Common Newbie Question- Can I dry tumble loaded rounds to shine them up?

There are two things that come into play here-
The risk of a primer being hit and a round going off & the characteristic of powder changing when being tumbled.
I have dropped full containers of loaded ammo and had loaded rounds bouncing all over my concrete floor. They hit with 10 times the force that any bullet moving around in a dry tumbler. Could it happen? Maybe, but I find the odds to be astronomical for a primer to be hit hard enough to fire.
At one time there was a study done on a different website, where they tumbled rounds loaded with 4 or 5 different powders for a long period of time, weeks. They then showed before and after views of each powder under a microscope and there was no difference. So that myth was busted.
But every time I have seen this question posed on forums and boards, the answer has been "it's your decision to make."

One hint I can tell you is that corn cob media works much better as removing case lube than walnut media does.

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Originally Posted by 509Doug

There are two things that come into play here-
The risk of a primer being hit and a round going off & the characteristic of powder changing when being tumbled.
I have dropped full containers of loaded ammo and had loaded rounds bouncing all over my concrete floor. They hit with 10 times the force that any bullet moving around in a dry tumbler. Could it happen? Maybe, but I find the odds to be astronomical for a primer to be hit hard enough to fire.
At one time there was a study done on a different website, where they tumbled rounds loaded with 4 or 5 different powders for a long period of time, weeks. They then showed before and after views of each powder under a microscope and there was no difference. So that myth was busted.
But every time I have seen this question posed on forums and boards, the answer has been "it's your decision to make."

One hint I can tell you is that corn cob media works much better as removing case lube than walnut media does.

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I've been final tumbling loaded rounds for a while now. Never had a problem.
Ammo manufacturers do the same thing.

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I've done it several times and will continue to do so

At the end of the day the shine does nothing for performance, but then too neither does a polished finish or engraving on a gun. It all comes down to appearance. As long as it is clean you are fine. All of my rounds get a good polish after they are loaded simply to make them look good but by the time they get put to use the oxidation has taken over. I don't know why I bother. Habit I guess. Either way there is nothing wrong with a post loading ride in the tumbler.

Clean shiny brass is far easier to see on the ground. Some say it chambers and ejects better as well.

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Originally Posted by ReneeMicelli

At the end of the day the shine does nothing for performance, but then too neither does a polished finish or engraving on a gun. It all comes down to appearance. As long as it is clean you are fine. All of my rounds get a good polish after they are loaded simply to make them look good but by the time they get put to use the oxidation has taken over. I don't know why I bother. Habit I guess. Either way there is nothing wrong with a post loading ride in the tumbler.

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I've been doing it for years with no issues.

Every ammo manufacturer tumbles live ammo

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Originally Posted by Wes Sage

Every ammo manufacturer tumbles live ammo

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Yup, and I've been tumbling all my loaded stuff since I started reloading. The testing has been done on numerous occasions. There are no ill side effects from tumbling loaded ammo.

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I do it to remove the lube from the case. About a 15 minute cycle and they're done. My 2 cents.

Never done it. Just me.....

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Originally Posted by omcforever

Never done it. Just me.....

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Try it you’ll like it!!

I do just long enough to get the lube off of them.


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The only problem I ever had doing it was with a jacketed bullet with a soft lead tip. It ate away some of the tip. Granted it may be that I left them in to long. It was a long time ago and I haven't done it since.

I dont, I dont see a need too. I dry tumble my brass before drepriming just to hopefully knock junk off of it,then I wet tumble after resizing,seems to work better to get primer pockets really clean. I'm sure if I had some rounds where the brass was looking funky I'd tumble them. But then again shiny brass is just for looks does nothing to improve accuracy.

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Just don't do it with Hollow Points. Don't ask how I know as how many toothpicks it took to fix them!!

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I’ve tumbled plenty of live rounds. Most often because I forgot to tumble after resizing to remove lube so ill just do it after loading. Never had an issue. Sure makes them look pretty too.