Stainless Steel Pin Tumbling

[okietom]

Swampratt told me how he made his pin tumbler but i am too lazy to fabricate one. His is really cool because it was almost free.

 

[dennishoddy]

Some of the high volume shooters use the cheap plastic tub concrete mixer from Harbor Freight.

 

[swampratt]

I like free or cheap as long as it works.
You guys keep that solution off your skin.
It does contain some lead from certain primers.
Being in liquid form it could absorb into skin rather well.

Not to mention the solution it'self will dry your skin with repeated use..pulls the oil right out.

My offer still stands for anyone wanting some cases tumbled for FREE i will do 100 of 270 size on down.

Just so you can see if it is for you or not...

 

[Alvindadio]

So is stainless okay rather than brass pins? Does stainless work better than brass? I have to be careful to get the pins out of 5.56 cases as they sometimes get wedged inside. Pistol brass is not a problem.

 

[swampratt]

I use copper pins..that i made.
They work as well if not better than stainless...just braggin'
I see no reason why the brass pins would not work as well.
I have been using my same copper pins for thousands of rounds and no issues.

I had a friend that gave me some nasty .223 brass he tumbled with stainless pins and
it also had some pins stuck inside.

I grabbed a rear metering rod from a Qjet carb perfect tool for retrieval of those stuck pins

 

[OKCHunter]

The stainless steel pins I used were called Pellet Pins Ultra 47s. Got them from Amazon. They were advertised not to get stuck in the flash holes. The one batch I've done so far had no pins stuck in the flash holes or casings.

 

[mtnboomer]

http://bestbyte.net/merchant/mercha...e=ACMIPL0471&Category_Code=ACMI&Store_Code=BB

Best deal I've found on .047"x.255" pins. Call in your order and get a good deal on shipping!

http://www.okshooters.com/showthread.php?187297-DIY-wet-tumbler

 

[swampratt]

The issue with .223 is not the pins stuck in flash holes, but the pins wedge inside the case.
Be sure to look inside every case for stuck pins.

 

[distantfoe]

I've used stainless media for a few years now and have learned a lot.

I use nothing but wilson chamber seating dies and have noticed a lot more resistance when seating a bullet in a case when they're super clean. My groups opened up significantly as did my ES. Started tumbling all brass immediately before reloading in corn cob media to leave some dust in the neck so the bullet would seat easier. A dry neck luck would probably work best but I've since switched back to dry media. It's much more consistent when seating a bullet across a layer of carbon and I'm getting too lazy to mess with any more steps.

 

[Alvindadio]

So I can't see the pictures in the tumbler link. Is that just me or are they not available? The concern voiced on SS versus brass is that SS will wear down the brass because it is harder. I suppose that has some truth to it, but is it really enough to matter? Yes, the 223 have pins wedge inside. It just takes time and effort to make sure they all get out.