Shotshell Wet Tumbling

G

Grant.

New member
Hey all, I'm not new to metallic reloading, but I am new to shotshell reloading. I know most shotshells don't really need to be tumbled or cleaned, but I have some range pickups that are a bit too dirty to just wipe off. I was curious if anybody has experience wet tumbling fired hulls with stainless pins.

I tested some for about an hour today, and saw no trouble, but I don't want to start throwing all my good hulls into the tumbler and find out after shooting them once that it completely destroys them or something. I couldn't find any information elsewhere so I figured I'd ask.

And yes, all hulls will be thoroughly dried in a dehydrator on lower temperatures, including paper basewad cartridges.

Thanks for any info ya got! :D
 
Grant. said:
Hey all, I'm not new to metallic reloading, but I am new to shotshell reloading. I know most shotshells don't really need to be tumbled or cleaned, but I have some range pickups that are a bit too dirty to just wipe off. I was curious if anybody has experience wet tumbling fired hulls with stainless pins.



I tested some for about an hour today, and saw no trouble, but I don't want to start throwing all my good hulls into the tumbler and find out after shooting them once that it completely destroys them or something. I couldn't find any information elsewhere so I figured I'd ask.



And yes, all hulls will be thoroughly dried in a dehydrator on lower temperatures, including paper basewad cartridges.



Thanks for any info ya got! :D
Click to expand...
I wouldn't clean any hulls with paper basewads for obvious reasons.

I've cleaned muddy hulls in a tub of soapy water before, but try not to make a habit of it.

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DO NOT wet tumble hulls. If they are that dirty, simply throw them away.
And I sure as hell wouldn't use a dishwasher or washing machine and risk getting those primer contaminents in my clothes or on my dishes.

Buy a flat of really nice ammo like Remington Nitros, save the hulls and reload them about 10-12 times.
And do not mix tapered with straight-walled when reloading; metallic and shotshell reloading are done the same way.
 
It's not worth it.

I stopped using water, except a damp cloth to wipe the outside and maybe inside the neck of plastic hulls.

Whether the shells have paper base wads, or plastic base 'cups', I have had too many issues. The shells with plastic cups in the base can trap water, that pretty much never dries. Paper base wads can take months (or more) to dry.

No more water for me.
I won't pick up a shell that has gotten wet or excessively dirty, either. Mud, dirt, sand, whatever... If it isn't good enough to reload with just a wipe-down with a damp cloth, it gets trashed.

Hulls are cheap. Don't waste your time with stuff that may come back to haunt you.

Case in point:
About 10 years ago, I had some squibs that were traced back to wet base wads/cups, in shells that had barely gotten wet, and were allowed to dry for more than 8 months.
The worst part was that one of my brothers ran out of ammo and grabbed a handful of those reloads. When one squibbed in his gun, he opened the action with the barrel slightly inclined. The action filled with shot and jammed that shotgun proper. We had to spend the next hour picking shot out of his gun, in the middle of the desert, while carefully working toward disassembly.

Because there was no way of knowing how many more shells in that lot were going to squib, I had to trash the whole lot - saving only the shot.

(Allowing the wet shells to dry was not just "toss them in a box and forget about them." They were placed around my brass drying area, which had a fan or forced-air space heater running for 24+ hours at a time, multiple times a week, and the shells were rolled and mixed up regularly ... for 8+ months.)
 
The solution to a problem that doesn't exist. First, paper basewad hulls should NEVER get wet. That's a really good way for the basewad to become dislodged from the hull at a future firing and stick in your barrel. Second, hulls have a limited number of firings before they start getting cracks in the crimp area. Toss em, hulls are cheap.

Don
 
Thanks all. Unfortunately the reason I'm resorting to range pickups (all sorted by type, all integrally sound and twice inspected, just dirty and tarnished) is that I can't find any unibody hulls for sale anywhere. They all seem to be out of stock. Sure, I can buy loaded ammo, that's always a good option, but then I'd have to SHOOT them all. What a shame that would be, huh? :rolleyes:

Thanks for the input fellas. I'll pass on tumbling hulls with basewads, but the unibody hulls should be fine, correct? They're not so dirty as to be a lost cause, I'm just meticulous and obsessive when it comes to clean brass. A byproduct of regular metallic cartridge loading; obsession with shininess.

Thanks for the warnings. God bless. :D

Edit: all are once-fired. Will consider throwing these away if I can find any good deals on good unibodies like STS or Nitro. Just trying to build up some supply of hulls. And no I am not mixing any components whatsoever. Following load data.
The last thing I want to do is something unsafe and dumb that's led to any dangerous situations for anyone else. I appreciate all the cautioning.
 
From my experience, if the hull is on the ground it won't be worth reloading...I only load Winchester AA's and you RARELY see those on the ground
 
AAs are good hulls (although I prefer Remingtons in 12 and 20 and AAHS in 28 and 410). That said, a LOT of folks shoot Gun Clubs and toss them - and they are an excellent hull for reloading - use the same Remington data
 
Before I recently switched to gold Nitros for tournaments, I shot (and reloaded) Gun Clubs for well over a decade. They are usually under $5/box at places like Academy or Gander and can easily be reloaded 10-15 times with target level loads.
 
Grant,

If they've just been fired and are laying on the ground, they can't be too dirty or tarnished. Wipe them off, load em and shoot em.

Don
 
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