SS Wet Tumbling: Chips vs Pins

[padom]

I've been wet tumbling range pickup pistol and 5.56 for many many years.. Thumblers Tumbler B then a Rebel 17... always used pins...

Typical 3hr tumble time with Dawn, 1/4 TSP lemishine, COT and hot water. Come out looking like brand new brass... only did this for range pickup and purchased 1x dirty brass that I'm going to process in mass qty on my Dillon progressives... I dry tumble my precision brass.

I recently picked up a Super 1050 and decided to wet tumble 5000-10000 pc of LC I had filled in buckets.

I remembered I bought some of these SS chips last year and never used them. Dumped the SS pins out of my Rebel 17, poured a 5lb bag of these SS chips in and put 350-400pc of 5.56 in. Added my normal mix of Dawn, COT, 1/4 top Lemishine and hot water and turned it out.

Checked it after 1hr.. sparkling clean, as clean as my old 3hr ss pins run.... nothing stuck in my cases.. I'm sold, these SS chips are the way to go...

 

[bdubmkg]

Interesting. I too have been wet tumbling for a good while using dawn. I switched to rcbs fluid and it made a drastic change for the better with tumble time and brass finish.

 

[alamo5000]

I've been using Southern Shine Media for several years now and the SS chips are definitely the way to go.

 

[spife7980]

How do other people know that you’re better than they are because you reload if your brass isn’t dirty?

 

[Kadams1563]

I too have moved to SS chips. No more pins stuck in flash holes!

 

[simonp]

COT?? What’s that? Only ever used the dawn & lemishine

 

[Franko]

Thought about trying chips but so far tumbling without pins has worked for me and knowing that nothing is going to be stuck in my cases gives me peace of mind.

 

[Grubber]

i have used both chips and pins. the chips don't get stuck in the .223 or 6BR cases, a big plus. they do as good a job as the pins. they seem to do the flash holes a bit better than the pins. the chips are a little harder to manage as they are very small and light and tend to get away from you. they are magnetic enough to get picked up by a magnet, however.

 

[padom]

COT?? What’s that? Only ever used the dawn & lemishine

Cream of Tarter..( potassium bitartrate, tartaric acid)

 

[stevieb92]

That's great to hear about the chips. What's the best source you've found to pick them up?

 

[padom]

That's great to hear about the chips. What's the best source you've found to pick them up?

The place I posted a picture of in my OP....

 

[stevieb92]

The place I posted a picture of in my OP....

My employer IT blocks vids and pics, so I can't see them. I'll check later when I'm at home. Thanks

 

[padom]

I got 2 5lb bags from www.ammobrass.com

 

[Kadams1563]

I bought mine from Southern Shine Media. They are much cheaper.

 

[whatsupdoc]

I tried a similar looking product, when wet the chips stuck like magnets to the brass.

 

[Old Corps 8541]

Will the FA magnet pick up these chips like it does with the pins ?

 

[Kadams1563]

Cream of Tarter..( potassium bitartrate, tartaric acid)

 

[padom]

I tried a similar looking product, when wet the chips stuck like magnets to the brass.

Did you use a rotating wet media separator filled with water to dump the brass out of the Tumbler into???

Did it last night, spun the brass in the cage (bottom half of the cage is submerged) and not a single piece of SS media in site... nothing inside or out..

 

[padom]

Will the FA magnet pick up these chips like it does with the pins ?

My magnet does...

 

[PatMiles]

Do the chips ding up the top of the neck like pins do?

 

[FredHammer]

I'm not convinced anything beyond Flitz charged walnut media is worth the dick dance.

 

[padom]

I'm not convinced anything beyond Flitz charged walnut media is worth the dick dance.

I do both (dry tumble for my precision rifle brass that never hits the ground)... dry tumbling doesn't clean nasty range pickup that is dirty as hell.... im.not putting that in my progressives and jamming them all up and scratching dies, etc. Only reason I wet tumble this stuff...

