Separate SS Pins

[DueceMcGurk]

Using SS pins to wet tumble brass. What is the best separation method/equipment? Hand separating looses its excitement as round counts go up.

[TexasJackKin]

I made a screen, that goes over one end of my Franklin tumbler, that keeps the pins and cases in the tumbler, so I can rinse and drain well before dumping the whole mess into my rotary separator, and that seems to work well, for straight wall pistol cases. I haven't tried it on bottle neck cases....

[bazineta]

I stack two gold sifting pans on top of a 5-gallon bucket, standard Home Depot Homer bucket.

The top pan, on which the brass gets poured out, is this one; 1/4" mesh:

https://ww.amazon.com/gp/product/B008B0T5Z2

The bottom pan, which catches the pins, is this one, 1/50" mesh:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BP3D50S

It works well and they're inexpensive. I use the Frankford tumbler, and it's completely full each time I use it. The pans are plenty high enough to contain everything.

I recommend the transfer magnet that Frankford sells; no matter what method you end up going with, this will make things a lot easier:

https://www.amazon.com/Frankford-Arsenal-Transfer-Magnet-Stainless/dp/B00HTN659G

[Milsurp Collector]

I use this. It works very well. Just dump the brass and pins into the top nested tray and shake side to side and forward and back

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1016993467/lyman-rotary-tumbler-stainless-steel-pin-media-sifter-set

[SamGoldstein]

I use a Franklin Arsenal media separator since its excellent at separating SS pins INSIDE the brass.

http://www.basspro.com/shop/en/frankford-arsenal-wet-dry-media-separator?hvarAID=shopping_connexity

[stranded1980]

http://www.cabelas.com/product/CABELAS-ROTARY-BRASS-MEDIA-SEPARATOR/2195139.uts?searchPath=%2Fbrowse.cmd%3FcategoryId%3D734095080%26CQ_search%3Dmedia%2Bseparator

I use the Cabelas media separator, which is the same as several other variants, however, the trick is to fill it with water first!

I do the whole operation in our spare bathroom shower. I fill the separator up about 3/4 full with water, put in half of the squirrel cage, and then dump everything from the tumbler in (the brass, the pins, and the dirty water). The squirrel cage is now full, and the separator is full to the brim (albeit the water is now dirty, doesn't matter though). Then I attach the other half of the squirrel cage and slowly twirl it about 10 rotations one direction, and 10 the other. Then I remove the cleaned brass and pour the water out (the SSM stays at the bottom of the separator if you pour it out slowly).

It's vital the squirrel cage be submerged or semi-submerged in water for the media to fall out when separating.

['ol shooter]

I use an RCBS tumbler. I rinse and drain the brass a couple times to remove the soap film, dump 'em in and spin in both directions and the pins come right out. Out of a batch of say, 500 pistol cases, I will get two or three stragglers that get baked with the brass, and get picked out when I bag it up.

[divingin]

I use the Frankford Arsenal bucket-and-basket rotary job. I was a little skeptical at first, but it works quite well. I, too, was dumping and rinsing by hand, but it got old pretty quickly. The FA (and I suspect, the Cabela's/RCBS/whoever) tumbler separates the pins in a minute or so of spinning.

[XDJYo]

I used to use the plain Frankford Arsenal media separator, the kind you shake around. That didn't work very good at all. Took forever and I was still left with a lot of pins stuck inside of my cases.

Decided to try the spinning media separator-https://www.amazon.com/Frankford-Arsenal-Quick-n-EZ-Rotary-Seperator/dp/B004J4B2IW

This works AMAZINGLY well for me. I have a Frankford tumbler and use the strainer insert and dump into a 5 gallon bucket to rinse and get a lot of the pins out first. I rinse until I get somewhat clean water (this helps keeping the brass from tarnishing as there's no residue). Then, I fill the bucket with clean water to the top and then put that media separator on the top of the bucket. Pour out maybe 1/2 of the brass and then spin one direction and then the opposite, and all of the pins will come out. Worked flawlessly for a while for me.

Made me a much happier reloader!!!

[Mayor McRifle]

I use the Lyman Turbo media separator. http://www.cabelas.com/product/LYMAN...E&gclsrc=aw.ds

[TexasJackKin]

I use the Lyman Turbo media separator. http://www.cabelas.com/product/LYMAN...E&gclsrc=aw.ds

I use something similar, different brand same idea. Others have said you need to have water in the outer bucket, so that the basket is running partially submerged, but I haven't found that to be necessary, at least with straight wall pistol cases. YMMV

[XDJYo]

I use something similar, different brand same idea. Others have said you need to have water in the outer bucket, so that the basket is running partially submerged, but I haven't found that to be necessary, at least with straight wall pistol cases. YMMV

Hmmm...I've never tried it without water, but I would think that water cohesion would make it harder for the SS pins to fall out. May be time for a test.

[Michael in California]

My craptastic video on cleaning out the pins. I suck at video production.

Basically a 2 gallon pail and a walmart strainer. Works great for straight walled cases. Necked cartridges need to be removed from the water neck down and ten checked, but you need to checked all cartridges for debris anyway regardless of method.

https://youtu.be/s0APi6GiNXc

[divingin]

Hmmm...I've never tried it without water, but I would think that water cohesion would make it harder for the SS pins to fall out. May be time for a test.

Water loses its surface tension when you get rid of air. Pins will fall out freely when submerged.

If you want to test, stick your wet hand in pins, and hold vertically. Then place your hand in water.

[XDJYo]

Water loses its surface tension when you get rid of air. Pins will fall out freely when submerged.

If you want to test, stick your wet hand in pins, and hold vertically. Then place your hand in water.

Yup, that's what I was thinking why you needed the water. Perhaps I didn't use the right term (cohesion), but surface tension was more accurate.