Tumbling with complete cartridges. Safe?

P

Pond James Pond

New member
I clean with an US cleaner. I like it.

It does get the cases nice and clean of any residues, but they look tarnished after drying. I was thinking of perhaps getting a tumbler that I could use to tidy up my handloaded cartridges once ready to shoot.

Waste of time?
Hazardous?
Worthwhile?
 
GOOD IDEA ! BUT, the brass should be sparkily clean and bright BEFORE they are run through the FL size die. This also makes your MANDATORY inspection easy to perform before the sizing as you can now see the tiniest inperfection and decide what to do about it.
And so it goes..
 
Should be fine.

The hazards are bullet movement if you don't have enough neck tension or crimp AND primer movement if your primer pockets are stretched.

I have had problems ONCE with bullet length changing and that was due to my brass stretching too much during resize.

Only other hazard I can think of but it is REALLY out there is that with extruded powders, too much (think overnight) tumbling will cause the powders to start breaking into smaller pieces. That would change your velocity some.
 
I have done it hundreds of times on rounds that I have designated has hunting rounds, and therefore could be stored long-term. With that being said I no longer do it because my last batch had several dead primers in it.probably a fluke but I don't take that chance anymore. Now I just clean, size, tumble for a bit to remove any remaining lube, then CHECK THE FLASH HOLES and proceed as normal.
 
Waste of time?
Hazardous?
Worthwhile?
Click to expand...

Yes.
I wouldn't do it.
No.

JMO. I've never really understood the fascination some guys have with getting their brass so shiny that they can shave in their reflection off it. Clean is the only requirement as stated before running through the die, and spending precious time polishing rifle brass more than necessary has always seemed like a ridiculous waste of time to moi.

Purty shiny brass shoots no better than dull. Plain 'ol corncob and walnut works for me, thank you.
 
Safest thing to do get shiny loaded rounds is clean the lube off the sized cases then tumble them with the bullets to as shiny as you want. Then wear gloves handling them as you assemble the components.

Tumbling live rounds may make one smack the primer of another one. The force may equal that of a floating firing pin in semiautos known to slam fire.

Do what's important for you.
 
I prefer to do them after sizing to remove lube, and not worry about it after charging and seating bullets.

It won't make any practical difference
 
I have done it for years using old media with brass polish with no ammonia in the mix.
Never had any problems. No bullet set back, no lost primers, no kabooms.
Don't over load the tumbler, only tumble long enough to clean and put some shine back on the cases.
I even have gotten side track a few times and they tumbled for 8 hrs and even after checking each and every round for seat back and so on, not one problem found and they all shot great.
With that said: your ammo, your gun, your risk.
 
I've done it a few times to remove tarnish from surplus CMP ammo. I've heard lots of dire warnings but after reading all I could I've seen no evidence that says it's truly dangerous. My understanding is most factory ammo is tumbled after loading. YMMV etc.
 
Several have claimed factory ammo is often tumbled. I've never seen any proof they do.

Some bullet makers tumble their stuff in rubber lined cement mixers with wood chips to clean the sizing lube off and polish them. That may be what's behind thoughts that live ammo is tumbled.
 
Worked for two ammunition companies and the ammunition is always tumbled after loading to clean off ALL lubricants and any other detrious.
And so it goes...
 
I've tumbled a few loaded rounds a time or three. Usually when I had to load in "get 'er done" mode the day before a match. Instead of taking the usual steps of clean, size, remove lube, prime, charge, seat, I ended up running straight through and tumbling the lube off after the last bullets were seated. Ammo shot fine, placed and won a few of those matches too. ;)
 
I used to do it every once in awhile. but I came across a problem once. I was using cast lead with a large crimp groove. the bullets felt very tight, no wiggle, but after tumbling I could see flakes of powder inbetween the crimp groove trying to get out. not a big deal, they all weighed out just fine, but I don't do it anymore. I also don't se any difference than just cleaning after FL, bullet seating doesn't dirty my bullets at all. but I guess if your using a progressive and doing size right to seating, I could see why you would wanna do it.
 
I remember reading a thread where someone tumbled completed rounds for days, then broke them down and compared the powder to new powder under a microscope and there was no difference.
 
Perhaps it's just easier if I give them a rub with polish and a cloth.

They don't have to be shining, just a bit tidier. Probably not worth buying a tumbler, though.

I'd still be interested in seeing first hand when using a tumbler as a case cleaner: I've never seen that.

As I've said, when my cases come out of the cleaner they look great. By the time they have been dried (About 70 celsius in an oven) they look tarnished. Perhaps it is the citric acid solution acting, but I do rinse them off.
 
Dragonflydf:

I read that article also, it was on arfcom, made me feel better about doing what I had already been doing. Lots of guys run a short tumble to clean up loaded ammo.
 
P,JP, I wet tumbled for years in various solutions, and currently use a sonic cleaner. I believe your tarnish problem has to do with drying in the oven. Try rinsing the brass with boiling water in a collender so you can get rid of as much water as possible, and let them dry in a single layer on a towel at room temp. I recently cleaned a bunch of 45 Colt brass that I wanted to prime post haste, so I took my wife's hair dryer to them. I now have primed but tarnished 45 brass. Last week I cleaned some 32 WSPC. brass that I allowed to dry at room temp. and they are still bright and shiny. Is it too late to make a long story short?
 
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