tumbler question

[secret.asian.man]

is it okay to tumble live rounds? will the vibration set off a round?

[filric48]

Why???

Why!!!

[secret.asian.man]

why not?

[jimster716]

I can see a second thread titled "Never tumble live rounds...lesson learned" coming.

[guncollector]

its not a problem.

worst case is not a kaboom, but it may unseat improperly or loosely seated bullets.

commercial ammo producers often tumble their loaded rounds.

[secret.asian.man]

its not a problem.

worst case is not a kaboom, but it may unseat improperly or loosely seated bullets.

commercial ammo producers often tumble their loaded rounds.

cool, thanks!

[secret.asian.man]

I can see a second thread titled "Never tumble live rounds...lesson learned" coming.

or you'll never see my post count go up any higher.

[Bill Steele]

I have a hundred 9mm Luger's tumbling in my corn cord tumbler right now. I tumble all my finished handgun rounds to get the lube off and tidy things up.

[SoCal AJ]

I remember a very heated discussion about this on another forum once lol!


just to make a point a guy ran a full load of loaded cartridges through his tumbler for a month!! I think that might be a little over the top but it sure did make the point.

personally I have done it too (not for a month) but I had some AK and AR shells loose in bins that had been in the garage for about 10 years, they were covered with the usual garage "gunk" and I ran them through my tumbler with walnut media for like 4 hours or so... no issues at all.

[erik_26]

When I was buying supplies at Reeds Indoor Shooting Range in Santa Clara, a gentleman over hearing how green I was to the whole process told me to tumble finished rounds for 5-10 minutes.

He said it is what all the pro's do and it helps give them a great finished look (plus clean off lube... etc).

[secret.asian.man]

THANKS YOU GUYS!

[kmullins]

Just to put another opinion out there -

From Varmint Al (Google him for his shooting/reloading pages):

"There is a serious problem with tumbling loaded ammo. The coating on the powder grains, that controls the burn rate, could be abraded and this would change the powder's characteristics. If you were loading ammo near maximum, after tumbling, you might have created a dangerous pressure problem."

Varmint Al is very respected in the shooting community and has forgotten more than most will ever know.

[Bill Steele]

Just to put another opinion out there -

From Varmint Al (Google him for his shooting/reloading pages):

"There is a serious problem with tumbling loaded ammo. The coating on the powder grains, that controls the burn rate, could be abraded and this would change the powder's characteristics. If you were loading ammo near maximum, after tumbling, you might have created a dangerous pressure problem."

Varmint Al is very respected in the shooting community and has forgotten more than most will ever know.

It sounds plausible, maybe I will give a call to Hodgdon and see what they have to say.

I have heard similar opinions before, so to set my own mind at ease, a whiole back I took a sample of every powder I had in the cabinet (extruded, ball, flake, all types) and loaded them into cases, less than half full to assure they got agitated.

I ran those rounds in my tumbler over night and the better part of the next day. I then pulled the bullets and compared the tumbled powders to their untumbled samples under a magnifying glass. I could not see any physical difference in any of them. I was expecting at least the flake powder granules being maybe smaller, nothing. Not definitive for sure, but enough to set my mind at ease for the few hours or so I tumble after loading.

[chim-chim7]

Tumbling loaded rounds is safe. Manufactures do it every day. I always tumble my rounds before they get put away in storage. Gets off any oils that may foul the brass after long storage times.

[chim-chim7]

Here is a video of WILSON COMBAT after tumbling their own live rounds before boxing up to sell. Shaking out the media. Starts at 1:50