Is this ammo safe to shoot?

[ChCx2744]

I opened up some old boxes of 9mm Speer Lawman 124gr TMJ last night. Upon examination, I noticed that the rounds had a dark ring around the base of the shell casing, the part that's exposed below about halfway down above the ammo tray. I have 3 boxes, and about 35-40 out of 50 rounds of each have these dark rings. Not sure if it's tarnish or some sort of rust. They've been stored in a box in my closet for about 2 years. Are they safe to shoot? Pictures:

 

[ColtPythonElite]

I'd shoot it.

 

[Steve C]

Shoot away. Don't see any reason they would not be safe to shoot.

 

[BADUNAME37]

The brass is discolored, possibly by some chemical reaction to anything that happened to be in the atmosphere where they were stored, could be anything from excessive cigarette smoke to moth balls, to who knows?

A metallurgist could tell you what would cause that kind of discoloration. Perhaps a meth lab?

 

[ChCx2744]

Haha no, not a meth lab, a bottle of Hoppe's 9 was also in the box. The inside of the box smells like Hoppe's, too. I'm *assuming* that's the reason. Could Hoppe's fumes that penetrated the box possibly do this? Could it affect powder composition and primer performance? I don't want to lose any fingers if I shoot this stuff.

 

[BADUNAME37]

Some guy traded with me for some old factory ammo that looks just like that. It fires extremely-well out of my LCP .380. I think it is fine, if you know it is factory and not some unidentified handloads.

 

[Caliper_Mi]

Brass does not rust. Ferrous (iron based) metals rust. Brass corrodes.

Either way, fine to shoot. Looks like the dark area starts where the brass sticks out of the plastic holder. The shiny part looks like it was just a bit more protected from changes in humidity that will cause the tarnish/corrosion.

 

[BADUNAME37]

forget it, wrong post