Several times I have red that tumbeling ammo is a big hazard becouse the coating of the powder can rub off and alter the burn rate, so I did a small and with low statistic value TEST.

This is how I did:
I took four loaded carteidges , 308win
loaded whit 38,5 g Vv N-130 and a 143 g surplus FMJ and tumled them in a Midway vibrator tumbeler for 22 hours .

Then I took one of the four apart to visualy inspekt the powder ,but it was ok .
Then I shot three untumbled shots 2657 - 2657 -2664 f/s

Then the tumled shots 2654-2657-2660 f/s

Have Vihtavuori som kind of tuff coating on ther powders or is it a myth the whole ting ?

Anders �sterberg

I never tried to tumble loaded ammos, nor I will do it in the future. I believe it's a bad idea, and I don't see any utility. I clean my loaded ammos by rolling them first on a cloth, slightly wet with trichloroethylene and then I wipe them individually with a clean cloth. - Lorenzo

i LOVE reading when people "hate tumbling loaded ammo"

that's how it's made, folks... by little companies like remmington, winchester, federal, the La. Army Ammo Plant, every company that makes any nato supply, every russian, isrealie, german, SA, mayalsian, etc facility.

It's done to clean and protect.

sorry folks, you have more chance of the rounds going off, in your pocket while walking in the woods, than in a tumbler.

Lorenzo,
we can't get trichloroethylene here (US) anymore, as it's a cancer causing agent. Closest we can get is acetone, and it's explosive. i used to use trichloroethylene in the lab all the time in college, as a cleaning agent in organic chem. Great cleaner, but I am not tickled that now have the possiblity of extra DnA fragments.

jeffe

[ 09-14-2003, 17:47: Message edited by: jeffeosso ]

It is also a bad idea because it is said that a bullet can hit a primer and cause it to fire(like sharp pointed bullets in a tubelar magizine rifle) I dont know for sure cause I havent tried it.

Guys I think the point is not the miniscule chance of a detonation in the tumbler. Its the fact that if the cases contain an air space (i.e when you shake them the powder rattles) that then as it rolls over and over in a tumbler the powder crushes itself up becoming a finer faster burning granule, so theoretically your R15 behaves like R7. I'm not sue how much truth there is and I'm sure full cases or slightrly compressed load wont experience the same problem.
Any one got a pressure gun we could try it in?

once again...

the ammo makers tumble em after they are loaded. This aint even open for interpretation...

do you tumble? I certainly do, on SP's and FMJ... not on cast...

can it "go off" or "get smaller" gimme a break... if it could get smaller, it couldnt be shipped... or after 3 months on safari, the gun would blow up, if the ammo stayed in your pocket....

sorry fellas, it's a do it if you want, or don't, but dont' try to make it seem dangerous... it's just as "Dangerous" as carrying ammo around in your pocket.... the primer could ignite? the powder could break down? Think about walking about with 3 rounds in your pocket.... does the powder break down? NO!!! has ANYONE (other than the 22 as a fuse idiots) had a spontaneous ignition of ammo in their pockets? Nope....

if you like your bullets cleaned after reloading, there ya go, if you don't then there ya dont.

jeffe

I have never worried about tumbling loaded ammo..shooting quite a bit, I have more of a problem having enough loaded up to shoot. I am constantly reloading. Maybe I go out shooting too much?

Jeffeso

i'm 100% with you on this, if you just think about it for a few min you will see how dumb it sounds with powder braking down, I wonder how many thousands of miles military ammo is transported before final destenation.

How about powder.

How about the average US hunter who might drive 2500 miles across country one way then up and down 50 miles of dirt roads then carry it in a pocket or back pack up a mountain and use the same ammo year after year.

Now I got into a discussion about this on another board, so I took 5 different powders, WMR, H-4831, AA4350, RL-15, BL-c2 I used a small 35MM film canister and filled it 3/4 full with powder and tumbled it in a Lyman 1200 for 24 hours then loaded all in a 30-06 with 150gr bullets, I did same with all powder, I then loaded untumbled ammo, using a Ohler 43 I check all on my strain gage along with FPS there was not one that varied more the 100 si or 70 FPS.

It takes something like 22lbs of pressure to touch off a primer with a firing pin, do any of you think a vibratory case cleaner could apply that kind of pressure during action to touch off a primer, I toured Federal ammo plant and watched them tumble ammo in a huge tumbler that looked like a cement mixer.