View Full Version : How to clean dirty loaded bullets
Long story short my Dad bought about 300 rounds of 9mm from a lady who got them from a storage unit she bought at an auction.
100 of them are the Winchester white box from Walmart, the bullet isnt copper colored though its gold and matchs the casing perfectly. Im not sure about those if anyone has a clue to that. The brass cassings are pretty clean still.
50 rounds of Winchester Silver Tip Super X HP. The casings look dirty and there is slight corrosion on some of them at the lip of the casing and near the primer.
17 round of Frederal Premium Low Recoil 135 grain Hydra Shock they have the polished brass casing and look dirty but do not have any corrosion that I can see.
My question for yall is, how can I get the corrosion off without damaging the bullets?
Do all bullets become corrsove over time from corrosion building up on the outside of the casing? Or is that more like 1940's rilfe ammo?
for that little bit of ammo, just get a Scotchbrite pad from the grocery store. It should take of it all.
I've never seen Win White box with gold bullets but those are ok too as far as that color. ( someone might have reloaded them? )
If the corrosion on the primers doesn't knock right off with the Scotchbrite pad there could be a concern as to just what's going on there.
those storage facilities are pretty funky. Best to keep ammo sealed from elements.
Long story short my Dad bought about 300 rounds of 9mm from a lady who got them from a storage unit she bought at an auction.
100 of them are the Winchester white box from Walmart, the bullet isnt copper colored though its gold and matchs the casing perfectly. Im not sure about those if anyone has a clue to that. The brass cassings are pretty clean still.
50 rounds of Winchester Silver Tip Super X HP. The casings look dirty and there is slight corrosion on some of them at the lip of the casing and near the primer.
17 round of Frederal Premium Low Recoil 135 grain Hydra Shock they have the polished brass casing and look dirty but do not have any corrosion that I can see.
My question for yall is, how can I get the corrosion off without damaging the bullets?
Do all bullets become corrsove over time from corrosion building up on the outside of the casing? Or is that more like 1940's rilfe ammo?
Any metal will corrode over time, particularly if storage conditions are less than optimal. For the corroded ones, you can just toss them in a case tumbler for an hour or so. Don't use a metal polish that might contaminate the primer or powder, or possibly weaken the brass case. FWIW, I wouldn't use any ammo that was corroded or stored in unknown conditions for defense. Relegate it to practice fodder, or use it on test media to observe bullet effects.
The gold colored bullets sound like they resemble Montana Gold bullets.
Although a few companies use MG bullets in their loaded ammunition, they're most commonly favored by reloaders and competitive shooters. If they're loose packed, I'd assume they're reloads. I'm assuming you're not set up for it, but I'd pull the bullets, toss the powder and re-use everything else.
As for cleaning loaded rounds, it's a waste of time but you can throw them in a vibratory tumbler with a dry cleaning media. That'll polish them up. There's a (slight) possiblity of changing the burn properties of the powder in so doing, though.
You could also try rubbing them with citric acid or another cleaning or metal polishing solution that does not contain ammonia. Ammonia will weaken brass.
My main concern was if the corrosion on the case would put corrisive properties in my gun. I orignally did a search on cleaning bullets with corrosion on them and the replies I read on different forums where directed toward people shooting stuff like WWII surplus ammo and everyone recommended cleaning the gun with soapy water.
So I got concerned because I thought the corrosive properties came from the salts in the type of primer used not from age on the outside of the case. They made it sound like old bullets just get corrsive over time.
Then I was thinking these obivously arent from WWII but they are dirty on the outside so should I clean the bullet before I shoot them or shoot them then clean my gun with soapy water?
Lots of things to consider with these Storage Wars bullets. My guess would be he probably wasnt a competeition shooter because there were two 50 round boxs of Fiocchi 147 grain FMJ. I'd bet he had a preference for 147 self defense ammo and the FMJ ammo was his practice stuff. Maybe the white box bullets are reloaded with MG 147 grain?
