Reloading Question

[Python]

Comments needed in reference to placing completed reloaded cartridges
into the tumbler again to clean them up and polish them for a cleaner, nicer appearence.

Would it be safe or might the rounds tend to go off by contact of one of the rounds with the primer of another?
Might the process effect the powder in the loaded rounds, maybe changing the size or shape enough to change the burning rate and by so doing, influencing the pressure and velocity?

Has anyone ever tried this?

What other methods have been used to make reloads look more like factory rounds? How is it done at the factory?

I am referring to large amounts of pistol ammunition, too many to hand polish each one with a cloth.

[bwiese]

I believe brass is polished _before_ being reloaded.

Your reloaded ammo shouldn't be that dirty, etc aftewards. There are case lubes that are evaporative (Hornady aerosol case lube), too

[BigAL]

Like Bill said I'm assuming you have already polished the unloaded cases. Setting off a round wouldn't concern me but possible power breakdown might, especially if left for a long time. I've never polished loaded rounds since I don't care what my reloads look like.

[bu-bye]

I know a few guys who tumble their rounds after they are loaded. It can be done just don't over pack the tumbler or rounds will bang into eachother and may couse a round to go off. If a round does go off the chance if it doing any damage are low as the powder will not have a chance to burn and build pressure. Might crack your tumbler at the most but its not going to hit anyone. Again I know poeple who have been doing this for years with no issues.

The plus side is your rounds look nice and BLING-BLING and they might feed a little better in your gun. The down sides is your bullet seating depth could change and cause feeding problem and depending on the powder you are using it could crumble and your powder burn rate will be much faster. You won't be able to tell in a pistol but a rifle will show slower bullet speeds and may be less accurate. Your point of impact will be off and you bullet energy will be less. Doing ANYTHING to round after it is made that you don't have control over like tumbling will open up your groups. You want every round to have the same work done to it.

Its really not worth doing. Clean your brass before loading and just wipe down with a towel when you are done loading.

[Turbinator]

I've read about this very thing over and over on rec.guns. Some people say it's ok, some say don't take the risk.

Personally, I tumble all brass before I load, and I don't bother to tumble after it's loaded as I don't really care if they aesthetically look good or not.

I've also read where some report that actual manufacturers tumble after the ammo's been loaded, as they are presenting retail product.

There was some discussion about whether or not tumbling would cause powder to break up into smaller pieces - this would affect burn rates and potentially raise pressures higher than you'd expect.

I guess my final recommendation would be, do the research, and draw your own conclusion. If you opt to tumble loaded rounds, you do so at your own risk.

Turby

[Sheldon]

I don't care how shiny my ammo is....just that it goes off and hits what I'm aiming at. I don't tumble it all that long even to clean it. I just want the grit and grime off and am not too concerned about it looking new. I have tumbled rifle ammo though, to get the lube off and had no problems as such. It can possibly go off, but I don't think it's too likely.

[MadMex]

I tumble before, and wear thin cotton gloves to handle the brass throughout the reloading process.

O.K., commence flaming.

[Turbinator]

I tumble before, and wear thin cotton gloves to handle the brass throughout the reloading process.

O.K., commence flaming.

No flaming, but why cotton gloves? Do your hands sweat a lot? Do you have particularly acidic fingerprints?

Turby

[bu-bye]

No flaming, but why cotton gloves? Do your hands sweat a lot? Do you have particularly acidic fingerprints?

Turby


So "The Man" can't track him :D

[jtv3062]

I remember reading, if you tumbled loaded ammo it changes the powders burn rate. some powders I believe have a graphite coating to control the burn rate. Id call the powder manufacture to make sure its ok. I'd like to keep all of my fingers i would'nt jump off a bridge cause someone else did

[ivanimal]

I sometimes use a fine steel wool on cases I have handled too often. If there is a lot of use from hunting eg. loading and unloading rifles to be legal on the road. I will shine them up after a long season, or adverse conditions. I have also polished discolored brass if it looks OK otherwise. sometime I will use steel wool to inspect cases that have been reloaded more than 3 times. Other than that dont be so anal, shoot and have fun making more ammo.

[gose]

I remember reading, if you tumbled loaded ammo it changes the powders burn rate. some powders I believe have a graphite coating to control the burn rate. Id call the powder manufacture to make sure its ok. I'd like to keep all of my fingers i would'nt jump off a bridge cause someone else did

Some powders are ok to tumble, some are not. There might be coating that will wear off, or some types of powder shapes might "break" and give you a higher burn rate.

If you want to be somewhat safe you should test-tumble each powder type and test the burn rate.

If you think your cases are dirty and need more tumbling after reloading, why not let them spend some more time in the tumbler BEFORE you reload instead? ;)

[TonyM]

I'll support the other side. I tumble almost all my ammo after loading, and even my .223 and .308 ammo I buy.

