I have some 308 brass that is primed. Would like to load it up for my son, but it is a little discolored.
Any problem running it for an hour or so in my vibrating tumbler?
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I have some 308 brass that is primed. Would like to load it up for my son, but it is a little discolored.
Any problem running it for an hour or so in my vibrating tumbler?
If it were loaded you could, but the powder would start to break down and it could increase pressure.
If it's unloaded you could get corn cob stuck in your holes.
If it really bothers you could clean it up with some Mother's and a rag. If it were me I'd just shoot it then clean it better afterward.
I wouldn't.
I wouldn't bother; but if it's really important, and not practical to un-prime, polish, re-prime & load---
I'd finish loading them and polish 'em by hand with Brasso or something while watching a movie.
never done it, but I would be concerned about tumbling media getting into the primer flash holes. I don't think it reasonable to assume the media that routinely gets wedged in the flash hole only gets shoved in there from the primer side vs through the case body. But I suppose it all depends what your cleaning media is and if it is prone to sticking in the flash holes. A little crap in the flash holes probably wouldn't impede overall ignition, but would very likely affect consistency/accuracy.
That said, some light tumbling of loaded rounds probably wouldn't hurt anything.
All of the above is assuming use of dry stuff.
I do it regularly, with 30-06 plinking loads. I f/l size, reprime and bell the mouth using two stations on a Dillon RL-550. Into the Walnut shell media for 30 minutes to remove the spray lube.
Powder charge off the press then back to the 550.
Seat the boolits in one station, Lee collet crimp in another station.
Never had a problem, I've done 300+ in the last week doing that.
YMMV!
Just rub them down with some scotchbrite.
No problem.
1. Remove the primer
2. Polish the brass
3. Put the primer back in.
Decamping live primers question……
Will or can the decamping pin move the anvil of the primer possibly dislodging the primer compound?
That was my fear of decamping live primers and then reuse them in the future.
Any experience out there with this or am I a worry wart?
Just load it up and shoot it, THEN tumble it.
Clean it with 0000 or 000 steel wool. Been cleaning up some storage areas this summer - found a few hundred .308 cases from 20 years ago that were pretty disreputable, they cleaned up well with the steel wool. I put the base in a Lee chuck for trimming and spun the cases with a drill while lightly holding it in a piece of steel wool. No need to deprime with this technique.
Attachment 288259
load it, then tumble, then shoot.
MUSTANG has the right idea. If not steel wool, then scotchbrite should work, but might be coarser and leave scratch marks
On a thread like this, I've gotta mention that I've been loading since the days when almost no one had case tumblers/cleaners, and cleaning cases wasn't even "a thing". I don't recall ever being concerned about the cosmetic appearance of my brass -- just my targets. Matter of fact I don't have a tumbler even still. Must be some kind of barbarian. jd
Depending on the media and how hard it would plug the flash hole, more than likely the primer would clear any media in the flash hole and ignite the powder easily. I have only tumbled 44 Magnum primed brass (half just "wanna see" experiment. half cleaning dusty brass). Tumbled in corn cob blast media, 14-20 and looked in each case to see in media plugged flash hole. Most that did have a chunk in the flash hole were cleared with a tap on the bench, mouth down. Don't rememner any that stayed clogging the flash hole, but all fired pretty consistently...
If it was clean enough to prime, it's clean enough to shoot. Discoloration will make no difference.
I tumble my rounds after loading. Hour or less, no issues, read a study about tumbling breaking down powder
"after 30 straight days in a vibrating tumbler the powder showed no difference in appearance size and texture"
As stated, load it first then tumble if needed. Will not harm the powder based on my experience.