Can you tumble loaded bullets

Chanonry Sergeant Full Member. Sep 30, 2 58 Aberdeen Scotland. Has anybody actually done it?? What happened? Jun 17, 1 Montana. Aug 10, 9, 5, AZ. I don't tumble loaded ammo. I just don't. Bacarrat Gunny Sergeant Full Member. Jan 22, 2, Houston, TX. Old myth. Tumble away, factory ammo is tumbled after its made.

I have tumbled old pistol duty ammo that was turned in. The rounds that collect all the green stuff from sitting in officers mag pouches for no telling how long. Looked good and shot good. Dec 20, 0 Bay Area, CA. The powder are using has been transported thousands of miles being jiggled the whole way. An extra minutes is not going to make a difference. Nov 16, 0 72 Ontario, Canada. Just use Lee Case Lube.

Water soluable, wipe or leave on. I won't tumble loaded ammo on principle. Yes the manufacturers tumble their ammo, but most likely in a padded room away from personnel plus they are insured for this anyway, are you? I was given several thousand rounds of linked 5. After delinking, there was some corrosion where the links rested on the brass.

I tumbled all of this ammo for a min of 4 hrs. It shot just fine and I am here to tell you about it. Like I said, many ammunition manufacturers including black hills tumble their loaded ammo. For the record, I used a vibratory case cleaner and its not something I normally do. Just when surplus ammo needs a clean up.

Jan 11, 7, 8, Florida. Talking vibratory type cleaners only, any danger is from static. I would be amazed if it perforated the tumbler bowl. Jan 22, 3, 7 55 Dallas, Texas www. I have spoken with several of the powder manufactures about tumbling loaded ammo. Their advice was that tumbling ammo long enough to get any case lube off was not going to degrade the powder at all.

They said if you were to tumble it for several days it may effect it some. And factory ammo is also tumbled before packaging. I tumble my ammo after loading on a Dillon to get the case lube off. I only need about minutes worth of tumbling to do this. I have also tumbled some old 40 ammo to get the cases cleaned. However, I don't think I would tumble 50 cal ammo, but this would be common sense, I think. They are too heavy and could impact the primer. But anything else smaller I would tumble.

So, you are doing no damage to the powder inside the case when cleaning the case lube off. Sep 15, 1 Gilbert, Arizona. Not tumbled ammo. Even if you could "degrade the powder deterrent coating" by tumbling, the few minutes required to removing the sizing lube would do nothing. Again, in review, most major ammunition manufacturers tumble live rounds, the military conducted a vibratory test and could not damage the powder, many people here and on arfcom tumble live rounds, and there hasn't been one anecdotal report of high pressures or damaged firearms as a result of tumbled ammo.

Does anyone have solid proof that tumbling live ammo does effect the powder? I have never seen it. We need to have this on Mythbusters. I wouldn't do it for expetended periods of time, but just to get a little lube off should be fine. If the ammo is loaded with SMKs, though, I wouldn't tumble them. The little pieces of tumbler media can get into the hollow point, and are a pain to get out. I don't know if that effects accuracy, but it can't help. Dec 23, 2, 1, ohio. Jan 31, 4, 40 70 Goldsboro, NC.

There are no winners or losers here. If you think it is safe to tumble live ammo, then do it. If you think it is not, then don't. For myself, I have never found any good reason to tumble live ammo.

If I had ammo that was corroded, I throw it away. Ammo is cheap, compared to say: bodily injury, my home, my rifle, et al. If my brass needs cleaning, I place the fired case in my vibratory case cleaner with the fired primer in it. I then lube and deprime. I wipe off any lube off with a paper towel. In short, do what makes you happy. And if the law of unintended consequences bites you on the arse; well stuff happens.

YMMV, Bob. Jun 3, 9 0. My tests show ammo tumbled for 5 hours chronograph the same as that of ammo not tumbled. After tumbling for 30 minutes I handle with cotton gloves to keep skin oils away from ammo. Keeps ammo pristine for long term storage. I have some 45 ACP that I loaded 10 years ago stored in ammo cans and it has nice brown spots where I touched the brass while loading. I'm confident my current method will keep stored ammo in much better condition long term.

Do your own tests. I see your point. I did the same thing when I lived in Atlanta I use it on all of my pistol and loads, and a little bit goes a LONG way.. I've been tumbling loaded ammo for years with no issue. Yep, had a ton of media in the cavities and I'm pretty sure it stopped my gun a few times.

My resolution was to go to Petsmart and find the largest grind of corncob they had. I think it's for rabbits and whatnot but it's big and doesn't stay in the cavity. A little mineral spirits in with the big media for 10 minutes and it's clean, shiny, and not goopy. Define "way too much" One man's "way too much" is another man's I use the amount that consistently allows me to operate the press smoothly. Further, when the cans are full, they tend to spray in a stream only have to be careful to get a spray for a few loading sessions until the pressure comes down in the can - tough to control a stream, so you get too much on them in some cases.

