Tumbling primed brass

LawrenceN

LawrenceN

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Has anyone tumbled primed brass in walnut medium? I have some old primed .303 British casings that came into my possession. The primers go off just fine but the cases are kind of oxidized so I was thinking to tumble clean them. Obviously, if a piece of medium gets stuck in the flash hole it may impede ignition or do you think the pressure of the primer going off would blow any obstruction out?
 
I believe you may have some issues if you tumble that primed brass.
Hangfires come to mind. Not certain if you would actually experience
any misfires, but if it were me, I would not tumble it. EE.
 
Donny Fenn1 said:
Didn't Eric Cortina or some other f class guy debunk this? Or actually have his SD improve with clogged primer holes?
Click to expand...

that doesnt stand to reason for me , consistency is the cornerstone of efficiency in F class or any accurate shooting and having media stuck in some of the holes but not all sort of fly's in the face of that.
I dont shoot F class or anything close but I tried it once and I quit tumbling sized & unprimed for the reason of having to check every case for stuck media
 
Donny Fenn1 said:
I thought so as well but here you go.

https://youtu.be/sk6LqLDo8Jg?si=oNt7hGAdnjK1C7yu
Click to expand...

Just goes to show that the biggest , most important factor in long range shooting is the nut behind the bolt!
If you can't make a good shot sequence and make a good wind call, it is all for naught!
However, I am not about to leaving tumbling media in my primer pockets! LOL.
As far as tumbling primed cases however, ain't gonna happen in my shop, unless they have powder and bullets in them!
Cat
 
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If you have a Lee trimmer, the one that goes in a drill, you can just spin them a bit with some fine steel wool to clean off the corrosion.
Alternatively you can just chuck the case in a drill and do the same.
 
I don't think it would have any impact.

If walnut media could get "stuck in the flash holes" I suppose that powder could too. I would also suppose that when the primer is ignited it would not be impeded by the "blockage". Just another opinion. I have not tried it so have no data to support my opinon.
 
I would tumble.

I don't see how a little piece of media would have any effect on this kind of energy from a primer.

TxkeVjK.jpg
 
I didn't set out to do it, but I have tumbled primed brass as they accidently got mixed in. They shot just fine.

When you think about it, it's very possible to have even unprimed brass retain some media in them that didn't get fully separated out. I'm sure it's happened many times without the shooters ever realizing it.
 
I did this the other day with primed 45-70 brass, but the diameter made it easy to look down inside and see the flash hole was clear and the priming compound was visible. Being real shiny inside the case helped
 
I think the only far-fetched possibility of misfires would be some of the smallest bits of media and dust work themselves into the primer itself and somehow cushion the anvil from the cup and impede the firing pin impact. Not bloody likely though.

Either way, you tumble and the primers are probably fine or you clean them manually and they're probably fine. In the end, the primers themselves will be the most questionable part of those loaded rounds so target use is fine and hunting / bear defense not so much.
 
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