Stupid Idea? polishing live rounds - Page 2

Trident9 · 11-08-2009, 12:44 PM

Its not the gun. My problem is with the Recon Ordnance mags, if I load them more then about half full the follower/rounds stick when I strip the rounds out by hand, or try and shoot it in the gun, The follower sticks so bad that I can tip the magazine upside down and the first few loose rounds just fall out with others rattling around, If I give the mag a good slap it unsticks.

This happens with the majority of my RO mags, Most of my zytels work well, My RO 56 round monster mag works pretty well as well, so this is not a gun issue.

I am going to take apart the RO mags and see what the inside looks like and install some stronger springs if I cant clean them up enough.

I am not trying to permanently fix the problem by polishing the rounds, it should work without having to, I am just trying to eliminate the sticking source in the mag and figured if I could cut down the friction there maybe it would help. So the thought came to me the try that. As soon as I turned on the polisher I the feeling of this is not a safe/good idea so I figured I would ask before I blew up a round.

The mags are still good and hard to load I have to use a loading tool so the springs are not just totally shot, I think if I had a stiffer spring in there it would push it past the friction points better.

Garrett · 11-08-2009, 04:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nayo

I am pretty sure this is a bad idea from what I understand the tumbling action can grind the powder and change the burn rate.

Common gunshop misinformation (from before the days of the internet).

Quote:

Originally Posted by javelinadave

You are fine. Think about what kind of punishment ammo takes while it rides in the back of a semi for a few thousand miles in blazing heat or freezing cold temps.

javelinadave hits the nail on the head. Loaded ammo gets all sorts of vibration treatment before we ever get our hands on it. As he notes, try an experiment and shoot some cleaned & uncleaned ammo over the chronograph and make your own conclusions.

For a different reason, you can have problems when tumbling loaded JHP ammo. The media can get caught in the hollow points. Later, it can fall out when loaded in the magazine and cause feeding problems.

With that being said, the only ammo I ever tumble is the stuff that has excessive lube on the cases when done (and I usually do this step after sizing and before priming, so it's a non-issue here), and in the rare instances that I load lead ammo to get the excess lead lube off. Half an hour or less takes care of this just fine.

Garrett · 11-08-2009, 04:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trident9

Its not the gun. My problem is with the Recon Ordnance mags, if I load them more then about half full the follower/rounds stick when I strip the rounds out by hand, or try and shoot it in the gun, The follower sticks so bad that I can tip the magazine upside down and the first few loose rounds just fall out with others rattling around, If I give the mag a good slap it unsticks.

This happens with the majority of my RO mags, Most of my zytels work well, My RO 56 round monster mag works pretty well as well, so this is not a gun issue.

I am going to take apart the RO mags and see what the inside looks like and install some stronger springs if I cant clean them up enough.

I am not trying to permanently fix the problem by polishing the rounds, it should work without having to, I am just trying to eliminate the sticking source in the mag and figured if I could cut down the friction there maybe it would help. So the thought came to me the try that. As soon as I turned on the polisher I the feeling of this is not a safe/good idea so I figured I would ask before I blew up a round.

The mags are still good and hard to load I have to use a loading tool so the springs are not just totally shot, I think if I had a stiffer spring in there it would push it past the friction points better.

Have you cleaned the mags? Then polish the feedlips with a fine sandpaper. You want the bullets to glide over the feedlips. This is likely where you are having the binding issue, not where the bullets feed up through the mag.

GAguy · 11-08-2009, 08:15 PM

I have a 650 and asked several guys at dillion this exact question.

It was stated to me that they did that and had no problems.

I have not personally done it but you can call ask yourself.

**Hughjimbissel** · 11-08-2009, 09:21 PM

I don't know if I'd run loaded ammo through an actual "tumbler" but I would think a viborating unit would be kinder. I have, not meaning to, run ammo through a Dillion viborating model. Buddy of mine had some really ugly 7MM Mauser that he cleaned that way and it seemed to work just fine. You kind of wonder if a lot of the old military ammo has been abused so much it doesn't make any difference what you do to it!

Trident9 · 11-08-2009, 09:37 PM

I should have been more clear. I am using a vibrating polisher.

