i was at a friends old shop today and he was doing some cleaning up and said hey i got some old bullets over here you can have for the brass. ended up picking up close to 100 rds mostly 270 win and some 7mm and 30-06. the cases are fairly tarnished but should clean-up fine the bullets appear to be mostly ballistic tips with a few soft points in the mix. my question is if i pull these apart toss the primers/poweder and clean the brass up could i also toss the projectiles in the tumbler and nock the tarnish off of them also? they definatly won't be good for much more than plinking i wouldn't think but would this be acceptable?

I've done it. The tumbler will clean/polish the bullets nicely.

Why bother tumbling the bullets? Tarnishing won't effect a bullets performance such that anybody would notice. Ditto the tarnished cases.

Unless they're really grungy, I'd shoot 'em up and then tumble the cases to clean them.

Unless you are going to resize them or they are heavily tarnished, don't bother shining them up before firing.

You're probably going to clean and use the cases anyway so why not just tumble the ammo and then shoot it. Won't fill your chamber and barrel with too much grnge that way. After fireing them tumble the cases until you're satisfied that they are what you want. Use to fish crappy in Rocky River out in Strongsville when I was a kid.roger

You only have a hundred. Why not whip the tarnish off 'em with a piece of Scotch-brite? Chuck the cases into something that will hold them by the head and spin 'em in a drill. Just get off enough tarnish to ensure easy chambering. Shouldn't take you too long...

I've tumbled tarnished bullets before with good success.

the main reason i don't want to just tumble and shoot is because i don't even have a gun to fire them with. i can use the 270 bullets for my wsm. also im almost certain they have gotten wet at one point because they were on the floor and he told me he had an issue at one point with water getting in the shop. so they may not even fire.

I've tumbled tarnished BT's and shot them with good results. I'd pull and tumble the bullets, light the powder and let the kids watch, and use the brass for trading stock.

thats the plan hell ive got plenty of other brass for calibers that i don't own but figure ill either trade them for something one of these days or who knows i may just buy a gun to shoot them in.

quote:

Originally posted by sksshooter:
the main reason i don't want to just tumble and shoot is because i don't even have a gun to fire them with. i can use the 270 bullets for my wsm. also im almost certain they have gotten wet at one point because they were on the floor and he told me he had an issue at one point with water getting in the shop. so they may not even fire.

Pull the bullets, save the brass for tradin'. Trash the powder...

i pulled about 25 last night with my inertia puller. then the damn aluminum ring/collet that holds the case broke so i was fixing to order a hornady camlock puller till i found the other thread about pullers so ill give the shell holder in the inertia puller a try may also try using some wire pullers and using the press to pull them but if that messes them up ill stick to the inertia.

as for the bullets it looks like i ended up with 40-50 270 bullets, 25 7mm and about 30-40 30-06. ive got some 270 dies and some 7mm dies so ill probably clean them up and size and throw them in a bin for trading or incase my dad decides he wants me to reload some for his 270.

I would never clean and shoot ANYTHING unless I absolutely knew its origin.

Pull the bullets and pitch the powder and it is ok to tumble the bullets

Barstooler

got all of them pulled and confirmed that they had been wet i had probably 10 of them with wet powder in them. i now know what bad powder smells like and it doesn't smell good.

I would never as others say shoot anything that I was not 100% certain of its origins. Even ammunition in factory boxes unless there was some clue that it was as originally made.

I would also never, never, ever tumble loaded rounds as it can cause the powder to change its characteristics inside the case.

That is to say that the powder can, because it rubs and vibrates, increase its burn rate by changing its shape. Just like rocks in a rock tumbler.

Just a tip for those of you who want to pull bullets from older loads. First seat the bullets about .050 deeper to "break" the bond that time creates on brass and copper. It makes pulling alot easier.

quote:

Originally posted by enfieldspares:
I would never as others say shoot anything that I was not 100% certain of its origins. Even ammunition in factory boxes unless there was some clue that it was as originally made.

I would also never, never, ever tumble loaded rounds as it can cause the powder to change its characteristics inside the case.

That is to say that the powder can, because it rubs and vibrates, increase its burn rate by changing its shape. Just like rocks in a rock tumbler.

i completely agree with not shooting anything that is questionable. I tried last weekend to tell a fellow hunter that same thing. he recently picked up a reloading setup from an older guy who was giving up reloading. he recieved all of his equipment and components along with some loaded 30-06 rounds. i recomended to him to pull them apart and reload them to confirm he had safe loads for his rifle. his response was "oh no this guy has been loading for 30 years ill be fine" i left the shooting area and told him good luck. this is the same guy who last year had a negligent discharge that went through the wall of his camp last hunting season. im almost to the point that this guy needs to be removed from our hunting lease.

as for the tumbling loaded rounds. while i don't have and dont forsee a need to do this i disagree with your opinion. if you think about it when factory ammo is loaded and pachaged and put in boxes and set across the country in the back of a semi do you think that those bullets are just sitting there on nice soft air cushions? nope they are in the back of a metal trailer vibrating and shaking for possibly days on end after they make there entire trip to where they are going. that alone has got to be harder on a bullet than a couple hours in a tumbler. also if you do a little searching you will find several people who have tested that with no obvious change in the ammo. one that stands out is the fellow who loaded several rounds put half in a tumbler for 48 hours and then shot them all. they all hit poa.

quote:

Originally posted by ted thorn:
Just a tip for those of you who want to pull bullets from older loads. First seat the bullets about .050 deeper to "break" the bond that time creates on brass and copper. It makes pulling alot easier.

ted that is a very good suggestion and i have read it here before and i actually did that very thing. the 270 and 7mm came apart fairly easily but the 06 didn't want to let go of the bullet. since i don't have 06 dies i put a 300 win die in and just barely bumped the bullet to break the bond and they came apart very easily after that.

Oh just bury it and let someone find a treasure some day. roger