Live rounds in a tumbler

[rhino]

As has been mentioned, factory new ammo wasn't shiny right after it was loaded. It all gets tumbled after loading so the finished product is nice and clean. It's not 100% cosmetic, either. As Coach mentioned, the cleaner and more slippery the outside is, the better it will feed and extract.

 

[bwframe]

The instructions for my Dillon CV-750 recommended a 15-20 minute maximum on tumbling loaded ammo. I tumbled the first 1500 rounds I loaded.

 

[Mike_M]

I used to be a nervous nellie about tumbling finished ammo until I spoke to a couple of reps at Dillon. They referred to a loader who had done a test vibrating ammo for up to 60 hours with no ill effects. Case closed to my mind.

 

[mhs]

I had some really nasty .40 brass that I tumbled (vibratory tumbler) overnight. I had gotten a few rounds of loaded ammo (around 170,000 pf) mixed in with it by mistake. I shot the ammo out of my stock Glock 35 and didn't notice anything unusual.

 

[shibumiseeker]

this is what I have herd all so.I herd that if you use extruded powder do not tumble you will break it down and change the way it burns.

Ten minutes in the tumbler won't. Ten hours might.

 

[Eddie]

Why? Ammo doesn't explode when it goes off, sending the bullet like shrapnel, like in the movies. The case ruptures, end of story. No focused energy.

Because even though my brain knew this, my body didn't want to be sitting right next to the tumbler the first time I tried it.

 

[shibumiseeker]

People who have looked into this say this has to been done for multiple hours to seen any measurable changes, if you see any at all. The few minutes this is typically done will not change the burn characteristics.

Think about it for a minute - how many miles of rail, gravel roads, and conveyor belts does powder travel before it reaches your loaded ammo. A few minutes in vibratory cleaner has nothing on that.

Not to mention the loaded ammo that has been beaten around riding loose behind the seat of the truck

 

[teddy12b]

I had a live round get mixed in with some brass that I had shot up that day. It was one of those times when I started the tumbler and forgot about it till the next day. When I pulled out the bright shiney live round my jaw dropped and my heart stopped. It was a handloaded 223 JSP round and first I couldn't believe I had accidentally done that and secondly I couldn't believe how shiney that round was. Even the lead tip of the bullet looked great. I couldn't believe it, but I had round that vibratory cleaner for at least 12 hours and the round never went off.

I may do it with some federal 5.56 tracers I bought because the brass looks like crud. Clean & shiney brass does run smoother.

 

[shibumiseeker]

Tumbled 200+ hours!

Here's a link to a thread on arfcom about a test a guy did a test tumbling ammo for 200+ hours. Live ammo, in tumbler for over 200 hours with microscopic images. - AR15.COM

He didn't shoot them, but he took pics of the powder at high magnification before and after. Interesting stuff. The upshot (heh) is there was little to no visible changes in the variety of powders he tumbled. He didn't do enough for a shooting test.

If I get bored someday I may load a test batch and do a shooting test with velocity under similar tumbling conditions.

I love empiricists!