How do you store your brass?

[practical_man]

Howdy to all. I'm interested in how you prep your brass for long term storage.

I just got out some NEW UNFIRED starline brass that I bought before I went to Iraq. It was sitting in my garage for more than a year in the cardboard box they shipped it in. I was pretty darned surprised to find that it had some corrossion freckles on it. Even after 4 hours in the tumbler, the freckling was still there, and a little bit rough to the touch. I'd like to prevent that from happening in future.

I was thinking of tumbling to clean up the brass, then spraying a little case lube into a zip lock to lightly coat the brass before I put it away. I'd then give it a good was in soapy water before loading up, just in case some lube migrated inside the case.

your thoughts and experiences, please.

-john

[mooman76]

I just put in ziplock bags as is. They might tarnish a little after awhile but that won't affect performance or you could throw them in the tumbler for a few to remove the tarnish. You could spray WD-40 on them. It will dry and you shouldn't have to remove the lube when you finnaly use them.

[UweJ]

Hi
Like moonman I use ziplock bags at 100 cases each ,then store. Before using them I put them in the tumbler and then of you go.
Uwe

[Linstrum]

Just about all cardboard nowadays contains recycled material and as such it may contain fragments of aluminum foil and tiny bits of soft iron debris shaved off of staples when they get pulled out.

Normally we don't notice this stuff and it doesn't give anybody any trouble UNTIL it comes into contact with another metal product, like new shiny brass. A common problem with brass cartridges in contact with steel charging clips or Garand en bloc clips is that an electric current is set up with a very minimum of moisture that preferentially corrodes the zinc out of the brass cartridge alloy, leaving a pit or even a hole in the cartridge where the iron or aluminum was in contact with it. Such damage will have a shiny area of bright copper around the edges and is used to identify the process, called PLUG DE-ZINCIFICATION. Ammo stored for years in Garand clips will often have the cartridges badly damaged where the lips of the en bloc were in contact with the sides of the cartridge cases. The metal debris in cardboard made from recycle material will do the same thing and I take all new brass out of the cardboard boxes and put them in zip-lock plastic bags. Fingerprints can be unsightly but that is just cosmetic. If the corroded spots on brass are not removed by tumbling then it is a sure bet the brass has undergone plug de-zincification and the spots are a bit deeper than plain fingerprint corrosion.

If you have brass with little pin point spots of corrosion I wouldn't worry about the integrity of the brass. I've used .30-06 cases that were stored in en bloc clips that had developed rough de-zincified patches about the diameter of a BB without any trouble, when I resized them a few times they eventually failed by cracking.

If the damaged area is very large and near the head it may contribute to a head separation but other than that or if there is extensive damage at the case mouth, it is not a problem until a hole develops and even then it may never cause any trouble if the hole is a distance from the case head since it is not the cartridge case that holds the pressure, it is the chamber that does that job with the area near the cartridge head that does all the high pressure sealing. Using brass that has been damaged by plug de-zincification is a judgment call and if you feel that it is dangerous then don't use it, but keep in mind that cartridges used in pressure testing barrels have a hole drilled in the side of the case to take the gas pressure measurements and they don't leak or cause anything dangerous to happen.

[scb]

GI ammo cans with desiccant.

[DLCTEX]

+1 on the ziplock bags. I use the heavy freezer bags, which usually have a panel on the outside to mark the contents. Be careful to not mix in some steel cases (Wolf 223, for example) as the will cause electrolysis due to dissimilar metals touching. I prefer to clean, size and deprime them first, but do not always get it done. If storing brass that has been neck sized, mark which rifle it is for. DALE

[Bret4207]

I was unaware anyone used anything other than quart and gallon Zip Lock bags or coffee cans.:-D

[mike in co]

I was unaware anyone used anything other than quart and gallon Zip Lock bags or coffee cans.:-D


50/60/100 plastic ammo boxes
3 lb coffee cans
50 cal ammo cans
5 gal buckets....


i only use qt and gallon zip lock for selling brass .

mike in co

[Ricochet]

Hmmm, hadn't thought about steel and brass cases being a problem together. I have some steel .45s mixed in with brass. (I reload and shoot 'em both, and just mix all my .45s anymore.)

[ktw]

I have an old file cabinet dedicated to brass. The drawers are partitioned with old flat rate boxes. The boxes are filled with quart or gallon ziplock freezer bags full of cleaned and headstamp sorted brass.

