stainless pins media

[Fairshake]

I have been using ceramic media to clean my cases for almost 5 years now. I have two types of sizes and they are long cut angle which I purchased from DD and short cut angle with 3mm balls that I purchased from a local.
The longer ceramic is a hassle as it sticks in all cases that I have cleaned with it, like 45 Colt, 44WCF, and 38 spl. My main caliber is the 44wcf and the small angle with mixed in 3mm balls gave the best results with my wife using a dental pick to clean out the stuck ceramic.
I use a Model B Thumbler's Tumbler with just enough water to cover the media and brass by about a inch. I also add a good squirt of Dawn/OXY and a teaspoon of Lemi -Shine. My brass comes out both shiny inside and out with only the problem of the the stuck ceramic.
On the Cast Boolits forum they had a member post the information about the use of stainless steel pins. They are very small and don't stick in any cases, even very small ones. They are .051 in diameter and .252 in length.
The company that makes them is PPL and may be found on the net.
The cost is only $ 6 a pound and they are sold in 5 pound bags which is $30 with $10 shipping. I ordered mine on a Friday and received them on Tuesday. Very fast service.
There is another man selling them on flea-bay for almost $60 which is very high.
It is better than anything I have used and will never wear out. They will last your lifetime. When i called and placed my order they said that the media is only sold in 5 pound lots so you can't buy 6 pounds if you think that's what you need. They have a video to watch about the media.
My ceramic will take a break and give my wife one also.
You will need a very fine screen type of collander to dump out the brass and media in for rinising or they will go down the drain from being so small.
A word of caution about the Lemi-Shine which may be purchased at Wally World. It's very strong and I used too much on some nickel cases that are now brass cases. Use small amounts. Later 

[Deadeye Dick]

Fairshake,
Please give us the URL or more information on the company. Googling PPL doesn't work very well.
Thanks,
Deadeye Dick

[FriscoCounty]

http://www.stainlesstumblingmedia.com/

I use it myself and am very happy with it.  Same setup, in fact.  Thumbler's Tumbler model B, etc.

I keep a rare earth magnet around when rinsing after the tumbling.  It makes picking up strays a whole lot easier.

I use a fine round bottom sieve that is almost as fine as a chinois.  I will mike the media for those who are interested in that sort of thing.

Always use cold water, particularly when rinsing or the brass will discolor.

[Dick Dastardly]

Funny kind of stainless steel that sticks to a magnet.

DD-MDA

[rickk]

Dick,

Some grades of Stainless are somewhat magnetic.

They also have a property that they don't retain residual magnetism for long, so once the magnet is removed they won't tend to stick together like say, iron particles would.

Rare earth magnets are those ones that can crush your fingers if you get it between two of them.  They have an extremely high magnetic flux density.  If any magnet would work, they would.

Sounds like a pretty cool idea in fact.

Rick

[FriscoCounty]

The magnet does work, and yes the attraction is weak.  Gotta actually come in contact with the media for the magnet to pick it up.

As for the size of the media.  It miked out to 1/4 inch long and .038 in diameter or 61 steel wire gauge.

[Noz]

I tried to buy from here http://www.stainlesstumblingmedia.com/ and it came to $56+.
Not interested at that rate.

[Fairshake]

The media that I use is marked as being non-magnetic. There are other companies that sell it and perhaps you have that kind. The one that is sold on Flea Bay for almost double the price is said to be magnetic which would not make it the higher grade of SS. The name of the company is Pellets LLC and you will see that they sell all kinds of metal materials. Buffalo Arms sells the same pellets for $43 before shipping, if you buy direct it's $30 plus shipping.
I'm sorry I forgot to include this in my OP but at 65 it just works out that way.

[FriscoCounty]

I tried to buy from here http://www.stainlesstumblingmedia.com/ and it came to $56+.
Not interested at that rate.

It is a big gulp all at once.  When I decided to try it, it was competitive with better grades of ceramic media.  It doesn't need to be replaced, so the cumulative costs of walnut shell have to be considered. 

[hellgate]

Cost of Walnut media? Pet shop lizard bedding is what I use. Even then I sift it and winnow it outside to "undust" it periodically. I've been using the same media for about two years now. Even soaked, swished, & dried it once to clean it. Now I add about 1 tsp of denatured alcohol to keep the dust down. I use a Thumblers Tumbler with 1 lb paint cans to polish. I only go to two matches a month and load for the rifle only (cap&ball in the pistols, no brass there). I'm so cheap, if I could reload caps I'd save them too.

[Cliff Fendley]

High quality stainless is magnetic. The stainless tool steels used to make cutlery and such are magnetic. In fact the very high grades we use for custom knives is VERY magnetic.

If your buying a stainless knife a magnet better stick to it well or it's going to be one of those junky knives that give stainless blades a bad rap.

[Deadeye Dick]

I just purchased some from STM in Utah. The owner was customer oriented. Will let you know how well it works. Got to be something better than ceramic sticking in the cases.
Deadeye Dick

[will52100]

The SS media I got is magnetic, don't know the alloy exactly, would guess a 400 series.  I do know it will stick to a magnet and is very rust resistant.  It normally sits in my separator with a little water I couldn't get out till it dries and haven't seen any sign of rust yet.