I have to be more dilligent about banging the ammo in a box to get the excess corn cob out - yesterday, I didn't do that step, and ended up with some corn cob junk in my gun, so Where the HAPs would get junk trapped in them - and it would stay put The Zeros apparently let it go - at least they respond to the "bang the ammo box on the table" treatment I NEVER lube my pistol brass before I load it with the carbide sizing die, and lately my elbow has been starting to hurt.

It actually bothers me most when I sit and use the with the ball handle. It doesn't seem to bother me when I stand and use the with the roller handle. Can lubing straight wall pistol cases make that much of a difference? It seems the answer to that just might be yes.

Tumble Loaded Ammo? Start new topic. Prev 1 2 3 Next Page 1 of 3. Recommended Posts. Meangun Posted February 22, Posted February 22, Might have been covered b4. What is the general opinion on tumbling loaded ammo? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options Replies 54 Created 14 yr Last Reply 12 yr.

Mick Posted February 22, XRe Posted February 22, Albert Posted February 22, Carlos Posted February 22, Putty Posted February 22, Chuck Merriam Posted February 22, DougCarden Posted February 22, This is what the factories do so the ammo is nice and shiny Good luck, DougC.

DougCarden Posted February 23, JMHO, 7zero1 out. There is nothing you said that I disagree with. I use walnut shell polishing media in my tumbler and occassionally a granual will get stuck in the cavity of a HP. A quick once over with a dental pick takes care of removing the issue. The purpose of tumbling the finished rounds is to quickly and easily remove any remaining lube residue and fingerprints from the newly loaded rounds. This procedure only takes about minutes to do so effectively.

It's not intended to replace the longer term cleaning and polishing that takes place at the beginning of the reloading cycle. You know exactly the reason some, that would be three that I recall, of your posts have been deleted. The post this is quoted from is an example, but in reality, the only posts that you have had disappear were the 3 long ass maximum character limit posts one after another in a thread three or four years ago; that was simply over the top and fell hard into the category of disruption, from my point of view.

That doesn't mean that you haven't made other posts that deserve deletion, believe me, my mouse wants to click on the Edit button damn near every time one of your unreadable tomes appears, but I've developed a real broad streak of tolerance as long as the forum is not disrupted. Also, since you've been back from your hiatus you've kept a pretty good lid on your posts and there was no need to intervene.

However, you're starting to slip into your old ways with longer and longer entries of "ymmv" and all the other unintelligible weirdness in your posts. You do yourself a disservice in the way you post, and practically all of your valuable contribution is simply passed by because of the writing style you insist on adhering to because it's "your style". Aloha, Mark Aloha, Mark. I call BS! Did they fire some of the unused rounds and measure the pressure curve?

How long did he tumbled them and under what conditions?? I've done my own tests. I've used my own eyes. It's not a problem with any rifle powder I've ever tumbled. I do agree that tumbling longer than is necessary to remove the lube is not advisable, or necessary. Here's a simple test you can do. Put a few rounds in your tumbler and turn it on. Watch them move around. Notice how slowly they move. Notice how much slower than an empty case it moves.

The media is moving and "dancing" but the cartridges themselves are almost static and are just slowly rolling around inside the media. The movement of the media cleans the lube off the cases. It is not the moving case that rubs on the media. Kind of on another subject,, but for all of my Semi-auto loaded ammo, I use Small Base full length dies. Then trim the brass, then wet tumble it all clean and shinny.

Aloha, Mark Well, you were the one who used the article in your argument. You must defend it. Being unwilling to defend it or failing to defend it, you lose the debate.

The article is deeply flawed and may be completely incorrect. The conclusions they reach are not supported by the article. There is insufficient basis to substantiate the root cause put forward. Just as an example, the firearm could have a flaw.

Saying, "Well, the firearm looked okay", is not sufficient. Let me ask this, has anyone here who tumble cleans their ammo ever had a problem?

You do yourself a disservice by your posting style, practically all of your valuable contribution is ignored due to your practically unintelligible writing style which you insist on clinging onto tightly because it's "your style". By the way, your clutter in the Gateway thread has remained intact, although it's another candidate for clean up. Also, how about posting something original for a change? The crap you link is generally well known to everyone, there's no need to link to routine information.

YOU called it BS. Have a nice day. Aloha, Mark You opened the door with your comment about deletion of your posts and an implication that it's common practice, when in fact we all the membership here has been extremely patient and overlooked your disruption of the forum via the clutter in and by your posts. That was not a personal attack, it was a simple factual commentary with some advice thrown in, advice you have consistently chosen to ignore. You were locked out once for a short period of time, and I recall I had the lock lifted early, but you chose to take a break, which pleased many of our members.

The weird thing is, I don't see you post with the same enthusiastic over use of " I'm not complaining, just observing. Let's review the Conduct Code, while we're at this RAF is Staff for this section. No, I have not, but my usual practice is to delube cases before priming and loading.