Stainless Tumbling Accessories

nos, 1/25/13

I started with SS media and a Thumblers tumbler a little over a year ago. I use a rotary case separater- ? RCBS (big green contraption with an inner basket which rotates inside two half buckets). It makes separating the pins from the cases a breeze. I fill the half bucket with water and rotate the inner bucket a few times and the SS pins fall out. Good luck.

best wishes- oldandslow

Agreed! I too use a rotary separator, it is Cabelas brand which is identical to name brand units from what I can tell. It is a huge time saver! And they don't cost much at all.

I tried using the Dillon media separator and ended up with pins all over the garage. I now pull the brass out of the media by hand. I then put 3 of the washers and wingnuts back on the lid w/rubber lining and loosen them enough to let the water drain from the pins. After water has drained leave the pins in the thumbler and they are dry within a few hours.

I don't know anything about the Dillon separator but the one I was talking about has a lid and you can crank it fast or slow to prevent making pins go airborn.

Here is a video I made last year showing me with some 308 cases separating the stainless pins in the cabelas separator. It is just a cheesy plastic thing but it works well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AZPLLAzIlQ

I use a cheaper option. I have a 5 gal bucket of water in the sink about 1/2 full. I take a mesh lingerie bag and dump the brass and pins into the bag over the bucket. Shake the bag under water to dump out as much pins as possible, then pick the brass out letting the pins fall into the water. Slow - but cheap.

Good thinking!

$2 colander + $2 bucket

I use a plastic colander purchased and used solely for separating brass and SS pins. I slowly dump the entire contents of the thumlers tumbler into the colander over a bucket, letting the water in first...then slowly pour the brass and media in. Too fast and pins start bouncing out. Then I rinse the colander and brass, still over the bucket, turning it over in my hands. After about a minute the pins are in the bucket, and the brass is rinsed. The colander gets lifted off and the brass set out to dry, The water gets drained slowly out of the bucket, careful not to pour out any of the media that has settled at the bottom, then the media and whatever water is left goes back into the tumbler and the lid screwed down.
If you wanted to drain the pins, you could get a mesh seive or even pour them onto paper towels slowly.
The colander works well enough for me that I haven't thought about spending more than the $2 it cost me. As long as you are reasonably careful you don't lose media.

I use the RCBS covered media separator.
I fill it with water and spin for 10 turns in each direction and everything is separated.

I use the big Dillon one.

I use a RCBS rotating media separator. I throw in an old washcloth to absorb excess water. It helps the pins from sticking to the brass. When the brass is fully dry, I briefly pop them back in the media separator and agitate the basket to ensure any stray pins fall off.

I use http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200328313_200328313

to pick up the hundreds of stray media pins. I can't tell you how helpful that product is.

SS media

I thought it took too long to air dry the brass so I put mine on a cookie sheet in a hot oven for about a minute!

Would these be considered "HOT" loads?

silicosys4 said:

I use a plastic colander purchased and used solely for separating brass and SS pins. I slowly dump the entire contents of the thumlers tumbler into the colander over a bucket, letting the water in first...then slowly pour the brass and media in. Too fast and pins start bouncing out. Then I rinse the colander and brass, still over the bucket, turning it over in my hands. After about a minute the pins are in the bucket, and the brass is rinsed. The colander gets lifted off and the brass set out to dry, The water gets drained slowly out of the bucket, careful not to pour out any of the media that has settled at the bottom, then the media and whatever water is left goes back into the tumbler and the lid screwed down.
If you wanted to drain the pins, you could get a mesh seive or even pour them onto paper towels slowly.
The colander works well enough for me that I haven't thought about spending more than the $2 it cost me. As long as you are reasonably careful you don't lose media.

Click to expand...

This has been my method described to a 'T'. Plenty fast, and rinsing in hot water seems to speed up the drying process.

CLP said:

I use a RCBS rotating media separator. I throw in an old washcloth to absorb excess water. It helps the pins from sticking to the brass. When the brass is fully dry, I briefly pop them back in the media separator and agitate the basket to ensure any stray pins fall off.

I use http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200328313_200328313

to pick up the hundreds of stray media pins. I can't tell you how helpful that product is.

Click to expand...

Are the stainless pins ferrous?

mine will stick to a magnet, but they don't rust

jfremder said:

Are the stainless pins ferrous?

Click to expand...

the pins from http://www.stainlesstumblingmedia.com/ are magnetic and do not rust either. can't speak for pins from other sources

Media Separation

We use a Garret Gold Panning Classifier with a 5 gal paint strainer for separating our media from the brass. We have recently put a short video together and posted it to Youtube.

As for magnetic qualities of tumbling media, STM sells the same media (as far as I know) as we do. It is manufactured by Pellets, LLC out of NY.

Pellets previously sold in 5 lb min quantities but has recently increased their minimum purchases to 25 or 50 lbs. We decided to become a distributor and are now offering a new Pellet Pin sized as .047 x .255". The new Ultra 47s offer the best qualities of the original .041 and larger XL .062 x .50".

With the .047 Ultra 47 pins, you will avoid the two pins stuck in the flash hole problem while maintaining the quicker tumbling found with the Standard .041 pins.

Check us out on our webpage, www.bullseye-reloading.com to see the short video. We are also selling on Ebay and Amazon if you aren't comfortable purchasing direct.

If you have any other questions regarding the stainless steel wet tumbler method, drop us an email.

Question about drying:

I'm using the TT and very happy with the results. What I'm concerned with is this: If you rinse the brass in water (I bought a Frankford media separator to swish the brass in a bucket of water dropping the SS pins to the bottom), is there a reason to be concerned with hard water spots on the dried brass creating problems in wearing the sizing die?

I've actually used distilled water to rinse the brass before drying to remove the potential for hard water deposits, but I'm not sure it's absolutely necessary.

Thoughts?