It works wonderfully for my bottle neck cartridges, and does OK on black powder rounds, but the ceramic media still does a better job for me on straight walled badly fouled cases.  One thing for sure, the SS media doesn't stick in the cases and cleans primmer pockets and all.

[Fairshake]

I went to the Pellets LLc site and they have a section describing the pins for tumbling media. It states that the media is made from 316 with a higher nickel content and is non magnetic.
My studies were in Criminal Justice and not metallurgy. If I made a mistake in trying to describe this material then please don't take offense or become combative about my posting.
It was intended to give information to help those who may have thoughts on buying or using the product.
As I stated in my original posting, they have several sellers of this new to reloading media. The Pellets LLC site is $30 for 5 lbs plus $10 shipping for that $40 dollar total.
It will never wear out or require you to replace it for your lifetime.
I have been loading since 1969 and have used everything that people can to clean brass. There is no way that BP cases can be cleaned by walnut hulls, corn cob, cat litter, or lizard poo media.
By that I mean to a LNIB look. I have posted about different medias over the years only to have people who have never fired a BP round downrange tell me that they have no problem using corn cob and a vibratory case machine. I will believe it when I see or can prove it myself.
I have three vibratory machines. A UV-18 Thumblers, RCBS model, and a Frankford arsenal and I almost forgot my first ever which  is a piece of Tupperware that is held on top of a wooden box with rubber straps. It cleaned about 50 38 spl at a time and cost about $15 in the late 60's when purchased at a gun show.
I have tried several ways to use a vibratory machine with all BP media and it will not work.
You have to use a rotary tumbler that will hold water.
This is if you are wanting the brass cleaned inside and out which I prefer when cleaning my BP cases to stop any corrosion that may weaken the case.
The two products that will work are ceramic and the newer stainless pins with the pins being easier to remove because of size.

[fourfingersofdeath]

STM are sponsors on another site I frequent. I have been tempted to buy this set up, but as shipping to Australia ranges between $US150-198 I will consider alternatives, possibly getting Bongo, a freight forwarder to ship it to me.

Looking at the video, they guy just tips the water out after rinsing a few times and stops before the level drop to the point where the pins would be going down the sink. If you followed this method you wouldn't need the magnets.

Good to know about buying SS knives though, I'll remember that, Thanks.

[Cemetery]

I tried it once with brass that was used with real black, wasn't happy with how it turned out.

Everything came out sorta dull and grayish.

Anybody have better luck?

[Fairshake]

Cemetery, I have never in my 65 years used anything but the "Real Black Powder". I have Goex, Swiss, Diamondback and KIK on hand at this time for different uses. My first firing with BP was in C&B and a Hawken rifle in 1970.
Your problem that you had was more than likely with new media. I had the same experience with the ceramic that I purchased from DD. Not only was the brass grey but very greasy to the touch.
I removed the brass and added about 1/2 gallon of mineral spirits to the ceramic and ran it about two hours. The stuff was coal black when I opened my tumbler. I put my cases in mineral spirits and cleaned them and started over.
I first ran the ceramic with water and DAWN/OXY for about 90 minutes and while this was going on I had my brass soaking in a pan of the same water and DAWN/OXY mix.
Now I was ready to start with everything new and fresh. I added the brass and covered with enough ceramic to cover it. Then I added water to about a 3/4 of a inch or so above the ceramic. To this I added a good squirt of Dawn and a teaspoon of Lemi-Shine. Lemi-Shine is a product that is added to dishwasher loads and it's a concentrate. Don't add too much or it will strip your brass down as it is very strong and will remove nickel from cases. It's found at Walley World.
My cases looked like they did the day they arrived from the Starline factory. I could have sold them for new, primer pockets and all.
The thing to do with all media that is intended for wet cleaning is to run it by itself with Dawn/OXY for at least one or two times without brass so that it's cleaned of any production oils or other matter. Some comes with instruction to do this and others don't.
Not to knock anyone who sells the Magic secret cleaners to add to the water but it has been my experience that either the Dawn/OXY or Palmolive/OXY works the same with no visible difference in the outcome. I purchased this secret stuff from two different vendors and then compared them to the store bought products, no difference other than price per ounce.

[rbertalotto]

Because of this thread I ordered a 5 pound bag of SS media. I only have a small tumbler that only holds a quart. I put one pound of SS media with 50 cases and filled about 75% with water, two squirts of Dawn dish detergent and a shot of Vinegar for good luck.

The cases were shot this morning at a match. Some BP, some smokeless. The cases that were fored with BP were quite black from previous firings and simple corn cob media cleaning.

I let them tumble for two hours.

I then put the tumbler can on the sink and ran water into it until it ran clean.

I put a large terry cloth towel in the sink and dumped out the tumbler. I picked out the brass and let the water drain through the cloth. Poured the SS media back into the tumbler for storage.

The brass came out looking like new! I was absolutely blown away by how clean it is. I did not remove primers before cleaning but I will do this next time.

Now I need to buy or build a bigger tumbler!

Thanks!

[rbertalotto]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krGB_g7Dxlo&feature=related  ...........

[rbertalotto]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFXZv16ATxY&feature=related ......