tarnish on ammo in storage

[John_M52]

I have some newer ammo stored in cans and others in factory cardboard boxes in a moderate temperature dry environment. Both the ammo in ammo cans and the cardboard are tarnished. Shootable but ugly.

I also have some old 45 app reloads from my father that have a bit of whiteish oxidation on the cast and lubed lead SWC bullets but the brass is pretty clean.

Looking for suggestions: Tumble everything with XXX added to the media to stop the tarnishing? Shoot as is and put up with people's comments about WWI surplus?

Thanks!

 

[505Gibbs]

I'll ask the 'stupid' question! How old is this 'stuff'? I've got ammo stored in my Michigan basement that's at least 30 years old that shows no signs you're speaking of. Is your humidity controlled?

 

[Cleandean]

Perhaps the handling of the ammo gave it a bit of acetic perspiration.
Some folks have a destructive PH with the extra acid mixed with the normal saltiness & some body oil.
Someone was stressed when reloading ammo. ( or when boxing the cartridges ? )

 

[Laketime]

I have some newer ammo stored in cans and others in factory cardboard boxes in a moderate temperature dry environment. Both the ammo in ammo cans and the cardboard are tarnished. Shootable but ugly.

I also have some old 45 app reloads from my father that have a bit of whiteish oxidation on the cast and lubed lead SWC bullets but the brass is pretty clean.

Looking for suggestions: Tumble everything with XXX added to the media to stop the tarnishing? Shoot as is and put up with people's comments about WWI surplus?

Thanks!

Wipe them down with Flitz to both remove the tarnish and to leve a protective barrier from it returning.

 

[rockquarry]

If it's tarnished only (and not corroded), shoot as is. The appearance hurts nothing. Same for a white film on cast bullets.

 

[John_M52]

I'll ask the 'stupid' question! How old is this 'stuff'? I've got ammo stored in my Michigan basement that's at least 30 years old that shows no signs you're speaking of. Is your humidity controlled?

It's only a few years old. Maybe the ammo crunch has manufacturers skipping a final clean? Some are factory new in factory boxes (American Eagle) and are pretty tarnished. Storage is dry. As a kid we had thousands of rounds of reloads in our NJ basement and I don't remember them being tarnished. Maybe whatever my father added to the corn cob media put a film on them.

 

[bigwheelzip]

Storage is dry.

Possible that humidity condenses on cartridges that have cooled below dew point?


Sent from my motorola one 5G using Tapatalk

 

[pharmer]

All my ammo is stored in .50 cal cans in climate controlled house (not in garage) or inside the safe. "Black gunk" tarnish has formed on a few (maybe 1 in 500 rds) and more often on .22lr "bulk" ammo. All goes bang (well, I did have 1 Federal .22 from a "WallyBox" not ignite after several tries/rotations recently). As we say in Jersey "Fuggedaboudit." Joe

 

[desi2358]

I see a lot of old ammo with tarnish, often where it touches the cardboard of the box. The materials used in the cardboard sometimes seems to react with the brass no matter what the storage conditions are. Perhaps due to variations in the cardboard itself some are worse than others. The foam used in some cartridge trays can sometimes affect the ammo as well. A bit of tarnish doesn't hurt the ammo though, just makes it ugly.

 

[CAJUNLAWYER]

By tarnish do you mean the green stuff???? My rule with shotgun shells if it chambers it's good to go
As far as handgun rounds, try to wipe off the green stuff-tacky you know