Stainless steel pins

[gaboon]

Update I ran the tumbler with just the pins for 4hrs and cleaned them. Ran the brass in it and they came up perfect.

 

[Dusty Stevens]

Good deal. Thats the way i always have it happen

 

[Hummer]

Thumlers Tumbler Mod B
brass and pins should fill no more than 60% of the volume of the drum, 50% even better.
Add 1 oz of Dawn if you like, I like Ivory better. If cases are real scuzzy, like they have been shot a dozen times and let sit up a long time go for 2oz of soap.
Add 1 9MM case or 40 S&W case of Lemishine
Fill with hot tap water almost to top of drum.
Tumble Three hours. Stop tumbler, feel water between fingers, if it doesn't feel slick your soap has broken down. Feel water for slipperyness before you start to tumble so you will know the feel. If it is not as slippery when you finish your soap wore out.

Remove cases from drum immediately! ! ! Otherwise the floating carbon will re=adhere to the cases inside and out.
Pour off black water and cases into 12 qt pan, remove cases from the black water mouth down so pins will fall out.
Place cases in second 12 qt dish pan of clean water with a 9MM case full of lemishine in it.
Pour out black water through fine mesh screen so you won't lose media.
Agitate clean cases and remove them mouth down again. You will probably see pins some out.
Lay out cases on black towel in summer time and let sun dry them or place them in swim suit netted back and place over heat outlet in winter.

After a match clean your bass asap as the longer the carbon sits up in them the harder they are to clean and the longer the tumble time. The faster you get the cases in the tumbler the shorter the tumble time.

Even better if you go to a match take a Lee hand tool and decapper. Punch your primers out and dump them in gallon jug with water and dish detergent and let them soak on the way home.

Keep a pair of needle nose pliers in case you get a pin stuck sideways in neck.

Place three drops of Mobil 1 synthetic motor oil in holes on each end of motor before each tumble. You should never have a motor go down lubed with Mobil 1 synthetic.

I generally size my case with no expander prior to tumbling and let the soap remove the case lube.

 

[Dusty Stevens]

When i didnt have lemishine i used some real lemon from the fridge. Maybe a spoon full. It made the cases as shiny and may last longer than lemishine.

 

[chkunz]

Thumlers Tumbler Mod B
brass and pins should fill no more than 60% of the volume of the drum, 50% even better.
Add 1 oz of Dawn if you like, I like Ivory better. If cases are real scuzzy, like they have been shot a dozen times and let sit up a long time go for 2oz of soap.
Add 1 9MM case or 40 S&W case of Lemishine
Fill with hot tap water almost to top of drum.
Tumble Three hours. Stop tumbler, feel water between fingers, if it doesn't feel slick your soap has broken down. Feel water for slipperyness before you start to tumble so you will know the feel. If it is not as slippery when you finish your soap wore out.

Remove cases from drum immediately! ! ! Otherwise the floating carbon will re=adhere to the cases inside and out.
Pour off black water and cases into 12 qt pan, remove cases from the black water mouth down so pins will fall out.
Place cases in second 12 qt dish pan of clean water with a 9MM case full of lemishine in it.
Pour out black water through fine mesh screen so you won't lose media.
Agitate clean cases and remove them mouth down again. You will probably see pins some out.
Lay out cases on black towel in summer time and let sun dry them or place them in swim suit netted back and place over heat outlet in winter.

After a match clean your bass asap as the longer the carbon sits up in them the harder they are to clean and the longer the tumble time. The faster you get the cases in the tumbler the shorter the tumble time.

Even better if you go to a match take a Lee hand tool and decapper. Punch your primers out and dump them in gallon jug with water and dish detergent and let them soak on the way home.

Keep a pair of needle nose pliers in case you get a pin stuck sideways in neck.

Place three drops of Mobil 1 synthetic motor oil in holes on each end of motor before each tumble. You should never have a motor go down lubed with Mobil 1 synthetic.

I generally size my case with no expander prior to tumbling and let the soap remove the case lube.

Hummer, your procedure is very detailed and works for you but I get good results with a much simpler approach. I have used the model B since 1972 when tumblers were tumblers, not vibrators. I have tried almost every conceivable combination that has been published and some that I made up. My procedure has evolved to something very simple. For ~200 pieces of brass, cover with water and add a couple ounces of Simple Green. Pins are not needed and add complications. Tumble for two hours and flush with water, then dry in oven at low heat for 30 minutes. Done. This works whether the brass has been fired one hour ago or one year ago. More simple Green or more time turns the brass a funkey green but that is cosmetic only.

