school me on stainless pin cleaning for brass

Some of these crimped primers are tough on decap pins, or manage to push the primer out but get stuck in a dirty flashhole. I am thinking a thumblers model b, 5 lbs stainless pins, lemishine, and a little dawn soap would stop this if they were decapped using a universal decap die...

Anyone been down this road before?

If so do the pins go through the flashhole and clean it good?
Any diffrences between the thumblers tumbler and the extreme tumbler, besises. Obvious bearings, tub construction..
Extreme..
http://www.stainlesstumblingmedia.co...-rebel-17.html
Thumblers b
http://www.stainlesstumblingmedia.co...igh-speed.html

Any issues with air drying?
Or other things to know about before thinking harder about it?
Thanks in advance for your responses.

My thoughts... cleaning the brass won't do anything for easing the primer crimp... the crimp is there plain and simple. Nor will it (cleaning with SS pins) do anything for the size of the flash hole... the flash/burn from the primer ignition is not as such it is fouling the flash hole significantly enough to cause these problems. If your decapping pins are getting stick in the flash hole, see about using smaller/different pins.

I can't recall the last time I had stick pins in flash holes but I've heard about it.

I use RCBS pins and load WCC (both NATO and non-NATO marked), LC (both NATO and non-NATO marked), Rem, Federal, Hornady, Winchester, Speer, IMI, and others with NO stuck pin issues.


I don't think wet tumbling is worth the time nor the mess. 2 hours in my Hornady vibratory case cleaner gives excellent "new" looking results.

Check with AB, pretty sure he uses one of these.

I have a Thumblers Model B.... have used it for damn near 40 years or so it seems... I'm 52 now and I remember my brother using it to polish rocks when we were kids. Only things replaced were the inner lining and the drive belts.

In reality... what do you want? Clean brass or Bling-bling brass?

In reality, just looking to avoid bending the internal sizing rod on my full length die
Decap pins, well they are expendable....

Outside cleaning is fine with walnut it does not need any cleaner...

If a benefit is a cleaner inside of the case, clean flash holes, and clean primer pockets, that's fine but not my real objective here.

I will change from sizing and decapping with my good die and start separately with a decap die that uses cheaper expendable parts.

What brass are you using where you get these problems? What brand/type die? You should not be having this issue...

No issues with lc, federal, rem.winchester
Guess I need to stick to those.


Dies are redding full length, cases are lubed with imperial wax

This was a mixed lot of brass, not separated out by headstamps like I did before.
Lesson learned.

Stainless steel pin tumbling gives the best cleaning results. If the brass is decapped, it will clean out the primer pockets and flash holes.

I don't think it will solve the problem you describe, though. It is a heck of a process and requires drying time so it's not for every day. I usually put brass I have just picked up through the stainless steel tumbler for the first clean and then use walnut or corncob afterwards.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by AB

Stainless steel pin tumbling gives the best cleaning results. If the brass is decapped, it will clean out the primer pockets and flash holes.

I don't think it will solve the problem you describe, though. It is a heck of a process and requires drying time so it's not for every day. I usually put brass I have just picked up through the stainless steel tumbler for the first clean and then use walnut or corncob afterwards.

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I wondered where my range brass was going . . . ;)

Permaban in 3.....2...

Don't worry about me. Nothing to see here. Just move along.

Seriously, the SS pin setup rocks. If I had more time I'd use it exclusively, but time is an issue with me so I don't have the time to go through the tumble, separate, dry ritual for every batch, and the batches are small! Two/three pounds of brass isn't a lot, but the results are spectacular!

I use the Lee universal decapping pin. I've only broken the pin when depriming a sneaky bearden primed brass that snuck in, otherwise the pin just pops up and I have to reset it.

I deprime before I do anything else (well, I sort, then deprime).

Quote:

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Originally Posted by AB

Don't worry about me. Nothing to see here. Just move along.

Seriously, the SS pin setup rocks. If I had more time I'd use it exclusively, but time is an issue with me so I don't have the time to go through the tumble, separate, dry ritual for every batch, and the batches are small! Two/three pounds of brass isn't a lot, but the results are spectacular!

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How do you dry? I don't use SS yet, and I don't have a vibratory tumbler either, currently I use ultrasonic. Its cheap and it gets the brass clean enough, but its not sparkly.

To dry brass, I either wrap it in a towel and shake it, then lay it in the dryer (my dryer has a sweater shelf you can put in) and let it do the work, or I put it in the oven at 170.

I shake it in a towel, and then set the brass in a small room on a wire mesh rack with a ceiling fan and a dehumidifier.

I used to bake it at 180 (oven's lowest setting), but I noticed the brass took on a dark color rather than the shiny bright yellow I wanted. I have a sweater rack for my dryer as well, and I might give that a try!

Here's my method, I have only done a couple batches but I like it. Not sure if I'll do pistol brass til I get a separator. I size/decap (if it's dirty brass I'll tumble in walnut first to keep from scratching my dies) with Imperial die wax then wet tumble.
I split a 2-lb media refresher kit into the 2 drums of a harbor freight tumbler, put 1 spoonful (regular teaspoon from the kitchen) of Dawn in and basically filled it with brass. I got 40pcs of 30-06 brass per drum.
**I have to note that I have a water softener, and lemishine is supposed to help soften the water. I only used my softened water and Dawn soap. I filled the drums with cold water, and rinsed in warm water.

I used the laundry sink (nice and roomy) and just rinsed the suds out after tumbling by letting the water run into the drum, tilting the drum a bit until the suds were gone. Then with the drum full of clear water I grabbed 1-2 at a time and swirled them in the water to dump the media (the cases have to be underwater for the media to reliably come out).Then I made sure each case was rinsed well- I had maybe 8-10 cases with 2 pins stuck in the flash hole, out of 2 batches, not bad.
like
I just laid the brass on a towel, folded it over and rolled them a few times to dry the outside, and left them to air dry a few hours. They look great! This particular brass was not too dirty, it was already tumbled in walnut a while back but you can see the difference ESPECIALLY on the inside of the case on these pics.
http://i1298.photobucket.com/albums/...psvpbdxmxb.jpg
http://i1298.photobucket.com/albums/...pssmotqcsl.jpg

Jeez. That's clean brass.

Yeah, I don't have the patience for any of that.

Oh yeah and wait to trim/chamfer til after wet tumbling, the pins will peen the edge of the case

Ok, I'm going wet now,
Deprimed 454&22tcm brass in separate tubs for first run
Little bit of dawwn soap and lemishine.
I unnerstand now why its not for everyday, well unless you had a
Plastic cement mixer to be able to do a decent amount at one time.

3 tubs is less than what would fit in the dry tumbler.
I'll not use it for pistol brass, and how much I'll use it for other brass time will tell,
As dry tumbling is more convient. And does not require depriming

For small batches of multiple calibers, or old dirty brass, or maybe match ammo, or magnum ammo
Where you want clean primer pockets, I can see the appeal.

I think I like it better for match brass, oh its clean alright,
But for the effort involved, I'm glad I have the dry setup, that gives production.