Best way to separate SS pins

[MilkMyDuds]

I wet tumble 1000 9mm cases at a time. I have been using SS pins but because I do not decap first, I sometimes (5 out of the past 10,000 or so) find pins falling down from the 650 case feeder, which is not a good sign.

I use the RCBS media separator (http://www.amazon.com/RCBS-87076-Case-Media-Separator/dp/B000KKD1TW) after the rinse, then use the media transfer magnet (http://www.amazon.com/Frankford-Arsenal-Transfer-Magnet-Stainless/dp/B015ZL4HKC) for 1 more round over the empty cases hoping to get all the pins.

I wonder what everyone else is doing to get all the SS pins out of cleaned cases, if you do not decap the cases first. For now, I have stopped using the SS pins, but rather just tumble with water/lemishine/dawn then rinse. It works not that great because once the cases are dry, there are grit residues remaining inside the case, upon knocking or shaking they could fall out as black dirt. I figure that black dirt is not part of the loading recipe, and should not be mixed with powder, but I am not sure.

So, I still want to use the SS pin to clean the inside, but I really need to make sure I can get all the pins out 100%. Any suggestions?

[cecil]

I de-cap all my brass (9mm) before wet S/S pin cleaning... I tumble them in a media separator... then dry my brass in a DAA brass dryer... after drying.. I use one of those used 40 caliber plastic trays that factory ammo packs their ammo in... dump your brass in a container and grab a handful of brass drop the brass on the tray & shake... ,most of the brass will land upright.. raise the tray towards the light and you can see that the flash holes don't have anything in them .. it only takes a few minutes to check a bunch of brass using this method..

i'll never go back to cleaning my brass with dry media..

Edited March 7, 2016 by cecil

[Bkreutz]

I do not decap my brass, and I use a separator like you (but I skip the magnet step). You didn't say, but one thing I do is when I use the media separator I fill the pan up with water so the brass and pin mixture pass through the water on each pass. I find that this breaks the surface tension that makes the pins stick to the brass (and the separator). I do up to 1000 pieces a week and have been using this method for a couple of years and I've never had a pin show it's ugly head during the loading process.

[MilkMyDuds]

I do not decap my brass, and I use a separator like you (but I skip the magnet step). You didn't say, but one thing I do is when I use the media separator I fill the pan up with water so the brass and pin mixture pass through the water on each pass. I find that this breaks the surface tension that makes the pins stick to the brass (and the separator). I do up to 1000 pieces a week and have been using this method for a couple of years and I've never had a pin show it's ugly head during the loading process.

Nice! I will try this next time. Thanks for the tips!

[Ray_Z]

I haven't wet tumbled my brass. But I have a question. By not decapping first do you trap water in the brass/ spent primer? If so, do you have a possibility of wet loading your brass?

[Steve RA]

Yes.

[echotango]

I use a Dillon separator filled with water. The pins fall to the bottom. I have had 1 pin in a case my last 10k rounds. I then let them dry in the sun prior to loading as I do not deprime first.

Edited March 7, 2016 by echotango

[MilkMyDuds]

I haven't wet tumbled my brass. But I have a question. By not decapping first do you trap water in the brass/ spent primer? If so, do you have a possibility of wet loading your brass?

I usually give the cleaned brass 3 hours of Texas sun, then lay them out on the floor of my room for 2 days. I have never had wet brass problem. I do have SS pin problem on my press which I think is more scary then web brass

I do wish someone come up with an automated decapping machine. It does not need to be Mark 7 technology, just a plain simple mechanical arm that deprimes from a feeding tube, etc.

Edited March 7, 2016 by MilkMyDuds

[anachronism]

I haven't wet tumbled my brass. But I have a question. By not decapping first do you trap water in the brass/ spent primer? If so, do you have a possibility of wet loading your brass?

Plus there's a possibility of the primer rim sticking in the primer pocket, and you only get a little disc from the face of the primer when you do finally decap. I think rifle shooters may have more of a problem with this, but I see complaints of this fairly commonly on these, and other boards. If this happens, you may as well toss that piece of brass in your recycling bucket.

[igolfat8]

I use a crank type (Frankfort Arsenal) media separator too but only put a couple hundred brass in there at a time. I spin it both ways alternating direction every few revolutions. When I dumped in 1000 rounds of brass it took forever to get the pins separated but when I cut the batch size to a couple hundred it makes quick work out of a crazy process. BTW, I do decap before wet tumbling. I like the way it gets all the gunk out of the primer pockets and makes new primer insertion a breeze.

[Aric]

Dillon media separator. It gets 99% of the pins out, while still wet. The rest fall out when dry.

[Cwballistics]

This is done in a sink.

I use a lettuce dryer/spinner (9.29 w/free shipping on eBay). It is basically a bowl with a strainer that sits inside of it suspend up about 1/2".

Wet tumble with ss media, put tumbler cannister under hot water for a few minutes to flush out dirty water, dump in the lettuce dryer, and run under warm water as I shake for a minute. Then I take the cases out, giving them a quick shake to through out any ss pins that mukhtar have gotten caught. Through them on a towel and let dry. If I happen to have deprived first (rarely), then I do give the flash hole a quick look-see as I toss onto the towel.

On the bowl, I drilled about a dozen 1/16" holes at an angle around its perimeter. This allows water to escape higher than the media will accumulate.

At the end, all the ss is sitting in the bottom of the bowl in a half inch of water. It drains easily due to its weight and it gets thrown on a piece of an old t shirt to dry.

From tumble to towel takes about 8 mins for 225-250 cases.

[Cwballistics]

This is done in a sink.

