Tumbling and lubing primed brass - yes - no?

[JimB..]

Wonder if you could seal up the cases by pressing the mouth into a piece of wax, tumble them, then use a pick to get the wax out.

Might be less effort to deprime them.

Or tumble them after loaded.

[Winger Ed.]

I'd load & shoot 'em.

If they don't look pretty enough, either hand polish them or wear dark glasses when you load 'em.

[lightman]

I have tumbled primed brass that was not loaded and I had a few misfires. I don't remember what grit corncob I was using but apparently some managed to work its way into the flash hole.

I have also dry tumbled loaded ammo with no problems. No unusual pressure signs, nothing different on the chronograph, no change in the group size or point of impact.

My advice is to load it and then tumble it.

Depriming it is always an option but you have the extra work.

[KYCaster]

I have tumbled primed brass that was not loaded and I had a few misfires. I don't remember what grit corncob I was using but apparently some managed to work its way into the flash hole.

I have also dry tumbled loaded ammo with no problems. No unusual pressure signs, nothing different on the chronograph, no change in the group size or point of impact.

My advice is to load it and then tumble it.

Depriming it is always an option but you have the extra work.

Same here, I had misfires and hang fires after tumbling primed brass.
I also tumbled 45ACP loaded with HP38 powder and found that velocity increased slightly and ES and SD tightened up some. Results were repeatable over several attempts.
Based on those experiments, I no longer do either.

Jerry

[Land Owner]

I acquired 10's of thousands of factory and handloaded rifle and pistol ammunition and ~100 thousand brass cases in many calibers from a competition reloader's estate (my bosses' father). Most of the brass cases, in storage for years, both loaded and unloaded, primed, deprimed, spent primer, and once new without primers, were corroded and/or tarnished.

In four walnut media Franklin Arsenal (2) and RCBS (2) tumblers I cleaned A.) loaded ammo, and B.) once new without primers, deprimed, and spent primed cases for weeks.

Not one loaded round discharged. Not one "shaken" round of loaded ammo misfired. I cannot speak to the accuracy of each round, before vs. after, but there was no dissatisfaction in this shooter in the "as-modified" rounds from shaking.

Non-loaded primed cases are NOT recommended for media tumbling. Tiny bits of media WILL clog some of the flash holes. Media dust WILL migrate into EVERY flash hole. Primed brass can be individually dipped, up to but not including the primer, in a 20% concentration (ymmv) of lemon juice and polished clean or 000 steel wooled.

My recommendations? Load those rounds and then tumble them. From personal experience, I believe the loaded round will be clean and unaffected...or...deprime and tumble. Depriming live primers, done with smooth and even strokes, is not "reactive".

How many Billions of WW2 ammo have traveled the world, been shaken by some of our Nation's finest, and STILL shoot to point of aim if we do our part behind the rifle or pistol? Some days you just gotta do what you gotta do.

[FISH4BUGS]

Thanks to all for the advice and sharing experiences.
I guess I just need to get over my desire for shiny new looking brass. I'm sure that thousands of dollars worth of therapy will take care of that. Maybe some trauma in my childhood is driving me to want new looking brass.
I'll load them then tumble them shiny.
Seems logical and reasonable.

[jonp]

I don't. My concern is that I use walnut media in a tumbler and I don't want a piece to get stuck in the primer.

[owejia]

Been tumbling loaded ammo {.223} in walnut media for several years, never had a round to go off accidently. Brass will come out looking like factory fresh. If using lead boolits the walnut media may dull the finish some. Have not tumbled loaded powdered coated boolits but media will probably dull the shine on it too.

[varmintpopper]

Carefully punch out the primers, Dispose of them properly. Tumble Your cases bright and shiny. reload with new primers and components.
You will have confidence in Your nice shiny ammo. The price of a couple hundred primers is not worth the risk of failure, "Next to life, Give Me sight"

Good Shooting

Lindy

[WILCO]

Chuck them in a Zip Trim.
Polish them with a green scotch brite.

Easy peasy.

[Wayne Smith]

not worth cleaning, unless you want to waste the time. Load and shoot. Much more fun!

[Scrounge]

OK...so let's explore that.
The cases are primed. I looked at the primer being used and it would have to be a VERY small piece of debris to get in the anvil (not that it couldn't happen), and the flash hole is already plugged by the primer.
I really don't see how it could get clogged.
Have you actually done this before and did it work for you?
Just trying to logically flesh this out.........

