A friend of mine has about 4000 rds. on 7.62 NATO ammo and being about twenty years old, it's beginning to show the occasional green spot of tarnish, but is otherwise good. We're not going to put the stuff in a tumbler (dangerous) so we were thinking about using 00 steel wool and Johnson's Paste Wax to clean the stuff (should be cheaper than Flitz and will leave a slightly waxy residue). Does someone know of any reason that JPW would be a no-no such as Brasso is?

I'd recommend using 0000 steel wool. It works quite well in removing the sort of tarnish you mention and it will leave a better finish. I see no reason why JPW would harm the ammo, but I do wonder if it could cause issues when the ammo is fired unless it was wiped off.

Over on the 'castboolits' forums, there are a number of articles about using JPW as a bullet lube for cast bullets. It seems to be an excellent lubricant and a number of the reloaders there use nothing else. I can't see that it would cause any problems for what you have in mind.

Steel wool should be Ok to clean tarnish but any type of wax will increase bolt thrust and eventual headspace problems.When the round is fired it expands for a millisecond and grabs the chamber walls creating a seal,then springs back a thousand or so allowing extraction.Putting wax on a case is the same as leaving reloading lube on a case and not wiping before shooting.Once or twice no problems but over an extended time period (4000 rds) I think you are asking for problems.JMO

The gun would be cleaned rugularly and any excess wax would be wiped off. Only a residual ammount would remain. I don't see how that could possibly still cause any type of problem

FWIW, my friend will be storing the ammo in airtight containers after it's fluff and buff.

Thanks for the reply's gents.

Take the tarnished ones out and shoot them. Throw them into the tumbler and then reload them. Good for another 20 years.

+1 i agree

This is pragmatic thinking! I love it.

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Individually polishing 4,000 rounds of ammo. What will you use to clean your fingers?

Just kidding!

Remind me why Brasso is a no-no for cleaning casings?

Brasso contains ammonia. Ammonia will remove corosion from brass but it causes a reaction at different rates on copper and zinc. Thus it can dissolve one portion of the the brass alloy while leaving more of the other making the remaining metal brittle.

Beer. He's buying.

He doesn't reload and neither of us own the dies. On top of that,the ammo is left over from when he had a 7.62 rifle in the past, but he doesn't currently own one in that caliber. He intends to get one at some point in the future. Aside from that, sounds like a fun plan!!