Tumbling loaded ammo question

[milboltnut]

By rights even carbine dies need some case lube just not as much. They can become covered in carbon inside and carbon can cause scratches on cases and will finally imbed itself in the dies. Oh and tumbling loaded ammo does nothing to it. The factories do it to clean the loaded ammo before packaging.

By rights even carbine dies need some case lube just not as much.

No it does not, that is purely your opinion. Only on larger cases such as 460, 480, 500 or long cases

They can become covered in carbon inside and carbon can cause scratches on cases and will finally imbed itself in the dies.

And what are you supposed to do to the brass before sizing??? Clean them.

[1-12 INF (M)]

The lube I was talking about isn't case sizing lube, it's the sticky stuff in the lube groove of the cast bullet.

Anyhow, I set the case mouth belling a little bigger and the problem went away. I had it set for minimum expansion so as not to work the brass too much, which was fine for jacketed, but too tight for cast.

[milboltnut]

Is the mess that bad? Just wipe off the case with a rag.

Does the round chamber? Cast bullets bulge the brass and has trouble chambering.

[PWC]

i reloaded a bunch of .45 ACP loaded with 230g cast bullets. There's lube all over the outside of the cartridge casings. Can I tumble (vibrate-clean) the finished ammo? Or is there a risk of making the powder charge inside finer and changing the burn characteristics of it?

I know lots of people tumble loaded ammo; however, I have a question about vibrating and ultrasonic cleaning. Wouldn't / couldn't either one possibly damage the primer pellet? I only have a single stage and after each bullet seating, I have a rag over my knee and use it to wipe each and every round before it goes into the loading block. If I put a clock on it, it would take several thousand rounds before the 'wipe' time became significant.

Everything is a process, all you have to do is recognize it and then put it in order.

[1-12 INF (M)]

They're the same diameter as the jacketed, so don't bulge cases, especially after taper crimping. Once I adjusted the expander die to open the case mouths a little more, the problem of smearing waxy bullet lube on the cases went away. There's some residual 'stickiness' on the ogive of the bullet remaining, about 90 min of tumbling smoothed that out nicely and we're good to go. Shot about 50 as a test and all ran fine.

[Tuna]

[QUOTE=milboltnut;489137]No it does not, that is purely your opinion. Only on larger cases such as 460, 480, 500 or long cases

It would seem you do not read the manufactures instructions as the ones I have all said "To lightly lubricate cases" and yes I do agree with you about cleaning them before sizing BUT many do not do this step and think because it's carbide that it won't
matter.

[milboltnut]

sorry tuna.. thought you said carbide, not carbine.

[1-12 INF (M)]

I have since learned that a standard flaring-type expander die is not the way to go with cast bullets, if you want best accuracy. A Lyman M two-step expander allows the projectile to align best with the case, with no distortion. Now, there's no way to do this on a 550, but it too will eliminate any slop from bullet (not case prep) lube on the outside of the case. My cast loads routinely exceed my jacked loads for accuracy - and stuff smeared outside the cases just show that the lubed projectile isn't entering the case concentrically. Problem solved!