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Brass storage and corrosion

4K views 23 replies 14 participants last post by  Kevin Rohrer 
#1 ·
I have a pile of 40s that were in a plastic coffee can and developed a rusty looking corrosion along with some of the classic green that you find on old brass items. My walnut media couldn't get it off.

That being said, I reload in the garage, which I do not heat unless I'm out there. The brass is a mixed pile of Winchester, PMC, Remington, etc if that matters. It was also not cleaned yet, as I didn't have any reloading equipment back when I stored it.

Is it better to store cleaned brass?
Could it be the temperature fluctuations causing my corrosion?
Do I need desiccant packs?
Can my brass be saved?

I have a bunch of cardboard boxes I was going to switch to, but then I see in other threads that many of you store in plastic, including coffee cans like I did.

Thanks
 
#2 ·
My brass, well all my reloading stuff, except powder, is stored in a shed. I have never had any brass corrode that I can remember. I also have all of my brass in plastic coffee cans. The only thing I can think of is that the brass was wet when you put it in the cans.

I do clean my brass before I put it into the storage cans. If that make a difference, I could not say.
 
#4 ·
The humidity in the air will cause your brass to corrode if not properly cared for, especially with the temperature fluctuations in an unheated building. I got some 22-250 brass that a neighbor had stored in an outside unheated storage building, and had to pitch most of it because of the aforementioned problems. These weren't stored in metal containers, but in the original boxes they came from, and still corroded and pitted. The heat generated in summer probably won't affect the life of the brass, but winter cold like you get in Indiana, and here in Ohio could. If possible try to store your brass in a more temperature controlled environment.
To remove the severe dis-coloration try tumbling for extended time periods with a special brass brightener, Graff and Sons sells an excellent one. Deeply corroded and pitted brass should be tossed.
 
#6 ·
I store all dirty brass in a large bucket. Once cleaned, it get sorted and stored in other buckets by caliber. All buckets have snap on lids which are air tight. The buckets are stored in my garage year around. Eight months of the year, the air is dry with very low humidity. In the summer (Arizona Monsoon season), it is hot and humid in my garage but nothing like your humidity in the east, especially southeast.
 
#7 ·
If you can't save enough of them and find yourself wanting more just pick up 1k range brass for $20 + $14 s/h: http://www.precisiononcefiredbrass.com/40s-w/

My order came more more like 1500 pieces (it may have been an error that they have now fixed) and was mostly Winchester , R-P, and Federal head stamp. There was a fairly good showing of PMC and PPU brass as well. Over 25% of the brass was "WIN" or "Winchester" head stamped and only 5-10% were not of the head stamps listed above.
 
#21 ·
My order of 1k .223 came with FIVE over the count, not the 1030 that they say they ship in their FAQ section. After tossing the FIVE bad ones that had either a chunk of the rim ripped off or deep grooves in the side or crushed necks, I still ended up with only 998 as two of the five that they sent extra were 6.5 cases, not .223. Emails to them were ignored, as was my review. Over half of my order was Lake City that had been reloaded at least once, as there were no primer crimps. I can pay a little more and get better brass.
 
#8 ·
Thanks for the help guys!

Humidity is all over the place during summer, and we do extreme dry in the winter with occasional periods of 40 degree muddy, rainy, Germany style weather. They say that if you complain about the weather here, just hang around for 10 minutes and it will change.

My dad gave me some brass that was in ziplocs with paper towels in them. It looks good, but I've only had it for a couple months.

I may bring it all inside. Just don't know where I'll put it.
 
#12 ·
I use old Planter's nut containers for my brass. I can see the brass, don't have to put a label on the side, and I have LOTS of the containers. I don't clean the brass first on most of my hoard, I do wet tumble .380/ .38 and .45 acp, the 9mm stuff and .40 cal I just store it for later use.
 
#13 ·
I know what this problem is. I used to do a lot of work out in my garage. In the winter I would turn the heat on and keep it nice and warm when I was out there. I turned the heat off and may be 12 hours or more before I went back out there. I noticed my tools were rusting.

Its the big temperature change. I could actually see water on my tools from the temperature change. The only fix is keep it cold or leave the heat on
 
#14 ·
I know what this problem is. I used to do a lot of work out in my garage. In the winter I would turn the heat on and keep it nice and warm when I was out there. I turned the heat off and may be 12 hours or more before I went back out there. I noticed my tools were rusting.

Its the big temperature change. I could actually see water on my tools from the temperature change. The only fix is keep it cold or leave the heat on
I was leaning that way myself. I've noticed that some items condensate slightly. Maybe my brass condensated also.

I'm hoping to put in a freestanding pellet stove in the next year or so. Keep it around 40 when I'm not there, and 60 when I'm working.
 
#17 ·
#18 ·
My corroded brass has been stored for a couple of years at least. I kept it thinking I would eventually reload.

I used walnut to try to clean them.
 
#22 ·
My 1k order of 223 brass from them was also just over 1000 and not 1030 and when I got through sorting out the 6.5 cases and the ones that looked questionable I think I had exactly 999. They aim to send you 1030 pieces of brass so that you get 1k good ones. You and I both got very close to the 1k that we paid for so no complaints there.

I've not resized/deprimed all of mine yet, but they were all cleaned and I have touched every case by hand twice and have not noticed any signs of LC brass with crimps removed. Hopefully that won't be the case with mine, but I would probably use them anyways as long as they look good.
 
#24 ·
I wash, dry, tumble, then bag my brass, throw it in the basement reloading room, and look for it years later. The brass looks brand new and works fine.

I think your .40cal brass is unsafe for you to use, and you need to send it to me so I can dispose of it for you. [;-)

Here are some of my minions delivering range brass to my home:
 
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