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Stainless Steel Media

Posted: Thu Jun 06, 2019 12:21 pm
by skipper
If you have ever tried wet tumbling using the stainless steel PIN media, you may have found that they lodge themselves in the necks of 9mm and other similar brass. Thanks to BillK and Triggerfingers I now have some stainless steel media that does the job without getting caught in my case necks or primer pockets. Yes, that's right, no more prying pins out of my case necks or digging walnut out of primer pockets. Thank You Lord!! You say, how does it work?? Well, I'm glad you asked cause I have pictures of squeaky clean brass and the stainless media responsible.

Here is a closeup shot of the media. It's reminds me of sausage cut on the bias/diagonal, just miniaturized.
SSMedia.jpg
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Here's the end result of the media. Oh, did I say NO PICKING MEDIA OUT OF PRIMER POCKETS OR CASE NECKS???
RotaryTumbler.jpg
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Primer pockets look like I used my power tool on them. Actually better if I'm being honest. Some of this brass was the worst of the worst I picked up on the range this week. I would suggest a thorough inspection before they get tumbled. I might be too distracted by all that shiny brass and miss something like this:
SplitNeck.jpg
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Re: Stainless Steel Media

Posted: Fri Jun 07, 2019 6:21 am
by triggerfingers
So glad they are working out for you and the brass looks great! :D

Re: Stainless Steel Media

Posted: Fri Jun 07, 2019 7:40 am
by skipper
Yeah, I agree about the brass looking good. It really does. Plus, I didn't even need the big magnet while cleaning up this time. Unlike the pins, this media doesn't really stick in the cartridges. My manually operated Lyman Turbo Sifter worked great right into its own catch pan. Not even one piece of media fell on the ground. Just a simple hand agitating of the cases with running water did the job. I couldn't have been more pleased. Anybody need a used vibratory case tumbler???

Re: Stainless Steel Media

Posted: Sat Jun 08, 2019 10:19 am
by Rick in Oregon
WOW! :eek:

That's some nice clean brass right there!

If I wasn't completely set up with my current arrangement, I'd jump on that system post-haste. Anyone starting out or only has a small setup would be silly not to go that route after seeing your results. The stuff looks brand new for crikey-sakes! :D

Re: Stainless Steel Media

Posted: Sat Jun 08, 2019 10:51 am
by jimreed1948
So, who sells this particular media?

Re: Stainless Steel Media

Posted: Sat Jun 08, 2019 1:18 pm
by Bill K
jimreed1948 wrote: Sat Jun 08, 2019 10:51 am So, who sells this particular media?
[/quote

Sleeping Giant Brass. Look under components on their website/sales. Bill K :)

Re: Stainless Steel Media

Posted: Sat Jun 08, 2019 2:55 pm
by skipper

Re: Stainless Steel Media

Posted: Sun Jun 09, 2019 10:13 am
by jimreed1948
Thank you Bill K & skipper

Re: Stainless Steel Media

Posted: Sun Jun 09, 2019 12:01 pm
by skipper
Always glad to help spend someone else's money. :lol: I hope you enjoy your super clean brass as much as I do.

Re: Stainless Steel Media

Posted: Tue Jun 11, 2019 2:00 pm
by jimreed1948
I'm ready to order some media. How do you judge how much you need?

Re: Stainless Steel Media

Posted: Tue Jun 11, 2019 2:55 pm
by Bill K
I guess that would depend more less on how large your drum is. The medium last a good amount of time.
Myself I order three bags. and have only put two into my machine. Bill K :)

Re: Stainless Steel Media

Posted: Tue Jun 11, 2019 3:33 pm
by jimreed1948
Bill K wrote: Tue Jun 11, 2019 2:55 pm I guess that would depend more less on how large your drum is. The medium last a good amount of time.
Myself I order three bags. and have only put two into my machine. Bill K :)
Yeah, that makes since. I'm starting to work on the drum now. I'm think about 18" long and about 6" round. I really don't need anything too big. I might make it a little shorter. I'm mostly reloading for 20 VT these days and making my brass from LC 223.

I just happen to see on their website where he recommends 1 lb of media for 1 lb of brass. I'll follow this.

Thanks again.

Re: Stainless Steel Media

Posted: Tue Jun 11, 2019 4:01 pm
by skipper
I think I read somewhere one pound of media per pound of brass. I just throw all I have into the drum along with all the brass I can round up.

Re: Stainless Steel Media

Posted: Tue Jun 11, 2019 4:02 pm
by skipper
I think I read somewhere one pound of media per pound of brass. I just throw all I have into the drum along with all the brass I can round up for three hours.

Re: Stainless Steel Media

Posted: Wed Apr 29, 2020 2:39 pm
by jwsmith1959
I'm glad I saw this. When I first went to Stainless Pins a few years ago, all was good until I ran my first batch with 22-250. It took forever to shake all the pins out (a problem I had not run into yet). I couldn't even imagine how bad .204 would be. Since then, I have been running smaller calibers with walnut media. I will admit to purchasing the cheapest pins I could find off eBay and they were not sized correctly according to some of the articles I read, but they worked fine in the first calibers I tried.

When I was a young man, I worked at (and eventually ran) a shooting range and ran through so much brass I used a small electric cement mixer. I wish they would have had Pins then as it would have saved me a fortune.

I've got three bags coming.

Joel