Good Idea Or Bad Idea?

[Char-Gar]

I have always cleaned loaded ammo by hand of case lube and bullet lube residue. It is PITA. I have a spare vibrating case cleaner and thought I might use that. There is a cat litter called Yesterdays News that is made from compressed pellets of old newsprint. It is very absorbant.

So, how about putting the loaded ammo in the case cleaner full of Yesterdays News?

[alfloyd]

I have run my loaded ammo thru my vibrating Dillon polisher in ground corn cob.
Just be sure that you don't overload it, and don't rum for very long. It gets warm if left on for a long time.

It comes out looking great. If you have lead boolits in the loaded round, it may come out darker than it we nt in.

Lafaun

[GP100man]

I find the bigger media is harder to move ,but if it moves at all it`ll be wiping ssoooo.

Then some will say not to vibrate loaded ammo because it loosens/removes burn retardants off the flakes/cyls. of powder ????

I personally have tumbled 1,000s of handgun rounds before I got carbide dies !!

[crabo]

The easiest way I've found, is to take a hand towel, wet with mineral spirits, and put in some loaded ammo. Grab each end and shoe shine back and forth, (like a hammock), and you will have clean ammo in a hurry. Very painless and quick.

[44man]

The tumbler can break powder grains and remove the retardant coating. My best answer is to not do it.

[Bad Water Bill]

44MAN

Not to chabge the topic BUT I WILL congrats on double GOLD[smilie=w:[smilie=w:[smilie=w:

[edler7]

I wouldn't think the 10-15 minutes in the tumbler it takes to clean off a little lube would hurt anything. I'm sure ammo isn't shipped "fragile, like eggs" to where ever it's destination is. It's knocked around and loaded in a truck trailer and bounced around like everything else. I have done it when the need called for it, but I don't make it a practice with every batch.

Yesterday's news might serve for something better than a cat to cr*p in, but not much.

Go for it, let us know how it turns out.

[RayinNH]

Do a small batch and chronograph them to see if they changed from previous batches of loaded ammo...Ray

[Bad Water Bill]

I wouldn't think the 10-15 minutes in the tumbler it takes to clean off a little lube would hurt anything. I'm sure ammo isn't shipped "fragile, like eggs" to where ever it's destination is. It's knocked around and loaded in a truck trailer and bounced around like everything else. I have done it when the need called for it, but I don't make it a practice with every batch.

Yesterday's news might serve for something better than a cat to cr*p in, but not much.

Go for it, let us know how it turns out.

When I think about all of the vibration from loading, driving 100s of miles then bouncing around in the rifle or pocket, if you are fortunate to get a shot THIS year that should answer for a short trip in the tumbler.

Now how about all of the ammo loaded for the military and shipped god knows where and then being declared SURPLUS. Now the powder is re packaged and we use it with no worries.

Me think we worry to much sometimes:bigsmyl2:

[Hickory]

As 44man said there is a coating on the grains of powder to control the rate of which the powder burns.
By vibrating or tumbling loaded ammo you will remove some of that coating, there-by changing the rate of burn. If you have a near or maximum load you run the risk of having an over pressure load or loads.

For myself, I'd never do it, nor recommend it.

[geargnasher]

Somebody here did an extensive vibration test of ammunition and posted high-magnification pics of the powder granules of different kinds after days in the vibratory tumbler, the upshot of the whole thing is you are NOT going to hurt powder by tumbling loaded ammo. That's all urban myth, the tests proved it.

Now, as far as cleaning loaded ammo, I found that the tumblers always packed the extractor groove with a blend of case lube and dust, and sometimes the case mouth crevice as well. I added some mineral spirits to help this, but in the end after posting a question about cleaning large quantities of loaded ammo, I got the answer I was looking for from a couple of members, one of which was Crabo.

So, save youreself the hassle of the tumbler, and follow crabo's advice above, it's the best tip I've learned yet on this forum next to heat-treating 50/50 alloy for HV hunting boolits and the formula for Felix lube. The "hammock method" as I call it works with any old terry or flannel towel, mineral spirits, Varsol, GooGone, Lemi-shine, and is a real time-saver for tired, overworked, arthritic hands and swollen carpal tunnels.

Gear

[Catshooter]

44Man,

What do you base this data on please?


Cat

[Cherokee]

Here is a good test of the theory that tumbling loaded ammo has no effect:

http://www.ar15.com/forums/t_6_42/303242_.html

I have never had any ill performance after tumbling loaded ammo, but I only do it for half-hour at most.

[noylj]

Unless you are pushing 60+ ksi, why bother?

[MtGun44]

I only tested one powder (BE, IIRC) in .45 ACP years ago for tumbling damage to the powder.
Tumbled a few rounds overnight and chronoed. them. No difference.

Doesn't prove it is impossible, but I wouldn't sweat it.

Bill

[Char-Gar]

A few years back I visited the shop of a fellow who loaded ammo by the millions of round per year for law enforcement agencies. The final step was to shovel it in a cement mixer full of paper towels and run it for about an hour. The ammo was then boxed.

Tim Sundles of Buffalo Bore Ammo also tumbles his ammo before boxing.

I am wondering if anybody has an personal negative experience with cleaning loaded ammo by tumbling or is it just theory? Lots of folks seem to have done it with no negative effect.

[Mk42gunner]

Since I started using STP for case lube, I have been tumbling the empty resized cases for about fifteen minutes in used walnut media to remove the excess lube.

I don't think a short trip in the tumbler will hurt ammo, but I have never done it. Yet.

As to the surplus ammo, ammuntion isn't declared surplus just because the Gov't has too much-- at leasty in the US. There is some reason that it is downgraded from ready to issue.

Robert

[Echo]

+1 for crabo's method. I've been doing this for - well - decades. Takes a couple minutes, and works like a champ.

[Bad Water Bill]

Somewhere in my feeble brain is a little bird that keeps saying that one of the last steps in the manufacturing process of powder is a coating of graphite. If this is true then there should be no worry as the powder will just SLIDE around on a well lubricated little jacket. [smilie=w:[smilie=w:[smilie=w: till it is called upon to do the job we want it to do.

BANG

[mdi]

FWIW; This is one of those "discussions" that won't go away. I've been on the web looking at reloading forums for prolly 10 years and this topic rears it's ugly head occationally on each forum. There are those that say "don't do it, it'll break down the powder and you will blow up!", and those that say "yeah, go ahead, manufacturers do it all the time, and the military ships their ammo all over the world (vibration, jogging) with no ill effects". Some will quote extensive tests (the one on the AR forum seems the best so far), and some just have personal knowledge ("I tumbled my ammo and blew out the primers on each round!"). I guess as long as we have tumblers and reloaders that want clean ammo, this type thread will pop up. Oh, well...

We need two stickies; one that argues, with documents, facts, and evidence; don't do it, you'll blow up yourself, and one, also with documents, facts, and evidence, for the yes, go ahead side...

[jameslovesjammie]

I have always tumbled loaded rounds with no ill effects.

Watch how the loaded rounds are handled, shaken around in this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Glqe5UM3r90&feature=fvst

This video shows .22 ammo being packaged on a shaker table:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwEgAkI6sEA

If powder was that fragile...I would think it would have to be treated like an egg. Not dumped down troughs on assembly lines.