Discolored brass from hand oils

[chrisf8657]

Hi guys,

I reloaded a bunch of rounds for SHTF situations, and decided to take a box out of my desicannt filled 50 cal can, and noticed it, and all others, are tarnished and "eaten" looking from my hand oils when loading.

Does this affect the integrity of the brass, or it's ability to be fired?

Thanks

 

[FROGO207]

I have had some really cruddy looking/tarnished ammo in the past and it has all fired fine. BUT if the brass is pitted deeply with a green blue on it then I do not chance it and simply use the components over that are still OK and recycle the brass. IMHO the brass may be in danger of rupture if it is corroded enough. I would just ignore some tarnish if I were you. Now if you want to clean them you could tumble them whole (I do this and feel perfectly safe doing it, There are threads about this on here) with some Nu Finish polish and then they will keep that great shine for eons. If you want to be sure of no prints when handling them after polishing the brass use medical type gloves or clean cotton ones.

 

[RustyFN]

It shouldn't hurt anything. That's one of the reasons I add Nu Finish car polish in my tumbler, mine stay shiny.

 

[capreppy]

Most of my pistol rounds don't hang around long enough to have issues. However, those rounds that I know will sit around for a while (hunting rounds made in bulk that may take a year or two to shoot up) are made wearing nitrile gloves. Final step in brass prep is time in a rotary tumbler to get rid of lube and any oils. From that stage on, I wear gloves when touching the brass or bullets. They'll go into airtight storage till they are used.

 

[918v]

Discoloration, scratches, dings, dents, bird poop, spiders, and dirt inside do not affect the structural integrity of the brass.

 

[popper]

I've had rifle cases get ugly rom leaving lube on them. If you see fingerprints, it's hand oil, else it's something else.

 

[Slamfire]

bird poop

I would disagree on bird poop.

I have a failure analysis book. One case history is of either a brass or bronze boat propeller from which a prop blade fell off. The culprit? Bird poop. Bird poop may have ammonia compounds.

Bird poop will also eat through car paint, don't discount the power of Bird Poop!

Season cracking due to ammonia compounds is real and anything ammonia is to be avoided near brass. Apparently mercury is also bad.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brass

http://www.aimehq.org/library/books/Symposium on Stress-Corrosion Cracking of Metals, 1944/067.pdf

In so far as your grimy mitts, oils won’t cause issues, body salts can create conditions for corrosion.

 

[MrOldLude]

I wear rubber gloves while loading. Following cleaning/tumbling, I don't touch my rounds with bare-fingers until firing. I load more than I shoot, so I plan for my rounds to be in long-term storage until I'm ready for them.

 

[bubbacrabb]

I have some of the same issue. I dont load with gloves, but it might not be a bad idea, for health reason it might be a really good idea. Im sure later in life i'll regret handling all this lead without gloves on. It also cant hurt your ammo staying cleaner longer. I tumble with nu finish so Im hoping that will help them keep. In the ammo I use as long storage, which can also be a as you said shtf ammo I put them in vaccum sealed bags then put them in ammo cans. I imagine the ammo will last nearly for ever like this. Not sure though, I've never been around for ever. I do have 20k of 22lr stored like this just incase the gold standard turns into the brass standard.

 

[rg1]

Some peoples skin oils are acidic. A few years back when America still had some bearing factories, the factory tested employee skin oils and only certain people were allowed to touch or handle the bearings in some operations. I've never had a problem with my fingerprints being acidic but I have a nephew that even his once fired brass leaves fingerprint discoloration and his fingerprints will actually cause rust on firearms if not wiped and oiled. While attending a bearing school I saw a large precision aircraft propeller bearing that actually failed due to someone handling the thrust bearing with his bare hands leaving rusty prints. If you leave prints that stains brass, either wear gloves, wipe each round with a clean rag, or tumble your loaded rounds for just a few minutes to remove skin oils. I know some say don't tumble live ammo but a very few minutes won't hurt. Just having mild "stains" won't hurt your brass but I wouldn't want green corrosion or pitting. It's probably just a cosmetic issue though.

 

[gamestalker]

Wow, I thought I was the only one who loads with gloves on. because I like to stock pile a good number of my specialty stuff I don't want it to start degrading, you know that green looking pitted type of process that gets started and then doesn't ever go away. So I have been using latex gloves for many years and have some stock that is nearly 30 yrs. old and still looks fine with the exception being the brass is a darker color than the fresh tumbled look.
But if you have brass that has any pitting I personally wouldn't use it in a high pressure cartridge such as magnum handgun, or high powered rifle.

 

[Blue68f100]

I wear gloves while I'm sorting/inspecting/counting. Once counted I seal them in Food saver bags to keep the air/moisture away. From there I dump a full bag into my brass feeder, then once loaded by my LNL-AP I then put 100 to 200 in to the Food saver bags and seal. This keep oxidation to a minimum till I shoot them.

 

[GaryL]

I used to work with a guy who "corroded" everything he touched. He also ate lots of junk food, so we figured he had a salty touch.

 

[orionengnr]

I have read the posts of several people who seem to corrode anything they touch. Body chemistry thing, I guess. I don't seem to have that problem.

That said, I reload using nitrile gloves (mostly to make up for my many years of indiscretions in handling hazmat throughout my life up to this point) and wipe down each round afterward, mostly to inspect remove bullet lube and lead shavings.

I think tumbling the complete rounds would do a similar job. My rounds seldom last 90 days before being fired, but if I were loading for long term storage, I like the vacuum bag suggestions.

 

[mr.trooper]

How often do you wash your hands?

A surprising number of people don't ever wash their hands... not even in the bathroom, not even before they eat.

I wash my hands at appropriate times, or even if they just feel oily. I don't have a problem with fingerprints.

 

[TigerBight]

I use gloves as well sure keeps my hands clean in all phases depriming to bullet seating.

 

[AK_Maine_iac]

The gloves i wear all the time when loading, is a very light weight Kevlar gortex lined gloves. Same as what i used for years as a Paramedic. Water proof, cut resistance, and very flexible. Can pick up primers and other very small items with them. They also breath so your hands do not sweat. Very pricey though.But they will last you a life time. They are a copy of the military flight gloves.

 

[snuffy]

I'm sure later in life i'll regret handling all this lead without gloves on. It also cant hurt your ammo staying cleaner longer.

Quit worrying about lead penetrating your skin. It does NOT! Welllll, only 0.002% of it does, not enough to ever accumulate. Of course an open wound would be a direct path for lead to enter the body, but that's common sense,(oh I forgot, common sense is dead, just look at congress!)

The use on nu-finish, or any other automotive wax to tumble the brass in will put a minute layer of wax on the ammo. Enough to guard against your finger oils causing tarnish after you're done loading them.

As for tumbling loaded ammo, Walkalong and I did a test back in January '10, look at the results at this link;

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=498890&highlight=tumbling+live+ammo