Tumbling projectiles - bad idea?

Sleazy P. Martini

Sleazy P. Martini

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I'm currently working through some HSTs. I noticed some with some green crap on them so I tried tumbling them to make them loadable. They turned out a lot than I thought.

The projectiles on the left are the ones I've been loading and the ones on the right were tumbling in some lemishine, car soap, and SS pins.

kyTl52y.jpg


I'm tempted to tumble the rest of my projectiles, but wanted to make sure I'm not making a mistake. I'm less concerned about affecting accuracy (I shoot these at most at 50Y), but more concerned about inducing corrosion. Am I good to go?
 
Only tumble pulls with sealant on them.
 
Here's part of the resulting batch. So reflective I need shades to look at them. :cool:

soN0vVq_d.jpg


I've got another batch running now without the SS pins. I've had good luck with 9x19 cases with no pins, so I figure it's worth a shot. Thanks again everyone for the feedback!
 
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I think the OP is wet tumbling, I wouldn’t wet tumble loaded rounds, and would be really surprised if factory rounds are wet tumbled.

I have wet tumbled some bullets recently, they’d been stored poorly and had some gunk and oxidation. They came out like yours. I didn’t use pins.
 
Factorys use a sand like media, polishing media
 
Back in the late 70's I used to shoot a lot of flush seated wadcutters out of a S&W Model 52. At that time we were casting and lubing all of our bullets and the little bit of lube that would sometimes remain after seating would cause a buildup around the feed ramp and cause failure to feed. I started tumbling after loading and the problem went away. I carried on this tradition even after I sold the Model 52 because I had a fear of the lube causing accuracy problems, but it was just me over thinking. I quit tumbling loaded ammo years ago and today I tumble for a shorter time than I used to. I don't care about my loads looking extra pretty. I tumble long enough that the cases are clean and then they get loaded again. I have heard other shooters claim that tumbling loaded rounds with media and adding some polish makes the bullets slicker and helps eliminate any feeding problems with semi autos. Since 95% of my shooting today is with revolvers, I have not gone that extra mile. The few semis I shoot will about anything I put in them.
 
The one only problem I can see with corn or walnut tumbling is media getting stuck in hpbt rifle rounds tip. I have seen that on some 224 bullets. It caused weight differences in bullets. I tried to remove the media with a needle and it almost drove me crazy. I still used them and they seemed to work fine.



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