Balloon head case and SS pins!

[msp2640]

Gents - I guess I'm posting this to share what I found earlier today. I ran a batch of 250 or so, 38 S&W cases, all mixed head stamps, thru the rotary tumbler. After drying, I wanted to sort them, knowing there was some really old ones in the mix. The cases had already been resized prior to cleaning. I knew some were of old vintage balloon head style and I was not going to reload those. While setting aside the WRA Co, REM-UMC (some 38 S&W and 38 Colt NP) and USCCo cases, as well as a few other older ones, I thought I saw a small SS pin in a case. I looked close and found there was a half size pin, wedged in the "balloon head" are of the case head. I then looked at a few others and found several more. In total, about 1/3 of those cases had pins stuck in them. Doubt most here would load cases like that anyway, but if you plan to and utilize a rotary tumbler with pins, may want to check the inside of the brass before loading. I attached a pic to show that most all of the pins were the smaller size. Cheers, Bill in MA

[20:1]

I hate those short pins! I bought my pins long ago from a company long gone now and they were over twice as long as the only ones it seems you can buy today.

[msp2640]

I'd bet 98-99% of the pins that I'm using (Frankford Arsenal) are the longer sized, just a few of the short ones, found a home in these cases. Out of 1800-2000 223 cases I've done since using the tumbler, I've only had one instance when 2 short ones got stuck in the same primer pocket. That was easy to notice, finding them in the 38 cases was a bit of a surprise today. Thanks, Bill

[Tall]

I have had great results using the Frankford Armory juice - I never use the pins at all. Maybe you should try that? It works.

[Sasquatch-1]

I don't have a media separator, so I dump my brass on a towel and run an appx. 250# magnet over them to get most of the pins out. I then take the towel by both ends and roll the brass back and forth and use the magnet again. I do this a couple of times. After that I will tap the mouth of the brass on the towel to hopefully dislodge any remaining pins. I than throw the brass in the vibe tumbler (mainly to dry them) with a couple of bar magnets.

Time consuming, but a friend had some brass that had pins stuck and blocking the flash hole that caused the primer to fizzle and burn through the back end of the cup.

[beemer]

Pins can get stuck, some cases and sizes are worse. I don't have a separator but rinse in clean water and look in every case with a light. It is time consuming but imagine having a pin ironed into the bore or worse. I only do handgun and larger bore stuff when it is nasty. I refuse to try 223 brass. I use a Harbor Freight tumbler so small batches only.

I found a box of nasty 7 mm gas checks and put them in a tumbler. Do you know that the pins are a snap fit in inside the rim. Almost threw the whole mess away. They were clean and pretty.

I thought maybe the 30 cal. checks would be better. Nope three pins fit perfectly.

[msp2640]

I use an RCBS rotary separator and most times, it removes every pin from the brass. Because the pins were actually stuck in the cases and had to be picked out with toothpicks, I highly doubt the rotary sifter would have eventually got them to separate from the cases. After reading here and a few other places, I think I have a pretty good system down for getting the brass cleaned the way I like. Just thought I'd share the info on the old cases, on the chance anyone was still using those. Just finished resizing nearly 500 rds of 44 brass, so those will be taking a bath shortly. Cheers, Bill in MA

[Slugster]

Thanks for this info. I'm in the middle of building a brass tumbler, and appreciate this heads up.

[Kenstone]

I use an RCBS rotary separator and most times, it removes every pin from the brass. Because the pins were actually stuck in the cases and had to be picked out with toothpicks, I highly doubt the rotary sifter would have eventually got them to separate from the cases. After reading here and a few other places, I think I have a pretty good system down for getting the brass cleaned the way I like. Just thought I'd share the info on the old cases, on the chance anyone was still using those. Just finished resizing nearly 500 rds. of 44 brass, so those will be taking a bath shortly. Cheers, Bill in MA

Something I have starting to do to check for stuck pins:
As a final step before loading, I place a batch of wet tumbled/dried cases into my empty (no media) vibratory tumbler and run it for a minute or two.
All the cases will be stood-up on the rim for an easy visual check (with a light) for pins!
That saves me from picking-up every case to look into it.
.

[Walter Laich]

Something I have starting to do to check for stuck pins:
As a final step before loading, I place a batch of wet tumbled/dried cases into my empty (no media) vibratory tumbler and run it for a minute or two.
All the cases will be stood-up on the rim for an easy visual check (with a light) for pins!
That saves me from picking-up every case to look into it.
.

I like this--great idea
thanks