Storing used brass?

[chickenfried]

Hey guys,
I'm saving all my once fired brass and putting em back in the cardboard boxes or if available a .50 ammo can. I stick all my brass down in my garage. Some of the stuffs been in the cardboard boxes for about two years. Is there such a thing as proper storage of brass? Thanks.

 

[ftierson]

Don't store it wet.

That's about it.

 

[Valkman]

Sounds like brass abuse to me! Rather then get in trouble, best send that brass to me. I am a professional and know how to take care of it.

 

[Kamicosmos]

sounds like you do about what I do in regards to brass. I keep most of mine in cardboard boxes labeled with the caliber. I am now in the process of sorting it all out per headstamp.

As long as it's in a fairly dry place it will be fine.

 

[chickenfried]

Valkman I'd give it to you. But I think I've abused the brass too much and wouldn't want to send a fellow high roader a batch of damaged goods .

 

[jdkelly]

I clean my brass before I store it.

chickenfried,

I try to clean my brass before I store it and I store it in a dry place. I find that brass that has been cleaned before storage, will clean up better when it is finally reloaded and shot, then brass that is stored while still dirty.


Respectfully,

jdkelly

 

[chickenfried]

Thanks for the tip jdkelly. It makes sense I'll start tumbling my brass before I store it.

 

[Standing Wolf]

I always clean my brass immediately, then put it in sealed plastic bags. I have to be careful to leave those out on my reloading bench, because if I put them in boxes under the bench, I forget I've got them.

 

[Sam Adams]

FWIW, I just got my tumbler and media about 3 weeks ago and I've been cleaning my stored brass for almost the whole time. The brass had been stored for as long as 15 years, much of it is range pick-ups that had been sitting outside for who knows how long before I got it. I've stored it in the original boxes (mostly for stuff shot in revolvers or bolt guns) or in paper or plastic bags, cardboard boxes and cut-up 2-liter soda bottles. Its been in my garage, or in outside storage sheds for almost the entire time.

All of it cleans up fine. I use a mixture of about 75% walnut and 25% corn, let it run for 3 hours or so and it is fine.

 

[NoHarmNoFAL]

Here's a tip for you:

Keep it in a controlled environment. Avoid sudden temp. changes because if it is really cold in your garage and them warms up outside, the brass will sweat and then the trouble starts. Ask me how I know, just think 3 55 gal. drums.

 

[shermacman]

Yikes!
I am guilty of brass abuse! I have .30-06 and .308 mixed in with .40 S&W! And worse yet, they are in coffee cans some of which are Folgers and some are Chock Full of Nuts. Yes, I have mis-matched brass in mis-matched coffee cans.

And it ain't clean...

 

[Black Snowman]

Don't really have anything to add so I'll just relate a couple of experiances.

I like to clean, inspect and sort before it's stored so I know what I have and if it's good. And keep adhesive tape away from it. My Dad has stored some brass in styrofoam trays with tape holding them in and the adheasive dried and crysatalized on the cases. Have to scrape it off with a knife.

Also had a lot of runied .340 Weatherby brass that had been in damp cardboard boxes and it corrodded thorugh where it touched the box. at the shoulder

Clean 1st, store dry. The less air circulation the cleaner it will stay.

 

[redneck2]

I have some new, unfired Bell brass that I bought maybe 2 years ago. Kept it in the original cardboard boxes with the little dividers. It corroded pretty badly considering it'd never been used.

I'd probably clean your brass using liberal amounts of brass polish (wax) to preserve it, and put it in plastic bags to keep the moisture out.

Probably the optimum method would be a food saver that would suck out the air.

 

[Sam Adams]

Black Snowman

Also had a lot of runied .340 Weatherby brass that had been in damp cardboard boxes and it corrodded thorugh where it touched the box. at the shoulder

Here's a good (and short) thread about storing used brass:

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=69043&highlight=corn+kerosene+brass

Paul "Fitz" Jones, one of the mods here, suggests putting a couple of tablespoons of kerosene into a tumbler with corn and the loaded rounds to protect them for decades against tarnish.

