Stainless Tumbling Process? Save The Pins!!

[Psychbiker]

Whats your process in wet stainless tumbling so you dont lose any pins?

I think my 6" drum is 22" long. I had 10lbs of 9mm 5lbs of media. Dont know how much water I used. Tumbled for an hour.

I got screwed up how to rinse and sort and not lose pins. Think I had 3-4 buckets and it seemed chaotic. Looking to figure out a more effecient way.

Any tips?

I may make a cap that only lets water out OR a screen over a bucket that prevents the pins from coming out.

I did fill a bucket and use a sifter thing to do one rinse.

[BigBronco]

Hands and knees to pick them up.

[Henry Shooter]

I have the franklin SS cleaner. It comes with a screen that can be put I place of the cover to siv the brass water and pins When I separate the water pins and brass I use a big metal strainer and a cotton dish towel. The towel sivs the water and the pins collect in the strainer. I do this over a 5 gallon bucket.

[Guns R Tools]

Maybe dump the whole thing to 5 gal bucket and use colander/strainer to separate brass from pins.

http://smile.amazon.com/ExcelSteel-Stainless-Steel-Strainer-6-Inch/dp/B008DQ1N1S/ref=sr_1_24?ie=UTF8&qid=1427691274&sr=8-24&keywords=colander+scoop

[RookieShooter]

I use the media separator to separate brass from media. Then just use a magnet to to pick up the pins and it works like a charm.

http://www.stainlesstumblingmedia.com/reloading-products/accessories/media-separator-deluxe.html

[Psychbiker]

I already have this and this. I fill the bucket with water enough so when I spin the separator it washes most the soap off. Then I dumped then into the hand held one over a bucket. Maybe 1lb of pins leave the drum.

Just doesnt seem efficient. I think I'll get a piece of 1x2, staple screen door screen on it then a piece of 1x2 on top give it a lip so brass cant escape. Make it big enough 2x3 to fit over this black plastic tile mortar mixing tub. After I dump in the blue Frankfurt spinner to separate the pins I can dump on the screen, hose off and leave to dry. Pins that are left would stay on the screen.

[stilly]

Whats your process in wet stainless tumbling so you dont lose any pins?

I think my 6" drum is 22" long. I had 10lbs of 9mm 5lbs of media. Dont know how much water I used. Tumbled for an hour.

I got screwed up how to rinse and sort and not lose pins. Think I had 3-4 buckets and it seemed chaotic. Looking to figure out a more effecient way.

Any tips?

I may make a cap that only lets water out OR a screen over a bucket that prevents the pins from coming out.

I did fill a bucket and use a sifter thing to do one rinse.

Get an RCBS Media Separator.

http://www.amazon.com/RCBS-87076-Case-Media-Separator/dp/B000KKD1TW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1427704706&sr=8-1&keywords=rcbs+media+separator

SLOWLY POUR pins/cases into it. Close the lid, pour in water up till an inch or two past the bottom of the cage, double check the cage is closed, then close the lid, and SPIN that mofo, kinda slowly though. Do not get all krazY spinning it.

Do NOT get the Lyman. Mine broke the first night I dumped like 2k 9mm in it.

After your RCBS breaks (If it breaks like the lyman on the side where the crank rests) get one of these:

http://www.amazon.com/Sterilite-18848012-through-Aquarium-Latches/dp/B001RCUNAM/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1427704796&sr=8-4&keywords=sterilite+11+QT

I thought mine was an 11 QT but I could be wrong, You will then need to put your cage on top, SLOWLY pour in the brass/pins into the cage and then close it, then SLOWLY rotate it on top back and forth AFTER you have added enough water to cover the bottom inch or two of the cage.

OR

You can get one of these: http://www.dillonprecision.com/conte...edia_Separator

I have the large one and I will say, Dillon did a great job with them. They are certainly durable. The Large one will give you plenty of room to wash a baby while you rotate the cage with the pins. Just remember to ALWAYS have water that goes up past an inch or two of your cage.


The problem with the FA blue thingy that is pictured in the thread is that it is meant to rotate back and forth and that is a LOT of water that you gotta use to fill up the bucket to make it go past the bottom of that thing. Also, the shells will tend to stand up and case mouths up, not down and then with the pins inside, you will have a lot of pins looking up at you, but they will remain in the cases until you agitate them hard enough, or pluck them out and turn them manually.

The spinning thingy will work, but that IS a lot of water and you gotta go slow. If you went fast, the thing would spin the pins out and you would have more than a few jumping all over.

I might get my Dillon out and take it for a spin since I am doing a huge .45 acp case cleaning right now. Even as I type this I have about 12 lbs of brass with 3 lbs of pins and 8 lbs of water turning in my thumler on a 2 hour timer with my HF dehydrator drying the first batch that I plucked out earlier tonight. I think I have two more batches to go, I decapped half a 5 gal bucket so that I can load up all of those .45 pills that I made.


Edit
This morning I nearly crapped myself when I just poured the shells and the pins into the dillon and I did NOT feel like putting in water, so I spun it and spun it and it was LOUD but damn, all of those pins actually made it out with NO extra water needed. I was able to spin fast too after a while, I mean, not TRY to spin fast, but not very slow, maybe about 100 rpm or so and after about 30 seconds of not seeing any pins fall down, I stopped and opened it up. I found a total of THREE pins inside. one was between the cage halves so I guess it got jammed there when I closed it, one was on the far left bottom of the cage, but I bet it fell there when I opened it up after opening it (because I heard a pin roll or two when I opened the cage) and the final one was at the opposite end on the bottom up against the plastic.

I have no beef with the Dillon media seperator. They did good by even putting the pin on the end so that you can move the cage over and it will lock in in place so it does not rotate while you put in pins/cases or pull them out.

For doing this task I am giving the large one a 9/10. Of course this was also on .45 acp.

['ol shooter]

I pour my brass and pins into a plastic basin, drain and flush a few times, then dump the water, brass and pins into my RCBS separator, and give them a good spin. Usually have a few pins stick, which are easy to find after drying. I use Stilly's bigger pins, and they will stick to a magnet, so are easy to get off the floor if you drop them.

[Aim]

Same as above, but after rinsing, i just grab all the brass by hand and put it into a plastic bucket with a 1" x 1/2" rare earth magnet in the bottom. Shake it a few times and all the pins will be on the magnet. Any left in the brass will stick to the magnet thru the brass are easy remove.

[Spyder]

You guys know we're in a drought, right?

[Brewtality]

You guys know we're in a drought, right?

So......?

[htuong95]

Do it in a bath tub with a drain strainer. You will not lose a single pin.

[Psychbiker]

You guys know we're in a drought, right?

My objective is to use least amount of water possible.

[SonofWWIIDI]

Get a set of these:



And the .380 addition plate.



Everything smaller than a .380 will flow through into a holding bucket. Then you can sort the brass without worrying about the pins.

Drain the pins and put them back in the tumbler.

I haven't yet begun tumbling brass, but the sorter is great.

[GW]

We have a winner!! ^^^^^