Anyone use Stainless Steel Pellet/Pins media for cleaning brass?

[amlevin]

I do not know what that would have done to the load but I do know it would have had an effect.

Most definitely an effect on the spider. 8)



On using the stainless media, one thing to be particularly careful about is to remove the brass as soon as the tumbling process is complete. I use an old RCBS Sidewinder (purchased back when they were affordable) and left it once overnight after the timer shut off. When rinsing the brass it looked like it was coated with something cleaned out of a sink p-trap. When the pins/brass/detergent/water mix sit too long, the detergent looses it's ability to hold the crud in suspension. It then drops out and forms something like a "Bathtub Ring" except it's everywhere on the cases. Be sure and rinse immediately after the tumbler is turned off. Don't wait more than a half hour or so or you'll be re-cleaning your brass.

 

[markm87]

Yeah... I left brass in the rinse water overnight once. Looked splotchy and terrible.

 

[Halimar]

Another important advantage of using a wet wash and SS media has nothing to do with reloading: It eliminates airborne lead dust produced by a vibratory case cleaner running dry media. Lead dust is particularly dangerous to small children. No amount of exposure is okay for small children. This is because a membrane begins forming around the brain by sometime in the early teen years. When fully formed it provides a fairly high level of protection from brain damage due to lead poisoning. In the meantime, you run the risk of the heavy metal becoming lodged in brain cells.

Lead dust can not only be inhaled, but when the dust settles it can be picked up by your clothes and shoe soles. Obviously, no one should every tumble brass anywhere in the living area of a house, but the safest place to dry-vibe is outdoors - away from high traffic areas. If you get lead dust on your clothing I've heard there is some risk of small amounts being transferred to others' clothing in the laundry, although that has always seemed a bit counter-intuitive to me. However, If you pick it up on the soles of your shoes, you will almost certainly track it through the house.

spclark - What brand of liquid laundry detergent, or I wonder if it matters?

Hal

 

[audredger]

I've been using SS media for about 6 months now and am very pleased.

Do you guys wash after resizing or use untreated walnut or corncob to remove the lube?

Mike

 

[jlow]

Been using it for about a year now. I have tried both SS media and regular media to remove the lube from resizing. I find that I actually like the traditional media method better.

One disadvantage of using the SS media method is that it actually cleans the brass so well that it can cause problems with pistol FLR and primer insertion into the pocket. It appears that the traditional media leaves a very fine dust layer on the brass that can act as a lubricant to facilitate the above steps.

 

[JThorsby]

I use it. My long range loads are more consistent. When loading pistol it is easy to see into each casing at a glance to ensure everything is correct. This is handy with rifle brass also. I had setup to load some rifle (308 win) and I primed all the casings and then looked in them. One had a spider in it. Just out of curiosity I put a powder charge on it and while it was more full it was not so full that I would have noticed. I then dumped the powder and the spider ran for the hills. I do not know what that would have done to the load but I do know it would have had an effect.

It may not have been a target quality load, probably wouldn't have made a difference. It would have been over so fast that even the spider wouldn't have noticed.

 

[ColWhitecakes]

Maybe it's a far-fetched thought; but, will tumbling around in the SS media not work-harden the brass? I understand that it tumbles around on itsself even if there was NO media, but as the SS is much harder...

 

[NCFrank]

Gave Pellets LLC a call Friday, 5/4/12, spoke with Cathy and she informed they now have a 25 pound minimum, that's the .041x.255. Price from them is $150 plus USPS shipping $16 in the Fit it Ships Box. There are just a few distributors for them and they may do differently. Can still order directly from Pellets.

 

[jlow]

Maybe it's a far-fetched thought; but, will tumbling around in the SS media not work-harden the brass? I understand that it tumbles around on itsself even if there was NO media, but as the SS is much harder...

That is an age old question that always gets asked. The answer is no. Do a search on the gun webs to get the detailed answer.

 

[Hopkins]

Check with Buffalo Arms for SS media.

 

[amlevin]

Maybe it's a far-fetched thought; but, will tumbling around in the SS media not work-harden the brass? I understand that it tumbles around on itsself even if there was NO media, but as the SS is much harder...

That is an age old question that always gets asked. The answer is no. Do a search on the gun webs to get the detailed answer.

Stainless steel pins weigh about .5 gr +/-. Not heavy enough to "work" the brass. You will get more "work hardening" from just tumbling the brass and by no means will it be enough to even be noticed.

 

[ColWhitecakes]

Maybe it's a far-fetched thought; but, will tumbling around in the SS media not work-harden the brass? I understand that it tumbles around on itsself even if there was NO media, but as the SS is much harder...

That is an age old question that always gets asked. The answer is no. Do a search on the gun webs to get the detailed answer.

Stainless steel pins weigh about .5 gr +/-. Not heavy enough to "work" the brass. You will get more "work hardening" from just tumbling the brass and by no means will it be enough to even be noticed.

Thanks for the info