Need Ideas on cleaning older ammo

PSS

PSS

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i just scored 280 rds of m2 30-06 ball ammo.the problem is that the shells are turning green and cruddy from minor water exposure.anyone know a easier way to clean this ammo up besides scubbing every one with a scotchbrite pad?
thanks
 
PSS said:
i just scored 280 rds of m2 30-06 ball ammo.the problem is that the shells are turning green and cruddy from minor water exposure.anyone know a easier way to clean this ammo up besides scubbing every one with a scotchbrite pad?
thanks
Click to expand...

Tumble it.
 
now i need to find someone with a tumbler.any volenteers? i'll split the ammo with anyone who wants to try and clean this stuff up.i'm up in leominster.the ammo is 30-06
 
OK, how about a small jug of ammo that addicentally had motor oil spilled into it? Like, 5 years ago... f-ing basement is too big and too crammed.

Being glass, it pooled rather than seeped out of the can.
 
Cross-X said:
Ditto -- tumble it -- loaded or not, it doesn't matter.
Click to expand...

Double ditto. Does not matter. If finicky, use a lead-away cloth to rub each round. Cloth will almost immediately turn black, you will go through many, but the finished product will be bright and shiny. All depends on what you want.
 
All kidding aside, if you want to polish up some very old rounds that tumbling may not take care of, try some of the "lead-away" type cloths.

Normally I use them to clean the cylinder face on my .460, Model 27 and Model 17. Decided to try them on some old 30.06 surplus that I had. Cases were heavily tarnished and had a lot of green.

When done, rounds looked like they were factory new. Not saying this is a "bulk" thing to do, but if you want to do maybe 40-50 rounds at a time, it will work and also makes future tumbling more effective.
 
BIG GUN said:
I have cleaned a lot of old 06 & 308 ammo using a fine wire wheel on a grinder. Just be carefull if you buff the primed base.
Click to expand...
I built a couple of tattoo machines that had .22 cases in the frame, I took the dremel and cooked off the primers in the cases one by one.. had a few people look over at me and ask what the hell I was popping..I also built some with .40 S&W cases for connectors [smile]
atattoomachine.jpg
atattoomachine2.jpg


And yes I miss the tattoo studio....[wink]
DSC00554.jpg
 
Followup-leadaway

Just a followup on my prior comments about the lead-away type cloths. While in my local store a couple of days ago I saw an old wooden pistol case. It was old and dingy and the hardware was heavily rusted but I saw some possibility for it. It was deep enough to create two layers with some modern foam. This is the type of wooden case that if it were new would be called "presentation" and would cost easily $100-150 or more. Grin, got it for a song because it was dingy and gathering dust. Unscrewed all the hardware and went to work with the "lead away" type cloths/patches that I mentioned previously. Took a lot of rubbing, but the hardware now looks like new. Soaked it all in Kroil and put it out to drain. Rubbed in and rubbed in again "Old English" and am letting it soak in so the old wood will absorb it all. When done, this will be a very nice pistol case that looks like new, but has old-time quality complete with dovetail construction. Grin, guess I got a little off the track. The cloths/patches I mentioned are good for a variety of things. Bringing old ammo cases back to life is one....if you don't mind the rubbing. Other than that....use your imagination. Have also used them to clean the rims on my Harley, get rid of weathering on a brass "kick plate" at the front door, clean cylinder faces on stainless revolvers, and, of course, get rid of lead buildup in forcing cones. No, I do not work for any company that makes any of this type of product. Am just a happy and satisfied user of this type of product.[grin]
 
Do not tumble loaded ammo! I remember seeing something in print that said the powder grains or rods may break up and generate more pressure than usual. I think the theory is the same as black powder, coarse powder=lower pressure & fine powder=high pressure. Either way, I have shot quite a bit of crusty ammo and have noticed that the cases tend to split quite a bit.
 
I'll echo the comments on not tumbling it.

I'm not 100% sure it causes higher pressure, but Iam fairly certain it reduces accuracy, and possibly reliability to boot.

Wipe it off with a chemical cloth, or clean it with steel wool.
 
.
If you check out the different web sites you get info for both sides of the question, the same as here.
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On tumbling ammo -- I know that both the powder companies and the reloading companies recommend against tumbling loaded ammo. There is a concern that the "deterrent" coatings which help to control burning rate & such would get damaged by tumbling. Enough of the companies say the same thing, to make me think there's some truth there.

Of course ammo (and component powder) gets bumped around in shipment etc. However, a tumbler provides a lot of very concentrated agitation in a short period of time.

Think about this - if you put some brass in polishing media, put it in your car, and drove it across the country, do you think it would come out anywhere near as clean as it gets from a few hours in your tumbler? I doubt it.

