I have some 380 ACP reloads that are about 10 years old. They're light FMJ target loads, and have been stored in factory boxes in my gun cabinet, so they've not been exposed to any harsh environments or anything. I've recently shot a box of them at the range, and other than 2 or 3 FTE's they seem to shoot just fine.

The only issue I see is that the brass has all tarnished. Probably didn't have enough lube on them or got handled too much or whatever. I'm thinking that the cases being dry and tarnished may be contributing to the FTE's. Should I try to remove the tarnish, or just put them in a ziplock with a little lube and roll 'em around until they are all well coated, or just shoot them as they are - or what?

IMO oiling the cases or ammo is not a good idea. All you need to do is tumble them and they will clean right up and will be shiny again.

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SWCA #3437

I've read tumbling live loads isn't a good idea. My tumbler is a rotary. If I were to tumble them, should I use walnut shells, corn cob, or what?

Isn't there some kind of case lube called lubelox or something like that? That's what I was talking abour coating them with.

The brass needs to stick to the chamber walls momentarily when the round is fired.Dont lube them.

Some folks tumble loaded ammo, some don't. I personally do not, just because it somehow doesn't seem like a great idea to me.

DO NOT lube loaded ammo. Ammo should be dry, and free of oils before being fired. Lube is only used for lubing the case before resizing so they don't stick in the reloading die. Most dies are now lube free by using carbide in the sizing die.

Unless they are really grungy, and rough feeling to your finger tips, they should be fine to use. Staining and discoloring should not affect function. Your failures to eject may be from them being loaded on the light side.

If you want them shiny, I would try a little mild brass cleaner and a cotton rag.

Rub the cases with fine steel wool. Only takes a couple seconds per round and they look new.

As noted, you want any ammunition to be bone dry so they won't stick in the chambers due to a vacuum bond caused by oils. If you don't have a lot you can clean your cases up quite well using Never Dull or simple car wax. However, make sure you wipe them bone dry as part of the process of cleaning them up.

Walnuts in a vibrating hopper will also clean them up but there is a slight risk that you might have a primer strike hard enough to set a round off. As for the risk, probably in the range of 1 in ten thousand to 1 in ten million, so it's not real high but I feel why take the chance.

Thanks for the replies, guys.

There are no pointy parts to cause an accidental primer strike since they are loaded with round-nosed FMJ. I would be less concerned with the possibility of a primer strike than the potential for excessive heat buildup causing one to go off.

If the slight tarnish isn't a problem and isn't contributing to the FTE issue, I don't think I'll bother with trying to remove it from the loaded cartridges. I'll just shoot them as is, and tumble the brass before I reload it. I'm just not OCD about how it looks to hand polish a couple of hundred rounds.

"...and other than 2 or 3 FTE's they seem to shoot just fine."

There's an oxymoron for you.

Brass tarnishes as a natural way to protect itself. The tarnish in itself is not a problem, unless your get green "corrosion" building up. All my reloads darken even though I've tumbled them clean (I don't waste my time making them "shiny"). Once you handle the shiny brass the oils and salt on your fingers will hasten the tarnishing. It's not a concern, or at least has never been for me in nearly 40 years of reloading.

Not really. These are cheap lightly loaded target plinking rounds, not what I carry for PD.

A couple of FTE's out of a couple of hundred rounds for this particular ammo loaded for this particular purpose isn't a major issue in my mind.

Now if I were relying on it for PD, then yeah, that would be an issue. But I only carry with factory loads. For PD I want the most reliable ammo I can get - just in case I ever need it.

But for target practice - not so much...

I do not think the tarnish is the cause of your failure to eject issues. I do not tumble my brass thus most of it is burnished as I call it. Most likely it is a load issue. Shoot the stuff and reload with the recipe your pistol prefers.

The problem with tumbling loaded ammo is not pointy bullets touching off another round. The problem centers around the powder in the cases. In a nutshell, all powders have a "deterrent' to slow the burn to a specific rate. Sometimes this is accomplished by the size of the powder granule, other times is a spray on retardant. When tumbling , the constant movement can wear off the deterrent and this will increase the velocity the powder burns. A good example, IMR 4831 is a slow burning large rifle powder. To make the powder burn at a slow rate, the powder is long and it takes time to burn. Sixty grains of this is safe in a 30-06. Now take that 60 grains of IMR 4831 and crush it into a fine powder and load and shoot it. You will now have a bomb in your chamber. This is how it was explained to me years ago by a ballistician from a large ammo manufacter. By the way, a case does not have to be shiny to fire. Use it up as is as long as they are just tarnished.

Guys, how do you think the commercial ammo manufacturers get their ammo so clean and shiny before they ship? The final step in the process before boxing is tumbling. They all tumble their loaded ammo before boxing and it's completely safe.

I have tumbled very dirty surplus military ammo in the past and even though it took a long time it did clean up and none of the rounds have ever fired.

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SWCA #3437

I have tumbled loaded ammo for short periods, no more than an hour. I tumble it in cobs with a bit of Turtle Wax.

Some contend that commercial companies tumbler their ammo before boxing. I don't know about every manufacturer but I know and have seen 3 different companies load ammo and these companies don't.

Federal for one does and they are a very large manufacturer. The point wasn't how many do, the point was that it's done commercially without issues.

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It was a ballistician from that company that told me they didn't, and explained about powder deterrents. However this was 20 years ago. Before I posted my above reply, I watched 3 videos, one each from Winchester, Lake City Arsenal, and Norma. All 3 showed start to finish, the manufacture of a high power round. None of these 3 tumbled their rounds after seating the bullet. Whether Remington or Federal do I am unaware. Does anyone know of a link to a video from these companies?

I know there is an entire generation out there who feels if it isn't on youtube it isn't true but as hard as I know it is to believe not everything is on youtube.

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SWCA #3437

BS. Tumble live ammo Tumbler O' thruth EXTREME edition, 200hour torture test**UPDATE**fired rounds in OP - AR15.COM

I do it all the time. Urban myth.

Yep and I use a wet tumbler to clean my brass. The brass comes out better than new.
Tumbler I use is the old style rock tumbler with the tub full of water, 2 table spoons of dish water soap & stainless steel pins. I let it run for 2 hours or so then I rinse the cases or in this case 22 silencer baffles out in cold tap water and let dry.
I just happen to have pictures of baffles instead of brass but the effects are the same.









Tumble away, you won't hurt a thing. I've seen a dude put 22LR ammo in a blender and run the blender for a while. That will cause them to pop which will ruin mamas blender. So blenders are not recommended.

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I would take them apart and reload them little hotter.

I would find some thing else to do............
and clean them after I put the bullets down range.

Unless it really bugged me...........

Sorry, but it just isn't worth it IMO.

Like I said earlier, 2 or 3 FTE in a couple of hundred rounds of plinking isn't a big deal to me.

Exactly - it certainly doesn't bother me enough to stop me popping them off...