When I clean my defense duty guns I clean the bullets too. Does anyone else do this? I find myself the only one that does this however Ive seen bullets corrode in magazines before especially brass and copper jacket bullets. Bullets are expensive and hard to get now especially those "high performance defense rounds" are always more costly. So when I do my scheduled general cleaning of my guns I take all the bullets out of the magazine or cylinder and give them a quick wipe down. I dont recommend any strong cleaners or soaking them down with any gun oil. Just a light wipe down with a rag with light mineral oil.
This is only if I dont do a lot of shooting that season because if I do lots of shooting the guns will always have fresh ammo in them.

No I don't clean my bullets. I CC a revolver and empty it when i'm not carrying it.

I always made a point of wiping down my ammo, back in the days of cartridge loops and drop pouches. Verdigris and oxidation can become a problem when leather, copper alloys, and lead come into contact for extended periods of time.

More recently, I made up a display piece including a western holster based on John Wayne's later movies and a belt with 24 cartridge loops to accept .44 and .45 ammo (.44 Special, .44-40, .45 Long Colt). Stuffed the belt loops with new factory ammo to take pictures for advertising, put everything away, then later retired and sold the business. Couple of years later I pulled out that display rig and found that the brass cartridge cases were nearly welded into the leather loops! Finally got them all out, had to use a steel wool pad to clean up the residue on the brass and bullets. Finally, an old soft toothbrush with club soda was used to clean up the residue on the leather, and the rig is restored to as new condition.

If you carry your ammo or magazines in leather carriers you need to pay attention to them at least once per month. An old terry cloth towel or silicone-impregnated rag will clean everything up nicely. Once the corrosion and oxidation get started things will go down hill rapidly.

OCD, much? LOL

I think that might be a tad overboard. But, hey ... Whatever floats your boat.

If you aren't shooting it often enough that your carry ammo corrodes, you aren't shooting enough.

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Only a cold warrior

NOPE.......NEVER.

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S&W Accumulator

Every once in a while with my snub carry ammo. I ankle carry my snub most of the time, and that can collect quite a bit of dirt on the gun. I wipe the gun down every few days, checking to make sure I don't have any accumulated dirt in places like under the extractor star, and I'll unload it and check the ammo. If it looks like it needs it, I'll do a quick wipe down of the ammo with a dry rag. While I use leather ammo carriers (a pocket pouch and a belt pouch for speed strips), I don't leave ammo in there. Otherwise, no.

I've never experienced any notable corrosion of brass ammunition, sure it can become tarnished or have the surface develop verdigris, but neither requires much in the way of cleaning.

At most I'll wipe down my carry ammo with the same microfiber cloth I use to wipe off excess oil when I finish cleaning my gun.

That being said, despite the moist, often times humid region in which I live, I have never experienced the same kind of extreme corrosion of metal others seem to battle elsewhere in the US, and apparently my sweat isn't nearly as acidic as some folks because my firearms/knives despite often being exposed to moisture/sweat, have never rusted. I once even conducted an experiment in which I took a broken old knife of mine, wiped the flat edge of the blade on my sweaty skin, then just put it away, and it never rusted. Now granted that all my carry guns and knives are Stainless Steel, but folks are always going on about how; "Stainless doesn't mean Rust-Proof!" which is true.

That being said, I still obviously periodically clean/lube my carry gear because I'm not about to neglect them just because they haven't rusted on me as readily as others report, nor am I going to run the risk of having them malfunction when/if I need them because they're all dry/dirty.

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Shooting Comfort is bilateral.

Oil is BAD for ammo. Very bad. You should,at a minimum, shoot up your actual carry ammo once a year. The ammo in your weapon and in your backup carriers will be the crappiest ammo you own. It gets handled, jostled, exposed to sweat, high humidity, etc. Wipe it down, that is fine. NO OIL. Shoot it up once a year. It isn't THAT expensive.

Totally correct. Never let your ammunition get oily - it can ruin it.

Brass ammunition and leather do not mix well together except for short periods of time. Leave your ammunition in a leather carrier of any kind = verdigris and exactly what was posted above.

And no, I never wipe down my ammunition. If I see it's somehow dirty I might for the sole reason that I want it to feed and eject, especially eject in any gun, round or flat. But as a rule, nope.

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Come and take it!!

Always wipe down my carry ammo...
I do it even if I don't shoot my guns..

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NRA Benefactor

No, but whatever ammo is in my carry gun gets fired during the next practice session.

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VCDL, GOA, NRA

The only cartridge cleaning I do is to wipe off anything I've dropped at the range on my jeans and reload it.

And don't spray loaded ammo with any penetrating oil ... even WD40 .
Penetrating oils like to creep into places ...that's what they are designed to do ... but you don't want the stuff creeping into powder and/or primers ...there's always the slight chance it could affect the firing of that round .
Gary

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Certified Cajun
NRA Member

Well . . . I do not clean bullets, but if I was to consider doing it, I would wipe down the new ammo with paste wax, then you do not need to check or change out ammo.

