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Old June 29, 2010, 02:35 PM   #1
chris in va
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Tumbling loaded ammo

I've read through a few previous posts on the subject, opinions seem to vary.

I just bought a vibratory case cleaner and got a fair amount of fired cases done last night. Looking at my loaded ammo from a couple weeks ago, it's obvious they could use a cleaning as well.

The caveat, they're lead reloads using Lee Alox. If I can't do it, so be it...but sure would be nice to get these cleaned. Several posts point out ammo manufacturers tumble their completed rounds for a few minutes...
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Old June 29, 2010, 03:01 PM   #2
Brian Pfleuger
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There was a link floating around awhile back to a test done by a couple of gents who tumbled loaded ammo (9mm and 45, IIRC) for something like 2 days straight. The overwhelming result, and general consensus regardless, was that it will not hurt anything at all.

Just think of the "tumbling" that factory ammo receives during processing, shipping, packing.... not to mention the hellish treatment of ammunition along combat supply lines....
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Old June 29, 2010, 03:05 PM   #3
azredhawk44
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Tumbling lead bullet ammo will result in your tumbling media getting dirty sooner.

Tumbling jacketed bullet ammo will give you clean ammo.

Tumbling any ammo is just fine as far as safety, though. You won't set off a primer or mess up the powder inside the case.
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Old June 29, 2010, 08:39 PM   #4
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I wouldn't tumble cast bullets that are coated in Alox. You could wind up spending more time tumbling to get the media off the alox than anything else. Just shoot them and tumble the empty brass later.
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Old June 29, 2010, 09:02 PM   #5
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I realize my views differ from "the norm". While I believe the test results where someone tumbles loaded ammo for a certain time period without any negative consequences, I don't believe that means it is safe to tumble ALL loaded ammo.

I'm not worried about primers being set off while tumbling, my concern is about how it "might" change the burn rate of certain powders.

I personally haven't found the need to tumble any loaded ammo. If I was using a progressive with rifle brass and it had resizing lube on it, I could see the need.

But since I tumble after sizing, I just haven't had the need to tumble loaded ammo. But I also deprime and tumble prior to sizing, so my brass is clean prior to sizing or subsequent operations. For rifle I also tumble after resizing to remove the lube.
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Old June 29, 2010, 10:34 PM   #6
chris in va
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Thanks for the advice. Another question, will the waxy Alox come off the exposed boolit or will the media just stick to it? Maybe I'll try a few here in a minute and see what happens.
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Old June 29, 2010, 10:45 PM   #7
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http://www.ar15.com/forums/topic.htm...=989047&page=1

This should answer yer questions.
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Old June 30, 2010, 12:05 AM   #8
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I am pretty sure Black Hills tumbles their ammo after loading it, I have found polishing media in just about all of the .223 and .243 HP rounds I've bought from them.
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Old June 30, 2010, 12:47 AM   #9
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Quote:
Thanks for the advice. Another question, will the waxy Alox come off the exposed boolit or will the media just stick to it? Maybe I'll try a few here in a minute and see what happens.
Yes it will! Your boolit will look like it has a disease! Tumbling longer won't cure it either!:barf: That's IF the bullet nose is covered with lee liquid alox.

I know this because I tried it. Fortunately I thought that might happen, so I only did 10 rounds. That meant I ONLY had 10 rounds to clean with a solvent soaked rag.
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Old June 30, 2010, 01:01 AM   #10
chris in va
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Yeah, you guys are right. The walnut dust stuck to the alox and pretty much made things worse. Oh well, worth a shot.
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Old June 30, 2010, 01:11 AM   #11
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Told ya!

While I don't think tumbling loaded rounds is any harder on the powder than its riding in a truck on the way to your local retailer, I avoid putting anything sticky in my tumbler. Found out the hard way myself.
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Old June 30, 2010, 10:00 AM   #12
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I don't know why you guys are having a hard time? I tumble my loaded rounds made with Lee Alox tumble lubed cast bullets all the time without any problems with stuff sticking to it.

First, as mentioned, it will make the tumbling media very dirty, so I keep two separate "lots" of corncob media. One relatively clean lot for tumbling brass, and a different dirty lot for tumbling loaded ammo.

Not every lot, but periodically I will add a capful of NuFinish car wax to the media, and I have a couple of used drier sheets cut into quarters.

When I am finished tumbling, I put them in my rotary media separator.


When I tumble lube, I don't coat them very heavily -- they don't need a very heavy coat for pistol rounds anyway. They are not particularly sticky, either.

After tumbling, the bullets look a very dark gray, much darker than when originally cast. But they aren't sticky and they don't have tumbling media or dust stuck to them.

I didn't "test" 10 of them this way. I've only tumbled about 6,000 rounds this way in the last year using Lee Alox lubed cast bullets.
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Old June 30, 2010, 03:26 PM   #13
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This was asked of several of the powder manufacturors years ago. Those that DID reply to the inquiry basically said that the powder is TUMBLED EXTENSIVLEY in the blending process.

No harm will come of tumbling live ammo at home.
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