Questionable .44 Magnum ammo.....

G-Mac

G-Mac

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I have some new factory .44 Magnum ammo that I'm guessing is over 20 years old. The brass has got some corrosion on it from improper storage. I'm debating on whether to shoot it, at the range, or not. My concern would be safety and damaging the gun, which is a blued Lew Horton 5" Ruger Redhawk. My other option, I'm thinking, would be to pull the bullets and reload them into new brass at some point.
 
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I've reloaded for almost 40 years and shot plenty of ammo with some corrosion blemishes without mishap. I've also cleaned plenty of brass that had scattered spots of corrosion that went away after a good cleaning.

As far as reloading "corroded" brass; if the corrosion is removed after a good cleaning I've always thought is was good to go for another round or ten. If the corrosion spots persist after a thorough cleaning they go in the trash.

If the corrosion appears deep or is pervasive try some copper wool, or Chore Boy, on the loaded brass to ascertain how deep the corrosion may be. If it's pitted and the corrosion spots are not easily wiped away with a little copper wool polishing then perhaps it's best to pull the bullets.
 
G-Mac said:
It's not the age that I'm concerned about, it's the green corrosion on the brass. I'm sure that it must be somewhat compromised.
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If the corrosion is pitting the brass, actually eating into the brass, I would probably pull and reload. If it is just surface discoloration, I'd probably tumble or wipe them clean and shoot them but I'd have to see them before I could make a definite decision, a judgement call on if the brass is compromised/weakened...
 
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Hahaha, at some point it's about the volume of work/hassle.

Are we talking 20 rounds or 300? Hammering those out with a kinetic puller shouldn't be too horrendous, a 240-grain bullet helps.

As yours is a Lew Horton exclusive, I might not shoot them. My only .44 Magnum is a run of the mill, high production 1985-made blued Redhawk and there is almost nothing I wouldn't shoot through it.
 
If it's Remington brand ammo, I wouldn't trust it. I had several very bad experiences with their ammo in the 90's. My buddy told me his ammo seemed to have a lot more recoil than usual. I test fired it. The first few rounds were fine. The next one wasn't. It bulged a S&W model 29 cylinder, AND SINGED THE HAIR OFF MY HAND AND WRIST. These were supposed to be medium loads. A month later he bought, against my advice a box of 44 Specials. It had what I call "hit or miss loads. Some hit the target at twenty-five yards. Some didn't make it that far. When you shoot from a bench and you see bullets hit the ground(at ten yards) and roll, you know that company has problems. He also bought a box of 38 Special 158gr hp's. Those were also hit or miss. All of this happened in 91. I know it's been a while, but that was enough to make me swear off any Remington centerfire metallic cartridges. I've never had trouble with their shotgun shells or 22 rimfire ammo.
 
jimkim said:
I've never had trouble with their shotgun shells or 22 rimfire ammo.
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I've clipped just a partial part of your post, but if you are saying that you have never had trouble with Remington brand rimfire ammo, I'm wondering if you have lived a completely charmed life or if your life's shooting has had precious few rounds of rimfire.

By and large, across decades, if I'm picking ONE major, well-known American ammunition manufacturer, nobody is worse than Remington overall. :eek:

I'm not saying that all Remington .22LR is/was junk.

I'm saying that nobody in American ammo history has made more junk rimfire ammo than Remington.

These are merely my opinions based on my experience.
 
G-Mac said:
It's not the age that I'm concerned about, it's the green corrosion on the brass. I'm sure that it must be somewhat compromised.
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Would kind of like to see an actual picture of the ammo, but at only 20 years old I doubt they would be compromised, although I'm sure stranger things have happened.

I'm guessing this is a problem some brass cleaner could solve.

Besides, in the Ruger mentioned it's the cylinder holding the rounds that is containing the pressure, not the sides of the casing, which would burst just like an out of battery discharge if it wasn't being supported.
 
G-Mac said:
It's not the age that I'm concerned about, it's the green corrosion on the brass. I'm sure that it must be somewhat compromised.
Click to expand...

Pretty sure that is earlier Hornady ammunition. Picture would help, but if the corrosion is deep enough to see pitting, personally wouldn't fire it.
 
The cylinder is there to contain the explosion. Lots of thought went in to its design and its ability to contain explosions that are produced by ammo that is made in spec. Surely you have seen a case split for some reason. Often because of too many reloads. Remember what happened to the gun? I am sure that you will recall that nothing happened to the gun.

A few thousandths of an inch of brass is never going to be the difference between a normal discharge and a catastrophic event. You would have to blow the cylinder, and with ammunition that is loaded within acceptable pressure parameters (any factory stuff), that is never going to happen (assuming that this round is not following a squib, or other type of barrel obstruction). Shoot the stuff.
 
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racoonbeast said:
The cylinder is there to contain the explosion.
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OK, unless something has really, truly gone wrong, there's no explosion in the normal firing of any quality cartridge. The controlled burning of the powder charge produces the pressure that drive the bullet.

I'd be really hesitant to tumble clean loaded ammo. Especially enough to remove verdigris from brass.

Frontier used to be a house brand of Hornady, originally seen as remanufactured ammo using surplus military brass. Might now be a sub-brand.
 
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WR Moore said:
OK, unless something has really, truly gone wrong, there's no explosion in the normal firing of any quality cartridge. The controlled burning of the powder charge produces the pressure that drive the bullet.
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You are playing with words. You know what I meant.
 
For some reason I occasionally get a round in a box of 20 y/o ammo that the case has turned black with corrosion. Just a random round, always in cardboard factory boxes, stored in ammo cans in climate controlled house. They perform as any other round. I wouldn't worry about them. $.02. Joe
 
Guns don't blow up. They just rapidly expand in an uncontrolled manner.
 
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