SS Pin Separation ?

[tred1956]

Probably been asked before but I can't find it if it has. When it comes time to separate the pins from the brass. After all (well most) of the water has been poured off, would it be possible to pour SS pins and brass in a vibratory cleaner with the auto separate feature. Then to pull the plug and let the vibratory cleaner finish the process? Just a thought. Has anyone ever tried this. Would appreciate all input. Not looking for an easier way just want to know if this works.

Thanks in advance
Doug

 

[dsandfort]

I use a Dillon (small) media separator. The tub fits perfectly in my shop sink. I put a drain with plug on the low side of the tub. This way I can tumble the pins out and rinse the brass at the same time. When the brass is rinsed, I throw a few 4x4" squares of towel in the bin and tumble the brass about 30 seconds. It comes out almost dry.

 

[Jammer Six]

Oh, I'm going to try the towel thing. That's a great idea, thanks!

I dump the pins onto a colander that I made myself, rinse them with the brass, and use the colander to do 99% of the separation, and finish with magnets.

 

[Sniper338]

I pull mine out by hand and shake them to make sure the pins all come out. In smaller rifle cases they tend to get stuck. I probably need some shorter pins. Then i rinse my brass in a cullander.

I need a better way to separate...

 

[Joe R]

Here's the way I do it.

 

[msinc]

Thanks Joe R for posting an excellent video. Most home made videos are shaking so bad you cant even watch the thing, let alone hear/understand what the person is saying.
There is a thread on page 3 about this same topic. I have always just grabbed a handful of cases and shook them mouth down under water and the pins fall right out. Then look them over real good for any retained pins. Usually I get a few doubled in the flash hole. It seems like everyone either is looking for or is trying to do some kind of ultra fast automatic way to get the pins out of the cleaned brass....I have to ask, how many cases are you guys tumbling in these pins at a time???? Because for only a couple hundred cases I am pretty sure just shaking them out by hand and a simple rinse is way quicker than all this rinsing and spinning and transferring and shaking back and forth. None of the methods I have read about or seen so far allow you to delete the most time consuming part of sts cleaning...the visual inspection of every single case for retained pins. It doesn't matter how many times you collectively take all the cases at once and rinse, shake, spin, rinse again, partially dry, spin some more, oven dry, shake up again....unless you do a visual on every single case it is not a matter of "if" you mess up a barrel...it's a matter of when.

 

[dsandfort]

Well, I've never had pins in a flash hole. I do get them lodged sideways in small brass (hornet-based). I clean a lot of de-primed brass in pins. About 3,000 last week alone, usually in batches of 300-400 depending on size. Each piece eventually gets inspected as it goes on the annealer, gets primed, chamfered, deburred, trimmed, as needed. Not only looking for SS pins but neck splits, web separation, etc.
I'm just glad there are multiple ways to accomplish the desired result.

 

[Joe R]

T....I have to ask, how many cases are you guys tumbling in these pins at a time????

I do 100-200 cases at the time, but as the video states, I have ten pounds of pins. I could probably do more but the benefit seems minimal. Pins getting stuck in the flash hole happen occasionally, once every couple of batches. If I were starting fresh I would probably by the skinnier pins, but the problem happens s so infrequently that I can't justify throwing away perfectly good pins.

Kindest regards,

Joe

 

[jlow]

I do 100-200 cases at the time, but as the video states, I have ten pounds of pins. I could probably do more but the benefit seems minimal. Pins getting stuck in the flash hole happen occasionally, once every couple of batches. If I were starting fresh I would probably by the skinnier pins, but the problem happens s so infrequently that I can't justify throwing away perfectly good pins.

Kindest regards,

Joe

It really depends on whether you are talking about pistol case or rifle.

For rinsing out the dirty soapy water, I made this setup to use with the Thumbler tumbler so that I can rinse and pour out the dirty water without losing any pins.



To separate pins from brass, with pistol, the media separator with 3-4 inch of water on the bottom, tumble over the water and most pins are out. Some will get stuck in the primer pocket from the inside most of which will come out if you take the separator off and shake it real hard.

Rifle brass is more difficult. I do the hold 5 case neck down and shake them under water to get the pins out. Pins in both the primer pocket and necks (6.5mm) are possible and so you need to inspect. Remember anything left in the case has a good chance of going down the barrel. If it stays there, it will be grounded in by the next bullet. I have seen photos of barrels with pins embedded in it. NOT something that you want to happen with an expensive barrel.

 

[msinc]

I had a guy tell me that I should have gotten pins that were thicker...that way two could not get lodged at the same time in a flash hole. Makes sense and I agree, but I don't know where to get these "thicker" pins.
It's a strange thing to me...I mostly shoot a lot of either LC 223 cases or LC LR that I have sized down to 7mm-08 and 260. Point being almost all the flash holes are the same. I sometimes go four or five cleanings before I have any pins stuck or even retained in some strange way. Then, next 10 times I will find them.
That screen thing is a good idea, I just hold a pretty powerful little magnet near the edge the water is spillin over and it grabs any that get close to running over.

 

[jlow]

I used to pour the dirty water out. What I found is you can only tip the drum so much before the stuff come cascading out, so quite a bit of dirty water stays in for the next rinse.

I invented this a few years ago... The nice thing about the screen is you can literally turn that drum upside down and get rid of the water and you don’t lose any pins. In fact, when I first start rinse, I actually pour the dirty water out , tip the drum and spray clean water into the back and let it wash the gunky water inside out. Works great both for rinsing your brass and also to get rid of residual water in the drum when you are all done with the tumbler.

BTW, I found that strong magnets can in fact magnetize the pins… I did not think it could happen but I was wrong.

 

[Jammer Six]

I have seen photos of barrels with pins embedded in it. NOT something that you want to happen with an expensive barrel.

I inspect every piece of brass after cleaning. Inspection has always been part of my reloading routine; I don't understand how pins made it into the barrel.

I know of folks that reload without inspection, but I don't shoot near them.

 

[jlow]

I inspect every piece of brass after cleaning. Inspection has always been part of my reloading routine; I don't understand how pins made it into the barrel.

I know of folks that reload without inspection, but I don't shoot near them.

One of my last steps in the SS cleaning process is to blow the brass out with an air compressor and the truth is despite pretty careful draining of the brass underwater of pins, I have seen pins come flying out. I think it is because a few can be stuck to the primer hole, or due to water surface tension, and of course if you do a lot of cases and you are tired….. This is why I take that last step.

Never heard any KB due to pins in the barrel but damaging the barrel I have actually seen a borscope image of a barrel with a pin meshed into it. So that is not "urban legend"....

 

[Jammer Six]

I'm not doubting that it happened; I know reloaders who have practices that would make you cringe.

I hadn't thought of compressed air, I'll have to give that a try! It's another step, but I bet it goes pretty fast.

 

[jlow]

I'm not doubting that it happened; I know reloaders who have practices that would make you cringe.

I hadn't thought of compressed air, I'll have to give that a try! It's another step, but I bet it goes pretty fast.

The nice thing about compress air is of course it removes just about 100% of the water inside, so making drying much faster.

 

[Jammer Six]

You blast through the flash hole?

 

[jlow]

No, largest opening is the neck, blast in and water will come out of both the neck and primer hole.

Just 1/2 second blast is more than enough.

 

[Jammer Six]

Do you filter your air for moisture? (I have a filter around here somewhere, but the last time I ran air equipment was a roof.)

 

[jlow]

Filtered for water and oil.