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Posted: 8/14/2015 5:26:00 PM EDT
| Anyone ever have damage to a firearm that was caused by SS pins left in cases after wet tumbling then reloaded and shot?? |
| I personally have not. I would like to know more about this though. I loaded up a few 1000 .223 rounds and I'm almost positive one of those cases a steel pin in there. I guess worst case it could mess with the gas system. Maybe scratch the barrel on the way out? |
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I was thinking about this the other day. I have used pins to do 1000's of 300 blackout with no problems. I did my first batch of 223 the other day and there were cases filled with pins. Then I found some in the bag after drying them.
I traded the 223 and told the guy to watch for them. I hope someone comes along who has some info on this |
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Not likely. First off, it's imperative that every case be inspected before you load it in any case, so your visual should identify the oddballs that have pins stuck in flash holes. Second, the flash hole is the only part that CAN hold onto pins. To have pins stay IN the case after tumbling, you'd have to have a lot of stuff go just exactly wrong. Who's going to take a case out of a tumbler and not turn it upside down to let stuff fall out? Finally, stainless steel pins for tumbling are magnetic, so if all else fails, you can use a magnet to pick them up - and to find them hiding inside or under things.
Aside from the very tiny possibility of this happening, if a pin did stay in a case, it would be expelled with the powder gas. It's not like having a bolt rattling around in your barrel. A pin would take the path of least resistance, and go out behind the bullet, probably without you noticing it. |
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As GHporter explained the key is visual inspection of each case when it is time to reload. Look at the flash hole then turn it upside down to look into the case, do both under a bright light.
A method I use to help remove excess pins after removing then from wet tumbling is as follows. I dump the entire contents of the wet tumbler into a 5 gallon bucket. I run clean water into it until all the soap is gone and I can see the pins and brass clearly. I pick out the brass while under water and shake out the pins. Then I place the brass on a clean beach towel. After all the brass has ben removed from the bucket I grab all four corners of the beach towel and with each end of the towel in my hands I run the towel up and down. This helps to dislodge any remaining pins. The brass is left in the sun to dry for at least an hour. Vince |
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I had already been using the RCBS separater for use with dry media separation, but it works great for wet SS pin separation as well
I turn it maybe 2 or 3 minutes and leftover pins becomes a non-issue. http://www.rcbs.com/Products/Case-Preparation/Case-Cleaning/Rotary-Case-Media-Separator.aspx |
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There was a lawyer person on US high-power forum that shot a couple of pins in a 223 match barrel, he verified with a bore scope.
Said he could see smears in the rifling from the pins, but didn't seem to hurt accuracy. I still wouldn't make a habit of NOT inspecting the cases before loading |
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After wet tumbling I shake the brass (each piece) pretty hard while upside down and then toss them in the vibrating polisher with the crushed walnut shell media and run them for an hour or so to dry them out. I've found one or two steel pins in the walnut shell media so that means I missed a couple during the shake and visually inspect stage between wet and dry cleaning.
I believe the walnut shell media and vibrating polisher gets any missed pins out of the cases while drying out the water left on the case, too. |
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When I wet tumble, I rinse the cleaned brass thoroughly in a plastic colander lined with an old tee shirt. That keeps the pins from going down the drain.