I use a lettuce dryer/spinner (9.29 w/free shipping on eBay). It is basically a bowl with a strainer that sits inside of it suspend up about 1/2".

Wet tumble with ss media, put tumbler cannister under hot water for a few minutes to flush out dirty water, dump in the lettuce dryer, and run under warm water as I shake for a minute. Then I take the cases out, giving them a quick shake to through out any ss pins that mukhtar have gotten caught. Through them on a towel and let dry. If I happen to have deprived first (rarely), then I do give the flash hole a quick look-see as I toss onto the towel.

On the bowl, I drilled about a dozen 1/16" holes at an angle around its perimeter. This allows water to escape higher than the media will accumulate.

At the end, all the ss is sitting in the bottom of the bowl in a half inch of water. It drains easily due to its weight and it gets thrown on a piece of an old t shirt to dry.

From tumble to towel takes about 8 mins for 225-250 cases.

[dc4ou]

I use a Thumbler's Tumbler and wash 1000 cases at a time as well. My brass is not deprimed at this point. I use brass pins instead of SS. I drain the water and rinse. I then use the Berry's Brass Pan Sifter to get the pins out. I pour about 250 out at a time and shake around until all of the pins are out. Sometimes the pins fly around when I am shaking them out, however after 75,000 rounds, I have never had a pin make it to the reloader. I was about to try a rotating separator, however after this thread I may stick with my current method.

I haven't wet tumbled my brass. But I have a question. By not decapping first do you trap water in the brass/ spent primer? If so, do you have a possibility of wet loading your brass?

I usually let mine dry for two days. Once I was drying 45acp and thought they were dry after 1 day, I reloaded them and 2 or 3 out of a hundred would not go bang - water in the primer holes. Now, I wait at least 2 days and sometimes use a fan.

[DDRanch]

I use my Dillon separator and pan filled with water. after a couple of days drying I put them in the Dillon seperator again, a couple of cranks and any left over pins fall out. I do not decap my brass as I have once in a great moon have gotten a small pin stuck in flash hole. I understand there are large SS pins out there that do no get stuck.

[GregJ]

I haven't wet tumbled my brass. But I have a question. By not decapping first do you trap water in the brass/ spent primer? If so, do you have a possibility of wet loading your brass?

ONLY if you do not have a good drying process. I do not deprime first, and refuse to (too much brass handling). I did not have a good process for drying my brass and ran into some issues because of it. I use the FA case dryer, run it for as long as the next batch tumbles, and never had an issue since.

Edited March 30, 2016 by GregJ

[GregJ]

I tried filling the RCBS media separator with clean water to aid in separating the pins, but it was too big a PITA.

Here is my process:

- empty all dirty water from tumbler without loosing pins

- dump tumber contents into spearator

- spin brass to separate 99% of pins

- dump tumbler contents onto large towel on floor.

- dump water out of bottom of separator without loosing pins

- dump remaining water (not much should be left) and pins back into tumbler

- use transfer magnet to get straggler pins from separator bottom and into tumbler

- move the transfer magnet around/over/though the brass on the towel several times to pick up more stragglers

- put brass on FA case dryer and start it up

- prep tumbler for next batch, repeat cycle.

[lizz]

What is a SS pin?

[trgt]

What is a SS pin?

Stainless Steel pin

[trgt]

Dillon media separator. It gets 99% of the pins out, while still wet. The rest fall out when dry.

Same for me, the CM-2000. 20 or 30 cranks and most of the pins will have dropped out (9mm). I stop and rinse a little while doing this, but more for through rinsing than pings. The Frankford Arsenal magnet does a good job with pins that want to cling near the seams. I have better luck with this media separator vs smaller ones in a bucket.

The brass gets dumped from this in to a large beachtowl I use to do a rough dry. There normally about 3-5 pins that will fall out during this. Spread shells out and last pass with magnet, might get one or two more.

Set brass out in sun to dry. At this point brass is 99.9% pin free.

I use a .40 ammo tray to scoop to case feeder, the 40 tray is last check to find 380 or 38 super that has slipped by before (easy to spot because of height in tray), At this point pretty much never see a pin, more likely to find a case with stuck piece of gravel in it.

[lizz]

What is a SS pin?

Stainless Steel pin

And it ends up in my brass? Over my head no need to answer.

[ultimase]

With wet tumbling you use ss pins to help clean. Once the tumbling is done you need to separate the pins so you can reuse them.

[lizz]

With wet tumbling you use ss pins to help clean. Once the tumbling is done you need to separate the pins so you can reuse them.

Thanks

[theWacoKid]

... after drying.. I use one of those used 40 caliber plastic trays that factory ammo packs their ammo in... dump your brass in a container and grab a handful of brass drop the brass on the tray & shake... ,most of the brass will land upright.. raise the tray towards the light and you can see that the flash holes don't have anything in them .. it only takes a few minutes to check a bunch of brass using this method..

i'll never go back to cleaning my brass with dry media..

This is the best reloading trick I've found. I use two 50 count Frankford Arsenal 40 caliber loading trays for doing 9mm. A few handfuls and they all fall mouth up. Scan inside every case looking for pins, cracks, steps. Place second tray on top and flip. Inspect primer pockets looking again for pins and crimps. Quick check of height looking for 380 and Makarov. Inspected and ready to load.

This is very fast, very efficient, and helps me keep exact count of brass in the hopper.

[Aric]

Dillion media separator. I spin them around for about a minute. I wait a few minutes and spin them again. I move the cases, by hand, to a towel for drying. Once dry, I move the to a box for storage, by hand. Moving by hand agitates the cases and allows more of the pins to fall out of the cases.

Dumping from one location to the next allows lose pins to fall back into cases.

I find the the pins fall more freely when the cases are dry.