 

[El Rojo]

Rather than start a new thread, I just wanted to share with you all how I oranized my brass section of my garage. I don't really have a good before picture of where I stored it, but the first picture is of what I stored all of my brass in.

Picture 1: The old storage units. The key to this storage system was it was cheap. I made storage bins out of just about everything. Licorice buckets, coffee cans, 8 lbs 748 powder kegs cut in half, paintball containers, cardboard boxes, cut up plastic orange juice containers, Kirkland assorted nuts or cashews jars, and on and on. Note the SU-16 for a scale reference.

Picture 2: The new system. Now keep in mind the new system ran about $100 at Lowes! However, it is much more organized and I like it a lot more. I have much more space now too. I was even able to get my tumbler stashed under there as well with the new space. Note the stack of white rectangular boxes on the top left. That would be approximately 8000 150 gr. .308 FMJ/BT bullets. I am not going to run out anytime soon.

Picture 3: A close up of the new system. The only downfall is the tubs are not covered so they can get dusty, but that hasn't seemed to bother me over the years. I did stick my brand new Match Swiss 7.5x55mm in a plastic grocery bag and I can probably do that to most of the brass in the bins. The bins on the left hold clean and processed brass. The bins on the right dirty brass straight from shooting. I am not in a big hurry to clean brass right away like some of you and clean it when it gets close to processing time.

 

[Sam Adams]

I've got a new storage system, too, since the birth of my son (2nd kid, but the first who we had to buy powdered milk for). Rather than use paper bags, assorted cardboard boxes, plastic soda bottles cut in half, etc., stored in various places in the garage, now I use the empties from the powdered milk. They are 28 oz. cans from Sam's Club (with plastic covers to keep the dust out ), and as best as I can tell they are big enough to hold about 600 .45 cases with ease, about 1,000 9mm and roughly 350 of .223. I use a different cans for each caliber, of course, and even have several within each caliber where required.

Now that I've got my tumbler, BTW, all of the cases are clean - and any cases that I bring home from the range get cleaned within a day or two. Being dry and clean, I have no 2nd thoughts about keeping them in the garage (not that I did to begin with, but now I know that they'll be fine for as long as I need to use them).

 

[happy old sailor]

if there is anything about the storage of brass that is not mentioned above, i wouldnt know what it could possibly be.

 

[mcmoyer]

Ask me how I know, just think 3 55 gal. drums.

Ah, yes...nothing like having a little brass laying around for a rainy day!!



I keep mine in cardboard boxes in the utility room.

 

[Larry Ashcraft]

I use sealable food containers from the dollar store. They stack nicely and you can see what's in them. They keep brass shiny for a long time.

 

[phungus]

What I hate...

What I hate is when I pick up range brass and then toss it in the tumbler at home and realize it's 9mm, 40 s&w and 45 acp. When you group those three together, the 40's swallow the 9's, the 45's swallow the 40's. I've had as many as 5 pieces of brass "eat" each other.

Makes sorting them back out a PITA. Then you have to re-clean them.

 

[Catbird]

I tumble my used brass first and then I store it in the clear freezer bags with the sliding "zip lock". I also like the large plastic coffee "cans" that Folger's brand is sold in. I have dozens of those that I use to store brass as well as bulk bullets.

 

[TooTaxed]

I use the large wide-mouthed square clear plastic jars that mixed nuts and cashews come in at Sams Club. Plastic labels identify the caliber inside.

Now, if I could only figure out what will take the original adhesive labels off cleanly... :banghead:

 

[Unisaw]

I tumble, resize, and deprime/bell my brass before I store it in plastic bins or ziploc bags.

 

[Austin Charles]

if there is anything about the storage of brass that is not mentioned above, i wouldnt know what it could possibly be.

This is sure a lot of words on how to clean and then throw the brass into a baggie and then into a bin.

 

[Eldon]

Now, if I could only figure out what will take the original adhesive labels off cleanly

Try some stuff called Goo-Gone. It works on most types of lables, and is available just about everywhere.