Another reason not to use steel pins for cleaning brass

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So my normal brass cleaning process is to skip the steel pins in my big tumbler, as they are messy as hell, and just running it for an extra half hour to an hour gets things clean enough for me. But. Today I decided to toss a handful in to get them cleaned up in an hour instead- was immediately reminded, upon rinsing stuff out, why I skipped them- the pins had wedged a bunch of 9mm cases inside 44 Mag. So spent some time getting those all pulled apart and tossed things in the oven.

Which brings us to the reason for the thread. About 45 minutes after putting the brass in the over, I hear this BANG!!! I first thought, holy shit did I miss a live primer or something? Nope. Two cases that I missed, one 9, on 44, had wedged themselves tight enough together to let steam build up and they separated with a bang. The spousal critter, me, and our furball all jumped, and now I'm on notice for drying stuff in the oven........

Oops.
“Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.”
- Maya Angelou

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Re: Another reason not to use steel pins for cleaning brass

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Walnut shells. From time to time a piece gets stuck in a primer hole, so you poke it out with a sheet rock screw from the work bench.

I use walnut shells because I live in the northern Sacramento Valley, where we grow lots of nuts. As it were. Folks in the Midwest would use corn. East coasters would have their pick, and Southerners would use grits.

CDFingers
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Re: Another reason not to use steel pins for cleaning brass

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Yeah! What kind of slob mixes their brass when cleaning?!? I call that a lesson from the brass gods.

Personally, I find those little steel pins do the best job cleaning brass. And they never get stuck in the primer pockets.

Oh and yeah, what kind of slob tumbles brass without decapping them first?
"It is better to be violent, if there is violence in our hearts, than to put on the cloak of non-violence to cover impotence. There is hope for a violent man to become non-violent. There is no such hope for the impotent." -Gandhi

Re: Another reason not to use steel pins for cleaning brass

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Pins definitely clean things up faster and better- but without pins is simpler and still gets you pretty clean brass. Primer pockets don't get as nice though for sure. I also generally deprime anything not going into the progressive press before cleaning.

O/T, I did find some pyrodex FFFG which looks to be suitable for loading up some Webley rounds.
“Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.”
- Maya Angelou

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Re: Another reason not to use steel pins for cleaning brass

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Well i'm just the newbie here, but i've been reloading since '68 & pins, dawn & lemishine in my old thumbler is among the best discoveries ever in reloading for me. Got tired of the dust from walnut or corn. Invested in a separator, a magnet, 5 gal paint strainer bag, & a dehydrator. Can hardly tell brass from nickle cases.
I always deprime w/a Lee universal decapper (order extra pins), & trim first so all are RTL when dry. & i NEVER mix calibers! They jam together in vibratories w/any medium.

Re: Another reason not to use steel pins for cleaning brass

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I"m down with pins, lemishine and Dawn using my Lortone lapidary tumbler. I so love the bright, gleaming, grime-free brass. Don't mix incompatible calibers and life is good.
I'm not keen on dry methods, like walnut shells because of the possibility of lead dust flying about, willy nilly.
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Re: Another reason not to use steel pins for cleaning brass

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Well lurker, i need to flesh out my profile on my desktop, as the forum s/w isn't mobile friendly methinks. But i shoot guns, lots, for a very long time, often w/interesting people, preferably mp-5sd, w/others paying for the ammo. & pets, yup, dogs, catrapods, foster kittens, chickens, & a rhinocodile for security. & these days, much of what comes to mind is the mind boggling reality that we have a russian asset in the WH.

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