Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Tumble cleaning loaded rounds?

I've heard of others doing this but always wondered if this would break down the powder granules. Do any of you have more info on this practice?

Have you ever disassembled a loaded round after tumbling to compare the powder with fresh powder from the canister?

http://www.ar15.com/forums/t_1_5/98...re_test__UPDATE__fired_rounds_in_OP.html

Long read, but very well executed.

I would not tumble loaded rounds!

Seriously?...........

Fu cking stupid and you don't have to be a gunwriter to know that...

Thanks, your answer (and the article) addressed the exact issue I was wondering about.

The myth of negative effects of vibrating loaded ammunition has been debunked many times. Tumbling may add a minuscule chance for a detonation from a primer strike inside the tumbler, but I doubt you could make it happen if you tried.

If vibration did deteriorate powder, you would have to ship factory ammunition like Nitro Glycerin due to the vibration of hours and hours of handling and trucking the ammunition...

My first thought was that you would lose any bullet to case concentricity (SP?). Mudddy

I like a guy that gets right to the point!

Why?

Can't think of an upside.
On the other hand, there are several possible downsides.
With that, I would pass.

been doing it for 30+ years to remove sizing lube. never a problem.

if anybody here can point me to a link where tumbling reloads ever caused a problem I'm all ears. I've looked and can't fine one. I did find out all commercial reloaders tumble their loaded ammo. one guy said his company tumbled their ammo in cement mixers.

you can also read the link Vic posted or just listen to the guessers here...

I tumble after I re-size. Cant see the benefit to doing it after I load. That aint guessing.
Seems to me that fine abrasive left on bukkets can;t do the bore any good.
But hey, if it works for you, by all means carry on.

Tumble brass?

the benefit is press priming while resizing, thus eliminating handling the brass for a separate step.

tell me more about this left over abrasive that the corncob won't pick up,

One powder company executive pointed out a few years ago that the powder they received had been “tumbled” for days or even weeks before they received it, by trains, trucks and even ships. Then they repackaged the powder in smaller containers and tumbled it even more by sending it around the country in more trains and trucks. And it’s going to break down further by spending an hour or two in some handloader’s tumbler?

As for the possibility of a primer going off, the classic Lee Loader primes cases by essentially hammering the bottom of the case over a primer. If this is done reasonably carefully, with the primer centered in the case pocket, it’s perfectly safe. Otherwise Lee would have been sued into oblivion years ago. And somehow the relatively gentle action of a case tumbler is going to make a primer go bang?

All the rifle ammo I load on my Dillon gets tumbled to get the lube off.

223 loaded on my Dillon gets about 15 minutes in corncob to take off the lube (Dillon spray lube and carbide 223 FL die). Never had an issue...

I loaded some 223 with two different powders years ago. I tumbled a few of each powder type for about an hour and then shot 10 or each for comparison. Average velocity wasn't significantly different but the edge in variation went to the tumbled stuff. (Perhaps the mild 'peening' action relieved stress in the brass. )

I rather suspect there would be substantial reports of rifle blow-ups from the far north where ammo sometimes gets transported for hundreds of miles across rock-hard snow via unsuspensioned sleds. Soft point bullets sometimes have 'pancake' noses if you put them in common plastic ammo boxes. If the action which hammers those lead noses flat isn't hurting the powder, I serious doubt a brief run in a tumbler could.

Tumbler grit - if you're using anything other than plain cob- is probably a lesser concern than the courser grit which lube might attract. And lube on cases probably has greater potential to damage a rifle than the really fine grit found in cases polish anyway.

If you worry about tumbling, this works great. Polish while you watch TV.