 

[padom]

Do the chips ding up the top of the neck like pins do?

Im not sure as I just SS tumbled nasty range pick up brass. So Im not sure what was there before or after tumbling. But for me, it doesnt matter if it does because Im SS tumbling to get all the dirt/grime off of them before processing. They then get run in my 1050 that will deprime, size, swage, trim, neck mandrel and M Die all on my brass processing toolhead.. So any neck dings would be cut off anyway during the trim process....

But, Ill use a brass catcher for a few hundred on my next outing and then SS tumble those in these new pins and report back.

 

[Cascade Hemi]

I have both, the chips are more efficient and take less time. Chips are harder to separate from brass than pins. I stopped using media when wet tumbling.

 

[padom]

I have both, the chips are more efficient and take less time. Chips are harder to separate from brass than pins. I stopped using media when wet tumbling.

See I didn't have any issues separating the chips. I would actually say its more of an issue separating those damn pins in all the past times Ive done it.. These little chips washed right out hassle free in my wet media separator. Fill the seperater up with water to about 1in below the top, open the cage and set half into the water, dump all the brass/chips out of rebel 17 into it, close and lock it and give it a good 8-10 turns and then open and take the brass out and put in a strainer.. then I drain the water from the seperater, rinse chips then dump back into the Rebel 17 barrel..

I then rinse cold water over the brass sitting in the sink in the strainer. Then in summer time I throw them outside in the sun for an hour on a towel. Bone dry after that.. Winter, I put them on baking sheets in the over on low for 30min...

 

[MTRecon]

I started rotary tumbling back when RCBS introduced the Sidewinder. Wore out 2 of the drums that they used to replace for free. Still have some of their liquid media concentrate.

Then I changed to the Rebel 17. I found through trial and error there is a sweet spot when the right amount of brass is matched with the right tumble time.

For me I use real dirty #400 9mm cases for 60 minutes and they come out looking like virgin brass. More brass than that and the tumble time has to be increased.

Never had any problems with pins getting stuck except when I tried too small of batches of brass.

The chips, with their edges, look like they would cut right through fouling much faster than pins.

 

[Cascade Hemi]

I'll try the water filled separator next time. In general, wet media is an unnecessary step but I'm always willing to reevaluate my process to see if there is a better way.

 

[padom]

I'll try the water filled separator next time. In general, wet media is an unnecessary step but I'm always willing to reevaluate my process to see if there is a better way.

For accuracy/precision, 100% tumbling in general is an unnecessary step. You can sit there and wipe your brass off, lube it, size it, wipe it off again and go from there.. A lot of guys do this in F-Class and Benchrest. I did a test years ago here on SH where I took Lapua (I think it was either 223rem Match or 6.5x47L) brass and did accuracy testing. I found SS hurt accuracy/consistency unless you used dry neck lube when seating bullets, not tumbling at all vs dry tumbling I found ZERO accuracy difference over something like 5 reloads...

But my SS wet tumbling purposes are strictly for nasty dirty grimy range pickup and mil brass that is so nasty I dont want it anywhere near my progressives/dies before wet tumbling. A lot of them are straight dark brown or black and dont even look like brass cases.. Come out of the SS wet tumbler looking like new...

 

[padom]

Lets not turn this thread into a..... "is tumbling necessary, wet tumbling isnt necessary, etc, etc. yada yada yada". We know we have beat that topic to death countless times over countless threads.. Not directed at anyone specific, just trying to keep discussions on track and about the topic being discussed.

I simply made this thread to post the results of these SS wet tumbling chips vs the pins Ive been using for 15yr or so.. My findings, they clean better, more thoroughly, faster.

They actually looked like they could have been pulled sooner than 1hr so Im loading up another batch now and we will see how 30min looks with these chips....

 

[CK1.0]

I think whether pins or chips, new beats old.