 

[Hummer]

Interesting, never heard of using that. I laid in about 30 bottles of Ivory Dish Detergent when I first started so I guess I am committed.

 

[Dusty Stevens]

Use a squirt of real lemon in there with the soap. The soap is the surfactant to clean and real lemon is citric acid for shine

 

[David Christian]

Could use some help here. I just tumbled using STM for the first time. Brass looks great, but 40% of the cases have a pin stuck in them. I assume I need to get smaller media? Who sells it? Thanks

 

[Bob L.]

Could use some help here. I just tumbled using STM for the first time. Brass looks great, but 40% of the cases have a pin stuck in them. I assume I need to get smaller media? Who sells it? Thanks

Before you buy new pins, throw the pins which have gotten stuck away and run the next batch of brass. I found that, after a couple of cycles that way, my problems with stuck pins virtually disappeared. I think the culprits were just a relatively few longer pins. I don't think the cutting process is that precise so there were some outliers.
I was cleaning 6 BRX brass.

 

[jepp2]

but 40% of the cases have a pin stuck in them

Were they caught in the case neck or flash hole?

 

[CT10ring]

great info here, thanks. I'm using a STM tumbler this weekend. 1st time.

 

[David Christian]

Were they caught in the case neck or flash hole?

If you can see in my original picture, the pins were stuck in the necks. Thanks

 

[jepp2]

the pins were stuck in the necks

Didn't look at the picture close enough. I also have the STM system. I occasionally get a few pins stuck in the case necks only on 25 caliber. Doesn't happen on any other neck size.

 

[Linko]

Like many things there are all kinds of variants the way people do things. (Leads to great ideas).

My process is:

Load up tumbler with water, 2 table spoons Dawn, tumble 10 min and dump water rinse the brass and pins in the tumbler.

This gets most of the carbon stuff out.
Then I and reload with 1 Tbs Lemi and 2 Dawn. Tumble almost hr.
Next into the separator (Frankford)
I have a prospector sifter that i dump the brass in after separating and rinse one last time
Into Towel for a few seconds before the dryer (Frankford)

 

[mac86951]

Just to toss another data point out there. I had some real greasy brass lately, and the dawn / lemi-shine wasn't helping. Ran it with a batch of 4:1 water and simple green. All better now!

 

[suasponte]

Unless you want the primer pockets clean and the inside of the cases shiny like new the pins are not needed. Toss your brass in your tumbler with dawn and some lemishine and they will come out looking like new, and you don't have to spend a bunch of time separating the pins from the brass.
Terry

 

[Lone Hunter]

Didn't look at the picture close enough. I also have the STM system. I occasionally get a few pins stuck in the case necks only on 25 caliber. Doesn't happen on any other neck size.

Happens to me on 6.5 Grendel cases.

 

[jepp2]

Happens to me on 6.5 Grendel cases.

That is a bullet diameter I don't load for right now. In the 25 cal necks they are at an angle, so in a larger case neck they look perpendicular to the opening. Looking at the picture, a lot catch.

 

[Bob L.]

That is a bullet diameter I don't load for right now. In the 25 cal necks they are at an angle, so in a larger case neck they look perpendicular to the opening. Looking at the picture, a lot catch.

The pins I use have a nominal length of 0.255". With manufacturing variation and the position of the pin in the neck, I think those of us who use them in 6mm, 25 cal. and 6.5mm are going to have them stick periodically.
After several years of throwing pins out which have gotten stuck, I had one stick in one case out of the 66 I was cleaning yesterday. I have gotten into the habit of inspecting each case after cleaning. I use an AMP annealer as the next step and a pin falling into it would be catastrophic and expensive.
I will continue to use the pins, but others may not feel the extra inspection is worth it.

 

[Webster]

My first attempt at wet tumbling. I checked the brass after 1hr and it looked terrible. It had a black flim on the brass that felt greasy. I wipe it off. It did not shine any of it. I used 1/4 teaspoon of lemi shine booster and a couple drops of dawn in hot water. The brass that came out of the corn cob looked better. Am I doing something wrong

I have a small harbor Freight tumbler and use a lot more L

My first attempt at wet tumbling. I checked the brass after 1hr and it looked terrible. It had a black flim on the brass that felt greasy. I wipe it off. It did not shine any of it. I used 1/4 teaspoon of lemi shine booster and a couple drops of dawn in hot water. The brass that came out of the corn cob looked better. Am I doing something wrong

I use a lot more LemiShine and Dawn than some on this website? I don't know if there is too much. Now I eyeball from the container. Small Harbor Freight tumber. My questimate: heaping tsp. of LemiShine 2-3 table spoons of Dawn. Works great.