I purchased 1,400 30/06 cases for $14.00 dollars, crimped primers-once fired at .01 cent each, on the outside, the cases were brown, inside? Each case had a 30 caliber bee, most refer to the 30 cal black bee as being a wasp or dirt dabbers (spell check does not have a word for ‘dobbers’), anyhow, I allowed the wasp to mature, one day they hatched and left !!! when the wife opened the garage door, she thought she was in a Steven King Movie, she had never seen a black cloud pass her as she entered the Garage.
A smith in Hawaii said the problem is worst there, he said they had 22 cal wasp, there was no question about ‘if’, he said leaving anything unplugged guaranteed the 22 cal wasp would take up residency. Oxidation causes a lot of work when cleaning cases. Problem, at night the cases loose their heat, in the morning when warm moist air comes in contact with the cold brass, tools, concrete etc., etc., moisture in the air condenses on the cooler surface, so, sealing brass in an air tight container is recommended, and there is nothing wrong with warming the container first, but when the warm air in the container cools a partial vacuum is created, the flexing of the plastic container can fatigue the material, so, heavy coffee cans with flexible lids work and metal containers/ammo cans work.
Cleaning, I am not trying to impress anyone with shiney (urban form of spelling) ammo, when I choose to show off I spin polish with home made spinners, heavily oxide brass can be clean and still have that old oxidized appearance.
F. Guffey