I just got done cleaning my Zytel, and Recon Ord. mags. By the way I found a great brush to clean mag tubes with. I found it at Target in the cleaning brush aisle (where toilet bowl brusher are) it is green bristle blue handle "Vent Brush" made by "EVERCARE" it is used to clean under the refrigerator it is about 18" long or so and it fits nice and tight in the mag tube when you take out the spring and follower. I looked at the tube before I brushed it and it was filthy, thirty seconds back and forth with the brush and it was incredibly clean.

On half of my mags I tried a heavy duty Silicone spray on the other half I tried Zeplon made by Zep. It is a dry lube that sprays on and leaves a dry lubricant film. Then on two mags I tried a combo of silicone followed by the dry lube.

One more thing I did notice is when I pulled off the springs for the RO mags the spring hardly protruded out of the mag tube when the base plate was off, so I tried stretching one out a little (I know this is not a good solution as it actually weakens springs) it did make it definitely harder to compress when putting the base plate back on

I will see what one works better and let ya all know if I had any luck.

11-08-2009, 08:15 PM	#24
GAguy Registered User Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Georgia Posts: 105 iTrader: 0 / 0%	dillion told me it was ok I have a 650 and asked several guys at dillion this exact question. It was stated to me that they did that and had no problems. I have not personally done it but you can call ask yourself.

11-08-2009, 09:21 PM	#25
Hughjimbissel UZI Talk Life Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Caputa, South Dakotastan Posts: 316 iTrader: 1 / 100%	I don't know if I'd run loaded ammo through an actual "tumbler" but I would think a viborating unit would be kinder. I have, not meaning to, run ammo through a Dillion viborating model. Buddy of mine had some really ugly 7MM Mauser that he cleaned that way and it seemed to work just fine. You kind of wonder if a lot of the old military ammo has been abused so much it doesn't make any difference what you do to it! __________________ Nearly anything is legal if you have enough paperwork.

11-08-2009, 12:44 PM	#21
Trident9 Registered User Join Date: Jan 2009 Posts: 452 iTrader: 0 / 0%	Its not the gun. My problem is with the Recon Ordnance mags, if I load them more then about half full the follower/rounds stick when I strip the rounds out by hand, or try and shoot it in the gun, The follower sticks so bad that I can tip the magazine upside down and the first few loose rounds just fall out with others rattling around, If I give the mag a good slap it unsticks. This happens with the majority of my RO mags, Most of my zytels work well, My RO 56 round monster mag works pretty well as well, so this is not a gun issue. I am going to take apart the RO mags and see what the inside looks like and install some stronger springs if I cant clean them up enough. I am not trying to permanently fix the problem by polishing the rounds, it should work without having to, I am just trying to eliminate the sticking source in the mag and figured if I could cut down the friction there maybe it would help. So the thought came to me the try that. As soon as I turned on the polisher I the feeling of this is not a safe/good idea so I figured I would ask before I blew up a round. The mags are still good and hard to load I have to use a loading tool so the springs are not just totally shot, I think if I had a stiffer spring in there it would push it past the friction points better.

11-08-2009, 09:37 PM	#26
Trident9 Registered User Join Date: Jan 2009 Posts: 452 iTrader: 0 / 0%	I should have been more clear. I am using a vibrating polisher. I just got done cleaning my Zytel, and Recon Ord. mags. By the way I found a great brush to clean mag tubes with. I found it at Target in the cleaning brush aisle (where toilet bowl brusher are) it is green bristle blue handle "Vent Brush" made by "EVERCARE" it is used to clean under the refrigerator it is about 18" long or so and it fits nice and tight in the mag tube when you take out the spring and follower. I looked at the tube before I brushed it and it was filthy, thirty seconds back and forth with the brush and it was incredibly clean. On half of my mags I tried a heavy duty Silicone spray on the other half I tried Zeplon made by Zep. It is a dry lube that sprays on and leaves a dry lubricant film. Then on two mags I tried a combo of silicone followed by the dry lube. One more thing I did notice is when I pulled off the springs for the RO mags the spring hardly protruded out of the mag tube when the base plate was off, so I tried stretching one out a little (I know this is not a good solution as it actually weakens springs) it did make it definitely harder to compress when putting the base plate back on I will see what one works better and let ya all know if I had any luck.