I just got my first vibratory tumbler a few weeks ago. I've run exactly one batch of brass through it, a mix of 30-06 & .45acp. I've got at least a dozen shells, mostly 30-06, with bits of the corn cob media stuck in the flash hole. Several more with a cluster packed in there. This was a mixed batch of rounds some of which had been decapped, and some not. There are several of each with stuff in the flash hole. I do have other things to do right now that mean getting the bits out is going to have to wait a while. Think about this for a moment. There are two sides to the flash hole. The primer only plugs one of them. The media can get to one side if you're cleaning primed brass, both sides if unprimed/decapped. At least mine were fired brass. You're an adult, you can make your own choices and live with your own results, of course. Personally, I'd just shoot 'em, and then clean and reload.

[country gent]

You can load and tumble keeping the drum fuller than normal to save fall and banging. Shouldn't be a big issue. Or hit the pet store or section of grocery store, walmarts and pick up some coarse ground walnut or corn cobs. In a breezy day pour this slowly between 2 containers to remove fines. Treat as needed and use this the only dust will be what is produced tumbling. And being coarse enough it shouldnt plug flash holes. A gallon sized or 2 container should be enough. When this is done save this for a precleaner for really dirty brass.

To lube these cases a bath towel can be used with case lube. You might try a few cases in a towel with auto polish just work by hand a few hundred at a time.

[onelight]

not worth cleaning, unless you want to waste the time. Load and shoot. Much more fun!

Yup clean them next time.

[JoeJames]

RCBS decapping pins are usually $3.29.00 for five. I have two left to go. Bent one this weekend sizing and depriming 223 brass. Just a reminder that it is always good to have a few extras just in case.

[KenH]

Load them, put them in your gun where you can't see them and pretend they are bright and shiny. Then shoot them for accuracy and compare to ones that were actually bright and shiny. Perfect time to see if shiny brass works any better than tarnished brass. IMHO bright and shiny brass looks good on the shelf but has no other function.

This wins my vote!

[1hole]

I would be more concerned about debris getting in to the primer and filling it along with the flash-hole. Just shoot them and do what you need to do after this firing. If they are clean, stop worring about it....thinking way too much about it, get them loaded and then get out and empty them with all the time you have now...then citrus clean and polish until you are happy!

There's the proper answer. There's no way primed cases in a tumbler would detonate like a bomb but tumbling wouldn't accomplish anything of value anyway and there is indeed a small chance you could induce problems with plugged flash holes.

Men have been reloading brass cases since the mid 1800s, no one felt the need to shine cases like jewelry and doing so adds absolutely nothing to the quality of the ammo.

I'm a weak and well led gimmick sheep so I finally broke down and bought a vib tumbler a year or two after Lyman marketed the first ones in the mid-70s. It's on its third motor now and I still use it most of the time but I'm too old (i.e., experienced) to harbor delusions about the value of shiny stuff. I'm a gunner who reloads for accuracy, there's no way in deep south Florida I'd ever be concerned about dull brass or shine a single case by hand.

So ... just load it and shoot it. Then, if you really want glittery cases, tumble polish them without primers before you reload them.

[NoZombies]

I've known a few small commercial loaders, all of them tumbled their loaded ammo as a last step before packaging for sale. At least one of those guys had been doing it for over 20 years and who knows how many millions of rounds of ammo without incident. I've tumbled loaded ammo that had been sitting and had gotten a little corrosion beyond tarnish. I can't speak to the accuracy before/after, it was all destined for SMG's and I wanted to make sure it was corrosion free beforehand.

[mvintx]

I know, the OP was about just tumbling primed cases but some of the posts addressed other concerns. There is an exhaustive thread over on AR15.com about tumbling loaded ammo. You'll have to search for it but the Cliff notes version is loaded rounds were tumbled for a couple of hundred (or maybe more, I can't remember) hours. No powder degradation or rounds went off. I've always tumble my loaded ammo for 30 minutes to remove case sizing or bullet lube from cast boolits. Done it for almost 30 years now.

[Mike Kerr]

I guess anything could happen but in reality corn cob or walnut hull tumbling does not cause primer detonation. It just doesn't. BUT I don't tumble primed brass as a matter of reloading procedure - I just don't do it except in unusual circumstances like the OP has.