Cleaning up old ammo

[jbk]

i recently got my first ak. a family memeber gave me some older ammo he had for a old sks. nothing real bad just old and tranished and looking a little ruff. anyone know any good trips for cleaning up old ammo?

 

[42]

I just use #000 (very fine) steel wool.

 

[dantheman]

A guy gave me some old ammo for my Garand . It was pretty tarnished and ugly . I put it in a tumbler and it cleaned up pretty good .

 

[mikewxs]

Unless there is a build up of tarnish or corossion, the best thing to do is shoot it. If you are worried about it sticking in the chamber, squirt some CLP or light gun oil on it, roll it in a towel to clean off the excess, then shoot it.

 

[audioshooter]

A guy gave me some old ammo for my Garand . It was pretty tarnished and ugly . I put it in a tumbler and it cleaned up pretty good .

lucky it didnt hit on the primers

 

[03protege]

lucky it didnt hit on the primers

I can't imagine that doing anything. At least not with the tumbler I have.

 

[Sin-ster]

I've yet to hear a confirmed story of live ammo touching off in a tumbler.

That said-- I still don't do it.

 

[Jed]

I've yet to hear a confirmed story of live ammo touching off in a tumbler.

That said-- I still don't do it.

+1

 

[Danable]

Unless there is a build up of tarnish or corossion, the best thing to do is shoot it. If you are worried about it sticking in the chamber, squirt some CLP or light gun oil on it, roll it in a towel to clean off the excess, then shoot it.

The guy teaching my concealed carry class touched on this subject. Another student said he had ammo that he had sprayed and wiped off when he cleaned his revolver that was left holstered in a truck for a while. The lecture was stopped so the student could shoot his freshly cleaned ammo in the firing lane. 3 of the six did not ignite properly

 

[dantheman]

lucky it didnt hit on the primers

 

[FishingFool]

Oil destroys primers. Don't use oil. If its just tarnished just shoot the ammo it won't matter.

I toss all my pistol reloads in the tumbler to get rid of the lube. Even with federal primers (the easiest to ignite) I've yet to have one go off. You'll never have rounds impacting each other with enough force to set one off. Primers are made to go off on a HARD strike. Having loose rounds bounce around in an ammo can is more jarring than that and lots of folks transport loose rounds in ammo cans without incident.

 

[jbk]

i have heard of tumbling loaded ammo, never have done it. i just lightly chucked it in a drill and very lightly with scotchbrite and then with 000 steel wool on a slow speed. i tried just steel wool but it was a little nastier than i thought. All the ammo came out like new. thanks for input guys