Stainless pins in my tumbler. How do you seperate?

[Quigley284]

I bought pins for my tumbler awhile back. Decided to try them out today. Used them on some nasty 44 mags that the vibrator just makes shiney on the outside. 2 hours with some soap and water was like magic. They were spotless. The problem was getting the brass separated from the pins. One at a time was not so much fun. There must be a better way. What are you folks using to get them separated that might be a little faster and easy? Thanks in advance for your suggestions, Mike

[GRUMPA]

I use the Dillon media separator, but before that it was a colander from the $1 store which was used a lot. You know something? Even though I have the Dillon I have that colander just sitting on the shelf and I have a hard time parting with it.

EDIT: I had the colander sitting inside a large stainless bowl I got at the dollar store and that's all I needed.

[chsparkman]

Look at the videos here:

http://www.stainlesstumblingmedia.com/tutorials/

It's what I do and it works well.

[Catshooter]

A good strong magnet is also a help. The pins are magnetic.

Welcome to the forum.


Cat

[Quigley284]

I new there had to be something, just couldn't remember. Thanks again, Mike

[dilly]

It seems that the media separator works a lot better if you have the bucket full of water. At least that's what I've read before. I use a vibratory tumbler.

[fastfire]

I fill 1/2 of the media seperator with water pour in the brass and media into the basket and crank the handle, it's seperated in a minute or so. Hope this helps.

[lead chucker]

I've been using a colander and two buckets of water. Take a couple hand fulls of brass and put them in the colander and swirl around in a bucket of water. A cat litter plastic tote works good. Once all your brass has been through the colander do it again. I use two buckets of water so the brass gets rinsed twice. It's been working for me. I'm sure there is a better way but I don't have a media separator. I have just started cleaning my brass with the SS pins. What a difference from using my vibrating tumbler with corn cob media.

[oldpapps]

Not the fastest thing to do but rewarding.

I 'pick' one case out at a time, shake it under water so no pins adhere to the insides. This is after I have flushed the water and cleaner add ins fully with running water.

Some cases like to hold clumps of pins inside (.223/5.56), others tend to pack or wedge pins into the flash holes three at a time. As I pull each case from the clean water, I check for stuck pins and with a very clean case, can see minor flaws that were missed when the case was yuckie.

I live with it as a combining of a second or third inspection. Thus is life.

Load with care,

OSOK

[Dutchninja]

Quigley284 - What I find works awesome, RCBS media separator. This might sound like alot but i want to describe it correctly, that and it really takes no time to do. I've got a lot of brass to clean and I don't have a lot of time to mess around so I try to find quick and easy ways of doing things but still getting great results (wish I had that same drive with my job) Anyways I pop the top on the tumbler, pour off what dirty water I can without dropping any cases or pins in the basin, there will still be some dirty water in the bottom but I take the whole tumbler and pour it right into the black clam shell separator. Close the lid on it and just slowly turn it, you'll feel the weight drop off as the pins fall away. I keep turning for a bit even when it lightens up just to make sure the pins are out. The enclosed design keeps everything inside as well. I then take the cases and dump them in a five gallon bucket, cover with HOT water and let them sit off to the side to bring their temp up. I then wash off the soap on the clam shell and then put that aside (helps prevent water spots later). I went to the hardware store and found the biggest magnet they have. Its one of those round ones you can screw hooks into for holding stuff up. I hold that on the outside corner / edge of the seperator and pour off the reset of the dirty water . The magnet holds the pins in a bunch and doesn't allow them to drain off with the water. You can usually get most of the dirty water out of the pins that way. I pour the pins back into the tumbler, without washing them cause your just going to put dirty bass back in there anyways, and fill it with my next batch of brass. By that time i take my five gallon bucket swish it around a bit to get the cases mixed up a bit and rinsed well. I take that water, which is usually really clean and pour it back into the tumbler with the dirty brass to save on water. I might rinse them just a bit more depending on how much suds are still left, then the cases go back in the separator for the "spin cycle". I turn them over slowly a few times then spin them fast like a lettuce spinner for just a bit. I take them out and i have two big white towels I procured from the wife. I pour the cases onto the middle at the end of the towel and pat them dry, roll them into a pile, pat them down dry down the length of the towel. This helps prevent water spots on the outside of the case. After that fold the towel up and pour them onto the other dry towel and spread them out so their not on top of each other (again helps prevent water spots in case there is a bit of water still in one of the cases). I then take a fan and let it dry them out until the next batch is ready to get switched out. The wet towel is usually dry by the next time as well. I usually keep the humidity in my basement really low which helps dry everything out faster. If you have the spent primers still in, I usually put those washed cases in a large blue acro bin to dry for a day or two just downwind of the fan. If you have decapped the cases they usually dry much faster. If you need to load them right away, I'll take the hair dryer to them but I usually like to let them dry for a day or so just to make sure they are 100% dry. I do this with all of my cases, even the sized ones just to get the case lube off. I don't tumble those for hours, usually just an hour or less to get that coating off. Again, it sounds like a PITA process but it's really not. It takes me less than 5 mins to do.That and doing it this way i rarely have any pins stuck in cases, however if you are experience that, take the magnet while their on the dry towel and run it over them. The cases with a lot of pins still in them will stick to the magnet. Also helps sort cases if you have mixed 9, 40 or 45 mixed together on accident. Those nest together nicely if you didn't sort them 100%.

I need to make a video on this.

357 all cleaned up, no spots, no tarnishing
87247

30-30 all cleaned up, no spots, no tarnishing
87248

[rattletrap1970]

I do my tumbling with a capfull of Citranox + a dash of lemi shine. I separate in a Dillon media separator (the cagey thing with the hand crank on the side). I find if you spin that thing around for a good solid minute you'll get all the pins out. I've never had any NOT come out.

[wcp4570]

I have the large Dillon vibrator with walnut media, to seperate the brass and media, I use a colander that sits on top of a 5 gallon bucket and dip the brass out with a cat litter box scoop into the colander. Then using both hands to pick up the brass and tumble it until the media is in the bucket. This may work for seperating steel media as well if you want to take the low cost way out.

I am thinking about trying the steel media myself. I like the results that everyone that have posted pictures of their brass after cleaning/tumbling.

wcp