Surplus pull-down

[Adam_MA]

Anyone load with these components?

I have a question. As you well know, military bullets and primers are sealed into the cases with that compound to prevent moisture from entering the case. I recently ordered a couple thousand bullets of surplus pull-down and they have the sealer still on them. How do you get that sealer off? Will tumbling work?

 

[highlander]

I'm not sure about tumbling bullets especially if they are pointed might screw up the tip iedent round over.
I'd try some type of solvent maybe mineral spirits otherwise if your not lookiing for guilt edge accuracy shoot 'em as is.
If they are .223 your hands will hurt like hell after a while .308 might be a little less abussive.
Caution this is a great cause of carpal tunnel syndrome

 

[bpm990d]

Get some solvent and put the bullets in a bucket. I use a new paint bucket from Home Depot. Put the bullets in the bucket and fill it with paint thinner or mineral spirits. Agitate a little and drain solvent back into can. 95% of the asphalt sealer will be gone. It might help to have them sit for a while.

I had 2000 LC 91 pull down cases that still had lots of sealant in the neck. That is how I cleaned out most of it.

B

 

[Adam_MA]

Thanks. I will try the solvent. I got a couple thousand M80 projectiles, and a couple thousand .30 carbine bullets that have the sealant.

 

[rscalzo]

I've bought pull down from Hitech and Bartletts. None had the sealant. The brass I bought which was vergin did have the sealant and it was a pain to remove the first time out.

I've been buying W-W 147 grain FMJ from sources such as Riley's and the cost is almost the same as the pull down as I don't have the shipping costs.

 

[M14Robert]

Just shoot them. It's not like you are going to make match ammo from them. So much less labor intensive.
You don't want to tumble them though for sure. Globs of sealant will float around and adhere to all your brass the next time you use it. That's a pain in the neck.

 

[Adam_MA]

If I tumbled them, I would just use my old media that is almost ready to be switched out for new anyway so that wouldn't be an issue. I just didn't know if it would harm the bullets to go through the tumbling process or not.
You are correct. I am not going to make match ammo out of them, however once I press the bullet into the case, I can see all that sealant getting pushed into a gob outside the case mouth. I don't want to deal with cleaning that out of my guns.

 

[bpm990d]

I've moly coated lots of bullets for high power in a vibratory tumbler with out any problems. Tumbling shouldn't do anything to hurt them, but I don’t think it would do a good job getting the stuff off.

Although I’ve never tumbled pull down bullets to get the tar off of them, If I tumble the pull down cases I get, they just have lots of dust from the corncob media adhered to the inside of the neck. If you tumble with something a little more aggressive it might do just fine though.

http://www.shorinternational.com/TumblingMedia.htm

B

 

[Adam_MA]

Normally, in my entire loading process, I end up tumbling 3 times. The first tumble is in Lyman Tuffnut. It's walnut media with a mild abrasive. That is my first tumble, just to get the major dirt off. Then in dry corn cob to get the case lube off, and then finally in corn cob with polish to get nice shiny cases. I know it's not necessary, however that's just the way I prefer to do it.

The media I would be using for the bullets would be the Lyman tuffnut. I think I'll throw a few into the tumbler tonight and see what happens. I put a few into mineral spirits last night, and agitated them and let them sit for 15 minutes or so. I took them out, and with a rag tried to get the sealant off. It was still a chore wiping off the residue, and I don't want to have to do that for this many bullets. Plus I am also left with dirty mineral spirits to dispose of, let alone the cost of the spirits to start off with.

 

[bpm990d]

I'm kinda surprised it didn't do a very good job of getting the stuff off.

Let us know how the TuffNut works.

B

 

[M14Robert]

Do this.
Load using your normal technique. As you pull each cartridge from the press, rub the scraped sealant off that collects around the neck/bullet with a rag that has a touch of carb cleaner on it. Yes your die will get dirty after this session. Then pull your die apart and spray it down with the carb cleaner and then lightly oil to preserve (the carb cleaner will strip it of all residues) and store.
Next time look around for some that is already polished.
I've tumbled them before in walnut and corncob and I'm telling you it was a nightmare trying to clean the tiny globs of sealant off of everything I tumbled afterward. The globs were stuck all over the tumbler (up around the rim) and it was just a mess.
Choke and carb cleaner melts that stuff like butter. Not good to breathe and have contact your skin though so use normal precautions.

 

[Adam_MA]

Well,
I went ahead and gave it a try this weekend with about 5 bullets to test. All I can say is WOW it works great! Even though it was used media, an hour in the tumbler and it was coming out brighter and shiner than even my brand new Sierra bullets!

I ended up doing 2 full batches after the test, and found no left over residue on the inside of my tumbler at all, and when I am done with these few thousand bullets, I will put that media into a zip lock bag and label it for use only in getting that residue off.