-- Keith

http://www.odcmp.org/new_forum/topic.asp?ARCHIVE=true&TOPIC_ID=42452&whichpage=2

====================================================

Well I did it.

I put in a couple handfuls of that live ammo, came back home after about five hours pulled it out.

Some part of the ammo was actually shiny, the rest was nice and smooth still ugly but I’m sure it will chamber better now.

Thanks
Michael

http://forums.gunboards.com/showthread.php?t=1826

===============================================

This question has been raised going back at least 2 revisions of Gunboards. The consensus then, as now is that tumbling won't cause any component degradation.

I have tumbled some pretty tarnished surplus .308 ammo with good results. In pulling down several rounds from each batch, there was no evidence of powder breakdown.

http://forums.gunboards.com/showthread.php?t=1826
 
EddieCoyle said:
BS

Ammo manufacturers tumble all of their loaded ammo prior to shipping. I know because I've seen it.
Click to expand...

I agree, and also, if you don't think that your ammo gets vibrated MUCH more between the time it leaves the factory on big ass bumpy truck to the time it reaches your door, then it does in an hour or so in your tumbler, your high!
 
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An hour?

Crimminy, if the ammo is clean enough that tumbling it an hour is all that's required, yeah, I'll concede that won't hurt anything. Probably won't even hurt the accuracy any, either.

I'm referring to a fairly long tumbling, about 10-12 hours (yes, I've had brass that was THAT bad, and WORSE).

No, I don't think it makes the ammo "unsafe". No, I haven't tried it myself. Yes, I have heard people state ammo that was tumbled long periods of time (that 10-12+ hours) was less than accurate. I do question the original quality of the ammo as well.

I guess we're not looking at how bad that ammo really is.

If it can be tumbled an hour to clean, how bad did it really need to be cleaned in the first place?

If it needs 12 hours to get it clean enough to shoot, was it worth the trouble anyways?

I feel like an ASS for not having asked that before.
 
I'm still trying to figure out WHY he wanted it clean in the first place. Why not just shoot it, and THEN tumble the cases?
 
Either way Roger, do you think those jugs of powder spend any less than 12 hours in the back of a semi trailer, getting bounced all to hell, and having TONS of space inside the powder container to bounce all around?

As Jim said, the ammo manufactured have HUGE tumblers and let their ammo go until it's sparkling clean before being packaged up. If tumbling had any effect on the finished product, I would bet the ammo manufactures would tend to not do it.
 
dwarven1 said:
I'm still trying to figure out WHY he wanted it clean in the first place. Why not just shoot it, and THEN tumble the cases?
Click to expand...

The cases were too cruddy to shoot. They weren't badly corroded, but there was enough crust so that I wouldn't have wanted to put the stuff in my M1.

I tumbled it for him. It took about 4 hours in corncob to make it presentable. Some of the brass is still tarnished, but it's all shootable.

Adam_MA said:
As Jim said, the ammo manufactured have HUGE tumblers and let their ammo go until it's sparkling clean before being packaged up. If tumbling had any effect on the finished product, I would bet the ammo manufactures would tend to not do it.
Click to expand...

Yup. The Remington ammo plant in Lonoke, Arkansas is one of our customers. They tumble all the finished ammo (in corn cob media) until it is shiny. Sometimes this takes a long time. The tumblers look very much like the vibratory bowls we use, but they have 20HP motors, and they're big enough to seat about a dozen people.
 
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Adam_MA said:
Either way Roger, do you think those jugs of powder spend any less than 12 hours in the back of a semi trailer, getting bounced all to hell, and having TONS of space inside the powder container to bounce all around?
Click to expand...

I have always seriously doubted the powder story anyways.

Knowing what I know about ammo, I'd say 24 hours in a truck is much less than 12 hours tumbling. I don't think those boxes of powder jugs are getting turned upside down 2 or more times per minute.

And, my issue with it has to do with the accuracy of the ammo (I am pickier than most folks), along with the wisdom of doing that much cleaning. As stated, if it's bad enough to warrant 12 hours in walnut shells, it's probably not all that good to start with,

EC's post speaks volumes of how cruddy it really was.

Considering that corncob is what I use for polishing compound when I tumble, instead of the walnut shells I use for cleaning, I'd say the ammo wasn't all that bad. Especially considering it was only 4 hours.

When you've tumbled brass for 12 hours each on 3 consecutive days (in walnut shells), then you know what really cruddy brass is.

Water stains are almost impossible to remove and hurt nothing. Corrosion is a different story, especially when it's bad enough.

As I said, a good lesson for me to read better before operating the keyboard.
 

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