Tarnished .45ACP Ammo-What to do?

Matt45

January 17, 2003 21:37

I found some tarnished .45ACP ammo I reloaded a couple/three years ago & they were stored in a .30 Cal ammo can with a dessicant pack. I must have not wiped the cases clean before boxing them up as they are tarnished to the point where I don't really want to shoot them. Not really corroded, but dingy.

I considered for about .00000030 of a second putting them in the tumbler to clean 'em up, but I think that would oversensitize the primers, or worse.

I also don't want to pull apart all 150 rounds. Any body here have a solution?



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  p3skyking

  January 17, 2003 21:50

  DO NOT put in a tumbler. The powder is broken down even further (and increasing it's burning rate) and can raise pressures (sometimes explosivly) when fired. If they are too nasty to fire as is, and a quick once over with ScotchBrite can't fix, I would pull the bullets and cut my loss. You can then reclaim the bullets by tumbling.

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  Matt45

  January 18, 2003 08:16

  p3skyking- I kinda figured as much, I could just see it now, tumbler happily vibrating in the corner and *BANG*, time to buy a new bowl. Thanks for the ScotchBrite pad tip, never thought about trying that!
  
  BTW-Are you a Sub-hunter? Just wondering.
  
  
  
  Reserving my Right to Arm Bears!!!!
  
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  king999

  January 18, 2003 08:25

  There are really two points to ponder. If the rounds just "look" bad, why, go ahead and shoot them. Your pistol does not favor ammo that "looks good".
  If they are corroded, you don't want them at all!
  Somewhere in between, where there is enough foreign matter to interfere with function, but no actual case damage, I would tumble them without fear.
  I do use a vibrator rather than a true tumbler; I dopn't know about a drum tumbler.
  Have fun, be careful!
  Morty

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  p3skyking

  January 18, 2003 09:02

  Matt, as a matter of fact, I am an ex-Inflight Ordnanceman from P-3C's. Did a short stint on Bravos too. Glad to be of help sir.

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  ATF

  January 18, 2003 09:33

  King999,is correct.If corroded throw them away .If you have the vibrator type tumbler.Throw them in for a wehile.I've been doing this for over 30 yrs.
  
  [8D]
  
  ATF

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  mballai

  January 18, 2003 14:01

  I had some dingy brass ammo I had loaded almost four years ago that worked just fine. Things are quite different if the stuff is real old and the brass is corroded. 45 ACP is not a particularly high pressure round save if you are loading to +P levels.
  
  Three Precious Metals: Gold, silver and lead

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  Iconoclast

  January 18, 2003 16:23

  Matt, I was always dead set against tumbling / vibrating loaded ammo, but someone (and my apologies to him for forgetting who it was) went into great detail on it in past inquiries on at least two occasions, pointing out that the makers routinely do this to polish the rounds before packing. I've come to the conclusion that doing this moderately is not at all dangerous. But I'm moved to ask just how bad is 'dingy?' If it's just stains, I'd not worry about it. I've had plenty of ammo develop stains between loading and firing, to say nothing of older commercial / military ammo. Corrosion is entirely another matter, of course. For that matter, I'm starting to pack up some rounds I loaded last summer & just tossed in a .50 caliber ammo can. Some of them are definitely dingy, but I guarantee the tarnish won't make a bit of difference.

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  Matt45

  January 18, 2003 21:04

  The level of tarnish is kinda what has me dancin' around on this- The ammo is tarnished to the point where there is enough foriegn matter adhered to the case to make them "slightly" gritty to the touch, but yet not enough to where I could or would say it's corroded.
  
  I have a (high?) Ph level in my sweat and found out early on that I must wipe off my ammo before boxing it up and storing it or else it does this. Most of the stuff I catch early on, but this particular batch escaped notice because it was just plain ole' forgot about.
  
  I think P3 has me on the right track- I think I can knock down the tarnish and make this stuff servicable with a green scrub pad and a half an hour of the American Rifleman next Friday night!
  
  Thanks for all of your wisdom, I appreciate it!

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