So what would happen if a ss pin stayed in a case?

Dultimatpredator

Well-known member
As I just pin tumbled cases for the first time I got to thinking as I washed some of the casings and then put them on a towel. I then wrapped them up in a ball and shook them. I had a few pins still come out of the casings. So what would happen if a pin stuck in my case and it ended up getting fired out of a loaded round? Would it fly straight out without any barrel damage?
 
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I'm wandering if it will actually come out of the case during firing. It surely will bounce around the inside of the case due to the violence of the powder burning but there isn't much else left to push the pin since it is on the backside of the bullet. Maybe the vacuum created as the bullet travels down the barrel can pull it enough to get it started down the barrel? If so it would have to be aligned well enough to make it past the shoulder and into the barrel. Hopefully completely out of it as the next fired round would be a bummer.

Am I way off base here?
 
Vacuum? There is 50,000 plus pounds of pressure pushing in every direction soon after powder ignition. A stainless steel pin would probably scratch or gouge the bore upon firing imo.
 
Originally Posted By: 223kevI'm wandering if it will actually come out of the case during firing. It surely will bounce around the inside of the case due to the violence of the powder burning but there isn't much else left to push the pin since it is on the backside of the bullet.

Am I way off base here?

I think that you are right on base here myself. I mean, even it did make it out the end of the case with no real push behind it because there is no seal then I think that nothing whatsoever would happen to the bore. I'm not saying that I want to try it in any of my guns but I just cant picture it being a real issue.

Now if was actually in the bore when the next round was fired that could well be another story right there.
 
Get one of those powerful earth magnets and scan over your cases when done tumbling and straining the ss media. It will pick up that SS pin in the brass case easily enough if one is stuck and will prevent of something actually happening.
 
Not sure of the quality of stainless used in tumbling media, but 316 stainless is not magnetic.???

Regards,
hm
 
In the videos I have seen with the SS media they are picking it up with a magnet. So I would say all the SS media used for tumbling is magnetic.
 
Originally Posted By: 223kevI'm wandering if it will actually come out of the case during firing. It surely will bounce around the inside of the case due to the violence of the powder burning but there isn't much else left to push the pin since it is on the backside of the bullet. Maybe the vacuum created as the bullet travels down the barrel can pull it enough to get it started down the barrel? If so it would have to be aligned well enough to make it past the shoulder and into the barrel. Hopefully completely out of it as the next fired round would be a bummer.

Am I way off base here?

You are waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay off base!

There is no "Vacuum"... The loud noise you hear from the rifle going off is ~12,000 pounds per square inch of pressure being released... and your steel pin going out the barrel with it.

The steel pin can damage your bore. You need to get a cage tumbler to get the pins out when the cases are dry.
 
Be smart and get a small piece of wood (that is if your loading bench is not wood)and just before you prime the case tap it MOUTH down on the piece of wood a couple of times.
 
Originally Posted By: CatShooterOriginally Posted By: 223kevI'm wandering if it will actually come out of the case during firing. It surely will bounce around the inside of the case due to the violence of the powder burning but there isn't much else left to push the pin since it is on the backside of the bullet. Maybe the vacuum created as the bullet travels down the barrel can pull it enough to get it started down the barrel? If so it would have to be aligned well enough to make it past the shoulder and into the barrel. Hopefully completely out of it as the next fired round would be a bummer.

Am I way off base here?

You are waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay off base!

There is no "Vacuum"... The loud noise you hear from the rifle going off is ~12,000 pounds per square inch of pressure being released... and your steel pin going out the barrel with it.

The steel pin can damage your bore. You need to get a cage tumbler to get the pins out when the cases are dry.

This is one of the issues that has stopped me from using SS pins to get brass clean. Final quality inspection is your priority. As you reload, stand the cases up in the loading block and inspect the cases with a flash light. Passing a magnet over the cases while they are standing up in the loading block might be a great idea prior to inspecting. If one of those pins goes down your barrel, it is not going to be a good thing, as the pin may be harder than the barrel or close to it.

