I'm real happy with wet tumble cleaning of my brass and have a good system. However, the stainless pins cause me grief in .17 Hornet brass; they get wedged sideways in the brass and are a bugger to get out.

Is there another alternative to pins? I've googled some jewelry tumble media that isn't pins but hope to hear from reloaders that have already been this route and have proven experience.

Yes, but most are abrasive. There are porcelain, ceramic and plastic media out there for mass finishing.

I see some stainless steel media for jewelers that are not pins, look like little 'Saturn' planes and other ~chunks....anybody used them?

they make different lengths of pins.
one of the two I have gets stuck in 25 cal. necks.

quote:

Originally posted by Matt Norman:
I see some stainless steel media for jewelers that are not pins, look like little 'Saturn' planes and other ~chunks....anybody used them?

I use a mix of different shapes for polishing my castings. The round, "saturn", and short pins get caught in the jewelry more than the pins. Not sure how they would work on brass. Murphy's law says they would plug the primer/flash hole if you tumbled unprimed brass.

Try this. Tumble with water, plastic beads and cerium or tin oxide powder.

It will be a little bit expensive, but I would like to try TSS (tungsten super shot) by myself.

I have 10 kg (22 pounds) of 2mm (#9 I think) at home now so I will try.

Also stainless steel balls for bearings should work fine. Maybe you can find "second grade" somewhere and try, will be much cheaper than TSS.

Jiri

Thanks LeeC, that is what I'm looking for. I've had anough problems with pins getting stuck inside brass. Particularly in the 17 Hornet as they get stuck sideways deep down by the flashhole.

Thats exactly why I bought it.
Pours right out..
As a side benefit, it also only takes half the time to tumble.
There is nothing that takes over an hour