How many stainless pins?

[pacmule]

Looking at setting up for wet tumbling my brass. I usually load about 250 to 300 9mm rounds at a time. I will tumble twice that at a time. This may change though as I am shooting USPSA. Will be using a homemade rotary tumbler, made from 6" PVC, about 18" long.
So how many pounds of pins do I need to tumble 500-600 9mm cases?
Thanks for any help you can give.

['ol shooter]

Five pounds, buy the bigger pins from Stilly, they are way better than the smaller ones. They clean faster and don't get stuck in the primer pockets or flash holes. I've been working on my technique, and found that if I tumble them with Dawn for an hour, dump the dirty water, refill and put another shot of Dawn in, no Lemishine, they are spotless after tumbling a second hour. After I dump, separate, and rinse well, I let them sit in a Lemishine bath for 20 minutes, then rinse, toss in a towel, then dry.

[pacmule]

Thanks ol shooter, I will have to PM Stilly to see if I can get some of those.

[RestrictedColt]

I don't know the Stilly pins, but my FA pins don't stick in cases.

[baranski]

Yup, five pounds.

[Lead Waster]

Before you try pins, try wet tumbling without pins.

I've gone to wet with no pins just due to the sheer PITA of seperating the pins. Maybe the Stilly ones are easier to seperate. The traditional small ones stick to the cases until they are dry.

[tonyjr]

Lead Waster
I agree about the pins being a pita . When the vibrator is busy next is the tumbler and last is sonic .

But the vibrator takes time taking out stuff , I just don't have to dry . [ sonic and tumbler ] Most of time I resize [ bottle necks ] when depriming . [ pistol cases are done with the frankford hand deprimer .

How does the tumbler work with just water ?

I tried tumbler with corn , nut and rice - took too long . Not as much stuck in primer pocket, but still was in bottle necks . [ both the corn and rice left like a powder on / in cases ]

I tried sonic with corn and nut - took too long . [ also dusty ]

I have hinted we need another vibrator [ my birthday is the 29th and if my 6 nephews and 2 nieces chip in together - maybe [ I go on vacation on 29th - that is when I have a ride and tickets are cheaper ]
If I get one , it will be broken in when I get back .

[stilly]

Before you try pins, try wet tumbling without pins.

I've gone to wet with no pins just due to the sheer PITA of seperating the pins. Maybe the Stilly ones are easier to seperate. The traditional small ones stick to the cases until they are dry.

ALL pins will stick in the cases when you pull the cases out of water. It is just a science thing.

I moved to a larger heavier pin though because the problem with REAL stuck pins are that the smaller ones will stick in the flash holes side by side and get wedged in, OR even get stuck crossways across large primer pockets.
Also, they can get stuck crossways across case mouths.

The larger pins I migrated to SO FAR have had no issues in just about every cartridge that I have tried them in. They only fit in the flashholes ONE at a time and they are too long to fit inside a primer pocket.

HOWEVER. ALL PINS IN USE will still tend to stick to cases due to friction/water- SCIENCE.

So you need to use SCIENCE to get them out. That means using a rotating separator under water. When the cases and pins are submerged under water, the science allows the pins to not stick and fall freely out of the cases. That is why MANY folks who need to get the job done will buy the RCBS media separator with the cover, spin it for about a minute while the cases are somewhat submerged and they get about 99% of the pins out. You can also run a hose or splash water over your cases are you spin them (slowly if uncovered) but the best method is the enclosed media separators. And yes, the Pins will clean cases faster than regular soap/lemishine and no pins...

[RestrictedColt]

I must be the luckiest guy on the planet, or science stops at my door. I use the FA pins, a rotary media separator without water, and have never had a stuck pin.

[stilly]

I must be the luckiest guy on the planet, or science stops at my door. I use the FA pins, a rotary media separator without water, and have never had a stuck pin.

Your luck just ran out with that post...

However, if your rotary media seperator has a top lid that encloses it all Then that would explain you being able to spin the shells like a salad spinner and get the pins out via centrepetal force.

HOWEVER, you said STUCK pins. Please define STUCK pins. Because only the smaller pins that we all started with were prone to getting stuck. AND do NOT get me wrong, they work VERY nicely, but they did have a few bad habits.

FA did not jump on until later on in the game. They prolly started with decent pins after everyone else already put in their feedback.

[tonyjr]

Pin wise , I don't remember where I got the small ones from . I used them in the H F little tumbler for years .
A few years ago 4 of my nephews said here is 50 dollars , buy a bigger tumbler - so I got the F A . [ should have bought another vibrator ] Anyway the pins are mixed together .
I did just order the spinner - will see how it works out .

[RestrictedColt]

However, if your rotary media seperator has a top lid that encloses it all Then that would explain you being able to spin the shells like a salad spinner and get the pins out via centrepetal force.

I generally just roll it slowly. When I'm separating pins as the last step, I usually do another rinse, I do give a few fast spins to toss more water out of them which would also help get rid of pins. If pins were stuck to the water layer I'd likely find them in my final rinse. Stuck like jammed inside a case or pocket might be found before/during loading. I also know it's possible they could sneak by and be shot out and never known about. I don't remember the stated size, but they measure about .040x.3".

[the86d]

0
/thread.

[Lead Waster]

When I was using pins, I did, in fact use the RCBS rotary media seperator, filled with water. But it's still such a PITA that, like I said, I stopped using pins. Clean enough for pistols.

I actually do still use the seperator DRY to sort of shake out the water from the cases, since I don't deprime before tumbling, so the brass tends to be little cups full of water if I don't use the rotary tumbler. I used to use a colander, but it didn't seperate pins or water better than the rotary thing.

And duh, well all get the science of surface tension.

[stilly]

BTW, I just realized that I am guilty of using STUCK for possibly two different things. Sticky pins are what I mean, and yes- held to the brass via water tension. Centrepetal force works well, and as long as they are sliding it appears to be less force needed, I aimed to eliminate all issues and just went with spinning while partially submerged. I will also not do just one batch, but when I clean shells, I will clean several batches at once, like 10k+ 9mm or a thousand or two .44 mag and a few bags of .223 also. That way I do not waste as much water separating them all out.

Hmm, there is also a additive/coating that removes surface tension. I need to read more on that though.