Rifle reloading with the 550B
Quote from Reloader on August 30, 2015, 5:36 pmI just joined this forum after I read the comment about tumbling loaded brass. I personally use a vibratory polisher to clean up brass but not after it's been loaded. From what I understand (aside from the primer being struck issue) is that when you clean your loaded ammo in this way (and I think it's more applicable to the vibration cleaners than to tumblers) you are also causing the powder particles in the case to rub against each other and physically break apart into finer particles. Now naturally this depends on how long you leave the ammo in the cleaner but the point is this, you are changing the physical characteristics of the powder in the shell and this changes the burn characteristics of the power when you fire the round. In essence it creates a finer power leading to a hotter load.
Normal handling of loaded ammo doesn't have the effect of powder becoming broken apart inside the loaded round, but from what I understand running it through a brass cleaner may. I wouldn't clean off loaded ammo in this way, just use a dry cloth.
I just joined this forum after I read the comment about tumbling loaded brass. I personally use a vibratory polisher to clean up brass but not after it's been loaded. From what I understand (aside from the primer being struck issue) is that when you clean your loaded ammo in this way (and I think it's more applicable to the vibration cleaners than to tumblers) you are also causing the powder particles in the case to rub against each other and physically break apart into finer particles. Now naturally this depends on how long you leave the ammo in the cleaner but the point is this, you are changing the physical characteristics of the powder in the shell and this changes the burn characteristics of the power when you fire the round. In essence it creates a finer power leading to a hotter load.
Normal handling of loaded ammo doesn't have the effect of powder becoming broken apart inside the loaded round, but from what I understand running it through a brass cleaner may. I wouldn't clean off loaded ammo in this way, just use a dry cloth.
Quote from Reloader on September 2, 2019, 10:32 pmReally old thread, and really old wive's tales about tumbling loaded rounds.
The "theory" that grain size changes while tumbling is bunk. How do you think manufactures add graphite and the deterrent coating on the powder kernels? They do it by tumbling.
If tumbling in a case cleaner could change the nature of the grain structure how in the world did WWII prop driven fighters ever shoot their machine guns. Think of the vibration a prop fighter creates, add that to sometimes hours on the mission. This ammo worked just fine.
I was a tanker in the Corps. We sometimes had the 7.62 coax gun box full for many days before we emptied them or shot them dry. A tank makes a good replica of a tumbler … everything is vibration (and it's noisy, dusty and smelly) just like a case cleaner.
The factories tumble the final produce to remove any traces of lube, to polish off the annealing marks and to ensure there is nothing left on the case to corrode while in storage.
So tumble your rounds for a few minutes to remove the case lube, it will do a better job than wiping and save a ton of time.
Really old thread, and really old wive's tales about tumbling loaded rounds.
The "theory" that grain size changes while tumbling is bunk. How do you think manufactures add graphite and the deterrent coating on the powder kernels? They do it by tumbling.
If tumbling in a case cleaner could change the nature of the grain structure how in the world did WWII prop driven fighters ever shoot their machine guns. Think of the vibration a prop fighter creates, add that to sometimes hours on the mission. This ammo worked just fine.
I was a tanker in the Corps. We sometimes had the 7.62 coax gun box full for many days before we emptied them or shot them dry. A tank makes a good replica of a tumbler … everything is vibration (and it's noisy, dusty and smelly) just like a case cleaner.
The factories tumble the final produce to remove any traces of lube, to polish off the annealing marks and to ensure there is nothing left on the case to corrode while in storage.
So tumble your rounds for a few minutes to remove the case lube, it will do a better job than wiping and save a ton of time.