Old surplus ammunition had "corrosive" primers. This was because these primers used potassium chlorate in their composition. Upon firing, potassium chlorate primers deposit something akin to table salt in your bore, which attracts and retains moisture, leading very quickly to rust.
New mfg. ammunition, made since ~1950 something (I think) in this country does not use corrosive primers any longer. Priming compounds are now made with lead styphnate.
Your ammunition probably is newer than ~1950 and being US manufactured, wouldn't be corrosive. I personally wouldn't shoot ammo that had a questionable history, but corrosion of your firearm wouldn't likely be a concern.
Littlelebowski
10-03-11, 11:25
My main concern was if the corrosion on the case would put corrisive properties in my gun. I orignally did a search on cleaning bullets with corrosion on them and the replies I read on different forums where directed toward people shooting stuff like WWII surplus ammo and everyone recommended cleaning the gun with soapy water.
So I got concerned because I thought the corrosive properties came from the salts in the type of primer used not from age on the outside of the case. They made it sound like old bullets just get corrsive over time.
Then I was thinking these obivously arent from WWII but they are dirty on the outside so should I clean the bullet before I shoot them or shoot them then clean my gun with soapy water?
Lots of things to consider with these Storage Wars bullets. My guess would be he probably wasnt a competeition shooter because there were two 50 round boxs of Fiocchi 147 grain FMJ. I'd bet he had a preference for 147 self defense ammo and the FMJ ammo was his practice stuff. Maybe the white box bullets are reloaded with MG 147 grain?
You are overthinking this. Shoot. Clean. Repeat.
I remember a while ago (around 2004-2005 at least) some Winchester white box ammo was loaded with what looked like brass jacketed bullets. Some Fiocchi from around that time was too.
100 of them are the Winchester white box from Walmart, the bullet isnt copper colored though its gold and matchs the casing perfectly. Im not sure about those if anyone has a clue to that. The brass cassings are pretty clean still.
Yeah, these were very common. I think they were less expensive because the bullet jacket had less copper (which is expensive) in it.
It's very common for ammunition to get disclored with age.
I would not try to get the corrosion off of any of these. I would just shoot these without thinking about it any more. Even if they were in slightly worse shape, I would still shoot them.
I would only start to get concerned if they were rifle cartridges, which are much higher pressure and therefore more dangerous.
Joe Mamma
You are overthinking this. Shoot. Clean. Repeat.
^This^
Just shoot them...they won't hurt your gun. If it really bothers you throw them in a tumbler for 20-30 minutes and they'll be shiny as new. Tumbling won't bother them.
My ammo disposal and testing services are free... I'll shoot them!
Sent from my Sprint EVO via Tapatalk
AngeredKabar
10-03-11, 13:49
Put loaded ammo in a case tumbler?
Wouldn't that pulverize the powder and possibly increase pressure?
Put loaded ammo in a case tumbler?
Wouldn't that pulverize the powder and possibly increase pressure?
No, its perfectly fine to tumble....how do you think the factory gets them so shiny ;)
I heard about someone putting loaded ammo in a tumbler (for too long evidentially). I think they wore a hole through the bottom of the plastic tumbler. They were much heavier than the empty brass cases the guy was used to, and didn't circulate well through the media in his setup.
Joe Mamma
I heard about someone putting loaded ammo in a tumbler (for too long evidentially). I think they wore a hole through the bottom of the plastic tumbler. They were much heavier than the empty brass cases the guy was used to, and didn't circulate well through the media in his setup.
Joe Mamma
LOL.....he musta have left town while they were tumbling. I've tumbled .223, 9mm, .45, .40, .270 all for aywhere from 30min to 4 hours and never had a problem.
I had some USA years back loaded with brass colored projectiles (Wal-Mart $9.99 per 100). Shoot all the ammo in practice (that's all it is good for now) and don't worry about it.
PdxMotoxer
10-03-11, 21:52
You are overthinking this. Shoot. Clean. Repeat.
Sounds like the over thinking that happens when you go to long in between range trips.
Just what he said.. shoot em' then clean your gun.
(i can see wiping old stuff off but anything else is like cleaning your
recycling before you put it outside for pick up)
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