Interesting experience with my 1911 and hand loads today.

[1badlvn]

So a little bit of background I have been reloading 45 ACP For quite some time now. In about four to 5000 reloads I've had 1 squib load which I noticed immediately , but today something extraordinary happened. I was at Angeles shooting range shooting my Kimber 1911. I shot the first 20 rounds with maybe two or three rounds failing to seat on battery. I blamed it as a bad batch or not enough crimp but it would be unusual because I always use a case gauge. Anyway on my 21st round I heard the shot go off and I felt the recoil. The only difference was I had a failure to eject this time. So I just followed protocol and rack the slide but this time my handgun was completely locked up. There were no noticable problems. After I brought it home and used a hammer to hit the slide forward and back to disassembly it I saw a stainless tumbling pin dented stuck in the area between the feed ramp and the barrel. I'm so happy to see me handgun is ok but I take this as a lesson learned. I will always check for pins stuck in the cases when I wet tumble. Has this happened to anyone before and what's the worst that can happen if you leave the a pin in the cases upon firing. Sorry for the long post

[Michael in California]

How did a pin get there if accidentally left in a case? You might look at different scenarios.

[Johnny6gun]

Tumble without the pins, tumble your 45acp with a few 9mm cases. The 9mm cases fit inside the 45 cases and clean the inside. You don't have to check every case for stuck pins, just remove the few 9mm cases and reuse them. I use dish soap and juice from a lemon.

[1badlvn]

How did a pin get there if accidentally left in a case? You might look at different scenarios.

That's what I cant figure out either but it was dented and stuck in between the gap where the barrel and feed ramp meet. Had to hammer at my slide to get it to move.

I don;t reload any 9mm yet but that sounds like a good idea once I start thanks!

[Win231]

I've heard of those steel pins used as media but I've never known what the advantage is. I use corncob media with some "Berry's Brass Bright" & the cases come out like gold after 90 minutes. I do have to check the primer pocket for stuck corncob bits & use a toothpick to poke them out on a few cases out of every batch.

[boomer135]

I'd like to see those pictures. I take it the "Gold" is just the exterior and not the inside of the case.

I've heard of those steel pins used as media but I've never known what the advantage is. I use corncob media with some "Berry's Brass Bright" & the cases come out like gold after 90 minutes. I do have to check the primer pocket for stuck corncob bits & use a toothpick to poke them out on a few cases out of every batch.

['ol shooter]

Glad nothing bad occurred. I switched from the skinny little pins to the bigger ones that Stilly sells long ago. Much happier with cleaning, and separation of pins and cases during the spin cycle. No way would one of those ever find its way into the gun, they are simply too big. Nertz on washing .45 cases with 9mm, I like the primer pockets clean, and not about to sit and separate several hundred cases from one another after a trip through the Thumbler.

[Eljay]

Weird. It is good to check your brass before loading - there are various tricks to speed that up - and if you size or deprime before tumbling it's good to make sure you're running at least a universal deprimer in station one during loading because if you have something stuck in the flash hole it'll detect that.

[Eljay]

I've heard of those steel pins used as media but I've never known what the advantage is. I use corncob media with some "Berry's Brass Bright" & the cases come out like gold after 90 minutes. I do have to check the primer pocket for stuck corncob bits & use a toothpick to poke them out on a few cases out of every batch.

1. I like getting the inside of the cases clean as a safety thing (it's a lot easier to monitor powder levels on taller cases - more contrast and the sides don't suck up all the light).
2. I like not having the giant cloud of lead just when I dump out the dry tumbler or run the separator.
3. I like not having lead just left on the outsides of the cases which I'm then going to handle down the road.
4. When I run black powder that's the only technique that seems to really work and if you leave any of that gunk on the sulphur seems to make the brass brittle. It's good to really get them clean.

[robert101]

maybe you dropped a pin or two into the magazine when loading.

[Michael in California]

Bingo! Either he had some pins stick to the outside of the cases as he loaded up magazines or he cleans his gun at the same work station.

[ar15robert]

1. I like getting the inside of the cases clean as a safety thing (it's a lot easier to monitor powder levels on taller cases - more contrast and the sides don't suck up all the light).
2. I like not having the giant cloud of lead just when I dump out the dry tumbler or run the separator.
3. I like not having lead just left on the outsides of the cases which I'm then going to handle down the road.
4. When I run black powder that's the only technique that seems to really work and if you leave any of that gunk on the sulphur seems to make the brass brittle. It's good to really get them clean.

I did a dry tumbler for years too and just recently switched to wet tumbling and SS pins.I too prefer the wet tumbling as i dont have to poke out the primer pockets of stuck media,deal with the dust,the powder dust in the cases and so on.

I cant do as many at one time but been doing quite a few batches recently (about 150 of .223 at a time) and for sure the brass is way cleaner vs dry tumbler.

[Dougbert66]

Seems more likely there was a pin in a previously fired case. If it was in the back near the flash hole it wouldn't be forced out the barrel. During extraction, the pin exited the case (prior to ejection) and bounced around the action until the "problem" round was chambered, trapping the pin and jamming the action. Probably the immediately prior round had the pin in it.

[noylj]

If pins are magnetic, get a magnet and run over the cases.
I pour the cases into an RCBS media separator and fill the base with water. A few seconds and all the pins float out and fall in the bottom of the base.
Of course, there is the solution: simply use corn cob media and don't OCD on shiny.

[rsrocket1]

It's possible that a pin sitting in the case was still sitting in the case after the powder went off and shot the bullet, it's not like everything inside the case gets blown out like the bullet.

After the bullet exited the barrel and the slide recoils back, the pin simply fell out of the case before the case ejected. Now it's free floating debris inside your gun and one of the next rounds eventually wedged it in between the softer brass and hard barrel. When that round was shot, the brass expanded and locked the pin in place.