wind fall : found some primed brass in garage

[casca]

digging through my boxes of treasures found 400 primed 223 brass
250 primed 7.62x39 brass
300 primed 32 long colt brass
50 primed 35 whelen brass

can I stick this in the tumbler with no problems, not very worried about explosion. Just don't want any residue to lodge inside. Brush get it out ?

didn't win the POWER BALL but, this was close.

casca

[Eric H]

I have pondered this my self on occasion. I would chamber a few to see if they ignight. tumble a few and repeat. One of the down sides might be geting media stuck in the primer. Again, I have thought about it but never tried. let me know how it turns out.

[possom813]

I've taken brass that was found primed, and found a wooden dowel rod about the size of the neck so it would squeeze on, and put it in a drill. Then used a piece of 0000 steel wool with the drill running to polish the brass a bit.

It's time consuming, but it works.

[ku4hx]

I'm in that same boat currently with 266 primed cases: 40 S&W, 30-06 and 30-30. First shooting will be as is; tumble after first shooting. They're all clean, just a mite tarnished. I just have this aversion to anything coming between primer and powder such as bits of walnut or corn cob.

Then of course there's this: http://www.theboxotruth.com/docs/edu152.htm

[Tatume]

You should not tumble primed cases, for several reasons. The chance of one firing is small, but not zero. Tumbling media will probably lodge in the flash holes of a few cases. Most importantly, tumbling is reported to cause crumbling of the primer pellet, making ignition unreliable.

[jsheyn]

NO ..... shoot it first

[rr2241tx]

If it isn't too badly tarnished, load it first then run it in corn cob for a few minutes to get it all nice and shiny.

[Tatume]

If it isn't too badly tarnished, load it first then run it in corn cob for a few minutes to get it all nice and shiny.

After you fire the ammo. You should not tumble loaded ammo.

[captaint]

Years ago, before I got my vibrator, I made up tapered spuds that went into the drill press. While the press is running, I just put my thumb on the base and pushed up and let it spin. Took the 4/0 steel wool and presto !!! It worked. I was loading almost exclusively rifle brass in those days. Mike

[blackthorn]

After you fire the ammo. You should not tumble loaded ammo.

Why not???

[casca]

here is my plan, going to tumble them over night. then seperate them again from the media and stick em back in tumbler with just brass that i hope should clean em up enough.
let ya know.
casca

[DLCTEX]

Tumbling loaded ammo is ok. The factories do it. I would not want to let it run for hours on end, but many of us have done it with no ill effects. Use 20/40 corn cob media and you will not stick any in the flash holes. I would suspect the primer would blast the stuck media out anyway.

[Tatume]

Ordinarily I would bow out of this discussion, and indeed had already decided to do so. But I felt it necessary to reemphasize the warning. Even though the OP has already decided to ignore good advice, maybe someone else will avoid an accident.

Tumbling loaded ammo is not okay. Factory ammo is tumbled for one to two minutes to remove contaminants left in the manufacturing process. Tumbling for a period long enough to remove the effects of corrosion is dangerous. Tumbling can cause the primer pellet to crumble, though I do not know the ballistic effects. Tumbling can cause the powder granules to break and crumble, which in effect converts the powder to a faster burn rate. Tumbling will scrub the surface coating from the powder granules, again converting the powder to a faster burn rate.

Further, tumbling is not the same as cleaning in a vibratory cleaner. Vibratory cleaners are more harsh than tumblers, and the detrimental effects on loaded ammo are greater. It is even more dangerous to vibrate loaded ammo.

The "plan" proposed by the OP is dangerous. Tumbling or vibrating loaded ammo can and has caused guns to blow up.

[casca]

using a THUMBLER'S TUMBLER NOT A THUMBLER'S VIBRATORY
brass was cleaned didn't effect how 223 ammo was shot both from a single shot and an AR 15. Perhaps YES, it would have been better for us that you should have bowed out of the conversation.

There are 2 kinds of people Ones who KNOW & Ones who BLOW you sir had NO Idea what you said so I guess you -

casca

[MUSTANG]

Ordinarily I would bow out of this discussion, and indeed had already decided to do so. But I felt it necessary to reemphasize the warning. Even though the OP has already decided to ignore good advice, maybe someone else will avoid an accident.

Tumbling loaded ammo is not okay. Factory ammo is tumbled for one to two minutes to remove contaminants left in the manufacturing process. Tumbling for a period long enough to remove the effects of corrosion is dangerous. Tumbling can cause the primer pellet to crumble, though I do not know the ballistic effects. Tumbling can cause the powder granules to break and crumble, which in effect converts the powder to a faster burn rate. Tumbling will scrub the surface coating from the powder granules, again converting the powder to a faster burn rate.

Further, tumbling is not the same as cleaning in a vibratory cleaner. Vibratory cleaners are more harsh than tumblers, and the detrimental effects on loaded ammo are greater. It is even more dangerous to vibrate loaded ammo.

The "plan" proposed by the OP is dangerous. Tumbling or vibrating loaded ammo can and has caused guns to blow up.


The cleaning of loaded ammo by tumbling has been discussed many times in this forum. Below are links to serveral of those discussions.


http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?757-Tumbling-Loaded-Ammo
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?68724-Tumbling-additive-to-preserve-shine
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?66453-Tumbling-loaded-ammo
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?33861-How-do-you-clean-your-loaded-ammo
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?153824-Cleaning-up-some-older-loaded-ammo

Bottom line there remain those who admonish Not To clean loaded ammo by tumbling, and those who advocate tumbling loaded ammo is not a cause for concern (including studies showing no impact to powder from many hours of tumbling).

I agree that tumbling primed brass is a BIG No-No (primed but no powder or bullet loaded).

There are many areas of reloading where an individual makes choices of what they are willing to do and not do, as responsible adults/citizens we should each educate ourselves and then make a decision on our actions, and not blame others if those choices should prove to be other than our desired outcome.

Mustang

[ukrifleman]

digging through my boxes of treasures found 400 primed 223 brass
250 primed 7.62x39 brass
300 primed 32 long colt brass
50 primed 35 whelen brass

can I stick this in the tumbler with no problems, not very worried about explosion. Just don't want any residue to lodge inside. Brush get it out ?

didn't win the POWER BALL but, this was close.

casca

My question is, how long has it been stored and in what conditions, High humidity, cold and damp, sealed or unsealed containers?
FWIW, if there is any doubt, de-cap the cases, dump the primers and start again.
Nothing worse than loading ammo that doesn't work!
ukrifleman.

[dilly]

My question is, how long has it been stored and in what conditions, High humidity, cold and damp, sealed or unsealed containers?
FWIW, if there is any doubt, de-cap the cases, dump the primers and start again.
Nothing worse than loading ammo that doesn't work!
ukrifleman.

I don't know how supply is in UK, but currently our primer shortage is such that it's almost as exciting for him to have found the primers as the brass itself, although the value of the primers is far less. Right now, I bet he will only dump primers as a last resort.

Of course, if they're not working, there isn't much one can do.

[casca]

that comment was on the MONEY, primers are pretty hard to find here outside of CHICAGO.
casca