I am sure that others with experience in this area will chime in.
 
Originally Posted By: DABBe smart and get a small piece of wood (that is if your loading bench is not wood)and just before you prime the case tap it MOUTH down on the piece of wood a couple of times.

so simple even a caveman can do it.
 
Originally Posted By: CatShooterOriginally Posted By: 223kevI'm wandering if it will actually come out of the case during firing. It surely will bounce around the inside of the case due to the violence of the powder burning but there isn't much else left to push the pin since it is on the backside of the bullet. Maybe the vacuum created as the bullet travels down the barrel can pull it enough to get it started down the barrel? If so it would have to be aligned well enough to make it past the shoulder and into the barrel. Hopefully completely out of it as the next fired round would be a bummer.

Am I way off base here?

You are waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay off base!

There is no "Vacuum"... The loud noise you hear from the rifle going off is ~12,000 pounds per square inch of pressure being released... and your steel pin going out the barrel with it.

The steel pin can damage your bore. You need to get a cage tumbler to get the pins out when the cases are dry.


Absolutely, positively.

Get this and you won't have to worry about it. This one is shaped so that the brass is passed through water as you rotate the basket, and the pins seem to come out very quickly and reliably. Out of thousands of cases I have tumbled in stainless, there may have been one or two pins that remained in the brass but I can't say for certain because these pins were found on the floor in my loading area. I don't really know when or how they came to be where I found them.

When I prime my cases I watch for pins stuck in flash holes and it does happen now and then, but seemingly with diminishing frequency. I prepare to prime by placing my brass in a loading block case head up so that I can spot headstamp mismatches and see the primer pockets. I have not yet had a pin fall out of a case while doing so. The rotary separator is very effective and it makes the job easier to boot. I highly recommend it.
 
Originally Posted By: SlickerThanSnotOriginally Posted By: DABBe smart and get a small piece of wood (that is if your loading bench is not wood)and just before you prime the case tap it MOUTH down on the piece of wood a couple of times.

so simple even a caveman can do it.

^^exactly my thoughts as well, and when a magnet was first mentioned, also wondered what type of SS is used.
Grades 3xx are non magnetic and 4xx series are, but not so much as regular steel.
 
Originally Posted By: HookedOriginally Posted By: SlickerThanSnotOriginally Posted By: DABBe smart and get a small piece of wood (that is if your loading bench is not wood)and just before you prime the case tap it MOUTH down on the piece of wood a couple of times.

so simple even a caveman can do it.

^^exactly my thoughts as well, and when a magnet was first mentioned, also wondered what type of SS is used.
Grades 3xx are non magnetic and 4xx series are, but not so much as regular steel.

I don't know what kind of Stainless steel is used, but I DO know that magnets attract it - you can put a large magnet by the drain to catch any "runaways"....
 
So riddle me this batman. If this 50000 lb of pressure is so surely going to shove this piece of ss pin down the barrel how is it that in some cases this same pressure won't even push small minuscule grains of powder out the end of the barrel.

I say the pin never leaves the case.

And on average I handle any single piece of rifle brass at least 5 times after they are clean. If I haven't figured by then that there is something a miss. I should probably take up golf or tennis.
 
Originally Posted By: skb2706So riddle me this batman. If this 50000 lb of pressure is so surely going to shove this piece of ss pin down the barrel how is it that in some cases this same pressure won't even push small minuscule grains of powder out the end of the barrel.

I say the pin never leaves the case.



That's the way that I picture it. There is pressure blowing back on the case all the time that the bullet is on its way out the barrel. Why should the pin follow the bullet when all this force is being exerted on it to stay put? Even after the bullet is on its way out the tube there is still powder being burned and there is just is still lots of pressure pushing back on the cartridge case.

I could be wrong, but I thinks physics is going to win out here.
 
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