When rinsed, I dump everything in a rotary media separator (I have a separate ones for dry media and wet tumbling pins, but they're identical). Usually a bunch of the pins fall out when the cases fall into the separator's basket, but there are still plenty in cases, so I close the basket AND THE COVER of the separator and shake/spin/shake the basket until I don't hear any more pins falling out. Next, I dump the cases on an old towel to get a good bit of the water off of them. This also tends to shake pins loose. I need to get a darker towel though - the pins don't really stand out well on light blue one I've been using. I manually place the cases on the trays of my Harbor Freight dehydrator, and in the process I turn each one mouth-down. This lets me check flash holes and allows remaining pins to fall out. I run the dehydrator for 30+ minutes (longer if it's really full) then unplug it and let the brass sit and cool a while. Then I dump each tray back on the towel (it's pretty dry by then) and again some pins might fall out. Since I often tumble different calibers together, just making sure they won't nest with each other, I manually separate the cases by caliber, or headstamp, or just count them while I pick them up. This gives me a final chance to recheck flash holes and let loose pins fall out. I might need to yank a couple of pins out of flash holes, but I've never wound up with cases that had pins just "stuck inside." One note about the benchrest guy that had pins in a round he fired: the only way to get "smears" in a barrel is to rub a softer metal against the barrel. These pins are stainless, but they're not hard. First, these pins are quite magnetic, which means they don't have as much chrome or nickel as some grades of stainless. But while the pins can be magnetized, they don't stay magnetized for long. This quality implies they are not very hard (hard, magnetic grades of stainless are often harder to demagnetize). The pins aren't magic. They "burnish" cases by having the ends bump into the brass hundreds of thousands of times, and while they are harder than the brass, their small size and mass keep them from damaging the cases. Using a good detergent (I use Dawn) gets rid of the soot and gunk, and a citric acid additive (like LemiShine) protects the brass through a process called "passivation." The combination of actions makes the brass clean, shiny and tarnish resistant. |
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Quoted:
When rinsed, I dump everything in a rotary media separator (I have a separate ones for dry media and wet tumbling pins, but they're identical). Usually a bunch of the pins fall out when the cases fall into the separator's basket, but there are still plenty in cases, so I close the basket AND THE COVER of the separator and shake/spin/shake the basket until I don't hear any more pins falling out. I use a rotary separator with a bit of water in the bottom to get my pins out. Passing them through the water keeps them from sticking to the cases; the pins will still fall out underwater. |
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It can happen. I've had pins wedged across .30 cal mouths and inside .30 carbine cases as well. They don't just shake out. There are portions inside a .223 casing that also have about the same diameter as a .30 cal case mouth. And yep, I've found pins wedge across that spot, inside the .223 casing. It's not common, I think I only saw one to be honest, maybe 2. I don't see it happening so much anymore, and suspect as the pins get used, their sharp edges round out, and they don't grab so easy. But in any event, don't think just a good shake is all you need to do. A wedged pin has to be physically dislodged, sometimes with some force.
As to damage, I've heard story of one person who managed to ruin a rifle chamber by one blasting through a case wall and embedding itself in it like an arrow. Can't confirm that, but relayed to me by someone who claims to know the person who it happened to. So yes, visual inspection is advised - though at considerable time investment. I usually look down the mouth, and if I can see clear through the flash hole, then there's no pin wedged. Pin tumbling is cool and all, but it's also a PITA with all the extra inspections needed, and the more serious risks if you miss one. My own procedure: After resizing, tumble with pins for the shine, clean out the primer pockets, and to clean out any sizing lube from the inside of the shoulder (dry media will not remove that). Then use an RCBS media separator to tumble out the pins (the majority come out amazingly easily). Then air dry in the Texas sun. Then return to the media separator and rotate a few more cranks, to get any stragglers might have missed. Usually there are none. Then trim with a Giraud (another opportunity to inspect). Then deburr inside of the flash hole (which will clear any wedged pins if somehow they were missed (never hit one). Then priming is one more chance to inspect. Haven't (knowingly) had a pin slip by yet. |
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I wet tumble and have had pins get past my separator/sieve. My final step is to lay the brass on a towel and let my furnace fan dry them. I bought a magnet that roofers drag through the grass to pick up nails. If a single pin is in the brass it will stick to the magnet.
On a lighter note I saw a guy shoot in an indoor match. Every shot put out a plume of smoke similar to black powder. He later took apart some of his bullets and found that he had corncob media stuck in the bottom of the cases. He never come up with the reason this occurred. Attention to detail is the key. We are harnessing the power of an explosion for sport. Murphy is always waiting for an opportunity. |
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