The tumbling process rounds off the edges on whatever media one uses (think rock tumbler), faster than it seems it should, so the older it gets and the more cycles that pile up, the less effective it becomes…

I’ve heard the chips last longer, but also get stuck in flash holes more often, YMMV.

 

[Kadams1563]

For dry tumbling I use these Russian buckwheat (I think) they do great and do not dust at all BUT you have to run a universal decapper die to them gettin stick in primer pockets.

 

[padom]

For dry tumbling I use these Russian buckwheat (I think) they do great and do not dust at all BUT you have to run a universal decapper die to them gettin stick in primer pockets.

Thats a new one. hahah. Link? I just use the green lyman media works great nice shiny brass but gets a little messy sometimes.. I ran out of the lizard bedding or whatever I bought at Petsmart and been using this up.. The lyman red is a fucking mess, hard pass on that.

 

[CK1.0]

I don’t clean my brass before spraying it with Lanolin/IPA mix and sizing it (decap at the same time).

Then it goes into the dry tumbler for 8 hours, comes out beautiful and yields single digit SDs. I recommend/use 20-40 grit corn cob blasting media (much finer than the usual corn cob stuff), pours out of the cases like water and doesn’t get stuck in flash holes.

Blast Media, Corn Cob, 20 to 40 Grit Amazon product ASIN B08F5JTPBJ

 

[FredHammer]

I don’t clean my brass before spraying it with Lanolin/IPA mix and sizing it (decap at the same time).

Then it goes into the dry tumbler for 8 hours, comes out beautiful and yields single digit SDs. I recommend/use 20-40 grit corn cob blasting media (much finer than the usual corn cob stuff), pours out of the cases like water and doesn’t get stuck in flash holes.

Blast Media, Corn Cob, 20 to 40 Grit Amazon product ASIN B08F5JTPBJ

Any particular reason you select corn cob over walnut?

 

[padom]

Any particular reason you select corn cob over walnut?

Walnut always cleaned better for me but Ill give this corn cob a try.

 

[Kadams1563]

Thats a new one. hahah. Link? I just use the green lyman media works great nice shiny brass but gets a little messy sometimes.. I ran out of the lizard bedding or whatever I bought at Petsmart and been using this up.. The lyman red is a fucking mess, hard pass on that.

Russkoe Pole Buckwheat Groats, 30.8 oz https://a.co/d/25Cw7vH

I don’t know who told me about these but I got them from this site somewhere. I have been using them for years and used them a ton.

Throw them in with some NU-Finish and let them roll.

 

[lash]

Thanks for the info Dom. I also dry tumble with walnut for precision and always had trouble with range pickup. Having used industrial sized tumblers for polishing and deburring for years in the automotive parts industry, I can see how the tetrahedron shape of the chips would work better than pins for this application.

 

[FredHammer]

Walnut always cleaned better for me but Ill give this corn cob a try.

Cap of Flitz charged walnut media 4hrs vibrate time. Near retinal burn taking the lid off the tumbler.

 

[spife7980]

Then it goes into the dry tumbler for 8 hours,

 

[max1840]

I’ve been tumbling for a long time with SS pins and think it is still the best. The chips were tedious to clean out and they also left the brass with a burnished look as opposed to shine

 

[padom]

I’ve been tumbling for a long time with SS pins and think it is still the best. The chips were tedious to clean out and they also left the brass with a burnished look as opposed to shine

That's burnished look is from running too long.. run the chips much shorter....30-45min and nice and shiny. They clean much better/faster then pins

 

[CK1.0]

Any particular reason you select corn cob over walnut?

Nope, if they make a super fine walnut, that would be great too. It's the fine grit that makes it awesome, it's like fine sand except far less abrasive, and again, it pours right out of the flash holes. It doesn't require you running a just-in-case decapping die later, or worse, beating the shit out of your brass in one of those media separators to make sure the primer pockets are clear/clean. I almost need to record a video to show how easy it is...

