What can be done about this..

[Flint62a1]

I was given 500 Hornady 308 168 hpbts. They are in the old cardboard boxes amd had been sitting for quite some time. A good number of them have some kind of crap on the noses, as in the photo. Some have actaul mold on them.
My question is can I do amything about that? Most of the heads are clean I have been shooting them and find I am getting wide and or high shots. Is that common with heads like this?
Thanks for any help
Kevin

 

[MarshallDodge]

What is inside the tips won't make a difference in performance.

Do you have a dry tumbler with media? Tumble them for an hour and that will get rid of most of it.

 

[supercorndogs]

Is that a big ball of copper jacket rolled up the right hand side of the left hand case? Maybe the fliers might calm down with more chamfer and more carful bullet seating.

 

[Carlos Danger]

If they were mine I'd run them through the ultrasonic cleaner with some degreaser and Lemi-shine and then dry tumble with a little synthetic wax.

EDIT: Oops, those are all loaded rounds. Idiot on ignore.

 

[straightshooter1]

I was given 500 Hornady 308 168 hpbts. They are in the old cardboard boxes amd had been sitting for quite some time. A good number of them have some kind of crap on the noses, as in the photo. Some have actaul mold on them.
My question is can I do amything about that? Most of the heads are clean I have been shooting them and find I am getting wide and or high shots. Is that common with heads like this?
Thanks for any help
KevinView attachment 7902422

Some of that inconsistency might be due to bullet weld, since they've been sitting around for such a long time. You could break that well by simply seating them just a little deeper (maybe like .003) or you could use a bullet puller to pull them out just a little and then reseat them.

A vibrator tumble with media (like rice) can help with those specs on the bullets . . . but it seems to me they can be cleaned with with a rag soaked in something like Hoppe's 9 or cleaning wipes like Turb O' Towels.

 

[FatBoy]

PSA: Please do not tumble or vibratory clean loaded rounds.

I shot some Palma loads I had from 2017 last Saturday and the SD over 25 shots was 12.5fps.

I used to shoot with a man who had 30-338 ammo from the late 60s and he could still put up a high master score with it at 1000 from a sling and coat with an old 40x team rifle and a 2” Unertl scope.

Just shoot it.

 

[MarshallDodge]

PSA: Please do not tumble or vibratory clean loaded rounds.

I shot some Palma loads I had from 2017 last Saturday and the SD over 25 shots was 12.5fps.

I used to shoot with a man who had 30-338 ammo from the late 60s and he could still put up a high master score with it at 1000 from a sling and coat with an old 40x team rifle and a 2” Unertl scope.

Just shoot it.

Why?

 

[FatBoy]

Vibratory or tumble cleaning loaded rounds can break down the powder and cause the burn rate to dramatically spike. There was a rash of this about 10-15 years ago with delinked 7.62x51 being polished and resold at gun shows.

 

[MarshallDodge]

Vibratory or tumble cleaning loaded rounds can break down the powder and cause the burn rate to dramatically spike. There was a rash of this about 10-15 years ago with delinked 7.62x51 being polished and resold at gun shows.

That theory has been debunked.

An Official Journal Of The NRA | Is Tumbling Loaded Ammo Dangerous?

The Statement Tumbling loaded ammo will cause the powder to physically degrade and result in dangerous pressure increases.

www.americanhunter.org

 

[MDof2]

Shoot it would be the best remedy.

 

[FatBoy]

Not sure I’d trust most of what the NRA puts out but I’m not going to spend any time disputing it. Your health, do what you want. I would still not recommend it.

I’ve never seen a little shit in hollow point make any difference and that IS personal experience. I had some Berger 105s with green crap sprouting out of the top and the stuff shot amazing at 1k. There could be a lot of reasons for flyers but some crud up front probably isn’t one of them.

 

[acudaowner]

tipping ,or maybe closing your eyes and not looking anymore not sure how much a bullet really cares about how pretty it looks ( clean or dirty they should fly straight ) if they shoot straight all is right in the universe , maybe you could stop picking your nose with your bullets ? maybe you could clean them some brasso a clean cloth hot water and soap before you mount your bullets ? stop buying dug up bullets . have the odc checked by a professional ? best of luck

 

[smoothy8500]

I have been shooting them and find I am getting wide and or high shots.

Hmmm, sounds like the "old rounds" just need to be tossed out.... Not worth wasting time.

 

[Flint62a1]

Some of that inconsistency might be due to bullet weld, since they've been sitting around for such a long time. You could break that well by simply seating them just a little deeper (maybe like .003) or you could use a bullet puller to pull them out just a little and then reseat them.

A vibrator tumble with media (like rice) can help with those specs on the bullets . . . but it seems to me they can be cleaned with with a rag soaked in something like Hoppe's 9 or cleaning wipes like Turb O' Towels.

These are loose bullets coming straight from the box

 

[Flint62a1]

tipping ,or maybe closing your eyes and not looking anymore not sure how much a bullet really cares about how pretty it looks ( clean or dirty they should fly straight ) if they shoot straight all is right in the universe , maybe you could stop picking your nose with your bullets ? maybe you could clean them some brasso a clean cloth hot water and soap before you mount your bullets ? stop buying dug up bullets . have the odc checked by a professional ? best of luck

I should keep my eyes open?? That’s a new one!!

