Fired primer anvils as brass cleaning media

[wmitty]

Other than the lead residue is there a problem with using the brass anvils from fired primers as a substitute for the stainless steel pins when wet tumbling brass?

[Winger Ed.]

Can't see why they wouldn't work.
Ya might want to rise them in some sort of solvent first due to the lead dust.

When I deprime & size I drop the cases and let the pushed out primers fall into a 5 gallon bucket.

I give them a quick rinse with lacquer thinner, let them dry and toss it all into the dry tumbler.
The spent primers just act like another bit of media as everything bumps around with the polish.

[Mica_Hiebert]

They will rust. Other than that should work... Also the anvil legs may have a tendency to stick in the flash holes?

[Bookworm]

Rust ? The primers I've seen are brass.

[MrWolf]

Shotgun primers can be steel I think. Took a big bucket of them the to scrap yard thinking they were brass but stuck to magnet there.

[ioon44]

The anvils in steel cased ammo like Wolf are steel and the cup's are brass.

[rancher1913]

my concern would be scratches, the pins are smooth, the anvils have edges.

[DxieLandMan]

I've been using them for quite a while and have had no bad issues with them.

[Froogal]

Interesting. I've saved every single one of those spent primers. Now I know why.

[onelight]

I sure find it handy to be able to use a magnet to pick up the stainless pins from the floor or bottom of a bucket.

[mdi]

Shotshells have a "regular" primer in a battery cup. The battery cup is steel. As an experiment I have replaced the spent primers in a shotshell battery cups (large pistol) and it works fine. I have run magnets through a container of spent primers and never attracted an anvil. Stainless steel pins are harder than brass and I don't know if the ends are rounded, but I doubt is "scratching" is a worry. I've played with stainless steel hardware (small nuts, screws and cotter pins) and steel BBs in wet tumbling. The assorted screws, nuts, etc, made the case OD look like new, very clean/polished, but did not enter the case ID or primer pockets (but who wants pristine primer pockets?). The BBs gave me the same results but soon rusted. I can see no problems using primer anvils, or whole spent primers as a tumbling media either wet or dry. I often use a mix of hard resin tumbling media and corn cob blast media and I may try substituting the resin with spent primers just to see how it works.....

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

Primer anvils come in various shapes and just looking at them, they look like they'd attach to each other and form clumps of anvils...that'd be bad with bottleneck cases. And anvils are kind of large as far as cartridge case media is concerned.
I wouldn't invest the time to harvest the anvils for media.
That's mt 2¢

[RogerDat]

My primers go in a coffee can of used up brass (mouth flattened) that eventually goes to the scrap yard. Shotgun primers are considered steel scrap. but regular primers go through with the brass and provide a lot more weight in a coffee can full.

Stainless steel media can be pulled out or picked up with a magnet. The steel media doesn't wear out and if one doesn't lose much when washing and draining the brass then the ss media becomes almost a one time purchase at a pretty modest cost.

Primer dust is probably the easiest way for casters to end up with elevated lead levels. We don't lick our fingers when handling lead, our temps don't vaporize it, but we do breath when firing and when depriming and cleaning brass allowing for ingestion and absorption of the lead compounds from the fired primer.

[lightman]

I expect that they would work but that they would cause problems. I'm pretty happy with the stainless pins but am considering the stainless chips. I like the fact that a magnet will pick them up.

[kbstenberg]

Just a sug. I recently found what the seller calls stainless chips. They are about 1/3 or less than the size of pins. All are assorted shapes.
I got a 5 lb. bag to add to my pin supply. I added about 1.5 lbs to what i already use to clean the brass. An i am very happy with the results.
Besides the better cleaning. I seem to be getting less pins trapped in the primer holes. Just my 2 cents. Kevin

[Froogal]

My experience with stainless steel is that it is non-ferrous. If those pins are true stainless steel, how are you guys picking them up with a magnet?

[Hossfly]

They got some ferrous in em for sure.

[P Flados]

FYI,

The most common SS is austenitic (think 300 series or equivalent). These are frequently softer types unless strain hardened. Most austenitic SS is non-magnetic and pretty much all other types are magnetic.

There are several other types of SS with ferritic, martensitic and Precipitation Hardening being common for "high end" applications.

[Kenstone]

I've read of using 22LR cases as wet tumbling media in high volume cement mixer type tumbling.
I haven't tried it...yet.
:mrgreen:

[Kenstone]

My experience with stainless steel is that it is non-ferrous. If those pins are true stainless steel, how are you guys picking them up with a magnet?

If those SS pins are left wet they will rust somewhat, I know this because I've done it [smilie=1:
:mrgreen:

[mdi]

Tumbling brass is not an exact science. Anything can be used for tumbling and even nothing, no media with brass in a tumbler will work to clean brass. It all depends on the finish left on the case. The speed and finish is what really determines the media. For a quick cleaning, ceramic media, hard resin, BBs, hardware (small nuts and screws) and pebbles will work but the finish is often a dull matte. For a finer finish, softer media (corn cob, walnut, dried peas/beans, cat litter, baking soda) or liquid and small media works.

[Froogal]

If those SS pins are left wet they will rust somewhat, I know this because I've done it [smilie=1:
:mrgreen:
Which also indicates they are not true stainless steel.

[upnorthwis]

There are many types of stainless steel. Some are magnetic, but they're still stainless steel.

[fast ronnie]

If those SS pins are left wet they will rust somewhat, I know this because I've done it [smilie=1:
:mrgreen:

I leave the pins in water in the tumbler with the last little bit of liquid from the tumbling process, so it also has a slight amount of Armorall Wash an Wax. I use a Dillon separator filled with water to separate the pins, so the pins don't see pure water except when I'm refilling to run another batch. I have yet to see any rust.
If you have any steel cases in the batch though, brass does not look too good after tumbling. I have to stop and clean the pins without any brass before I can get good results again. Just my .02

[lightman]

There are many types of stainless steel. Some are magnetic, but they're still stainless steel.

I'm not an expert on stainless steel but this is correct. I have a few different type of stainless bolts in my bolt bins and I want to say that the 300 series stainless is non-magnetic while the 400 series is.

I leave my wet pins in the tumbler drum and have no rust problems. And thankfully mine are magnetic.