Tumbling Brass

Quote:
I'm old enough to remember the beginning of this myth, back some 40+ years ago.

Some guy blew up his rifle with a bad handloads

Then he tried to sue Winchester, saying that the ammo was Winchester factory, and it had been in the glove box of his pickup truck for a year or two, and the vibration of the powder broke it up into dust... which caused his gun to blow up.

The matter was turned over the "H.P. White Laboratories" for testing, and they took a bunch of factory ammo, and put it into a vibrating machine, and shook the hell out of it for two years.

When they finely fired it, it shot fine.

The case against Winchester was dropped.

You can clean loaded ammo in your tumbler.


.



Hey Catshooter, I think I remember that too. Wasn't the powder W296 when it first came out?
 
I'm pretty sure that ammunition remanufacturers like Black Hills have a sweat shop in their basement in which they have about 2000 illegal immigrant children all sitting around with a towel wiping the sizing lube off of each and every finished round that comes down the assembly line.


Seriously though, tumbling the finished ammunition is the only cost effective way to remove the lube. Could be they tumble immediately after sizing too, though.
 
Quote:
I'm pretty sure that ammunition remanufacturers like Black Hills have a sweat shop in their basement in which they have about 2000 illegal immigrant children all sitting around with a towel wiping the sizing lube off of each and every finished round that comes down the assembly line.




If I wanted factory ammo I'd buy factory ammo. Haven't done that, except for rimfire, in over 40 years.
 
Good Marines never go to war without Brassoed bullets and spit-shined boots.

If the cases are pickups from the range, dirty, or show some corrosion they are tumbled before sizing to keep abasives out of the sizer. I tumble them again after all the other case prep is done to get rid of the lube residue and brass shavings. The only annoying thing is getting the tumbling media out of the flash holes.

The brass will never get banged up in the tumbler, even if it ran for a week with walnut shell or corn cob media. Stay away from any more severe media on brass.

I would not take a chance on tumbling live rounds for what might happen to the coatings on some powders or the grain size that might affect burn rate. I have seen some strange effects on different materials in the electronics materials industry during this type of metal finishing. Why take a chance?
 
Quote:
Quote:
I'm old enough to remember the beginning of this myth, back some 40+ years ago.

Some guy blew up his rifle with a bad handloads

Then he tried to sue Winchester, saying that the ammo was Winchester factory, and it had been in the glove box of his pickup truck for a year or two, and the vibration of the powder broke it up into dust... which caused his gun to blow up.

The matter was turned over the "H.P. White Laboratories" for testing, and they took a bunch of factory ammo, and put it into a vibrating machine, and shook the hell out of it for two years.

When they finely fired it, it shot fine.

The case against Winchester was dropped.

You can clean loaded ammo in your tumbler.


.



Hey CatShooter, I think I remember that too. Wasn't the powder W296 when it first came out?



I'm not sure what it was... it was when ball powder was kinda new to hand loaders - and to a beginner, ball pistol powder, and ball rifle powder, sure "look" the same.


Then there was the "myth" that Bullseye powder would "detonate" - it was taken off the market for over 2 years while it was being tested. No lab was ever able to make it detonate (smokeless powder does NOT detonate)...

... finely turned out to be a double charge from a "Star" loading machine, because of a bad design. The handle of the machine could be stopped in mid stroke, and brought back... then started again, and it would not advance the cases, but it would throw another charge into one of the cases... 6gr of Bullseye in a 38 SP case with a 158 Wadcutter will really light up the range /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif

.
 
Quote:
... 6gr of Bullseye in a 38 SP case with a 158 Wadcutter will really light up the range /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif
.



Current Hercules (sorry Alliant) data for 38 Special shows 15,500 psi with a 3.6 gr. Bullseye load and a 158 gr. lead SWC. In a 357, 6.5 gr. renders 33,900 psi. Yea, 6.0 gr. in a 38 might be more than lighting up the range, we could be talking shrapnel here. Especially if it was a "J" or early "K" Smith. That is always a problem that requires extra care in loading some of the early revolver cartriges with modern (?) smokeless powders. A 38 or 357 can take a triple charge with a fast burning powder. That's not exactly like many of our rifle loads. I load 12.5 gr. of Lil Gun in my 22 Hornets and I have to be careful not to shake the tray as the case is FULL.
 
Back
Top