Ooops, in a good way.

[1shot]

I getting all my brass prepped for the BSWN an normally I use my US cleaner, but decided to gussy the brass up and run them through my rotary tumbler with the steel pins. I have drifted away from using the ss pin method because it's a PITA and time consuming. Even though the US cleaner gets them just as clean, they always look dull. Sorry, I digress.
So, I throw about 100 pieces of brass in the rotary, add a squirt of dawn and a shake or two of lemi shine, fill with warm water and seal it up. I run it for 90 min. while doing other stuff and return. All of a sudden it occurs to me, I forgot to include the pins!! Well, I say to myself, that 90 min. wasted you will never get back! Darn sometimers syndrome!
Much to my surprise, when I open up the tumbler this is what I find. In the photos with two cases, one was tumbled using the ss pins, the other was not, you decide.
Heck, maybe I'm on to something.

Lloyd

 

[JFrank]

Those are beautiful, Dawn is’ good for cleaning baby Ducks why not brass....

 

[rwj]

I’ll venture a vote that the cases with residue in the primer pockets and carbon in the case necks were cleaned without pins. Right or wrong, they both look great!

 

[1shot]

I’ll give you guys the correct answer tonight.

 

[JimSC]

interesting, I like the bit of residue left in the case necks. Past few months I have been using the rotary as a dry tumbler to avoid pins after finding one in a fully prepped case that I was getting ready to put powder into

 

[Lefty Trigger]

I got tired of trying to dig pins out of the necks on 6.5 brass and gave up and went with a sonic cleaner. However I never tried it without the pins, maybe you are onto something??
BTW I think the one with no pins is on the left side based on the inside of the necks.

 

[DDRH65PRC]

interesting, I like the bit of residue left in the case necks. Past few months I have been using the rotary as a dry tumbler to avoid pins after finding one in a fully prepped case that I was getting ready to put powder into

This is one reason why I've stopped using steel pins. Don't want one of those bouncing around my bore if accidently still left in the case. Shiny brass is nice but I'm ok with some carbon left over in the primer pocket area and inside the neck. Inside the neck carbon acts as a dry lube and will help with easier seating.

 

[Cryhavoc]

Interesting....I'll have to try it without the SS pins too....even though I'm extra, extra careful when getting all the pins out of the cases, I always worry one might get missed and short out my AMP annealer….(knock on wood)…..

 

[dsculley]

If you want pretty brass without tumbling in the pins, get the case holder for the Lee case trimmer, some Flitz metal polish and a microfiber cloth. Chuck the case holder in a drill, spin the brass and polish the microfiber cloth & Flitz. Actually, the microfiber cloth alone does a good job. Yes, it takes some time but not that much.

I stopped cleaning brass long ago and it doesn't seem to make a difference. I just wipe them clean. If I do want the brass to look good for some reason I use the above method.

 

[Texas10]

I gave up on pins, and went to SS chips from SleepingGiant brass. No more pins stuck sideways in my brass.

Much better cleaning than just Lemi Shine and soap ( I used ultrasonic method) and am still trying to figure out if very clean, annealed brass is better than unannealed dirty neck brass, or if Salt Bath annealing and leaving necks dirty is the ticket.

You never know, what you don't know, ya know?

 

[TAJ45]

I'll take a shot at it.

Top pic, right case that is closest to web of your hand was without pinz. Why? Dings around case edge. Looks pummeled to me.

Head of class or dunce cap? I gotsda know.

 

[Jdne5b]

I hate separating pins, and hate drying brass. At least your new method takes care of one of those issues.

 

[1shot]

Ok shooters, I know the suspense is killin' ya.
The case on the left was cleaned in the Dawn/Lemishine solution only. The one on the right, closest to the web of my hand was cleaned with the same solution and the pins.
Several of you made very valid points to consider. I have come up with a system that gets the pins out 99.9% of the time, but I always fear one of them will be heading down the barrel a warp speed.
An added advantage that I see, is that tumbling in the solution only doesn't result in peened case mouths like I see when using the pins.
In regards to the inside of the necks being "to clean". That is the primary reason I shoot coated bullets. The other advantages, are just a side benefit to me.
As for drying the brass, I have an OLD food dehydrator that I think Moses owned to dry my cases. After I rinse my brass, I just dump them on several of the screen trays, turn it up on high and let it run overnight.
Thanks for some valuable comments,

Lloyd

 

[D-4297]

Been cleaning my brass with Dawn , Lemme-shine and warm water in a rotary tumbler for about a year now . No pins . Rinse with HOT tap water . Roll out on towel , and blow out the inside with air line . Yup ; It comes out just like Lloyd's pictures every time . Does leave a bit of residue in the necks , and after a week or so , it may "dull down" the shiny a bit . I do wipe the neck on the outside with L.A. Awesome on a rag to get any heavy blow-back off before tumbling . Great post , and pictures Lloyd .

 

[Zero333]

5,000 cases of 9mmPara in a pillow case and into the washing machine. Come out brand new !
But don't dare do it when the Lady of the house is home, and don't be tempted to tell her. You will regret it !

 

[fayettefatts]

A little more labor intensive, but works great. Wet a rag, or better yet a wad of 0000 steel wool, with Ballistol. Wipe/spin cases to clean the outside. Then soak in citric acid diluted with water. You can watch the cases change color in seconds without agitation. Follow with clean water rinse. I assume Lemme-shine contains citric acid.

 

[TripleS]

I have been rotary tumbling without pins for a long time. Although I have extremely hard (well) water I get great results using he Frankford Arsenal case cleaner solution. I'll run not less than 2 batches of brass through without changing the solution. Most times I'll run brass through the same solution till I see poor results. To dry the brass I throw it in a zippered pillow protector and tie the zipper end so it doesn't open, a second pillow protector is insurance the brass don't get away. (Mainstays from Wal-Mart sell them in a 2 pack) and toss them in the dryer with a few old bath towels for about 20 minutes or so gets them dry. I have not had any loss of shine since doing it this way.

When I was using the pins at first I thought this is a pain in the but getting the pins out of the cases. I learned that using a media separator in water removes 100% of the pins every time and rinses the cases real well in the process. The cases must mostly submerged in the water. I used the magnet to pick the pins out of the rinse water and drop them right back in the tumbler.

 

[jonbearman]

I use the pins religiously and to separate I use my Dillon separater and fill the box almost to the top with hot water and turn slowly until most of the pins drop and then speed up the turning till I feel they are in the water. Without water the pins tend to land everywhere. Then I dry with a hair dryer, takes like maybe10- 15 minutes. The reason I use pins is if junk gets in there like clay or something from being dropped on the ground, the pins take care of that. It also removes all the carbon inside as well especially if you want to inspect cases for head separation etc. I don't tumble everytime I shoot. Just when they look crummy.