I probably don't need to tumble as long as I do, but I've found my numbers are far more consistent if I get every last bit of lube off and it doesn't seem to hurt anything, I throw it on a cheap timer and forget about it. It's kind of "garage only" though, it gets everywhere if you're not careful.

 

[FredHammer]

Nope, if they make a super fine walnut, that would be great too. It's the fine grit that makes it awesome, it's like fine sand except far less abrasive, and again, it pours right out of the flash holes. It doesn't require you running a just-in-case decapping die later, or worse, beating the shit out of your brass in one of those media separators to make sure the primer pockets are clear/clean. I almost need to record a video to show easy it is...

I probably don't need to tumble as long as I do, but I've found my numbers are far more consistent if I get every last bit of lube off and it doesn't seem to hurt anything, I throw it on a cheap timer and forget about it. It's kind of "garage only" though, it gets everywhere if you're not careful.

Ok, just asked because the walnut version of same grit showed up on Amazon. Walnut has always been my jam!

 

[padom]

Ok, just asked because the walnut version of same grit showed up on Amazon. Walnut has always been my jam!

Hahaha. I ordered both same grit few hours ago

 

[CK1.0]

Hahaha. I ordered both same grit few hours ago

Pick whatever looks best and return the other.

If you’ve ever spent any time at all inspecting primer pockets for stuck media… it’s life changing lol!

I just pour out the cases and media through one of those sifters over a 5 gallon bucket, and then you just pick up the cases and turn them upside down, the media pours out like water.

With one hand grabbing cases, I can hold 5-7 cases upside down in my other hand to empty out (depending on cartridge/caliber lol), going through 100 cases takes 3-5 minutes if you go slow.

 

[lash]

Pick whatever looks best and return the other.

If you’ve ever spent any time at all inspecting primer pockets for stuck media… it’s life changing lol!

I just pour out the cases and media through one of those sifters over a 5 gallon bucket, and then you just pick up the cases and turn them upside down, the media pours out like water.

With one hand grabbing cases, I can hold 5-7 cases upside down in my other hand to empty out (depending on cartridge/caliber lol), going through 100 cases takes 3-5 minutes if you go slow.

I’ve been using walnut media for a couple decades and have never, yes I said never, had to sort through cases looking for plugged flash holes nor had a plugged flash hole.

My process of removing cases from the tumbler is very similar to yours, in that I pick up two with each hand, drain them, one tap on the bowl rim and they’re good to go.

 

[FredHammer]

In spirit of knowledge sharing & articulation of techniques by which to facilitate the goal of clean brass, and in direct contrast to the duly noted Point of Order by the OP’s request of topic matter derailment, I will add that I’m really digging the organic media use vs the stainless steel…

 

[CK1.0]

I’ve been using walnut media for a couple decades and have never, yes I said never, had to sort through cases looking for plugged flash holes nor had a plugged flash hole.

My process of removing cases from the tumbler is very similar to yours, in that I pick up two with each hand, drain them, one tap on the bowl rim and they’re good to go.

Yeah, if the same effect is accomplished, good on you.

I had bad luck with media getting stuck in flash holes even after trying a few types and could never really get around it, read about the 20-40 grit blasting media, tried it, and it was a game changer for me.

 

[spife7980]

The 20-40 grit cob is great until it gets saturated in lanolin and then it sticks all over primer pockets. When that starts I throw it out and go with more. My 40lb sack goes faster than I had imagined but it’s still money ahead vs buying other things in smaller quantities.

 

[CK1.0]

The 20-40 grit cob is great until it gets saturated in lanolin and then it sticks all over primer pockets. When that starts I throw it out and go with more. My 40lb sack goes faster than I had imagined but it’s still money ahead vs buying other things in smaller quantities.

Yep, when I notice it’s not flowing as fast as usual it’s time to ditch it and refresh the tumbler with new stuff.

I got like ~15lbs a couple years ago and still have enough for 5 more years easy. I do change it out a few times per year for sure though, it doesn’t last as long as traditional tumbler media.