So I picked up some of this same port ammo recently and it naturally had the same/similar corrosion on it. I knew that going in, so no big deal there.
Maybe 2/3 of the lot was either spotless or close to it. Of the remaining 1/3, some was able to be cleaned up a little with some steel wool, leaving only a little discoloration on the case. I set it aside and plan on firing it soonest. Some was worse. The stuff that I'm calling "worse" either had the white corrosion pictured above that seemed like a more substantive problem, and/or lots of black corrosion that seemed like it could be deeper. It's tough to tell if the brass was pitted enough to the point of being unsafe, and I'm setting all that aside and am thinking of pulling them apart.
A couple of questions:
- If a round had a small dark spot or spots on it that didn't come right off with wool I'm assuming it's fine. There are a few rounds in the lot, however, that have those spots on the case head and/or primer. Should I hesitate to fire a round that has discoloration on the primer? In other words, is the metal that much softer at the dark spots?
- Is there any sort of way to tell where the safe line is for some of this corrosion? Is the white corrosion indicative of deeper damage? Since this is all Nato stuff with sealed primers I'm thinking that there's little chance of these corroding from the inside out, but correct me if I'm wrong.
- If I've taken the steel wool and polsihed up the darker spots so that they're smooth but still discolored, will storing them in a sealed can with dessicant be enough so stabilize them, or will they continue to corrode?
Thanks in advance for any anwers you might have.