Heck, I have a friend who waxes his furnace and water heater in his basement because of high humidity conditions. I always thought that was a little OCD, but his equipment never got a spot of rust. Sealed out the humidity and oxygen, plus he only did it once when the appliances were newly installed. Applying a little Renaissance Wax would do the trick and you could probably leave the ammo in your gun for years without worry.

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Gary
SWCA 2515

I make an effort to use nickel plated brass in my carry guns to reduce the corrosion issues.

Rosewood

You could use Hornady one shot lube for wiping them down. It is safe for powder when lubing your brass when reloading, so should be fine for loaded ammo as well.

Rosewood

I'm not sure that's a good idea. It seems to me that if you wipe down ammo with wax, then have to fire it, that might cause it to lock up in the chamber and be difficult to extract.

Ammo is best kept dry. Wipe down with a dry rag if you must, but keep it dry.

I do the same thing and have done so for years without any negative results. Mind it is a very light coat of paste wax, but again, I've never had a problem with the ammo firing, nor extracting the fired rounds from the revolver. As another poster suggested, nickel cased ammo helps immensely in controlling the staining/corrosion of the cartridge cases.

Regards,

Dave

[QUOTE=LoboGunLeather;140843820...back in the days of cartridge loops and drop pouches. Verdigris and oxidation can become a problem...[/QUOTE]

As a kid, I recall being told a story by my buddy's desk sergeant dad. Something about an Irish cop, "green" bullets and Saint Patrick's day.

While on active duty I tried to wipe down my duty firearm every day as I put it in the safe. I tried to field strip it once a week and wipe it down a little deeper. If I had been caught in the rain my weapon got stripped and wiped down and re-oiled, magazines got disassembled and wiped out and all the ammo got removed and wiped down.
Now retired I still try to wipe my daily ccw weapon weekly with a rig rag and try to remember to wipe my ammo down monthly. For ammo nothing special, just rub it around on a clean cloth and clean dust bunnies out of the magazines.

I do not clean my carry ammunition, I shoot it

I do not give it time to corrode

It never stays in a firearm's chambers or magazine for more than 6 months before it is shot up.

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"Acta non verba"

If you really wanna get OCD, you could weigh and measure all your ammo.

Several years ago I read about a cop who had an ammo failure in the middle of a gunfight. Afterwards, he took to weighing each round he carried to make sure it wasn't too light or too heavy.

And for semi-auto carriers who re-use chambered rounds, calipers might be a good idea to check for ammo setback.

*adds scale and calipers to Christmas wishlist*

NEVER put any type of oil on your ammo. I'd also avoid any type of wax or coating also. The oil can penetrate into the primer pocket and make the primer inert. Even oils that are not traditionally known as penetrating oils can cause this problem. Wax can attract dust and dirt and affect the function of the gun and there really isn't a need for it. Wipe your rounds with a clean, dry cloth during regular cleaning or if you carry in harsh conditions and it will be more than enough.

No I dont clean my bullets. I rotate ammo out about every six months. Everything tarnished goes down range. Dont want to risk any oil sneaking into powder or primers.

I have told this before. As a young Police Officer known as a gun guy my Sargent asked me to look at his duty weapon as he was having trouble opening it. I took one look at the gun and gunbelt and told him to leave the gun and belt with me and I would get it back to him before his next shift. The revolver a Ruger Security Six was very difficult to get the cylinder to swing out. Fortunately I had my cleaning kit+. Once I got the cylinder swung out I had to pound the cartridges out with a brass rod. 2 hours of oiling and cleaning got the revolver at least usable. Getting his extra 12 rounds out of the dump pouches was a real problem. At one point I was considering cutting them out with a knife but I finally got them out and the holster and dump pouches cleaned up. I could not believe that a Police Officer would let his equipment get that unusable. A Sargent no less. I gave the Sargent his Revolver, gun belt and 18 new rounds of department issue 38 Special ammo before his next shift.

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Gun Safety is no accident.

Renaissance Wax is applied only microns thick and polished off besides and has no impact on performance or extraction. After all, it is a petroleum based product as slippery as oil so ejection is actually be easier than a dry case.

I used to wax my cowboy ammo, making it slick enough to drop right out of my revolvers, chamber flawlessly in my leverguns, and my 12 gauge hulls literally fell out of my double-guns, nothing ever stuck. It is all about speed you know, and maybe a little about accuracy tooo!

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Gary
SWCA 2515

One would think LEOs would be into guns, but there are a lot out there that only carry a gun because it is required. They don't enjoy the hobby of shooting as many of us do.

He obviously hadn't "qualified" in years.

Rosewood

Well as a rule I dont. But when I do, like after a hunt, especially somewhere like Colorado that can be really dusty, ATV riders as well, I will wipe them down and wipe off the leather as well. SHEATH, or now known as BARRICADE, with a sliacone cloth kept in a plastic baggie for this purpose and this purpose alone. A can of 'canned air' helps but be careful. you dont want to blow dust into the innards.

Nope, I never have cleaned my carry gun ammo. If it starts to get dirty or tarnished, I shoot it away and load fresh.