Dumb ammo question

[odugrad]

I've been shooting handguns for a little while but am pretty new to rifles. Is it common/normal for you to hear the powder if you shake a 5.56/.223 round? I have never noticed this in handgun ammunition.

 

[Brian Pfleuger]

It's very common in rifles and handguns.

 

[Jimro]

There is generally a lot more powder in a rifle cartridge, and it is generally in the form of sticks or small balls so you hear the impacts more easily. Pistol powder is generally flakes and there is much less powder used, so there isn't so much mass rattling around in the brass, but if you listen hard you may hear it.

Jimro

 

[Dc777]

Yes, now if you really want to hear some noise shake a .300 win mag or something big like it.

 

[bedlamite]

It can happen in either rifle or pistol when the load density is less than 100%.

 

[odugrad]

Does it lose anything by being shaken up?

 

[Art Eatman]

I guess if you went overboard with lengthy and violent vibration, you might cause stick powder granules to splinter and have a faster burn rate which could give too-high chamber pressure.

But that's way outside of any common treatment that I've ever seen or heard of. I figure it would have to be a deliberate action by some dimbulb.

 

[g20gunny]

For a real kick find an old 303 british or 300 hh mag with the old cordite propellant. Or just google cordite. Now those loads can rattle.

 

[g20gunny]

Art, you want to talk about dimbulbs I've heard people ask about cleaning loaded ammo in a vibratory tumbler, pretty sure that would be worse than any shaking I could put on a round. Wouldn't be surprised if they ended up with flash powder and blew up their gun and reported how week their gun was and gave it a bad review. Sometimes I wonder about these people.

 

[Brian Pfleuger]

Lots of folks put their loaded ammo in vibratory tumblers... including the major manufacturers. Numerous tests have long since shown it to be harmless. How much tumbling do you suppose ammo gets on it's train/truck/ship/plane rides all over the world?

 

[Ibmikey]

+1 on what Brian wrote..I have seen many a crate of ammo bounce over the dirt roads in an Asiatic country and work just fine.

 

[Bart B.]

7 rounds of it gets shaken up quite a bit resting in the clip in a Garand's magazine, but they all will shoot sub MOA at 300 yards in match grade ones. And 19 rounds in an M14 magazine get the same treatment, but no issues seem to arise. M16 magazines' greater capacity is another example. To say nothing about all the ammo in machine gun belts being shaken most violently in long strings of fire.

Powder companies have seen some types loose the micro-whiskers on the powder particles and change its burning characteristics after shaken by any means for long periods of time; tumbled or vibrated like that used to clean fired cases. Which is why they usually discourage tumbling live ammo.

 

[Tomas]

I've been doing a final polish on my loaded rounds in a 'vibratory' cleaner for nearly 30 years without incident. It's a very common practice and won't hurt a thing.