Tarnished .223 Amo

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bddog

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I was giving my friend several boxes of some .223 Ammo. The Ammo is more than several years old. The rounds have lost all their shine and are tarnished.
He says he will have to clean them with steel wool before using. He says they will dangerously load up his rifle.
Is this true? If so, how many rounds before there is danger?
I am of the opinion, that as long as he cleans his rifle after use (as he should be doing any way) there should be no problem.
There is no pitting of any kind, just tarnish.
Thank you for your help-- Steve
 
Hard to answer for sure, but tarnished ammo should be fine to shoot. If it is seriously corroded, maybe it could have been weakened.

I'd shoot it and clean the gun later. If it splits, you'll know it is not safe to shoot. Cleaning would make that worse.
 
He says the tarnish will load up in the gun. I don't see it. Cleaning would be a very silly waste of time IMO.
 
Okey tarnish will NOT load up in the gun, I have some old Chek 8mm Mauser ammo, it's tarnished beyond belief and the only problem I've had with it is that it splits, thats it. And this stuff if is from the 70's.

I say just shoot it, and clean your rifle.
 
Tarnish isn’t a problem. I’m assuming you mean brown and smooth, not green and ickyfeelin ("ickyfeelin" is one of them thar tekinickel terms there’s no reglar word for:D )
I don’t like it, and have been known to take a piece of #0000 to a load of brass … but it isn’t necessary.:o

Hey, hold the phone …. You’re GIVING it to him, and he’s whining ?:eek:
 
Still smooth. Just not " bright" anymore. Anyone else shoot any tarnished rounds before? Have any problems?
 
Really though, a lot of times people say tarnish when they mean corrosion. A picture, and maybe even close examination would be necessary to give really good advise. If it’s just a surface layer of air tarnish, no biggie. Brown splotches that you can’t feel are OK. Knowing if it was exposed to any chemicals would be helpful. I’d clean up a few for inspection … to get a look at the brass underneath and a "feel" for the brass. Dunno how to put that part into words .
Make sure they don’t have any residue on them that will stick in a chamber. Green is bad news and warrants extremely close inspection and cleaning.

EDIT : just not bright anymore ? ... that's gonna be fine ... and these are loaded rounde(not brass?), you're giving it to him

IMNSOHO : Whiners do not deserve such generosity.:p:D
I'll be happy to send you my shipping address:D
 
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When I first started reloading I didnt have a tumbler and I shot hundreds of rounds of tarnished ammo in my mini-14 and 30-06. I have never heard of a tarnished case causing problems. As long as its not all green with corrosion like animal stated and its only lost its shine there shouldnt be any problems. Before I got my tumbler I just wiped the case down real good to make sure it wasnt dirty and reloaded and shot it.
 
my carry weapons ammo is few years old. its been handled over and over due to range trips. it id brown and has magazine circle marks on all of them. they still go right back in with confidents.
 
Are these reloads or factory rounds? If the latter, you are welcome to give them to me instead. :)

As mentioned above tarnish is not a problem. Green corrosion is a red flag.
 
if "tarnish" is the proper definition, then "He says he will have to clean them with steel wool before using." waste of time ! just shoot them.

BUT!

if there is GREEN crap on them that can be scraped off with a fingernail, clean them and look for pitting, if pitting is present, pull the bullet, save them, dump the powder in your garden and crush the cases with a hammer enough to keep them from being reloaded.
 
my carry weapons ammo is few years old. its been handled over and over due to range trips. it id brown and has magazine circle marks on all of them. they still go right back in with confidents.
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Don't do that.

You can eventually get bullet setback and pressure spikes, unless you are using a very low pressure cartridge or checking the rounds OAL after every rechamber.

Unless you carry all the time and never leave it in your vehicle, it has probably seen some really high/low temperatures too.

Ammo/primers will degrade over time, especially with temperature variation. You should at least fire the round in the chamber at every practice session.

That way you don't rechamber a single round over and over and you make sure they still work and lastly you cycle through your ammo. That way you won't still be carrying Winchester Silvertips in 2012. ;)

ETA:

If this is rifle ammo, it is even more important as most military pattern semiautomatic rifles have floating firing pins, repeated rechamberings can dimple the primers to the point they may not fire when you really need them to. Never depend on a round that has been chambered more than 1 time as a defensive round. Put it in your "practice" pile instead of rechambering it again.
 
Sounds silly,

Perhaps he thinks his rifle is a little more precision built than possible with todays technology.

If I had a rifle that couldn't take some discoloured ammo, I would get rid of it.


As far as the above tip; I regularly shoot the top round at the end of an unsuccessful hunt.
 
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