For reloads I do it to remove any Hornady case lube that is on them, after it dries it feels sticky, and I don't want that in my mags or chambers.

For my .223 and .308 Military production ammo I do it to clean up the ammo from brown to nice and clean. The Belgian and Aussie .308 comes out looking like factory ammo. I know I don't need to, but I prefer clean ammo in my weapons and have convinced myself that it will keep the gun cleaner, even if it wont.

I usually tumble for 20 minutes in 50% walnut, 50% corncob with some polish, but I have tumbled some overnight on accident w/o any change in the powder or accuracy. I even pulled some bullets to look at the powder from tumbled and non tumbled rounds. under a scope they looked the same.

Reading on a few forums it has been said that the only powders that could hurt would be powders from well before the 1970s.

[Calif. Hunter]

Think about this - your ammo is loaded into trucks or trains and shipped for hundreds or thousands of miles, vibrating the whole way. Don't you think it is a little "tumbled" by the time you get it at the store? There have been experiments at other forums where guys tumbled for various lengthes of time - up to a whole day - and then pulled the bullets to check the powder. Little if any difference. In some cases, the powder itself cleaned the inside of the case if the load was loose in the case. There was little or no difference in the chronographed velocities of the rounds, whether they were tumbled or not. (At least, no significant difference in the standrard deviations of the two or more sets of ammo.)

I tumble only loaded rounds that are loaded with lube applied, like the .223 ammo I run through my Dillon 550 progressive. Most of my ammo is neck-sized with no lube, and those are only tumbled before loading.

[bwiese]

I suppose the aspect of vibration disturbing powder in loaded cases may be a tad moot in most cases.

I might be more worried about vibrations somehow causing bullet setback in cases.

I know that metro police depts are no longer performing administrative loads/unloads anymore (i.e, dump ammo end of shift, load ammo beginning of shift) due to bullet setback issues with 40S&W.

A tiny bit of bullet setback can raise internal case pressures significantly (and in a nonlinear fashion) into dangerous territory...

[TonyM]

A tiny bit of bullet setback can raise internal case pressures significantly (and in a nonlinear fashion) into dangerous territory...

Very true, especially with 40S&W, the pressures in that caliber are very high, and increase at a fast rate when OAL shrinks.

[-hanko]

I might be more worried about vibrations somehow causing bullet setback in cases.
If setback is an issue in a vibratory case cleaner, I'd definitely be concerned about setback after recoil in a pistol magazine. Sounds like the ammo may need a little more crimp;)

-hanko

[Python]

I'll support the other side. I tumble almost all my ammo after loading, and even my .223 and .308 ammo I buy.

For reloads I do it to remove any Hornady case lube that is on them, after it dries it feels sticky, and I don't want that in my mags or chambers.

For my .223 and .308 Military production ammo I do it to clean up the ammo from brown to nice and clean. The Belgian and Aussie .308 comes out looking like factory ammo. I know I don't need to, but I prefer clean ammo in my weapons and have convinced myself that it will keep the gun cleaner, even if it wont.

I usually tumble for 20 minutes in 50% walnut, 50% corncob with some polish, but I have tumbled some overnight on accident w/o any change in the powder or accuracy. I even pulled some bullets to look at the powder from tumbled and non tumbled rounds. under a scope they looked the same.

Reading on a few forums it has been said that the only powders that could hurt would be powders from well before the 1970s.


Could you send me info on other forums' web addresses ? Thanks, Python

[Yar]

If what you want is a shiny case that looks factory new what you need is to do a better job with the first initial tumbling and use clean reloading dies.

I use all walnut media and 3m Finesse it II compound. It works better than the Blue Dillion stuff. It makes your brass super bling with less tumbling. Also there is a trick to tumbling. You got to tumble the right amount of brass, not too much and not too little. I run the tumbler empty with no brass and add brass in a handful at a time until I see the brass moving pretty fast. Like it makes a rotation in one second from top to bottom. Change your media often too. I get a 25lbs bag of walnut media of $10 at the local animal feed store. They called it bird litter. Mix 2 parts finness it II compound with water and add it to the media while it is moving in a tumbler without cases. Wait till it distrubutes and de-clumps.

Also make sure your dies are clean. Dirty dies leave a black grease ring on the case when your loading them. Clean your dies regularly with solvant. While case lube feels sticky (I use one shot) it doesn't interfer with feeding in the pistol. If your worried about it "mist" (not soak) a cotton towel with carb cleaner and then roll your loaded ammo around in the towel for a few seconds.

As far as tumbling loaded cases it is fine if you don't tumble too many, and only tumble for 20 minutes.