinsing. I have a pull down attic stair and I take my brass into the attic, turn off the gable vent fan, lay the brass on a towel in an orderly fashion.

Serious, the brass gets pretty warm.

Have also laid them on a towel on back porch so the afternoon sun drys them.

I had discoloration of my brass when I left a bunch of walnut media in a case. Dry tumbled to clean them up.

The magnet pickup tool is a requirement. FYI if you are careless with the pins and do not pick up every last one do not complain when one sticks your foot. Good news is you can see the pin through the blood really easy.

I gonna try to avoid the magnet and spinning baskets. Currently when I dry tumble with the corn cob media I leave the machine on and pick each case out and hold it for a few seconds against the vibration until all the media vibrates out and place it in the loading block. This saves a mess and several steps. I plan on keeping the steel media in the drum and picking out a case at a time under a tap rinsing it back into the drum. This may seem time consuming but takes 5 minutes for 100 cases and may not work. But, magnets and buckets and baskets don't seem like much fun.

 

[Omega]

I use a drywall bucket and the hose for rinsing. I have a pull down attic stair and I take my brass into the attic, turn off the gable vent fan, lay the brass on a towel in an orderly fashion.

Serious, the brass gets pretty warm.

Have also laid them on a towel on back porch so the afternoon sun drys them.

I had discoloration of my brass when I left a bunch of walnut media in a case. Dry tumbled to clean them up.

The magnet pickup tool is a requirement. FYI if you are careless with the pins and do not pick up every last one do not complain when one sticks your foot. Good news is you can see the pin through the blood really easy.

I gonna try to avoid the magnet and spinning baskets. Currently when I dry tumble with the corn cob media I leave the machine on and pick each case out and hold it for a few seconds against the vibration until all the media vibrates out and place it in the loading block. This saves a mess and several steps. I plan on keeping the steel media in the drum and picking out a case at a time under a tap rinsing it back into the drum. This may seem time consuming but takes 5 minutes for 100 cases and may not work. But, magnets and buckets and baskets don't seem like much fun.

Don't avoid them, you will regret not getting them when you finally do. They do make wet tumbling much much easier. I got one made by/for Midsouth, but Frankfort Arsenal, Mec, RCBS etc make them as well, but pricier . The pins are heavy enough to be able to dump the water out with them still in the bucket, then I use the magnet to remove them and place on that towel. The magnet fits in the wet tumble container, to get the stray pins out too. It takes a little while to get use to, but in the end I would not go back to the old way.

https://www.midsouthshooterssupply.com/item/0003802023/double-action-rotary-sifter

https://www.midsouthshooterssupply....ia-release-magnet-(for-stainless-steel-media)

 

[DaveB]

I handle dry media tumbling same way and because I have the Lyman 1200 turbo i drain the media while picking out the brass and yep I wear hearing protection. Dry tumbling only works when you tumble prior to decap unless, like me, you pay your kids to pick the flash hole clean.

I tried it without a separator or magnet. The time spent fishing out tiny steel pins was insane. Plus ones you miss always drop on the floor and days later you will still see ANOTHER stray pin in some obvious place on the floor. Just drives you crazy.

I shoulda bought a Harbor Freight magnet, a bit less expensive and just as effective. I now have two magnets and yes I use them both.

 

[Omega]

I handle dry media tumbling same way and because I have the Lyman 1200 turbo i drain the media while picking out the brass and yep I wear hearing protection. Dry tumbling only works when you tumble prior to decap unless, like me, you pay your kids to pick the flash hole clean.

I tried it without a separator or magnet. The time spent fishing out tiny steel pins was insane. Plus ones you miss always drop on the floor and days later you will still see ANOTHER stray pin in some obvious place on the floor. Just drives you crazy.

I shoulda bought a Harbor Freight magnet, a bit less expensive and just as effective. I now have two magnets and yes I use them both.

Which HF magnet, the one with the long handle? I used one to pick the metal, nails and screws, from my burn barrel. Worked great until I didn't let the ashes get cold, what a mess. I have the one in the link above, but may get another HF one to get the strays when I'm standing up.

 

[DaveB]

I purchased the 3 inch magnet and used an eyebolt washer and nut to which i tied a length of paracord.

So how do I get the steel pins off the magnet???
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works perfect almost.

 

[MUP]

Aha! :super:

 

[Omega]

I purchased the 3 inch magnet and used an eyebolt washer and nut to which i tied a length of paracord.

So how do I get the steel pins off the magnet???
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works perfect almost.

Ah, I thought you were using this one:
https://www.harborfreight.com/long-reac ... 93950.html

I started using the HF one, before I burned it up, but the handle is much too long. I considered cutting the handle making it shorter but I came upon a deal for the blue one in the previous link so went that route.

 

[DaveB]

The handle makes it really clumsy to use so I grabbed the only other one. My choice, however, is ugly.

aside:
I have been told I am a bit clumsy. Actually just plain clumsy. I wanted to get a sifter for baking. My dearest Wife told me I would have flour all over the kitchen in less than 30 seconds. Visions of "a Christmas Story" and Ralphie flashed into my brain. I still have no sifter.
BTW my middle initial is R and yep.

 

[DaveTN]

I was going to dry tumble to knock most of the dirt off, deprime with my die and then finish tumble. But after seeing this thread, I just ordered the Lee Universal decapping die. I'm using a Hornady vibratory tumbler now, but it looks like wet tumbling is the way to go.

I won't be tumbling more than 100 cases at a time. So its looks like the Frankford Arsenal lite at $106 would work fine?

I just wish I could buy this stuff locally so I didn't have to hear the wife complaining about all the money I'm spending on it.

 

[Safari Hunt]

My tumbler uses walnut media and a few drops of a mild abrasive. After tumbling, I run the batch through a rotary strainer. A few brass have a piece of the walnut media in the primer pocket. IMO, much easier than the metal pins.
BTW, certain high grades of stainless steel are not magnetic.

 

[KPH]

Once you start useing the wet stainless pins you will never want to use anything else.

 

[fairchaser]

My final process is to decap, anneal, wet tumble using steel pins with hot water, dawn and lemishine for 20 minutes. Rinse and place brass on a food dehydrator for 20 minutes, resize, then trim debur and chamfer. That gets the brass clean including primer pockets and ready to be primed in under an hour. After 8-10 uses, I have to go with a smaller bushing in my die so that the expander will push it back to the right neck tension. I assume the necks get thinner with each use. At least that's my experience.

 

[backyardtndeer]

I deprime with a rcbs universal decapping die, then run through the fart with pins. Then resize, debur, chamfer, and then run through the fart again without pins to clear the brass of any shavings and clean off the lube.

The fa magnet and basket really are pretty reasonable and work well.