Da¥¥ FA wet tumbler

[HumphreyDaBear]

Had to fire up the FA wet tumbler for .45, .38, .357 and .44…hate those pins. Been exiled to the garage from the inside loading bench. Anyone else hate those SS pins.

 

[NikA]

I love those pins. Not sure how other folks separate them, I use a flour sifter, dig the cases out and leave the pins in the tumbler. They're also magnetic, guessing a strong magnet could be used as well. All the media separators I've seen for this task look like more trouble than they're worth.

 

[contender]

I actually found an EASY way to separate the wet, SS pins from my cases.

I use a Dillon media separator,, and I fill it with enough water in the tub, to where I have about 1" of water above the bottom portion of the brass container.
I wash my brass,, pour off the dirty water,, (carefully,, w/o pouring out any pins,) then pour the pis & brass into the tumbling part. I put that in the tub & start a steady turning to both rinse the brass, AND remove the pins.
Once I feel I've gotten all the pins out of the brass, (which is pretty quickly,) I pull it out of the tub,, shake it several times to get the excess water out of the cases,, and pour the brass into the dehydrator to dry.
I have enough pins to clean several tubs of brass before I pour off the water from the tub,, rinse everything, and put the wet pins in a container to dry.

Nope,, I don't hate my SS pins,, they have proven their worth.

 

[Bigbore5]

I use the FA separator and pans, as well as their magnet to pick up the pins. No problem.

 

[aphelion]

Wet tumbling works fine without the pins.

 

[rugerjunkie]

Wet tumbling works fine without the pins.

It does if you don’t care about the inside of the case and the primer pockets.

 

[aphelion]

It does if you don't care about the inside of the case and the primer pockets.

Wet tumbling without the pins gets the big stuff out of the primer pockets, which is all that matters, and it cleans the inside of the brass well enough too. A mirror finish inside the brass isn't necessary for anything, but of course it is all up to personal preference. I use Dawn and a pinch of Lemishine. And I am stingy with both.

 

[HumphreyDaBear]

I use a FA separator and reduced the quantity of pins. But despite me using caution, pins somehow find their way into the house. Love the results of wet tumbling, just hate those pins.

 

[contender]

Use a clean water tub for your separator. Plenty of water,, and a slower rotation will allow the pins to get washed out of the cases & into the bottom of the tub. if 1" of water isn't enough,, add more water. Remember,, the pins can & will float out & away from the inside of the cases.
I've actually used (2) tubs to do my rinsing. The first one,, gets the pins & whatever left behind dirty water from tumbling. The second tub of clean water helps rinse the brass, AND if you by chance left a pin behind,, it'll get it. I rarely get a pin in the second tub. But I've never had a pin make it into my dried cases.
But I have a friend who does the double rinse,, and then the drying. After drying,, he put the brass back into a dry media separator,, and hand turns them again. He said he has had the rare occasion of a stuck pin come out.

All this is in straight walled brass.

Bottleneck brass,, after drying,, get a total second run through walnut shell media. If any pins get left behind in bottleneck brass,, the dry tumble helps dislodge them, and they too get removed in the separation. That's when a magnet can help recover pins.

 

[JAYDAWG]

Use a clean water tub for your separator. Plenty of water,, and a slower rotation will allow the pins to get washed out of the cases & into the bottom of the tub. if 1" of water isn't enough,, add more water. Remember,, the pins can & will float out & away from the inside of the cases.
I've actually used (2) tubs to do my rinsing. The first one,, gets the pins & whatever left behind dirty water from tumbling. The second tub of clean water helps rinse the brass, AND if you by chance left a pin behind,, it'll get it. I rarely get a pin in the second tub. But I've never had a pin make it into my dried cases.
But I have a friend who does the double rinse,, and then the drying. After drying,, he put the brass back into a dry media separator,, and hand turns them again. He said he has had the rare occasion of a stuck pin come out.

All this is in straight walled brass.

Bottleneck brass,, after drying,, get a total second run through walnut shell media. If any pins get left behind in bottleneck brass,, the dry tumble helps dislodge them, and they too get removed in the separation. That's when a magnet can help recover pins.

Not speaking for Ty.........
But, my experience is similar to his. If you make the effort and take the time, wet tumble with pins is by far the best. The are hard to tell from new brass in appearance. Agree with others in this post, a good magnet helps a bunch.
If what you want is, easy, efficient, and makes brass ready to shoot, pins not needed.
In fact the dry medial tumble is likely your best bet.

Cheers,
JAYDAWG

 

[Laserbait]

I never use the pins/media. The inside of the cases and the primer pockets are clean enough after 2 hours of the cases agitating in the water.

 

[s4s4u]

Wet tumbling works fine without the pins.

Ever seen Jerry Miculek's wet tumbler? A cement mixer that he just puts sudsy water in. Seems to serve him pretty well.

 

[contender]

Lots of volume shooters & shooting teams use a cement mixer as a tumbler.

 

[gnappi]

I've looked at wet cleaning but I'm a traditionalist and for my volume of dirty brass my vibratory cleaner works just fine, cough cough, blow nose, sneeze :-)

 

[Ale-8(1)]

An overnight with crushed walnut hulls in my Thumler tumbler does it for me. I'll admit the pin tumblers produce "like new" cases, but that's not imortant to me. To each his own.

I'm curious . . . has anyone tried sand in a Thumler? :unsure:

 

[Mobuck]

I'm guessing sand is too abrasive and will eat up both tumbler and brass.

 

[DeletedMember275]

I'm guessing sand is too abrasive and will eat up both tumbler and brass.

Yes, on both counts. Rock tumbler media is also too aggressive. You can find ceramic media which might be suitable, although I have never tried it.

 

[Ale-8(1)]

Well, the "drum" on a Model B is lined with relatively thick rubber, and I just wondered if a limited tumble -- not overnight -- with some fine sand would not hurt either the drum or the brass. I'm pretty sure fine sand would clean the brass but don't know what finish would result. If I decide to try it I'll let ya know. ;)