Tumble Clean Bullets (not live ammo)

[user65]

Has anyone ever tumbled TMJ or FMJ bullets? This is not live ammo, but the component.

I got a bag of 9mm bullets that is pretty dirty, it's acceptable but I'd love to make it shine. I'm thinking it would dent or damage the bullet...

I apologize if the question is already out there, I did try searching here and google. All I could find was info on live ammo, not just the bullet component.

Thanks in advance.

[joelogic]

If its jacket they are really hard to dent. Plated will dent with a 3ft drop. Tumble away.

[user65]

Cool, it's a speer TMJ. I'll have to give it a whirl with a test batch.

Thank you joel.

[joelogic]

Post a before pic.

[chim-chim7]

Speer TMJ is a misleading term. Its not jacketed at all. Its plated just like a Berrys but with a thicker plating that is closer to jacket thickness. Either way it will be fine in the tumbler.

[fabguy]

i tumble mine when they look ugly

[Dark Mod]

I tumble loaded ammo all the time... Are you not supposed to?

[uscbigdawg]

I tumble every loaded round I fire. Gets the case lube off coming out of the press. Ammo manufacturers do it all the time and don't use anything special to do it. How else do you think your ammo is so pretty out of the box? Remember why a bullet flies and you'll realize it's not like the movies and safe.

Rich

[iareConfusE]

I tumble loaded ammo all the time... Are you not supposed to?

Some people say that it could set off the primers (which isn't true at all). The other reason I've heard is that all the vibration starts to deteriorate the physical structure of the powder flakes and tears them down, and also removes the slick coat that the powder has, possibly causing the powder to burn incompletely or unevenly during firing.

Whether or not any of this is true, I have no idea, but I've tumbled live ammo that I just finished reloading before for a brief 5 minutes just to clean them up a bit. Makes them look good but isn't necessary at all.

[chim-chim7]

People have tumbled live rounds for weeks to test the powder breakdown theory. They pulled all the bullets and no change to the powders composition.

There was a Calgunner within the last year who put some live rounds in the tumbler then forgot about them. Went on vacation for a week. Came home to find his tumbler still running. Took all the rounds to the range and they all fired just fine.

Don't worry about tumbling live rounds. There is way to much reloading FUD as it is.

[ireload]

Whether it's plated or jacketed, you a good to go with tumbling. I do it to all my SHTF bullets. It can be a pain when you tumble HP type bullets. I wind up picking off the stuck media. With cast bullets I would not do it. The possibility of lube coming off can happen.

[Cheep]

Toss em in and tumble.

[Wrangler John]

The bullet manufacturers tumble polish bullets prior to packaging. Some hollow point rifle bullets have pieces of corncob media remaining inside the cavity from the process right out of the box.

Prior to impact tumble coating bullets with moly or boron-nitride it is recommended to tumble in clean media and wash, rinse and dry them.

Do not use coated walnut shell media, the red rouge is an abrasive polish that will adhere to the canelure and imbed in the jacket. Use corncob media.

[r3dn3ck]

I tumble bullets and loaded rounds. Never had any side effects but shiny ammo.