Stainless steel pins

[Fairshake]

I wanted to come back and give this update on my posting concerning the SS pins for a cleaning media for brass cases fired with the real powder for loading.
When I was directed to Pellets Inc. for the purchase of the media which is sold in 5 pound bags for $30 and $10 shipping I talked to a employee of the company. I asked the normal questions and then asked if it was magnetic and she advised that is was not. She went on to say that it was made with a higher nickel content and was not magnetic.
I went to the description of the material and it did indeed say that it was non-magnetic and so I based my information on that with out any testing on my part.
You would think that you could take some one's word that worked there but that is not so. In my 65 years things have changed quite a bit in the retail trades. When I was coming up and you walked into a real hardware store, every employee there had a working knowledge of the stock, not so now.
I was sitting with my new media in front of me and decided to try my automotive tool retriever which is a large 3 inch magnet on a pole that telescopes. It was only about two inches away when the pins went to it faster than new born pups on their mother at feeding time.
I was in total shock and could not believe what I was seeing. My wife was standing there and said, look they appear to be little flowers. Only a woman could see that.
So first I apologize for passing on info that was not checked by me first. Let down again by others.
I went back and reread the information and it says in the description that our 316 contains nickel for those non magnetic uses.
The good thing is that I had been picking up the spilled ones by hand and will now use my big magnet. Later David

[rbertalotto]

I just bought a new Bosch refrigerator in Stainless Steel. The salesman went out of his way to tell us we would not be able to use "refrigerator magnets" on it as it was SS and non magnetic.............Yup, you guessed it. Magnets stick to it like crazy!

Now I don't think I've ever used a refrigerator magnet, but I just had to see for myself................

BTW, have you EVER seen Black Powder fired brass come out so darn clean, inside and out? I'm shocked at how well the SS Pins work.

[hellgate]

As a kid I remember taking a magnet to Canadian nickels and noting the mild attraction compared to no attraction in U.S. nickels. The point being made that the Canadians put a whole lot more nickel in nickels than we did and nickel being a ferrous/magnetic metal it would attract to a magnet. I haven't tried the test in 40 years though so I don't know if the Canadians did to their nickel what we did to our penny and took the original metal out to save on cost.

[rbertalotto]

Of course you now know that everyone that is reading this post is reaching into their pockets.........................

[Pettifogger]

As a matter of curiosity, why would anyone care of they are magnetic?  I don't know of any tumbler that is made of magnets.

[Charlie Bowdre]

God only knows what is in our nickel now . I think they are Made in China 

later
dutch

[rbertalotto]

Actually you WANT them to be magnetic. Then you can use a simple magnet to remove the media from your clean brass.

[August]

As a matter of curiosity, why would anyone care of they are magnetic?  I don't know of any tumbler that is made of magnets.

Sometimes, stray pieces end up on the floor and counter top.  Being small, they are much easier to police with a magnet than by hand.  It IS a feature, IMHO.

[Fairshake]

Pettifogger, I can tell by your question that you have never used the new SS pins. These things are .040 in diameter and only .252 in length. Now dump out your brass from the tumbler with thousands of these pins on and in each piece of brass. They are also stuck to any wet spot in your drum.
When I did my first two cleanings after a good black powder shoot, my wife and I both picked them off the towel by hand which required more than a few minutes.
They do a wonderful job as the brass looks like it just arrived from Starline and they don't become stuck inside the case and primer pocket as my ceramic did. The ceramic required each piece of brass be inspected after cleaning or you would end up on the phone with RCBS ordering new decap pins and the center piece also which was bent beyond repair.
I may now use the magnet and be done in seconds as it will only pick up the pins and not the brass.

[rbertalotto]

If you use an old magnet off a loudspeaker, put the magnet inside a plastic bag. pick up the SS pins and then turn the bag inside out with the pins now are on the inside of the bag..............

Or use a magnet with an "On-Off" switch like used to hold a machinists indicator. Turn the magnet "on", pick up the SS pins, place over a bag or other container and turn the magnet off and all the pins will drop.

