Tumbling unfired Primed Brass

[Estes640]

Has anyone ever walnut tumbled unfired primed brass? Being an idiot I took someone's word on some brass being ready to load and went ahead and primed it. Went to check and seat a bullet and there was almost no sizing done. So now I'm on to sizing, but I want to trim them as well. I figured after trimming/chamfer/deburring and sizing with a wax based lube, I should tumble them.

Any harm in tumbling and then wiping with alcohol and blowing out with a can of air?

 

[GrandpaDeadLegs]

Someone much wiser needs to be helping you it sounds like!

The guys here will set you straight. My advice is to slow down and learn like a shitload more before firing up that press again... PM someone that seems to post a lot and they will probably write you a little essay on what to do. Worked for me. I have a few more weeks of learning before I unpack the Rockchucker

 

[Huskydriver]

Don't do it. The Walnut dust more than likely will degrade the primer and you will get a ton of FTF.

Do you use bushing dies ? I would remove your decapping pin and size them. I would skip the trimming because if any brass flakes get down in the flash hole your going to have more ignition issues.

 

[lightman]

If tumbling I would worry about a grain of media blocking the flash hole. You could resize by removing the depriming pin and you could probably get away with trimming if your trimmer trims mouth down or horizontal. I probably would deprime them because I uniform primer pockets and debur flash holes as part of my case prep.

 

[ken4570tc in WY]

Don't do it!!! Primers are cheap. Just fire the empty primed cases and start over. Better safe than sorry! If one were to go off during the tumbling process the percussion might start a chain fire event.

 

[dttheliman]

Take your time and just deprime them with a generic deprimer die .... slowly and you can feel what you are doing..... if you don't destroy the anvil you can use them again - been there done that .

eta: safety glasses and gloves are a good idea

 

[clcustom1911]

Primers are cheap. Deprime the casings, tumble, lube, size, trim, reprime, load.

 

[Estes640]

Primers are cheap. Deprime the casings, tumble, lube, size, trim, reprime, load.

I see some suggestions to fire case, and some to deprime, and specific directions on depriming live primers?

 

[clcustom1911]

I see some suggestions to fire case, and some to deprime, and specific directions on depriming live primers?

Just a few days ago, I pulled 50 bullets, recovered the powder, and deprimed the casings.

I just lightly/slowly/easily ran the casings through my neck-sizing/depriming die slowly with just enough force to push them out.

Firing them is an option, but if you have neighbors, that could be an issue. Primers are VERY LOUD when you pop one off inside a garage. LOL. It takes only one time without hearing protection to learn that ????

 

[Huskydriver]

Do you have a bushing FL die? If so just remove the decapping pin, resize and load as normal. Wipe the excess lube off by hand if needed after then done.

 

[Estes640]

Do you have a bushing FL die? If so just remove the decapping pin, resize and load as normal. Wipe the excess lube off by hand if needed after then done.

I’ve got a full length die, and I’ve already resized these. Problem now is I’ve trimmed them and I’m worried I may have gotten some brass inside the case from trimming.

 

[Huskydriver]

I would try blowing them out with high pressure air and shoot em.

 

[spife7980]

I’ve got a full length die, and I’ve already resized these. Problem now is I’ve trimmed them and I’m worried I may have gotten some brass inside the case from trimming.

Not enough to worry about it Im sure. I would just tap each one upside down.

As far as depriming goes you should be fine doing them as normal if you would prefer that. Just take your time so you arent slamming them hard as shit.

I read about a guy that clogged his flash holes and couldnt tell a difference firing them next to unclogged. Obviously its dependent on your load but Im sure Ive fired many that were clogged before and Ive never noticed an issue. Those primers setting off will push that kernal out easily enough.

 

[Estes640]

Thanks guys! I’ll probably just blow them out and go after it with them

 

[kylec]

Nobody tumbles after loading to clean the lube off?

 

[Huskydriver]

Nobody tumbles after loading to clean the lube off?

you don't tumble before you load after you size?

 

[kylec]

I've done it both ways

 

[Huskydriver]

Hows your run out after tumbling a loaded round?

 

[clcustom1911]

Nobody tumbles after loading to clean the lube off?

Tumble AFTER loading?? Not me. I'll tumble after sizing and trimming to get the lube off.

 

[chavezz556]

You can deprime just go slow and wear eye pro just Incase .. Infact I just deprimed about 50 cases last night.. I just set up a little bucket to catch the live primers... or you can squirt some water on the primers if u want to just toss them

 

[kylec]

Hows your run out after tumbling a loaded round?

Never checked it.

 

[supercorndogs]

Never checked it.

How does it shoot? I have heard of people tumbling their loaded ammo. I have never done it myself.

In the OP's shoes, I would just catch the primers when I sized the brass, and poke them back in after I tumbled the lube off. I assume your FL die de-caps.

 

[Bantam1]

I've tumbled loaded ammo. I had no ill effects or anything crazy happen. They work the same.

 

[kylec]

It shot fine after I tumbled it. Same performance

 

[MtnCreek]

I'd de-cap and re-use the same primers.

My 223 ammo I load on a progressive is typ sized and loaded in same pass through. Loaded ammo is tumbled in a vib tumbler for a few min to remove lube. Ammo loaded that will be stored long term is also tumbled with car polish on the media to keep cases from tarnishing. No issues, even in the vibratory tumbler. I wouldn't tumble loaded ammo very long though; too much could effect burn rate.