Tumbling Loaded Ammo.

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Still not going to do it. Tumble on
, your choice. And if it’s in the net, must be true. You can’t equate powder jostled around in shipment to powder moving around inside a loaded shell casings in a vibrating machine.
And of course nobodies forgotten a machine and left it on overnight.
Military ammo is shipped by truck, plane, boat, helicopter, rail cars, jeeps, mules and humped by soldiers. Some probably hang around for years in all sorts of environments; hot, cold, dry wet and often a combination of all 4 before they reach the soldier's gun. An hour or twoin a vibrator cleaner is so mild as compared, it's like rocking a baby.

I normally stay away from this subject as I've been seeing it since I joined my first reloading forum in 2006 and both sides "discuss" their theories quite well but there has never been a consensus reached. If one wants to tumble their loaded handloads, fine, there isn't a lot of facts to say "don't". If one chooses to not tumble their loaded handloads, fine, there are plenty of opinions as to why it may be considered "dangerous", In other words; if you wanna, go for it. If you don't wanna, don't! But I got sucked in again.:cuss:
 
The original question “ is it a common practice of those reading these pages.” Seems to be some do some don’t. :)
 
Probably been done to death, but I’m to lazy to do a search.
Yes, it has been beat to death here and likely a dozen other forums. You never ever tumble loaded ammunition. My friend tried it and the results can be seen below.
Ammo%20Storage.png

Seriously at one time I had emails from tumbler manufacturer's saying don't do it but let's get real. I hate to think how much shake, rattle and roll not to mention climate change ammunition I shot in Vietnam had been exposed to and the stuff worked just fine. This is one of those subjects which I believe has no answer so you figure it out and what works for you based on what you read. Make a decision and move on it.

Ron
 
Thanks Ron my decision was made 40 odd years ago when I first started in this hobby.
However:
Again out of curiosity and because the analogy has been sighted here several times if I were to take say a hundred fired 223 cases, put them in my trusty Lyman 1200 turbo tumbler with its corn cob media,
fastened the lid down, put in a box and shipped it off on a months journey it would arrive all nice and shiny like it would if it had set on my garage floor vibrating for 4 or 5 hours.
 
The only bullets I DO NOT want to tumble are bare Lead bullets with lube on them. Any and every thing sticks to them and then you have to take the time to hand wipe them all clean. Not worth the effort.
 
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Again out of curiosity and because the analogy has been sighted here several times if I were to take say a hundred fired 223 cases, put them in my trusty Lyman 1200 turbo tumbler with its corn cob media,
fastened the lid down, put in a box and shipped it off on a months journey it would arrive all nice and shiny like it would if it had set on my garage floor vibrating for 4 or 5 hours.
Depends on how you ship it. Ever ridden in a helicopter?
 
Keep in mind, vast majority of world's military ammunition are transported by trucks on punishing bone jarring dirt roads that will make a few hours in vibratory tumbler cushioned by media particles like sleeping on a feather bed. ;)

As Walkalong and snuffy clearly demonstrated that if the powder put in the case was fresh and usable, even 48 hours of continuous tumbling did not show adverse effects and I consider that a conclusive myth busting :thumbup: - https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/tumbling-loaded-ammo.864464/#post-11411182
 
What type. Flake,Stick,Ball. What brand. Compressed load, non compressed load. What caliber. Bottle neck cartridge or straight wall.
 
Thanks Ron my decision was made 40 odd years ago when I first started in this hobby.
However:
Again out of curiosity and because the analogy has been sighted here several times if I were to take say a hundred fired 223 cases, put them in my trusty Lyman 1200 turbo tumbler with its corn cob media,
fastened the lid down, put in a box and shipped it off on a months journey it would arrive all nice and shiny like it would if it had set on my garage floor vibrating for 4 or 5 hours.
I like that. :)

Ron
 
Let it take a couple of 10 hour flights strapped into a C130, or a C5, then a couple more trips strapped into a CH53 or a CH45.
 
Let it take a couple of 10 hour flights strapped into a C130, or a C5, then a couple more trips strapped into a CH53 or a CH45.

Never done that but spent many an hour on a Motor Cycle that would put the Gluteus Maximus to sleep in the first 10 miles . Not to mention the hands and other parts of the anatomy. :what:
 
Let it take a couple of 10 hour flights strapped into a C130, or a C5, then a couple more trips strapped into a CH53 or a CH45.
The C130 has come a long way since my MCAS days. Hell we would take off and the driver would get the props in sync and about 30 ~ 45 min later when your dental fillings were vibrating we would resync the props and repeat till we got where we were going. Talked to a few new C130 drivers at a recent air show and now they have auto sync and those new props. Then too there is a reason they call it a "C" 130 as creature comfort was never a concern. :)

I remember the CH 46 and CH 47 but what is the CH 45?

Ron
 
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Never done that but spent many an hour on a Motor Cycle that would put the Gluteus Maximus to sleep in the first 10 miles . Not to mention the hands and other parts of the anatomy. :what:
What? C130 or Harley Davidson, same ride. :) Hell if I need to tumble and I don't have a tumbler I can just place a bowl on the back of the bike and get great results.

Ron
 
It's not common practice for me but I have Done it. Not that long ago I tumbled some of my loaded 270 Win rounds for an hour or so. They shot fine.
 
As other have mentioned, I do it to remove the sizing lube...10-15 minutes and their good to go. Also they get dumped into a 50cal ammo can
 
On the ammo I am putting into longish storage I will tumble it to put on a protective coating. Otherwise it's not worth the time spent. YMMV
What additive are you putting into the tumbling media for this protective coating. Is it the same tumbling media for general cleaning and polishing fired brass.

Ive always lubed rifle cases the old school way of a large stamp pad with Lyman’s grease type lube. Lyman cautioned not to leave this lube on loaded cartridges as it could case problems when chambered and fired. One also had to be careful of over lubing cases and causing dents. So , I’d tumble the sized cases. A few hundred would raise hob with the corn cob media reducing its polishing ability. I suspect not many lube cases that way these days.
 
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