Steel pins vs ceramic

[Noz]

Had some brass that had gotten misplaced and they were badly corroded(I shoot only black).  Loaded the Thumler's with standard solution (Lemi shine and Dawn), ran 24 hours. Knocked the big chunks off but did not clean as well as I like.  Put them in a vibrator with walnut hulls for 12 hours, Usable.

 

While I was putting the cases away there was another suspicicous zip lock with another batch of over looked brass.  Loaded the Thumler's with standard solution (Lemi shine and Dawn), ran 24 hours but this time with pins. Shooting shiney!

 

 

No conclusions, just my experience.

Edited July 7, 2017 by Noz

[Too Tall Bob]

I gave up on ceramic media. SS pins work best for me. I shoot the smokey stuff almost exclusively and the only time my brass comes out sub par is if I accidently get too much soap or lemonshine in the tank. I rarely ever run for more than 90 minutes. 

[The Original Lumpy Gritz]

I use ceramic and my brass comes out looking like polished gold. Inside and out, including primer pockets.

I use Dave Maurer ceramic media and a 1/4 tsp of blue Dawn dish soap.

About have way down the page--

http://www.arizonasharpshooters.com/1794.html

 

OLG

 

[Attica Jack #23953]

I like the way cleaning with the stainless pins shines up the brass, inside and out, but is seems to tarnish rather quickly.    I  talked to a commercial brass trader and he adds some Meguires auto wash and wax to the solution to prevent tarnish.   I have tried it and so far looks pretty good.

[The Original Lumpy Gritz]

Rinse the brass in cold water after cleaning to keep the 'shine'. 

OLG

[Lost Trail]

I found an ad on FB a few months ago for SS chips, from a machine shop. Lots of people raved about them and one frequent comment was that the chips don't get caught in certain cases.

I bought 10# and have tried them several times. I think they do a slightly better job than pins, but it's a pain to get them all out of the RCBS separator. Think I'll be going back to pins.