tumbling lead rounds

Lead work-softens. Which means the superficial layer will soften during tumbling. I'm pretty sure you don't want that.
And yes, the alox will rub off some.
 
What rounds do you plan on tumbling? I tumble all my rounds,(.22lr only when badly tarnished, .32 RF, .38RF, 9mm, .38/.357, .45acp) lead tips included. it does revove the lube but i have not had any problems shooting them. probly becouse theres enough lube still in the lube grooves. however with rifle rounds loaded with cast then tumbled i found there was a little more leading in the barrel then usual.
 
9mm lead, it's just a PITA to wipe every bullet sometimes. I've been tumbling the FMJ lately for about 15 or 20 minutes to speed the proccess up. I've been lubing the brass with the RCBS spray lube.
 
when you say rounds as in the entire assembled round, i would highly advise against tumbling them. Imagine grinding the powder into finer particles. All of a sudden your burn rate and pressure and stuff exponentially increases.
 
sentian said:
when you say rounds as in the entire assembled round, i would highly advise against tumbling them. Imagine grinding the powder into finer particles. All of a sudden your burn rate and pressure and stuff exponentially increases.
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i dont mean to be rude, but i think thats just another load of crap. i have tumbled thousands ontop of thousands of rounds everything from .22 - .30-06's and also some shotgun shells and i have never ever had a single problem, EVER.
 
Quote posted by another member on this forum in another thread on this exact same subject that I found by doing a brief search:
Some jamoke on another forum was aguing that it would NOT cause any powder deterioration, the paranoid people insisted it would. So he set out to do an experiment. He loaded a bunch of shells with a fast powder in a large case so as to be like an 85% load density. Plenty of room for the powder to move around inside the case. IIRC it was WW ball powder. he kept some out of the tumbler for a control, then proceeded to tumble the rest. A vibratory tumbler was used. He removed shells after a week, and so on till he tested the last ones after 1 MONTH! They were shot over a chronograph and at a target for groups, then the control shells were tested alongside. NO DIFFERENCE in either velocity or group size.
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I also tumble live rounds now... Never had an issue
 
I too use alox Lee TL bullets. Any reason to tumble them? I shoot them as is with the layer of alox on the bullet nose.
 
In an auto, the bullet nose bumps against the top of the chamber during the loading cycle and leaves a tiny bit of lube - not a big deal at first, but does make for dirty cases and sluggish chambering after a bit. It takes far less lube than one might expect - to keep things from leading up.
 
DO NOT DO THIS. It will not tumble the lube off of the bullets. All the dust will stick to the lube, and you'll end up with a bunch of rounds coated in walnut shell abrasive.

Ask me how i know :(
 
mwjones said:
DO NOT DO THIS. It will not tumble the lube off of the bullets. All the dust will stick to the lube, and you'll end up with a bunch of rounds coated in walnut shell abrasive.

Ask me how i know :(
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You're either lubing them too thick, or not allowing the Allox enough time to dry or both... I've tumbled LLA covered boolits and have never had more than a few pieces of media stick. If that's the case, just tumble longer.
 
Alox does gum up the feed ramp quickly. Find heating the alox, mixing with thinner and using just a bit reduces the gumming.
anchor3593 said:
In an auto, the bullet nose bumps against the top of the chamber during the loading cycle and leaves a tiny bit of lube - not a big deal at first, but does make for dirty cases and sluggish chambering after a bit. It takes far less lube than one might expect - to keep things from leading up.
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Alox is very sticky. Last time I had to pull the bullet it was covered with gunpowder.

SO HOW DO YOU KNOW. PICs please :)
mwjones said:
DO NOT DO THIS. It will not tumble the lube off of the bullets. All the dust will stick to the lube, and you'll end up with a bunch of rounds coated in walnut shell abrasive.

Ask me how i know :(
Click to expand...
 
Are you thinning the alox?
How many days to try?
joedude said:
You're either lubing them too thick, or not allowing the Allox enough time to dry or both... I've tumbled LLA covered boolits and have never had more than a few pieces of media stick. If that's the case, just tumble longer.
Click to expand...
 
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