Cleaning live ammo

[Blitzfike]

I was worried about this very thing, and I chronographed a few rounds of a batch and then tumbled some more of it and chronographed it. I couldn't see any difference in velocity between the tumbled batch and the non tumbled batch. This was with ball powder, and I don't know what the results would be with flake or extruded powders, but I suspect they wouldn't change either. Real long duration might abrade the powder to the extent that it burned at a faster rate, then pressures would probably go up substantially. The longest I have tumbled any was about 12 hours and that was by accident. Still no problem with the rounds. Thats just my experience.. Blitzfike

 

[tyromeo55]

Years and years ago, I read a column by Skeeter Skelton where he did this to see the result on the powder before and after tumbling. After tumbling, he pulled the bullets and checked it visually. He said there was no visible change, but he stopped short of saying he shot it or to recommend shooting it.

One of the other times this was hashed out we had a mamber here do an informal test of tumbleing live ammo and he took pictures that are still in the thread HERE------> http://www.okshooters.com/forums/showthread.php?t=30291&highlight=tumble+live+ammo Kinda neat huh?

If you really dont feel right about it then dont do it. I on the other hand have no problem and do it whenever I feel like I need to.

 

[BadKarma]

Tumbling some 223 at this very moment. Done it many times and never had an issue.

 

[Fyrtwuck]

I clean the lube off my loaded 223 rounds in a vibratory tumbler 100 rounds at a time. It takes about 30 minutes at the most and I've never had any problems.

 

[jtischauser]

Toss it in the tumbler with some Nu car polish and a capful of mineral spirits.

 

[dennishoddy]

Toss it in the tumbler with some Nu car polish and a capful of mineral spirits.

I use the liquid car wax (turtle wax) but have not used the mineral spirits.
Just for my info, what does the mineral spirits do? Help the polish dissolve in the media?

 

[jtischauser]

I cheated my way through Chemistry in college so I'm no chemist! I just know KurtM told me to use it and his brass was shinier than mine. Heres my explanation: Mineral spirits breaks down the dirty stuff

 

[dennishoddy]

I cheated my way through Chemistry in college so I'm no chemist! I just know KurtM told me to use it and his brass was shinier than mine. Heres my explanation: Mineral spirits breaks down the dirty stuff

I have a gallon of low oder mineral spirits in the shop so I'm gonna try this.
Nothing to loose
KurtM seems to know a lot of what he talks about.

 

[Shadowrider]

I have about 300 rounds of .40SW in my tumbler right now. I've also forgotten and left my .223 ammo running all night long in it once, though I try to keep it to about 15 minutes just because that's plenty of time to remove the lube. Never had any problems yet.