Separating Stainless Media

[rox]

Can anyone recommend a good media separator for stainless media?

Do you separate while immersed in water, either to help float the pins away from the brass, or just to separate and rinse simultaneously? or do you separate then rinse? or rinse together then separate?

Thanks for any suggestions!

[John MH]

I use a rectangular stainless steel kitchen stainer that has extendable handles so it can sit above a plastic basin then rinse and separate at the same time.

Similar to this

[phaedra1106]

I usually do it in the tumbler, rinse a couple of times then fill 3/4 of the way with warm water, hands in and pick up and shake the pins out of the brass, a quick second dunk and shake to be sure then drop the cases into a 2L plastic jug.

After that fill the jug with clean warm water, add a dash of dishwasher rinse aid, give a good mixing and pour the water out, give them a good shake, empty again. Then wrap in a towel and spin to create a centrifuge to get 99% of the water out, after that into a warm over for 20mins or if it's sunny like today put them on a large pizza tray and leave to dry in the sun

[dromia]

That is why I gave up on the pins, tried the methods above, best was a magnet on a bit of string but it was still a feck on and pins were going awol. Life is just too short.

When I wet tumble my BP cartridges I use ceramic media, it is bigger easier to sieve and manage.

[rox]

Thanks all.

I've been plucking them out, mouth down, for years, but it's a bit of a b-ache. I've tried using my dry media separator which worked quite well but it has stated to rust a little in places, and I'd rather avoid having to dry it before I can use it with dry media again, plus it worries me that pins might find their way into the nooks and crannies and then into brass that ought not to have been exposed to pins. Hence looking for a dedicated separator for wet processing.

Incidentally, I've been stainless cleaning mainly RWS & HPS/MEN (large rifle) brass for a while without problems, but lately I've had a few instances of getting 2 pins stuck in the flash hole of Lapua brass. Anyone had this problem?

[phaedra1106]

The odd one, maybe one in every few thousand cases. If I'm feeling adventurous I sometimes use a Lyman separator, http://www.lymanproducts.com/lyman/tumb ... arator.php

Just fill the base with enough water to cover the cases as they go round and it does a great job. However, by the time I've got it out, put it together, found somewhere to put it and filled it I could have picked the cases out of the SS media by hand! :lol:

[Maggot]

Hmm.

I just fish mine out with the drum half full neck down, but I only do 50 .308 at a time.

Then I flush them through a plastic tub with hot water running through and seive them. The hot water means that if I shake off the majority of the water a quick roll in a towel leaves them warm and drying rapidly.

Never had a need for a seperator as such, you would still need to get the pins out of the cases anyway.

I just see it as a necessary evil for nicely cleaned cases (same as the slightly dented mouths, mine all get re trimmed).

[rox]

Never had a need for a seperator as such, you would still need to get the pins out of the cases anyway.

I think rotary media separators can successfully separate the brass from the pins. When I tested using my dry media separator I followed-up with 'pluck out of water, mouth down' as a check after the separator, and in 400 or 500 cases I never found a pin that had remained in the case. STM supply a separator in some of their kits, and many of the videos on stainless cleaning show them in use. Plucking 50 might be tolerable. Regularly doing 100 is becoming a bit of a pain, and I definitely don't fancy plucking four or five hundred in a session.

[phaedra1106]

The separator removes the pins, they come out as the cases rotate through the water.

As I said I rarely do this and usually just pick them out of the tumbler 3 or 4 at a time, quick shake, re-dunk and shake then into the jug for rinsing.