Brass storage

[bearcove]

I have a LOT of brass, most is in ziplocks or boxes/bags it came in. So, I take 100 30-30 and form 6.5 Bullberry, clean them, and take 40 to use. An Example...

What is a good way to store the rest so they will not tarnish, but not need much to prep them for use when I want them. Short term and long term ideas wanted.

[JimB..]

I don't know how well it will work long-term, but I wet tumble and then store in an ammo can or 25. Could throw a hand warmer or O2 absorber in and they'd probably be good for decades, but I haven't tested. My thinking is that once the oxygen gets used up, producing a light amount of tarnish, that the chemical process will stop and so the brass shouldn't change after the first year or so, and so I don't worry about it.

[bearcove]

Some brass I have got back out after a long time stored is dark or not usable, most of that was 15-30 yrs old. I might wonder off from a project idea and store away a batch of brass, and 20 years from now, find a new idea or interest in the old idea and would like to find my old brass ready too.

[JimB..]

Then maybe seal it in canning jars filled with argon. Seems like you may have many small lots, so use whatever size jar makes sense and store them in their boxes. Nitrogen might also work, and probably be a lot cheaper. I could design a system that stores them in a vacuum, but it would require power and a pump that would likely fail before 20 years has passed.

Your needs are highly unusual, the brass might sit for 20 years, but when you're ready to go it must be immediately ready to load.

[Mk42gunner]

Short term= Ziplock baggies.

Long term= GI ammo cans.

I also do not like using Styrofoam or polystyrene inserts to hold brass, I have seen discoloration on factory rounds stored in factory boxes.

Robert

[Electric88]

I keep them in folgers coffee cans, or 2.5 gallon buckets. Haven't seen an issue with tarnishing yet, and some brass has been there for 3 years now

[rmatchell]

For the brass I know I wont be using for a long time i just stainless tumble and then tumble in corn cob with nufinish and mineral spirits.

You could just tumble in the cob and nufinish then pack in small flat rate boxes

[dragon813gt]

Ziplock bags inside five gallon buckets. Anything smaller is to small. They're tumbled w/ NuFinish. I have a few pieces laying out in the open and they've yet to tarnish. So in a bag, in a bucket should be even better.

[skeettx]

G.I. ammo cans, they come in lots of sizes
As I get older, I gravitate to smaller cans

[rr2241tx]

Passivate your clean brass with citric acid, rinse in deionized or distilled water and dry thoroughly. Tumble polish in clean walnut blasting media containing Nu-Finish and mineral spirits. Separate from the media in a good sifter and pour the brass into clean, dry glass jars (bulk pickle jars are generally free from restaurants). Heat the filled jars by exposing them to summer sunshine and cap securely when they are hot enough to form a vacuum seal at the temperature of your storage location. If you wish, a small square of vapor board can be dropped into the jar as well. I have seen brass stored this way for several years that have no detectable oxidation. Of course, this isn't entirely ideal as glass jars are pretty strong but not immune to breakage and used lids may rust if the storage location is dusty or humid but the method is simple, containers are free and the pre-storage routine is more or less the same as if the cases were to be immediately cleaned and reloaded.

[Geezer in NH]

Plastic bucket and clean them again 10-20 years from now?

[rototerrier]

I've been hitting all mine with hornady one shot cleaner/lube. I've had brass set for 2 years that way and it all looks brand new. Not sure about how well it will hold up in 20 years though, but I doubt it will sit that long! I tend to churn through most of my brass fairly quickly. I've gone through 600rds of 9mm in just the last 2 days! Even surprised myself.

[Ianagos]

I'm thinking best solution is something that coats the brass like nufinished which some suggested.

I have similar needs and I'm going to be trying ss tumbling with car wax. Then ziplock back in 5gallon buckets. I need my brass to be ready whenever I come home on leave and don't have time to clean it and want to reload some. So it may be sitting for 3 months or 2 years but I still want it to be nice and clean just like you say. Something I was suggested for my metrology equipment like micrometers was vci compounds in the toolboxes or even in the whole machine shop to cover machines so that might work for brass too but I got no clue.

Does anybody know what lake city does? I never come across any tarnished rounds when I'm shooting that stuff even if it is old stock.

[waltherboy4040]

I tumble them, then store them in yellow 5 gallon kitty litter buckets.

[GoodOlBoy]

Years ago I was brought a large box of mixed ammo and brass by a friend of the family. It had been stored in cardboard in a garage without AC since 1978. Less than 10% of the brass/ammo was corroded and unusable and ALL of that came from a single corner of the box that had gotten wet at some point. Most of the brass and ammo was 1950s era brass. Some of it dated back to WWII and just before. Anyway what seemed to survive well was anything packed in cardboard trays and boxes. There were a few boxes of "newer" 1950s and 1960s vintage standard 38 specials and 38s (yeah just 38s) that had been either sold in or moved to styrofoam trays. It accounted for the largest portion of the lost brass as almost NOTHING stored in the styrofoam survived that method of storage.

I sold and traded off most of anything that I couldn't use.

Myself I use ziplock bags in ammo cans, or cardboard trays and boxes if I have them. I've found even mtm boxes sometimes sweat in Texas humidity when going from a AC home to outside, and I still figure on digging around in some of those boxes too often to have to worry wart that on top of everything else.

God Bless, and One Love.

GoodOlBoy

[laveritt]

When storing brass, I include a dessicant pack (I save them from medicine bottles, etc...). Seems to help.

[dverna]

I have .38 brass that is over 40 years old and still good. No special storage conditions but kept indoors in a dry basement. It was cleaned before being put away in walnut and/or corn media.

[EDG]

Check out this article.
One of the active ingredients in Birchwood Casey Case Cleaner is benzotriazole.
I have had cases stay bright and clean more than 10 years after rinsing in the BCCC.

https://www.copper.org/publications/.../pdf/a1349.pdf

[Budzilla 19]

SS pin tumbled with car wash with carnauba wax beads,dried, stored in ziplock bags and five gallon buckets with sealed lids, stored inside! Should be good till I'm gone from this ball of rocks!
just my .02

[floydboy]

I have no long term experience to back me up but I'm thinking the brass should be clean and have some sort of protective coating. Wax, mineral spirits, etc. have been suggested. It needs to be kept dry and not exposed to some sort of chemicals that can corrode it. I have always deprimed, cleaned and waxed mine before storing. Some is in coffee cans, some in plastic bags, some in ammo boxes and some in cardboard boxes, what ever is available. I got some 30-06 brass out that had been stored for about 20 years and it looked as good as when I put it up. I store mine in a closet in the house where I keep my guns and other reloading inventory. Nothing out of the ordinary.

Floyd