The only time I have seen the pinhole corrosion you describe was in a bag of brass I received from someone else in that condition.

-ktw

[Sprue]

...I was pretty darned surprised to find that it had some corrossion freckles on it.I've gotten new brass from Midway before that was freckled right out of the box. Was it speckled when you first got it?

For brass storage, like most others... in baggies placed in coffee cans, ammo cans etc..

Oh and Yeah !

Thanks you for your Services in the sandbox! I hope you're back for good!

Best wishes to you and yours....

[practical_man]

I've gotten new brass from Midway before that was freckled right out of the box. Was it speckled when you first got it?

For brass storage, like most others... in baggies placed in coffee cans, ammo cans etc..

Oh and Yeah !

Thanks you for your Services in the sandbox! I hope you're back for good!

Best wishes to you and yours....

Sprue,

This brass came straight from Starline. I just put the box on the shelf when I got it, and didn't give it another thought.

Thanks to all that responded. Good lesson learned on my part. From now on, brass comes out of cardboard as soon as it arrives.

I'm still mulling over putting a little case lube on it as a preservative. Haven't yet decided.

[ktw]

I'm still mulling over putting a little case lube on it as a preservative. Haven't yet decided.

There was an Oldfeller thread here a while back that discussed cleaning and storing old GI brass. Seem to recall the use of common vegetable oil in the process being described. Might be worth searching it up.

-ktw

[jack19512]

I also use zip lock bags.

[HeavyMetal]

I've used zip lock's for ever! Recently stumbled onto a gizmo that sucks all the air out of the ziplok bag! Made by reynolds got the gizmo and some bags for 7.99 even came with batteries!

The make a special reinforced freezer bag in gallon and quart size so far so good looks like freeze dried coffee when it's over!

[floodgate]

To add to Linstrum's excellent discussion of "Plug De-Zincification" (which I cribbed from a previous discussion with him when answering a related question a few days back), if polishing the corroded spot with 0000 steel wool shows a patch of coppery color, that is a pretty sure sign that that's what is going on. Here are a couple of sectioned failed cases (.22 Velo-Dog and 11 mm Mauser) in which you may be able to see this effect:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/floodgate/ece68697.jpg

floodgate

[jhrosier]

I think that the trick to brass storage is mainly to prevent moisture from degrading the brass.
I find ammo cans to be effective but inconvenient.
Much of my brass is in ziplock freezer bags which are then stored in the large transluscent plastic storage boxes with snap on lids. Small quantities of several different calibers can be kept in a single box.
Occasional dampness in my basement has not affected brass stored this way.

Jack

[jmabbott888]

Been storing mine in either the bags it's shipped in or the stuff that gets loaded in those international coffee cans, dad must have saved a couple hundred before he died, I'm still finding them at moms house lol.

[Bret4207]

50/60/100 plastic ammo boxes
3 lb coffee cans
50 cal ammo cans
5 gal buckets....


i only use qt and gallon zip lock for selling brass .

mike in co

You're right Mike! How could I have forgotten my 5 gallon buckets! Gotta love it when you hit the range and pick up 5 gallons of "useless" brass!:mrgreen:

[quickshot]

for all my bulk stuff I use 20qt storage drawer thinggies in the garage. The stuff that is my current shooting rotation stays in 50cnt plastic ammo boxes

[Junior1942]

I use large plastic Planter's Peanut jars for case storage.

[mooman76]

I use the ziplock sandwich bags. Perfect size for me. One will fit perfect in a cardboard shot shell box and 4 boxes to the bigger shot shell box. This keeps them neat and easy to stack. I find them where I shoot. This is how I store my excess or brass I don't use at this time. The stuff I am currently using I eventually bought plastic ammo boxes for. I made little tags to put in the boxes to mark where I am at in the load process. Sized, belled or whatever. That way when I do load I only have a few steps left to finish for a quick load!

[Huntducks]

If i'm going to use it in a few months I zip lock bag it, if it's staying around for some time I vacume seal it stacks real easy that way.

[dale2242]

I sort my brass by caliber and make. Put them in ziplock freezer bags and mark them well. They are then stored in cardboard boxes marked with the caliber. If I prep the cases - ready to load- I separate them from the fired cases and store them in their own bags. Just grab a bag and load. I hate sorting brass more than once.---dale