Fired but uncleaned brass ... shelf life, safety?

[yhtomit]

First, I must admit that I am unlikely to start reloading until I have my own place, sometime after grad (law) school, and have settled in some pleasant state

However, in the meantime, I go shooting when I can (not much, not often), and have been compulsively saving at least most of my .45 brass, on the theory that ammo's always going up in price rather than down. Since I don't have a reloading set-up, though, this brass is just as it came from the gun, just sitting in makeshift collection containers alongside other things to which I need one day to get around.

My question: is there bad juju in saving this fired brass which is yet uncleaned? I don't expect a full lesson in reloading, but is there a smart way I should treat my once-fired brass to keep it usable in the future? I really do plan to reload, I promise

Alternate phrasing: Can brass sit around after firing (but uncleaned) and be safe for later reloading, for ... a week? A month? A year? Forever?

Cheers,

timothy

 

[Walkalong]

Forever, or near abouts, although it will take a little longer to get cleaned up.

 

[Smokey Joe]

Old Brass

Yhtomit--In the American Rifleman years ago there was a discussion of this. Can't cite the article, but the gist was that brass that gets to voting age (Back when that was 21) ought to be discarded on general principles.

Brass does age and become brittle. How long do you anticipate storing yr brass? If the storage will be anywhere near 2 decades probably not such a good idea.

Another thought: .45ACP brass is to be had plentifully for the scrounging. You might consider selling yr collection to a recycler (metals are currently high) and not having to store it until you are in a position to reload it. Then when you DO get to reloading, you could scrounge plenty of .45ACP brass which would be relatively new. Unless you have a lot of free storage space available.

As to storing dirty brass--no particular harm unless it was corrosive-primed. The crud on it may solidify a little and be harder to clean. Or not.

Hope yr studies go well.

 

[oscar]

Put it away and don't worry about it. I started reloading in the 70's and still have some of my original brass.

 

[saltydog452]

Saving brass is like picking up pennies (nickels?). It depends on how many you can salvage that makes it worthwhile, or not.

Unless you store the range brass in a working oven or deep freeze, it'll have a longer shelf life than most humans.

I still have some '40s headstamp loaded ammunition. It goes bang every time. Wish I was so lucky.

salty.

 

[ranger335v]

Old brass scroungers...

I still have some of my old horde of WWII brass, .45 and .30-06, with headstamps going back as far as 1942. It works great, as good as any newer stuff, never even thought it might have a problem. And a vib. tumbler gets it just as shiny clean as the stuff I bought last week.

Some of the REALLY old brass had problems with insufficent annealing so necks sometimes split in the box, and the old mercuric primers damaged fired stuff but that hasn't been of concern since before 1940 or so.

 

[yhtomit]

That's just what I wanted to hear!

Thanks for the replies, everyone.

I don't really have enough to be worth selling to a recycler, though that's an interesting idea and something I hadn't thought of. I just have a few hundred casings at this point, but ... like I said, since I have something like two years until I can begin to begin to start to think about an actual reloading setup, it will probably be supplemented by as many hundred more casings as I can afford to shoot new cartridges in the meantime

Thanks,

timothy

 

[agd1953]

Why would a nice boy like you become a lawyer?

 

[Shoney]

In the late 50's, I started big game hunting with my grandfathers octagon barrel 303 Savage, and although I didn't reload at that time, I saved the brass.

When I started reloading in 1960, I had moved up to 30-06 and never shot the 303, so I never loaded cartridges for it. Then in 2002 I got the 303 dies and began loading those 40 year old plus cases. I sorted them and only loaded the "newer" Remingtons.

Those cases still loaded and shot well without malfunction.

 

[yhtomit]

For agd1953

Why would a nice boy like you become a lawyer?

Why., mostly for the jokes, of course.

In truth, I see it as a) a defensive move in the hopes of later starting a business b) a really interesting area of study and c) if I should go into the actual lawyering business, hopefully a way to some satisfying / interesting work. There were lawyers who argued in D.C.'s District Court recently with good results

(http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/10/w...d88523e714fecd&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss)

timothy

 

[agd1953]

Point taken, I wish you all the luck in the world.

 

[ilbob]

First off, i commend you for not leaving this waste lying around. but are you sure you want to keep it in your house? You never know when a child might try to eat it or you might scare a liberal who sees a few fired cases.

As a future lawyer, you know the potential liability if a liberal were to see these fired cases and have a fit.

I urge you to send them to me and I will deal with them for you.

 

[GCW5]

As long as it stays dry, it should last a long, long time. Water or oil will mess it up pretty fast.