I have tumbled a ton of loaded stuff with zero ill effects
media in flash hole
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MagnumManiac
Well-Known Member
I will tell you all a little story about tumbling media and loading 17 Remington cartridge, which I still do to this day.
I didn't have a case tumbler when this happened, but my mate did, he asked me if I would like to run my brass through his and he would drop it off when done. I gave him 17 Rem, 222 Rem, 222 Rem Mag, 25-06, 270, 300WM, 338WM & 375H&H.
Not thinking 'how' he would do it, I just dumped all the cases in 1 bag.
When he dropped them off, he told me he had lots of trouble removing the media from the 338's and 375's and asked me to remove it but keep the media because he wanted to dump it back in his tumbler. I obliged and spent literally a couple hours digging the 17's & 222's out the cases with an Awl.
Anyway, shaking and tapping the 17's & 222 cases after dislodging them showed no media falling out…
When I went to size them, all I could hear was crunching and the cases stopped at a point going in. I thought I had cleaned it out TWICE
It took me days to clean the 17's of what I thought was all the media, but some had been compressed by the sizing and the powder wouldn't fit…
It was a nightmare and I didn't tumble my 17 brass for several years and when I did start tumbling them, I never put them in with bigger brass that they could end up inside of again.
Lesson LEARNED!
Cheers.
I didn't have a case tumbler when this happened, but my mate did, he asked me if I would like to run my brass through his and he would drop it off when done. I gave him 17 Rem, 222 Rem, 222 Rem Mag, 25-06, 270, 300WM, 338WM & 375H&H.
Not thinking 'how' he would do it, I just dumped all the cases in 1 bag.
When he dropped them off, he told me he had lots of trouble removing the media from the 338's and 375's and asked me to remove it but keep the media because he wanted to dump it back in his tumbler. I obliged and spent literally a couple hours digging the 17's & 222's out the cases with an Awl.
Anyway, shaking and tapping the 17's & 222 cases after dislodging them showed no media falling out…
When I went to size them, all I could hear was crunching and the cases stopped at a point going in. I thought I had cleaned it out TWICE
It took me days to clean the 17's of what I thought was all the media, but some had been compressed by the sizing and the powder wouldn't fit…
It was a nightmare and I didn't tumble my 17 brass for several years and when I did start tumbling them, I never put them in with bigger brass that they could end up inside of again.
Lesson LEARNED!
Cheers.
I just don't want something like that to affect any of my loads.
I know that it most likely will get blown out with the primer but if I am pulling down on a once of a lifetime buck, I don't want any chance of a mess up that I caused
MagnumManiac
Well-Known Member
Simply is a non issue, it effects nothing.
So many tests have been done on both flash hole intrusion, dirty primer pockets and whether a pocket is factory or swaged and shows zero difference.
When seating bullets on even a slight compressed load, kernels DO get pushed into the flash hole, sometimes enough to break and flatten the kernel in the hole…
Factory pockets that are concave and have small flash holes, like Lapua, show the best consistency, changing either has proven to be detrimental to accuracy.
Food for thought.
Cheers.
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The_Whitetail_kid
Well-Known Member
Like others have said, go through and check each one. I don't want a misfire because of my error.
I don't doubt what you are saying one bit. But before seating a primer, I always clean the primer pocket. I just strive for consistency, even if I know it doesn't make much difference. The same reason I comb my hair. I know it doesn't really matter, but I still do it, almost every day.
Rum River
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Mar 31, 2009
- Messages
- 172
My OCD will not allow me to knowingly reload a cartridge case that has media in the flash hole.
That having been said, I personally witnessed an instance where a .357 magnum cartridge mistakenly left without powder had the primer by itself push a bullet out of the cartridge case and into the forcing cone.
A 209 shotgun primer by itself will loft a shot cup filled with 1 1/8 ounces of shot vertically over 20 feet.
When in high school I was loading .30-40 Krag rounds with a Lee Loader and got carried away with the hammer while seating primers. A CCI large rifle standard primer blew the rod (machined from steel and the size of a new #2 pencil) a good 10 inches out of the cartridge case. The case mouth even had some "muzzle flash".
That little spec of tumbling media won't know what hit it.
Orange Dust
Well-Known Member
I use a primer pocket uniformer. Cleans pockets, keeps them uniform on every case. If the case had media in the flash hole a quick tap on the bench takes care of the dust. Primer pockets should be uniform on every case anyway.
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I think that Taylorboc's experiment is something I should have done. To me, leaving media in the flash holes is one of those reloader's sins, something about it does not seem quite right.
Sealesniper
Well-Known Member
When I saw the title, I figured "Liberal Media under investigation" not what it was actually saying.
Anyway, I used to size then tumble, but now tumble, anneal and resize. Makes the concerns of media in the flash hole not any issue, but I still visually check each piece of brass before priming and loading anyway. Media sure does find a way to lodge in the hole.
Anyway, I used to size then tumble, but now tumble, anneal and resize. Makes the concerns of media in the flash hole not any issue, but I still visually check each piece of brass before priming and loading anyway. Media sure does find a way to lodge in the hole.
William W.
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Dec 30, 2014
- Messages
- 104
It would seem that tumbling after loading would reduce the powder grain size substantially increase its speed.
BillLarson
Well-Known Member
I believe stainless steel pins could.... be a problem. I have saw guys with guns jammed with S.S. pins lying in the receiver...Wonder how many have gone thru the barrel....???
Bill, I know that some how, some way, I would miss stainless pins in a case somewhere along the line. To me, this became another reloader sin to use Stainless pins on bottleneck cases and especially cases with 30*-40* shoulders. I do use stainless pins in cleaning straight wall pistol cases.
