[lavgrunt]

I recently picked up several hundred rounds of loose, 7.5 French ammo. It's all 60's and 70's made by 'Gevelot.' It was really cheap !!! The only problem is that it's dirty and tarnished.

I've heard from some that tumbling live ammo is not a big deal and may actually make older ammo more reliable ??!!

Then of course, the other camp says not to do it, cuz it messes up the powder mixture in the cases ??!!

What is the opinion of the group ?? Should I do it or not ??

 

[L999here]

...go for it...!!!

Been tumbleing ammo and such for over 35 yrs. Just don't underload the bowl and don't overload it either. Because the corn cob/walnut is not going into the cases,you will/should have more of a "cushion" while the case are moving around. Those FR cases are brittle,so check them after tumbleing....

 

[Bill S]

I agree with L999, but good luck getting a consensus. This topic comes up periodically and always draws a range of answers, from "Don't do it kid, you'll shoot your eye out" to "Sure, why not?" There are some aspects that contribute to legitimate concerns, but plenty of examples of people who do it and have no ill effects. And so far nobody has documented any mishaps.

 

[Shattered]

Gevelot ammo has to be some of the worst ammo on the planet. I got case separations with 30-06 Gevelot in my M1-A1, Garand and Browning.

Like L999here sez.... that stuff is brittle. Bring tools with you if that's the only gun you are going to be shooting that day... you'll need'em.

 

[Mouse]

http://1919a4.com/forums/showthread.php?t=16922

 

[kkkriverrats]

Tumble?

Tumble all you like, as long as you don't do it in my garage!

 

[Rory]

lav, i will start tumbling the ammo mentioned in the thread mouse linked us too in the next month or so when i get the free time. i say go for it and i am a super careful SOB

r

 

[svt40]

I tumbled about 500 rounds in various cailbers after Hurricane Wilma flooded my house. All of it came out shiny and in good shape with no incidents.

 

[50 Shooter]

Call and ask any of the major ammo manufacturers, they will tell you that they tumble their ammo after loading it to make it nice and shiney for us.

 

[belt fed frog]

yea but only for a few minutes to get all the lube and manufacturing goop off

 

[57Strat]

Don't worry about tumbling ammo. The old wives tale is it will break down the powder granules and cause the powder to burn faster, causing an over pressure condition. This is BS. Just envision a jeep w/ a 1919 and ammo can mounted on it going down a rough battlefield road. Or ammo being transported via truck for a few thousand miles. No amount of tumbling is going to equal that.

 

[panaceabeachbum]

powder breaks down into smaller particles and as a result the burn rate increases and pressure goes up , thats the biggest issue. its been proven and is an issue in cartridges with free air space . Cartridges with compressed charges and virtualy no free air space arent as big an issue . Proven facts are not olds wives tales , pistol ammo with fast burning flake powder in small qtys is the most susceptible

 

[57Strat]

powder breaks down into smaller particles and as a result the burn rate increases and pressure goes up , thats the biggest issue. its been proven and is an issue in cartridges with free air space . Cartridges with compressed charges and virtualy no free air space arent as big an issue . Proven facts are not olds wives tales , pistol ammo with fast burning flake powder in small qtys is the most susceptible

I'd like to see those tests that proved this. Please post the link.

 

[ajmdreammg42]

During WW2 and all our other wars , ammo is loaded in fighters and bombers aircraft. I have flown in a B17 and it vibrated like crazy, like a tumbler. If vibration was a issue on ammo it would have shown up in the many hours it rides on these type of aircraft during our wars.

 

[lavgrunt]

Thanks for all the info, guys !!! I'm gonna go ahead and tumble and let ya know how it turns out........Hopefully, I'll still be around to tell the story.......Yikes !!! HAHAHA !!!

 

[me26245]

I'd tumble it

I've tumbled thousands of rounds of surplus and reloaded munitions, I've never had a problem with any of it failing to fire, no over pressure signs on the spent cases, just cleaner ammo. I've tumbled:

SURPLUS

POF .303
Brit .303
Turk 8mm
Swed 6.5x55mm
Indian 7.62x51mm
Comm block 7.62x25

And anything that I have ever had to lube to resize the case. Such as:

'06
308
223
8mm
7.62x39
7.62x54r
7.5 french
6.5x55
7.5x55
.30 mauser
7.62x25
357 sig
375 H&H
6.5x53.5r



me26245

 

[Noodles]

I had some .45-70 handloads using 16cc of Unique that left the brass about 3/4 empty. I had used wadding to keep the powder compressed on some, but not all. I had loaded my stuff into my roommate's car to get it to the range(my Subaru's not so spacious as his Volvo, and doesn't get such good gas mileage) but we ended up not shooting due to weather. Forgot the handloads, though. Two weeks ago we tried again, and made it shooting between rainstorms. The rounds had been in a plastic box bouncing around in a wagon with bad shocks, and the burn rate on all of them, the wadded and unwadded, were consistent. And that was using a flake powder, to boot!

 

[Chad G]

I've never had a need to tumble live ammo, the only ammo I have ever had that was tarnished or corroded was 50 BMG I wiped it down with brassO or steel wool, it won't fit many more than 10 into my tumbler when its just brass.

The old wives tale about it setting off a primer is far from true, you know how much of a forceful direct blow it takes to set one off in a firearm. I have a hard time setting off 30-06 primers that are pierced in a deprime station that didn't deprime, even with a center punch I am 20% successful, I've done over 5K cases like this, its where a depriming die just passes through a hole in the live primer.

I wonder if the tale originated from a loader who tumbled BP cartridges and friction from the resulting tumbling set off a round or two?