Ammo recovered from a flood

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zxcvbob

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Actually, a mudslide.

Woman at my church brought me a bag of ammo that her husband salvaged from a flooded basement (I think) a few years ago, and he doesn't want it anymore. There were 6 emblock clips of .30-06 FMJ with headstamps DEN 42. The primers are crimped and sealed with red varnish. That looked pretty good; I cleaned them up with some soapy vinegar-water and a nylon scrubbie. Now they are taking a quick spin (half hour) in my vibrating tumbler.

There were 2 stripper clips of .03-06 blanks; what would that be for, an '03? Since they aren't sealed up, they are probably scrap.

2 boxes of .32 Auto pistol ammo that looks OK, but who knows. I don't have a .32 but maybe I can find someone who does.

7 loose Rem-UMC .30-06 cartridges that look like 180 grain SP's. The bullet tips are badly corroded, the brass almost looks OK, but most of them have at least one good-sized spot of green verdigris corrosion just above the extractor groove. I'm not sure what to do with these; I'll probably pull the bullets and maybe use the brass for some light cast bullet loads and see how it does. How bad does the green cancer weaken the brass? Does it weaken it all the way through, or does in only mess up the surface? Do you think the primers are still good? (these were not crimped nor varnished)

2 boxes (20 each) of 180 grain .30-06 hunting ammo. I haven't looked at those yet. They are probably in about the same shape as those loose rounds; maybe a little better or worse because of the paper box.

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The 180 grain hunting ammo was just fine after I washed the dirt off. The loose rounds that I thought were 180's must be 200's or 220's because their bullets are so much larger than the boxed 180's.
 
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The DEN 42 is corrosive primed.

Denver Ordnance Plant, Denver, Colo., USA. Operated by Remington Arms Co from Oct 1941 to Jul 1944 producing .30-06 ammo.

IMHO: Tumbling them won't hurt them in the least!

rcmodel
 
IMHO: Tumbling them won't hurt them in the least!

That's what I thought too, but I'm only tumbling them briefly because that powder is getting kind of old by now (it's older than I am.)
 
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