I just opened a coffee can of 06 brass that was sized and primed. About 20 pieces were corroded.

Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk

 

I've never used a corrosion inhibitor on my brass. I store my brass in ziplock bags. I might have to run them in the tumbler when I reload them 10 years later, but they are in very good condition and only slightly discolored.

Where I see problems with actual corrosion on brass is when brass or ammo is stored in styrofoam factory boxes. I bought some new old stock 356 Winchester a couple years ago and at least 2 pieces of brass was corroded to a point that I used a green scratch pad to clean them off before shooting them.

From what I've seen, don't store your brass or ammo in styrofoam.

 

Also do not let ammo be stored in leather belt loops the chemicals they use in tanning will do a number on on them

 

I store brass in zip lock freezer bag it seems to good enough.
but some were shipped to me in cardboard boxes that did tannish in time. Luckly, I ordered RCBS Ultrasonic/rotary case cleaning solution, cleaned, brighter them like new brass.
But I like to sit back a not even think about checking now and then especially when they're hard to come by like 356W, 358W, 338expr., 308expr. 35rem. and 444.
I'm not too concerned about 30-30, 30/06 or 308W. though.
Tony

 

Maybe it's climate or lube related. I store my brass in ziplocks inside GI ammo cans and have never had any corrosion problem. If they're sized, I use Lee Lube, an industrial wax. I'm shooting brass bought new in the 1990's. Guns don't rust much up here, either. Never had a problem. I'm at 3750 ft above sea level in the high semi desert of the Northern Plains, west of the Missouri. There's over 300 sunny days a year.

South Dakota was 'The Sunshine State' until some goofball Legislator had it changed to the Mount Rushmore State in 1992. In the cold dry climate human skin takes a beating, it always wants to dry out and crack, chapped lips are common, too.

 

Rob, the last thing I would think when it comes to South Dakota is the Sunshine! Cold…snow…wet…cold…firewood…cold…beautiful ….cold…YES! But “sunshine”, belongs to Florida! 😁

 

If your objective is preserving the cases for decades long storage, you can tumble the brass in dry media with a smidge of CLP added to the media. Doing this will coat the case inside and out, so you will likely have to clean the cases again when you are ready to load them up.

If you only want to coat the outside of the case using a tumbler, try and find a media that is too large to fit inside the case mouth. This should coat just the outside.

Just an FYI, I have cases that I processed and primed five years ago that look just as sparkly today as they did when I packed them. I didn't do anything special to them other than not wipe off case lube after resizing.

 

Tarnish is a result of oxygen in the air reacting with the copper in the brass alloy.

To keep it away from the brass you could (in no particular order)

vacuum pack the brass in storage bags (like food)
store in ziplock bags getting out as much air as you can
wax or oil the cases-this will increase backward thrust on the bolt when firing
store with rust inhibitor strips like for machine tools
use nickel plated cases
put up with it and run your cases through a wet tumbler before reloading them.

By all means keep your brass away from leather. The tanning salts will turn the brass green (verdigis) and fuse it into the loops. Do not store brass shells in leather bandoliers.

Good luck

 

I store my empty brass in plastic bags. If you have a tumbler try using Nufinish car polish with your media, it does a good job polishing and leaves a protective coating on the brass.

My guess is that Starline uses a commercial soap that has the corrosion inhibitor built in.

REK

 

Like has already been mentioned, in addition to placing them in Ziploc bags, I would also vacuum seal them too.

 

Be careful about using Nufinish car polish as it contains ammonia which will eventually tarnish and weaken brass if used for long time storage.

 

I don’t believe it has ammonia in it but I don’t have the SDS in front of me.
Might you be thinking of Brasso?

 

Outside of proper storage, annealing is a very good solution for old brass. Brass getting brittle is the real enemy.

 

I don't use home remedies on case brass especially, never know what might happen.
TO NY🗽

 

I bought a bag of these VCI chips a few years ago to use in the storage containers of my relaoding dies, ammo, empty cartridge cases, etc. Seems to work well (I don't have a control sample of brass).

I store cleaned brass in plastic Yuban coffee containers and throw in a chip before closing them up.

http://www.armorvci.com/wp-content/uploads/ARMOR-SHIELD-VCI-Chipboard-Product-Data-Sheet.pdf

 

I don’t believe it has ammonia in it but I don’t have the SDS in front of me.
Might you be thinking of Brasso?

You may be right...I'm just repeating what I've been told by others. It is also worth noting that anything below a certain percentage will not show up on a MSDS. I love Nu Finish used on my truck but even if it is just a trace of ammonia I'll avoid it on my brass. Overly cautious on my part...Probable am so I just stick to products pacifically made for brass.

 

I don't think I am alone when it comes to storing hard to get brass.
* * *
My question is, has anyone every used corrosion inhibitor on their brass?
TO NY🗽

Anti-corrosion bags, various sizes found at Amazon (& other stores), following link should get you there

https://www.amazon.com/VCI-Rust-Prevention-Close-Bags/dp/B08TB2ZJQQ/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?crid=2HL7I6LOFQAOJ&keywords=zcorr+anti+corrosion+bags&qid=1683127767&sprefix=zcorr%2Caps%2C991&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUExM1ZNTlQyS0NETjJHJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwOTA4NTIxMUtMTTVSNUMySVZPNSZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwODM4OTA2M01MMDNNS0YzUFFNUCZ3aWRnZXROYW1lPXNwX2F0ZiZhY3Rpb249Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU=

 

The only brass I've ever had that corroded in storage was old military loaded ammo in which the powder broke down and leached acidic compounds. In my experience, if brass is fully cleaned and stored in dry, climate-controlled conditions, it should last an eternity.

 

I have recently(within the last year or so)started using Johnsons zip wax car wash/wax on my final clean. But I can't find the old stuff(green) anymore so I started using mothers and it works almost as good. But since I have used the zip wax I have not had any tarnish or corrode as before, I also store mine in zip loc bags for freezer. Some of my older brass that I have not used the zip wax on has tarnished very badly and some has corroded. But I think the zip wax works very well. Also forgot to mention this is for wet tumbling. I also use the lemi shine but citric acid for canning does the same thing.

 

Going through my reloading stuff and found a bottle of Lyman case polish almost full and still have about three pounds of unused walnut media.
I wet tumbler the brass in S-S media with RCBS case cleaning solution. The brass came out absolutely sparkling clean inside and out. Now I'll polish the brass in walnut media and Lyman case polish and see how that goes. Think I'll post pictures.
TO NY🗽

 

Took this picture under cloudy skies. They're wet tumbled and polish. they looked brighter before I polished them. I polished because I believe it'll have better protection against tarnishing.

 

If my brass is ugly but strong it makes now difference to me how they look. They get tumbled and tossed in their respective bucket, figure if I get a few reloads and a couple years out of it I’m coming out ahead. I have some 100yr old .30-06 that shoots the same as brand new federal premium

 

I store my brass in plastic coffee cans. Tried tin cans once and if left for a long time I did experience some corrosion on several pieces of brass. I haven't had any issues with the plastic cans, so far.