Tumbling after priming ?

H

hounddawg

New member
I was thinking about trimming then tumbling 200 or so primed cases to get the brass shavings out. Problem was I wondered if the walnut media might clog up the primers or somehow make then inert.

I wasn't worried about the primers discharging. From what I have read there would be a better chance of me winning the powerball lottery than that happening. Even if one did disacharge I doubt I would know until I had a squib when I pulled the trigger. I have burned my fingers too many times seating primers with a Lee hammer loader to worry much about a primer detonating

The two other alternatives were blow out the brass shavings with compressed air or just load and shoot with my iron sight upper. The more I thought about it the more I am leaned toward the last option because I have a couple of hundred cases already trimmed and sorted. Just load the untrimmed cases up on the progressive then burn em off on 50 Yard targets with my A2 upper.

However now I have gotten curious, has anyone ever tumbled after priming? Did they function ok after blowing/dumping the media out?
 
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I don't know that I would do that. I would trim, load, then shoot. I have no personal experience with what will happen. I debated on doing the same at one point, then quickly reasoned that I would rather just shoot it as is.
 
You can push the primers out, tumble, then reseat the primers. They will go bang. But I would not tumble empty primed cases. There is some risk of media lodging. And I would consider the rounds unreliable. More so than with de- and repriming. Tap on a table upside down and use as is.
 
You're thinking about filling the cases full of crushed walnut shells in order to get some tiny amount of brass shavings out of the case??? Just tap each case upside down on a hard surface.

The conundrums people come up with regarding cleaning cases never ceases to amaze me. Assuming the cases aren't covered in debris you can skip this step and have zero effect on your loaded ammo.
 
I wouldn't recommend it ....too much chance of media getting stuck down inside the case...( and its hard, and tedious, to get it out )...
 
There ain't enough brass shavings from trimming a case to make any difference if it falls inside. If I was concerned, I'd just tap the mouth of the case against my bench top to knock out the shavings. I haven't tumbled any brass after priming so I'm not sure what would happen, prolly not much, as the primer would blow any bit of media out of the flash hole and ignite the powder as usual.

FWIW; reloading is just basic metal working and a simple process of assembling components. Nothing magical, nothing needing a PHD in physics, just careful assembly.
 
There's the right way to do things & the wrong way. If you have a universal deprimer then , deprime , clean your brass , size , clean the lube off , trim & chamfer inside & out , seat the primer , powder charge & seat . If your worried about the shavings , use a clean cleaning nylon brush or mop . Good case prep is very important for accuracy & trouble free chambering no short cuts . Its a great hobby but could be dangerous if not done correctly .
 
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Use compressed air if you must use anything.

Tumbling again after priming will not be fun.

I've never had any problem removing trim shavings from any rifle brass just by grabbing a handful and tapping them lightly on a piece of cardboard.
 
I have not tumbled primed cases but I did do a clogged flash hole test using 45acp cases

I took corncob media and dropped it directly into the primer then seated the primer in the case

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I also jammed the same type media into the flash holes using a punch on each side of the flash hole really compressing the media into the flash holes .

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I then fired each empty primed case into a bucket of water to see if I could catch the media

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Both primed cases discharged the primer and blew the media out as you can see by the bucket of water . Oh put on some ear protection on before firing , Don't ask how I know ;):(

After trying that I went ahead and jammed 10 cases flash holes with media and loaded the cases . I also loaded duplicate rounds with out media in the flash holes and shot them over a chrono .

All rounds fired and the average velocities as well as SD/ES were about the same . My conclusion was that clogged flash holes with media does not effect your loaded rounds . Now this was a pretty limited test but I'm not so worried about clogged flash holes any more but do still clear them out .

I will add that the rounds that had clogged flash holes smelled different when fired . Almost kinda like a sweet smell but there are others that don't think that was possible . Maybe not but I did smell something different and have never smelled it again .
 
the next to last sentence in my original post should have clarified what I had already decided to do
Just load them up on the progressive then burn em off on 50 Yard targets with my A2 upper
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I was just curious if anyone had ever did it and if the primers were reliable afterward. I was more worried about some oil or polish in the media might render the primers inert

Thanks Metalgod that is about what I suspected would happen
 
MG I salute your experimentation methods. But, will not repeat it. I will continue poking out any media, but since I went wet & SS, may not need to again.
Ok. Corn cob, ok in 45 ACP.
But did you try walnut? In 308/7.62? I think walnut would be harder. Maybe it would smell different, too. Really just kidding, I would not experiment with higher pressure rounds.
This reminds me of someone, in the military IIRC, doing destructive test of firearms to find at what pressure/degree of overloading will a rifle dissamble itself with speed and force. They did not get the result they sought until they packed a 308 or 30-06 wirh a compressed charge of Bullseye under a heavy bullet. I guess accuracy was secondary to radius of debris field. And the practical application was elusive.
 
That test was a year+ ago and was done using the 45ACP on purpose . My thoughts were if anything I'd get a squib at worst . I don't think blowing up the gun was possible . I have all the data somewhere ( velocities and such ) I believe I used HS-6 powder with a 200gr platted RN bullet and Federal primers but I'd have to double check that . I also loaded one bullet at a time and not the full mag .
 
I didn't think a kernal or 2 of walnut in a flash hole would cause a problem because once that primer went bang the walnut would be vaporized. I shoot 24.9 gr of Varget with a 69 gr SMK and 26 grains compressed is 50,200 CUP so I also don't think a couple of kernels of walnut media would cause any overpressure situation in a barrel rated for 5.56.

Once again my concern was over embedded polish or oil in the media could cause a mis fire. I use the same media with non ammonia polish to make the brass nice and shiny and I also clean the lube off cases after sizing so the walnut probably has a bit of that in it also.
 
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I don't get the issue with using iron sights? Different gun?

I trim and shoot, not sure what the issue is?


Metalgod: Well done, I pick them out of the primer hole with an old trim tool that has exactly the right size tip on it (hand trimmer aka Lee)

I may not worry about it.
 
@ RC 20 The A4 upper is shot for groups out to 300 and 600 on calm days so I trim the brass and treat it almost as if it were match ammo. The A2 is shot at IDPA targets at 50 yards and all I ask is minute of zombie precision. As long as the brass is below max SAMMI specs it is good.

I was considering using this brass to do a load workup with H4895 and neck tension does matter, even on a AR
 
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