What did you do in the reloading room recently?

mac1911 said:
Ditch the corn cob... tumble before decap. I tumble the completed rounds to remove the lube. Sometimes.
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I’ve seen some research where tumbling after loading causes the kernels of powder to break down the burnt on carbon inside the case. This hard carbon mess has to go somewhere when the cartridge is fired.
Originally the research started because their wanted to see if the powder would break down during tumbling and initial results showed a fine powder which they though was the smokeless breaking down. Once they did a little more research and weighed the actual powder charge leaving the fines behind they figured out it was the carbon from inside the case.
I don’t know for sure this will shorten barrel life but I’m not going to try it.
 
Michael J. Spangler said:
I’ve seen some research where tumbling after loading causes the kernels of powder to break down the burnt on carbon inside the case. This hard carbon mess has to go somewhere when the cartridge is fired.
Originally the research started because their wanted to see if the powder would break down during tumbling and initial results showed a fine powder which they though was the smokeless breaking down. Once they did a little more research and weighed the actual powder charge leaving the fines behind they figured out it was the carbon from inside the case.
I don’t know for sure this will shorten barrel life but I’m not going to try it.
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That's pretty interesting and makes sense. I was trying to think of why that would/could possibly be harmful/make any difference at all until your last sentence.
 
Dakar652 said:
That's pretty interesting and makes sense. I was trying to think of why that would/could possibly be harmful/make any difference at all until your last sentence.
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im not worried im only tumbling for maybe 10 minutes or so to get rid of the lube.
im currious to read the actual test if its available.

I would think prolonged tumbling could mess up the powder?
 
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mac1911 said:
im not worried im only tumbling for maybe 10 minutes or so to get rid of the lube.
im currious to read the actual test if its available.

I would think prolonged tumbling could mess up the powder?
Click to expand...

also a good point...my 'finish' tumble is only about 10-15 minutes too. i use walnut for the first tumble and 'treated' corn cob for the second. i have about 5 gallons of each, so i'm going to use them for now...maybe I'll reconsider in 10 years when i run out of media :D

i really wanna build a wet tumbler at some point. my dad has about a thousand electric motors at his house...wouldn't take much to find some rollers and make a vessel.
 
mac1911 said:
im not worried im only tumbling for maybe 10 minutes or so to get rid of the lube.
im currious to read the actual test if its available.

I would think prolonged tumbling could mess up the powder?
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A few years ago I did an experiment concerning this.

I took a bunch of reloads from a large batch and put them in the vibratory bowl for more than 24 hours.

I took another bunch and set them aside as a control/comparison group.

After the vibrated rounds were done, I pulled the bullets one at a time and dumped out the powder onto a clean sheet of white 20# bond paper and examined the powder with a high powered magnifying glass and a very bright light.

I did the same with the rounds that had not been vibrated at all.

There was absolutely no difference in the size or shape of the powders and there was no dust present either from the vibrated rounds.

I concluded that it is safe to tumble reloads as long as needed to remove any lubricant on the outside.

Your mileage may vary, but I did the work to prove it.
 
Dakar652 said:
i have quite a bit of GP11 brass i've saved for no reason over the years...it's just too pretty to scrap :D
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Yup. I save all of my GP11 also. I found a guy on the CMP forums last year that bought 300-400 GP11 cases from me. Forget how much I got for it all but it was better than scrapping them...
 
Michael J. Spangler said:
When I load rifle single stage I tumble between resizing and priming and I usually visually inspect the flash holes. I found the quickest way to knock out the stuck media is to hold a lee universal recapping die inverted in one hand and with the other hand I drop cases into it so the recapping pin clears the flash hole. I know you could do the same thing with a punch but the die seems to help center everything and it moves a lot faster with less coordination on my part.

That being said I loaded plenty of rifle rounds without checking the flash hole at one point in my life. I have not had one fail yet. Thought I'm sure it has accounted for a flyer or two.... dozen.
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I also tumble after resizing. I don't like how the powder sticks to the caselube inside the cases. It's probably a non-issue but it helps me sleep at night if I tumble after resizing.

I just use a pen or something similar to poke out any corn cob media stuck in the flash holes.
 
Dakar652 said:
also a good point...my 'finish' tumble is only about 10-15 minutes too. i use walnut for the first tumble and 'treated' corn cob for the second. i have about 5 gallons of each, so i'm going to use them for now...maybe I'll reconsider in 10 years when i run out of media :D

i really wanna build a wet tumbler at some point. my dad has about a thousand electric motors at his house...wouldn't take much to find some rollers and make a vessel.
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That's what you think. It cost me about $350 in material to build one right. That did include the motor which was like $70
You can get it done cheaper though. I went with a big dog style. It was nice
 
andrew1220 said:
I pulled some light 357 mag loads where I used bullseye powder under a lucky13 coated bullet and notice the powder was stuck/clung to the base of the bullet. I think the powder reacted with the "polymer" coating.