 

[straightshooter1]

These are loose bullets coming straight from the box

Am not sure what your point is. If it's about bullet welding, that doesn't make a difference.

 

[Feniks Technologies]

Hint:

There’s a reason you can search the entire internet and not find any images from a microscope or any other tests that show powder break down from tumbling or vibrating loaded ammo.

 

[Cascade Hemi]

Hint:

There’s a reason you can search the entire internet and not find any images from a microscope or any other tests that show powder break down from tumbling or vibrating loaded ammo.

I tumbled 1k live rounds after I loaded them on my Dillon. I died.

 

[straightshooter1]

Hint:

There’s a reason you can search the entire internet and not find any images from a microscope or any other tests that show powder break down from tumbling or vibrating loaded ammo.

The manufacturing process involves "glazing", which is where the powder granules are tumbled. So, it seems to me that tumbling action of loaded rounds would not necessarily do any harm to the powder. Huh?

 

[FatBoy]

Ya’ll win the internet. I’ll just shoot the shit dirty.

OP,

If these are right out of the box you can clean them but I really don’t think a little crud in yet HP is causing flyers. What bullets are they? How much if a flyers are we talking?

 

[FatBoy]

I tumbled 1k live rounds after I loaded them on my Dillon. I died.

That shit was funny. You win the internet today. I’ll just shoot the shit dirty.

OP,

If these are right out of the box you can clean them but I really don’t think a little crud in yet HP is causing flyers. What bullets are they? How much if a flyers are we talking?

 

[308pirate]

Most of the heads are clean I have been shooting them and find I am getting wide and or high shots. Is that common with heads like this?

Pssst......it's not the ammo

 

[Baron23]

If they are loose bullets, just tumble them. If you still have big flyers look to the rifle or your reloading process. All I can think to offer.

 

[hlee]

Hint:

There’s a reason you can search the entire internet and not find any images from a microscope or any other tests that show powder break down from tumbling or vibrating loaded ammo.

An Official Journal Of The NRA | Is Tumbling Loaded Ammo Dangerous?

The Statement Tumbling loaded ammo will cause the powder to physically degrade and result in dangerous pressure increases.

www.americanhunter.org

"Powder is hard, it doesn’t change shape from any reasonable amount of vibration,” said Hornady’s Dave Emary. “This notion that you can wear deterrent off of the surface of the powder is a myth, it is impregnated into the powder grains. You can’t knock this stuff off."

There are some pictures here, but I don't have an account, so most of them don't show up for me. But, the consensus from those that can see the pictures is that the powder is unaffected after tumbling.

Tumbling live ammo (powder pics)

The purpose of this post is not to convince anyone to tumble live ammo, or to do anything that they feel would be unsafe. I do not, nor should anyone else, consider this to be empirical data. This was not performed in a lab, simply at my reloading bench. I did this to satisfy my own...

www.thehighroad.org

 

[Cascade Hemi]

That shit was funny. You win the internet today. I’ll just shoot the shit dirty.

OP,

If these are right out of the box you can clean them but I really don’t think a little crud in yet HP is causing flyers. What bullets are they? How much if a flyers are we talking?

Let's be serious for just a moment. Reloading, and the firearms industry in general, is filled with shitastic fudd-lore. All historic hand-me-down truth-isms should be questioned and nothing should be repeated unless you've personally confirmed it with statistically relevant samples or consistently repeatable anecdotes. We should go out of our way to skewer purveyors of garbage repetitions.

OP, the age and aesthetics of the bullets are not the cause of your accuracy issues.

 

[FatBoy]

Let's be serious for just a moment. Reloading, and the firearms industry in general, is filled with shitastic fudd-lore. All historic hand-me-down truth-isms should be questioned and nothing should be repeated unless you've personally confirmed it with statistically relevant samples or consistently repeatable anecdotes. We should go out of our way to skewer purveyors of garbage repetitions.

OP, the age and aesthetics of the bullets are not the cause of your accuracy issues.

I agree with what you’re saying, however I’ve had no reason to question said lore as it makes no sense to polish loaded rounds. If this is sufficiently debunked, great, but I still fail to see why anyone would do it or why it could/possibly be a good idea or recommend?

At any rate. I think the consensus is the bullet crud isn’t the problem and it’s possible to tumble rounds without causing a natural disaster or limb loss.

 

[Cascade Hemi]

I agree with what you’re saying, however I’ve had no reason to question said lore as it makes no sense to polish loaded rounds. If this is sufficiently debunked, great, but I still fail to see why anyone would do it or why it could/possibly be a good idea or recommend?

At any rate. I think the consensus is the bullet crud isn’t the problem and it’s possible to tumble rounds without causing a natural disaster or limb loss.

Rifle ammunition loaded in a single operation on a progressive press comes out with lubricated brass. The lubrication has to be removed. Hence why someone would need to tumble loaded cartridges.

 

[supercorndogs]

I have been shooting some really tarnished 7mm 139g soft points. They still shoot pretty good.