Hunting Washington Forum

Equipment & Gear => Guns and Ammo => Topic started by: 7mmfan on September 09, 2017, 09:48:32 AM

Title: Friend reloaded some ammo I'm not sure he should shoot
Post by: 7mmfan on September 09, 2017, 09:48:32 AM: I have a friend (for reals, it's not me!) That reloaded some ammo I'm not sure he should shoot, and I want to see what your opinions are. He lubeded, decapped, and resized like normal, but then didn't tumble his brass. He immediately Re-primed and loaded them. I want to know if you think the potential of excess lubricant inside the casing, or the fact that primer pockets weren't cleaned out, could lead to a dangerous situation for him.
Title: Re: Friend reloaded some ammo I'm not sure he should shoot
Post by: h20hunter on September 09, 2017, 10:00:16 AM: We could easily knock a a few apart and take a look. When in doubt at all....NOPE.
Title: Re: Friend reloaded some ammo I'm not sure he should shoot
Post by: CaNINE on September 09, 2017, 10:01:53 AM: Why would there be lube inside the case? Lube is only applied to the outside body of a case when resizing. Even if there is some lube internal to the case I wouldn't expect any safety issues.

Not cleaning primer pockets might lead to inconsistent ignition but not a safety issue that I can see.

Let's see what others think.
Title: Re: Friend reloaded some ammo I'm not sure he should shoot
Post by: Magnum_Willys on September 09, 2017, 10:03:30 AM: No worries. Some of my best ammo is non tumbled. Just wipe lube off outside with damp rag or alchohol.
Title: Re: Friend reloaded some ammo I'm not sure he should shoot
Post by: Curly on September 09, 2017, 10:12:11 AM: I reloaded ammo for over 20 years without ever tumbling the brass. I just got a tumbler this year but never had a problem prior. Just wipe off the lube and he should be good. As far as primer pocket cleaner goes, no safety issues there either. Just shoot and see how they group. :twocents:
Title: Re: Friend reloaded some ammo I'm not sure he should shoot
Post by: h20hunter on September 09, 2017, 10:15:27 AM: Edit....his loads hom shooting no worries. I would not shoot handloads from another unless I know them and trust them. That's another thread.....like others said.....shouldnt be an issue just for that reason.
Title: Re: Friend reloaded some ammo I'm not sure he should shoot
Post by: 7mmfan on September 09, 2017, 10:53:32 AM: Sounds like he's going to be fine. There shouldn't be any lube inside, it's just a cautionary deal.
Title: Re: Friend reloaded some ammo I'm not sure he should shoot
Post by: AWS on September 09, 2017, 11:00:05 AM: I've been loading for 50 yrs and haven't tumbled a piece of brass yet, I kill a lot of critters and win stuff with my rifles, I do clean primer pockets, trim at each loading and anneal as needed. I brush lube in the necks before sizing.

If his loads are sane it shouldn't be a problem but I would encourage him to clean primer pockets and be sure his brass isn't too long, some can grow rapidly.
Title: Re: Friend reloaded some ammo I'm not sure he should shoot
Post by: lee on September 10, 2017, 07:47:54 AM: Not trying to high-jack thread just an add-on question.

I've been reloading over 20 years... I was taught that when lubing bottle neck cartridges, to also lube the inside of the neck of the cartridge. This is to lube the Re-sizing die's "expander" as it's being drawn out of the cartridge.

I use a Q-tip for this and always tumble to remove from inside neck.

Comments?

Take care,
Title: Re: Friend reloaded some ammo I'm not sure he should shoot
Post by: jrebel on September 10, 2017, 08:12:46 AM: Quote from: lee on September 10, 2017, 07:47:54 AM
Not trying to high-jack thread just an add-on question.

I've been reloading over 20 years... I was taught that when lubing bottle neck cartridges, to also lube the inside of the neck of the cartridge. This is to lube the Re-sizing die's "expander" as it's being drawn out of the cartridge.

I use a Q-tip for this and always tumble to remove from inside neck.

Comments?

Take care,

Yes, I use Hornady spray lube (great stuff) and the inside of my necks get a little lube for the neck expander. With that said.....I lube, resize and then tumble which cleans the lube off the brass.

I would say the rounds loaded by the OP's friend are probably safe.....though not my style.
Title: Re: Friend reloaded some ammo I'm not sure he should shoot
Post by: yorketransport on September 10, 2017, 08:47:32 AM: I never clean primer pockets any more. I did some testing about 15 years ago and cleaning primer pockets had absolutely no statistically significant impact on accuracy in the 3 guns I tested. You'd need to be an exceptional shot with exceptional equipment to be at a level where the primer pockets would make or break your groups.

I also lube the inside of the case necks on any bottleneck case that's getting run over an expanded ball. If you don't lube the inside, you stretch the case necks as you drag the expander through them and run the risk of getting the expander stuck in the case neck. I also don't clean the necks afterwards. I typically use a lanolin/alcohol blend as case lube sprayed onto a cotton swap and give that a quick spin inside the neck. If this has any negative impact on standard deviations I haven't noticed. All of my reloads have single digit SDs and the majority have single digit extreme spreads.

The only thing that may concern me would be if there's just a layer of lube on the outside of the case. If you pick up the brass and can either see or feel case lube on there just wipe it off on a rag. If it doesn't look or feel greasy though I wouldn't even think about it.
Title: Re: Friend reloaded some ammo I'm not sure he should shoot
Post by: Bill W on September 10, 2017, 10:58:41 AM: shoot them. Mine only get polished maybe once a year if I'm really shooting them. Years between if I'm not. Primer pocket cleaning is basically for benchrest shooting. Cases will wear out first before hunting ammo needs primer pockets cleaned.