Coincidence that I just happen to pull some of these loads and encountered a similar issue as that melted powder measure....
77dc938bcfcab14930641dd2bb45822d.png

b78205298d2a19794f4c87021c7a8a2f.png


Must be why some of the powder companies like Alliant are making new powders designed for polymer coated bullets. Sport Pistol for example. http://www.alliantpowder.com/products/powder/sport-pistol.aspx
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.
 
Michael J. Spangler said:
https://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=300510

this is not the original that I read but It gets to the same point. I would imagine it all depends on how dirty your brass was before tumbling of course.
UZI2 did you test with known dirty cases?
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No, I used clean cases (the ammo was .223/5.56) with the usual dark staining residue that remains inside when using a vibratory bowl, not overtly noticeable dirty carbon.

Given that I do not use dirty cases, I think my methods are sound. And that's also why I posted that YMMV.

Why would any reloader use dirty brass? That in it itself is a flawed process. Bad for the powder and bad for the dies. I also don't clean primer pockets except on .50bmg.

My usual after loading tumble is about 15-20 minutes and only on rifle loads.

I use all carbide dies and do not lube any pistol cases.
 
Uzi2 said:
No, I used clean cases (the ammo was .223/5.56) with the usual dark staining residue that remains inside when using a vibratory bowl, not overtly noticeable dirty carbon.

Given that I do not use dirty cases, I think my methods are sound. And that's also why I posted that YMMV.

Why would any reloader use dirty brass? That in it itself is a flawed process. Bad for the powder and bad for the dies. I also don't clean primer pockets except on .50bmg.

My usual after loading tumble is about 15-20 minutes and only on rifle loads.

I use all carbide dies and do not lube any pistol cases.
Click to expand...

I should have worded that better. I didn’t mean dirty cases I meant previously used cases that have carbon built up inside them.
Or in other words non virgin brass.
 
Michael J. Spangler said:
I should have worded that better. I didn’t mean dirty cases I meant previously used cases that have carbon built up inside them.
Or in other words non virgin brass.
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Some of mine were probably twice fired but I usually try to keep them separated as 1-2-3 reloads.

The pistol brass is usually cleaner inside due to the wider mouth.
 
andrew1220 said:
I figured N320 (being a single bsss powder) probably wouldn't. I need to pull my blue bullet + N320 loads just to see.
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I'd wager its more of a bullet thing than a powder thing. Lots of coated bullet manufactures are using sub-par coating, and reloaders are probably better off using bare lead than shitty coated bullets.
 
SJan said:
I'd wager its more of a bullet thing than a powder thing. Lots of coated bullet manufactures are using sub-par coating, and reloaders are probably better off using bare lead than shitty coated bullets.
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I don't see where powder sticking to the coating would matter much. Its still inside the casing and its going to burn once ignited.

I've seen it stick to regular lubed bullets as well and never had a problem with them.

Am I missing something here?
 
SJan said:
I'd wager its more of a bullet thing than a powder thing. Lots of coated bullet manufactures are using sub-par coating, and reloaders are probably better off using bare lead than shitty coated bullets.
Click to expand...

Yeah lucky13 doesn't make the best bullets (some irregular shapes bullets with lead exposed). I bought them almost 2 years ago because they were (at the time) the cheapest 38 cal and 44 cal coated bullets I could find...will not be buying them again. I'll spend the extra pennies per bullet on better bullets next time.
 
Well, the crappy Pats game today motivated me enough to swap my presses around.

From this:
LguXeP.jpg


To this;
UAr8gw.jpg


I might still move the laptop to the wall above the vise.
 
I loaded some light 357 mag rounds with bullseye and 158 gr plated bullets for the Dan Wesson. Made a couple hundred then wanted to clean the primer slide on my Hornady press and used a bit too much force....Ended up stretching the primer slide spring to the point that it will not feed primers. Doh![crying]

I'll be calling Hornady tomorrow to see if they'll send me replacements....
 
Busy day today. Flipped the Pats game on for some “back ground noise” while I:
Started brass prep on 200 6.5 CM LAPUA Cases
Stored roughly 15k cleaned brass cases (various calibers)
Decaped 100 6.5 CM cases
Changed/rotated/treated media in the vibratory tumbler
Logged shot groups from the last 3 range trips
Cleaned/lubed 3 pistols and 2 revolvers
Rearranged one of the cabinets under the bench
Unboxed and set up a 3rd RCBS 1500
Unboxed/srored the case holder and cutter in 6.5CM for the Giraud Trimmer
Unboxed/stored some J Dewey rods, brushes, jags etc
**enjoyed a few frosty KY Burbon Barrel Ales**
 
EddieZoom said:
In retrospect, I would have been better off spending some bench time instead of watching that sad excuse for football...
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all I need to do is think about that waste of time watching TV in general let alone the slow boring pace of a professional sport on TV to decide to load or do some other project
they really need to pick up the pace especially in football. Not that I would watch it if they did.
 
mac1911 said:
all I need to do is think about that waste of time watching TV in general let alone the slow boring pace of a professional sport on TV to decide to load or do some other project
they really need to pick up the pace especially in football. Not that I would watch it if they did.
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yep...any given sunday, i'd rather be at a JCG match :D
 

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