Cleaning cast reloads

Etter

Etter

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How do you other guys clean the excess bullet lube off the loaded rounds?

I'm talking about what's been transfered bullet-to-bullet when in the shipping package & the inevitable transfer to the brass during the loading process & in the bucket after loading.

If I have a small number of rounds I just use a varsol-soaked rag & wipe them off (a bit of a pain). I've heard of guys that dump them back into the tumbler with corn cob that's been treated w/varsol or other solvent for unspecified length of time. Is that a good idea? I recall reading in a gun/outdoors type magazine years back that is a no-no because the vibrations break down the powder?? Don't think 15min-1/2hr would hurt.

Your ideas for bulk load cleaning?? 200-2500rnds.
Thx
 
Tumbling loaded ammo does not degrade powder, it's an old wives tale.

I wipe with paper towel if there's enough gunk to prevent the round from dropping into a cartridge case gauge, otherwise I just leave it. Cast bullets ain't pretty.
 
Rifle or pistol? The 'tumble or not to tumble' is an on going debate. If you're going to tumble off the sizing lube, do it after resizing. No solvents in the media though. Otherwise, it's a TV watching project with a lightly solvent dampened cloth.
Using carbide dies makes lubing go away with handgun brass. If you're getting bullet lube on the cases, you may not be belling the case mouth enough. Mind you, and as daft as it sounds, keep cast bullets in your fridge. Prevents the from getting soft.
 
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Sunray. As mentioned it original post, the rounds are already loaded but are sticky w/bullet lube from handling/being jostled around in a bulk pail, etc. The lube is just what has been transfered from the other heads.
Just have to convince my wife to let me keep cast heads in the fridge from now on.

Ape. Thanks for clearing up the "tumble factor". Personally couldn't see powder degradation from vibration. It would have gone south during shipping if that was the case.
 
Properly lubed and well packaged cast bullets should not cause much of a mess, if they arrive in a mess, well thats your baby. For cleaning loaded rounds as well as dies from lube I use a paper towel and Isopropil Alcohol, it cleans and leaves no residue, you don't want to compound things by introducing another lubricant to the case walls, and the case will not be able to "grab" the chamber walls on firing.
 
If you bell your cases just a little more than you are you should eliminate the problem. I use a rag with a little Hppes #9 on it to wipe excess lube off any cartridges I make. Also make sure your crimping and seating dies are kept clean. Most particularly your crimping die.

Take Care

Bob
 
damndirtyape said:
Tumbling loaded ammo does not degrade powder, it's an old wives tale.
Click to expand...


:eek::eek::eek:The 5th edition of the Sierra loading manual was obviously written by old wives because here is a qoute from page 125.:eek::eek::eek:

"Regardless of the method used, handloaders should never tumble loaded ammunition. Doing so may cause a deterioration of the powder's deterrent coating, or, in extreme cases, may damage the powder itself. Either situation would alter the burning rate, possibly raising pressures to dangerous levels."

Buy a couple manuals and read them cover to cover don't just look at the loading data tables.
Chuck
 
I have to agree that tumbling loaded ammo does make some changes to loaded powder.
Do the changes make a difference? Well there's the debate.
It IS going to redistribute the deterrent coating on the powder to some degree. Is it enough to change the burning rate? Can't say I've noticed it, but I don't make a practice of tumbling loaded rounds. But I have done it a few times. (Dry media will not remove cast bullet lube, it sticks to it and makes a mess)
I would not want to tumble rounds in solvent though. Solvent penetrates much better than say water, and THAT could bugger up your rounds.
As to messy bullets, I use an old towel, and a bit of solvent. PIA, but it works.
 
Tumbled cases

All factory ammunition is tumbled before it leaves the factory to "clean "it up. Munitions workers have verified this on American forums and I have read about it in gun magazines many years ago before the Internet. Nope... I don't know for how long or whether the media was soft or hard ...

Have tumbled hundreds of rounds in a friends rock polisher many years before "designated " cartridge Case Tumblers were commonly available at a reasonable price and I bought one. About 5-6 minutes worked fine and accuracy did not deteriorate.


...my 2 cents worth
 
Slightly belling the case mouth will reduce the amount of lube that smears on the cartridge case. The little that does can be simply wiped off with a paper towel or a rag. Pick up a box of mechanic's weight paper towels at an automotive supply store, a box lasts quite a while. When I resize rifle cartridges I only lightly lube my cases and just wipe them off as well. My brass has no noticeable lube residue left on it.
 
Chuck McCann said:
:eek::eek::eek:The 5th edition of the Sierra loading manual was obviously written by old wives because here is a qoute from page 125.:eek::eek::eek:

"Regardless of the method used, handloaders should never tumble loaded ammunition. Doing so may cause a deterioration of the powder's deterrent coating, or, in extreme cases, may damage the powder itself. Either situation would alter the burning rate, possibly raising pressures to dangerous levels."

Buy a couple manuals and read them cover to cover don't just look at the loading data tables.
Chuck
Click to expand...

I look forward to anyone, anywhere, ever, providing empirical evidence that tumbling loaded ammo causes a non-trivial change in pressure, velocity, or burning rate using a fair and repeatable experiment.

Yes, there will be wear on the surface on powder from prolonged vibration, but to what extent? Rubbing 5 atoms off isn't going to change anything, I want to see evidence of a practical risk, none has ever been presented that I'm aware of. Ammo and powder have been shipped in trucks with bad suspension over crappy roads for over 50 years, to no result.

If I had a chrony, I'd be glad to perform some experiments.
 
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Clearly the results will be impacted by the amount of airspace in a cartridge and the length of time it is subjected to vibration or tumbling. You are probably right in that a few minutes in a tumbler to clean up any lube on the outside of the case will have a minimal to no effect, but with the exception of the high volume reloader it would seem to be unnecessary.
 
I just loaded 2500 9mm rounds & REALLY didn't feel like wiping them off by hand. Not much air space in the powder room so tumbled them for 10-15min in corncob w/a bit of varsol to cut/dissolve the lube. All came out shiny clean. The varsol doesn't seem to leave a residual film so I'm going with it that way.

BTW I found some loaded rounds mixed in with brass that had been tumbled for a few hours. Fed them thru the gun & they're as accurate as ever w/no noticeable difference in recoil.

Tanks for all your opinions, guys.
 
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