[Deadeye Dick]

I just dump brass, pins and all right out of the tumbler tub into an old deep fry basket held over a plastic dish wash tub. Shake the fry basket over the dish wash pan flowing water over the brass and submerging the basket in the water. The pins fall right out. Drain the water off the dish tub and empty the pins right back into the tumbler tub for storage. No need to dry the pins. Got this process from Dick Dastardly for getting the ceramic media out of brass. Only problem with ceramic is it gets stuck inside bottle neck cases and doesn't clean the primer pockets like the pins do.
Like the pins so well that I will never go back to the ceramic media.
Deadeye Dick 

[Cliff Fendley]

I wanted to come back and give this update on my posting concerning the SS pins for a cleaning media for brass cases fired with the real powder for loading.
When I was directed to Pellets Inc. for the purchase of the media which is sold in 5 pound bags for $30 and $10 shipping I talked to a employee of the company. I asked the normal questions and then asked if it was magnetic and she advised that is was not. She went on to say that it was made with a higher nickel content and was not magnetic.
I went to the description of the material and it did indeed say that it was non-magnetic and so I based my information on that with out any testing on my part.
You would think that you could take some one's word that worked there but that is not so. In my 65 years things have changed quite a bit in the retail trades. When I was coming up and you walked into a real hardware store, every employee there had a working knowledge of the stock, not so now.
I was sitting with my new media in front of me and decided to try my automotive tool retriever which is a large 3 inch magnet on a pole that telescopes. It was only about two inches away when the pins went to it faster than new born pups on their mother at feeding time.
I was in total shock and could not believe what I was seeing. My wife was standing there and said, look they appear to be little flowers. Only a woman could see that.
So first I apologize for passing on info that was not checked by me first. Let down again by others.
I went back and reread the information and it says in the description that our 316 contains nickel for those non magnetic uses.
The good thing is that I had been picking up the spilled ones by hand and will now use my big magnet. Later David

If they are telling you those pins are 316 stainless I believe that would be incorrect if it goes to a magnet that well. 316 is an austenetic grade and has an extremely low magnetic response in my experience.

When you are looking at common stainless steels you can pretty much tell if it is 300 or 400 series by whether or not a magnet will stick to it.

As a general rule when you are looking at a piece of stainless and unsure of what it is remember a magnet wont stick to 300 series steels, the 400 series steels are magnetic responsive.

[Steel Horse Bailey]

Let me get this straight ...

A 300 type of steel can be magnetic and still be called Stainless?  I assume that because it has less chromium in it?  And/or perhaps nickle?

So a 400 series would simply have more chromium and no longer be magnetic?  I do know (before this VERY interesting topic that SOME SS products are magnetic, but most of the kitchen-grade isn't magnetic.  They (the less magnetic types of SS) are also more brittle and unsuitable for gun production and maybe even blades production, right?

Like Dick Dastardly used to say, "There's learnin' goin' on here!"

Thanks, Cliff ... Fairshake ... Robert ... and all y'all others who care to add their knowledge.

[fourfingersofdeath]

I have always been under the impression that the higher quality SS was magnetic.

I haven't used the SS pins yet as I haven't seen them on sale here and the freight from the States for a one off tumbler and pins is pretty impressive.

I watched the video on STM's site and they guy there seperated the brass using a pretty standard looking media separator over  a big bucket of water ( a plastic nappy/diapor bucket would be perfect for this). After he had rinsed off the brass, etc he just poured out the bulk of the water and rinsed once or twice from memory, stopping just befpre the pins escaped. He them poured the pins and the bit of remaining water back into the tumbler. No mess, but he did use a fair amount of water and with all that soap, I can't see any way you could avoid that (my wife re-cycles all waste water onto the garden so no real biggie at our house).

That plastic bag and magnet trick is very neat! That would be the way to go if you were using a magnet.

I haven't used the pins but as I see it, if you are careful, I can't see why you would need to get involved with magnets at all.

[hellgate]

Can those SS pins be used in a Thumbler's Tumbler (1 quart paint can) rotating rock polisher with no water? I use dry media for polishing. If you need to use water than it's too much hassel for me.

[Junkman]

I use the pins as advertised. I doubt very much that they would work well without the water and soap.

[Fairshake]

Hellgate, The pins are the same as the ceramic and that is to be used with water and soap in a rotary type of tumbler. They will not work in a vibratory tumbler and give the results they were meant to give.

[hellgate]

Thanks for the input. Guess I'll stick to lizard litter (ground walnut).

[Springfield Slim]

Can you post a link, when I google pellets inc I don't come up with a media company. I did find pellets llc, who had some but not sure what size I should get.

[Junkman]

I got mine here .......

http://www.sinclairintl.com/.aspx/pid=42858/Product/Pellets-LLC-Stainless-Steel-Tumbling-Media

Last I heard is that Pellets LLC will no longer sell small lots to individuals.