Can You Clean Cast Boolits in a Tumbler?

[40sandwfan]

I've been doing a lot of reading about cast boolits on this site and have come across a lot of great information.
I've also talked quite extensively with people at work about casting bullets too. One particular person told me that he cleans his cast boolits in a tumbler... I've never heard of doing that and was wondering if it does any good.
Just the other night I was able to put out about 326 230-grains for my .45 and I'm excited to load them. I'm just not sure about the whole tumbling idea...

Can y'all let me know?

[bdutro]

Keep 'em clean to begin with and the tumbling isn't needed.

If you do, it sounds like a great way to lose gas checks and if the lube is a harder type, crumble out. Plain base, gooey lube would probably be fine.

[kawalekm]

HI FSF
I suppose you could tumble for two different reasons. First, you might tumble lube them, the way a lot of Lee bullets are designed. The second would be to make them clean and shiny.

For lubing, you want to tumble them just enough to get the bullets completely wet with lubricant, then let them dry out. This seems to be best done by hand, not by an unsupervised machine.

If you want however to remove corrosion, I don't think the results would be good. The amount of tumbling required to remove lead oxide would most likely ruin the driving bands and destroy accuracy. I wouldn't worry though. Bullet alloy seems to take years to corrode, and I have bullet stocks I made years ago that are still bright and shiny.
Michael

[40sandwfan]

Sorry, I should have specified. The guys at work were talking about tumbling them to clean them up a bit more before sizing/lubing the boolits.
A couple of the guys said they do it all the time when they get a nice lot of boolits ready to go, they tumble-clean them and then they lube them.

[Jim]

I'm not an engineer or a mechanic, but it seems to me that tumbling boolits would put a substantial load on the tumbler motor. Assuming, that is, that you put enough in the tumbler to make it worth messin' with.

[dragonrider]

In a tumbler there are all kinds of gritty things that get in there from tumbling your brass, this could get embedded into your lead boolits. Tumbling lead boolits willnot make them shiney. Lead boolits are as clean as they will ever be when they drop from you mold.

[NSP64]

My boolits come out all nice and shiny,why would someone want to tumble them and make them all dull? I would be worried that tumbling boolits would Peen the bearing surface and maybe make them smaller?

[gray wolf]

what are on the bullets that need to come off ??

As been said the bullets are as clean as they get --out of the mold. I do not think they can get any cleaner. But they may get dark gray with embedded tumbler grit.
Put them in a container after casting and keep them clean.
There is a wealth of information that you can gain from people BUT some of it ain't worth listening to--I think messing with the bullets is one of them.

[40sandwfan]

My boolits come out all nice and shiny,why would someone want to tumble them and make them all dull? I would be worried that tumbling boolits would Peen the bearing surface and maybe make them smaller?

This is exactly what I was worried about. I didn't say anything about this to the guys I was talking to because arguing with some of them is like arguing with a brick wall! They like to think of themselves as a fountain of knowledge.

[lwknight]

I would stay out of that arguement entirely too. Its crazy, just crazy. Those guys are either severely anal finatics that don't get it or they just don't know anything.
Actually it might be a setup just to test you for gullability or pull a prank. There is something fishy about the idea for sure.

[Recluse]

This is exactly what I was worried about. I didn't say anything about this to the guys I was talking to because arguing with some of them is like arguing with a brick wall! They like to think of themselves as a fountain of knowledge.

Hmmm. Sounds like they're a fountain all right. But "knowledge" isn't exactly the substance they're recirculating.

Tumbling "raw" boolits? You're only going to get dent and ding them up to hell and back, and it will NOT make them "shiny and new looking." In fact, quite the opposite. When I tumble loaded ammo, my lead boolits turn quite dark. Doesn't bother me, and I don't tumble loaded ammo all that often anymore--especially ammo loaded with lead.

Jacketed reloads? I'll tumble them in a minute, but I don't load enough of the stuff up to bother with these days.

Stay light on the tumble-lube, use a good lube/lube mix, and there is zero reason or need to tumble cast boolits.

[Cloudpeak]

Silliest thing I've heard in quite awhile.

You came to the right place to get all your answer's on cast bullets. I'd stay away from the other guys. They might have something that's contagious

[ghh3rd]

We strive to have sharp edges on the bottom of the boolits to help steer them . Seems like bouncing them together would round the edges on the bases and diminish accuracy.

[lylejb]

Sounds like some kind of joke or prank to me.

Did they ask you to go get a reverse muffler bearing? Maybe a box of left handed threads, too?

I can't think of any possible benefit, only a potential for damage.

If the lead you cast from is clean, the boolits will be clean. If the lead you cast from is not clean, you will need to do a better job of smelting / fluxing. Don't ask how I found that out.

If the guys at work REALLY do that, well ....it's a free country.

You've come to the right place. This forum has many very knowledgeable casters that are willing to help. Welcome.

[Trey45]

Maybe the guy at work is tumbling his cast boolits to get the frosting or wrinkles off?

[qajaq59]

If you want to have some fun go to work and tell them when you tumbled them, that they all came out dark blue. That should confued them nicely. lol

[gefiltephish]

My guess is that they're really talking about tumbling cartridges to get excess lube off, not the naked bullets.

[gray wolf]

Just----------------FAGETABOUTIT-----

[old turtle]

I don't even tumble brass. I kind of like the nice olive drab patina. Well sometimes. I agree that this is a set up. All to be gained is grit, rounded edges and an extra step.

[lawhetzel]

Agree with Gray Wolf:
Just----------------FAGETABOUTIT----
If they aren't just trying to pull a fast one over on you as someone has suggested, I would say that if this is an example of their "wisdom" just flush it down the old "memory hole" (toilet) with the rest of the c---.
New cast bullets are as clean as they will ever be. Tumbling can only damage good bullets. Then there is the probable unnecessary lead contamination that would occur. I have read that the most likely place to get lead into your system is not the lead pot but the tumbler. For that reason, I do not even tumble empty cases until they have been decapped. I know that this makes a couple of extra steps and one will have to clean out an occasional primer pocket, but it is worth it to me.