"Freedom is the sure possession of those alone who have the courage to defend it."
~Pericles~
Well you guys finally convinced me to give up my ultrasonic for a wet tumbler. The person who gifted me the ultrasonic is finally getting back into shooting, so I gave it back. I really liked the ultrasonic, but after looking at the prices of a good one, I am starting to realize there might be something to wet tumbling, especially when it comes to long term 20+ year durability. So I bought a Thumbler tumbler.
I bought pins. The thing that scares me about the chips, and I could be off base, is that they look like metal corn cob media. I gave up dry tumbling years ago because it is a PITA. Besides the dust, I hated having media stuck in the flash holes. As a result, I cleaned before I sized, so the pin would push any out. In the case of a wet tumbler, you are going to want to size first, so it cleans the primer pocket. I don't want to have to decap and then resize later in most cases. That's what I like about the steel pins, they are smaller than the flash hole, and long, so they will not get stuck without being noticeable.
I have been using chips for several years now and never had any chips get stuck in flash holes or primer pockets. Only reason I switched over to pins was cause they provide a marginally smoother finish in my opinion. I haven’t had any pins stuck yet but have heard of it from others.
What people like may be influenced by what they clean .
There may be a bigger advantage to chips for cleaning small caliber bottle necked rifle cases .
I clean mostly straight wall cases and am totally satisfied with the cleaning of the pins , but if I was cleaning a lot of .223 I would be more interested in the chips.
I have a hard enough time seeing the pins on the floor and in the bottom of buckets to gather up the ones that escape not to mention that pound for pound you would have 3 or 4 times the number of the chips to keep track of.
It seems to me that the advantage of the chips is also the drawback of the chips.
I don't do facebook.
How do I order a bag????
So I contacted Southern Shine Media to see if I could order a bag.
They do only on facebook, so I couldn't do it
I hate facebook and all the other antisocial sites.
Anyway, they suggested I go to one of their vendors.
T&B Bullets.
Cost $3 more, but I could order it from them on-line.
Looks like they will work well.
Just hope it's not to messy.
Given the pointed ends and smaller size of the chips, I would think the cleaning action would be more aggressive than pins. I've only ever used pins and am fully satisfied with them.
Last edited by high standard 40; 05-06-2021 at 07:55 AM.
the more I see these chips the more I like the way they look. Unfortunately my tumbler is fairly large and I routinely use 10-15 pounds of pins. No way I could justify buying 15 pounds of chips with 15 pounds of pins just sitting around.
“Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made a difference in the world. But, the Marines don't have that problem.” Ronald Reagan
BP | Bronze Point | IMR | Improved Military Rifle | PTD | Pointed |
BR | Bench Rest | M | Magnum | RN | Round Nose |
BT | Boat Tail | PL | Power-Lokt | SP | Soft Point |
C | Compressed Charge | PR | Primer | SPCL | Soft Point "Core-Lokt" |
HP | Hollow Point | PSPCL | Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" | C.O.L. | Cartridge Overall Length |
PSP | Pointed Soft Point | Spz | Spitzer Point | SBT | Spitzer Boat Tail |
LRN | Lead Round Nose | LWC | Lead Wad Cutter | LSWC | Lead Semi Wad Cutter |
GC | Gas Check |