Surplus Ammo Cleaning

[DennisCA]

[Mayor McRifle]

If you really feel the need to clean the ammo, stick it in a vibratory tumbler with some walnut media.

[ReDgUaRd008]

Wipe it down with a towel for storage or just shoot them as it.

[smle-man]

Stay away from Yugo 8mm headstamped 11-54. I had a base failure on one that was truly scary. I had fired oodles of the same headstamp prior to that failure so like the Korean PS headstamp .30M2, some lots have a problem and some don't.

The hairline crack can be seen in an unfired case in bright sunlight.

[BillnotBob]

Are the primer and case neck sealed? if so a mild solution of citric acid and a scotch brite pad can do a good job. The citric acid powder is available in the canning section of Wally world. One table spoon to one gallon of water should work. Standing the ammo in the solution for about 5 to 10 minutes should work, then scrub them with the pad wet with the solution. After words rins with clean water and dry. If the case neck is not sealed please check for bullet weld. The dirty corrosion can get the bullet stuck in the neck. I had this with some middle east 303 that was badly corroded.

[ReDgUaRd008]

Oh wow. I just looked this up online your not the first person to have this issue also. I was shooting Yugo M49 8mm on both my K98K and M76 so far no issues. Might have to run them on the K98 only now. Thanks for bring this up.

Stay away from Yugo 8mm headstamped 11-54. I had a base failure on one that was truly scary. I had fired oodles of the same headstamp prior to that failure so like the Korean PS headstamp .30M2, some lots have a problem and some don't.

The hairline crack can be seen in an unfired case in bright sunlight.

[bohoki]

just rub off the green with some dry steel wool

[sickboybrad]

Steel wool for me
I have done steel wool with a little oil, wipe dry.
If you have green growing on brass it will probably clean up and shoot fine, if you see any red pink trash it, the case is wasted.
Now for the yugo brown box. I have shot 1000's of rounds that split and cracked. The ammo looked fine. Bullet shot fine.
I have shot 1000's of the same yugo ammo, without any problems, same boxes but i opened the steel storage box.

Be safe its all crap if you are cleaning it, shoot it in a bolt gun, use safety glasses!
B

[smle-man]

Steel wool for me
I have done steel wool with a little oil, wipe dry.
If you have green growing on brass it will probably clean up and shoot fine, if you see any red pink trash it, the case is wasted.
Now for the yugo brown box. I have shot 1000's of rounds that split and cracked. The ammo looked fine. Bullet shot fine.
I have shot 1000's of the same yugo ammo, without any problems, same boxes but i opened the steel storage box.

Be safe its all crap if you are cleaning it, shoot it in a bolt gun, use safety glasses!
B

If you have a base failure in a case you may end up with a split stock. The gas has to go somewhere.

[general_disarray_prk]

Just sayin', I've read/heard that tumbling loaded ammo can break down the powder, making it burn at too fast a rate...

[Dirk Tungsten]

Just sayin', I've read/heard that tumbling loaded ammo can break down the powder, making it burn at too fast a rate...

Old wives tale that has been debunked. Also, if it was true I would have blown myself up many times over.

[TRAP55]

I have a pair of plasma etched Bushnell shooting glasses that debunks your debunker. Must be a bunch of old wives that put that warning on the Federal Ammo website too. Not all powders are created equal, some break down, others don't. Do you know which ones do, and don't? I know of one for sure that does, and still have pieces of brass in my forehead to prove it.
Dennis, as said above, use 0000 steel wool to clean your brass. If the brass once cleaned, has any copper colored spots, that's where the brass has crystallized, usually from corrosion, and the most likely spot to split open.

[GM4spd]

If you really feel the need to clean the ammo, stick it in a vibratory tumbler with some walnut media.

This works great.

[five.five-six]

Just sayin', I've read/heard that tumbling loaded ammo can break down the powder, making it burn at too fast a rate...

Ammo is smarter than coronavirus. Coronavirus can only tell if some one is in a church or if they are in a costco. Ammo knows if its in a box on a ship for months or a train from being in a vibratory tumbler....


Just tumble it. If you are afeared, have someone pull a bullet before tumbling and compare that powder to powder from after tumbling.

[bergmen]

I have a pair of plasma etched Bushnell shooting glasses that debunks your debunker. Must be a bunch of old wives that put that warning on the Federal Ammo website too. Not all powders are created equal, some break down, others don't. Do you know which ones do, and don't? I know of one for sure that does, and still have pieces of brass in my forehead to prove it.
Dennis, as said above, use 0000 steel wool to clean your brass. If the brass once cleaned, has any copper colored spots, that's where the brass has crystallized, usually from corrosion, and the most likely spot to split open.

All metals are crystalline in nature. There must be some other degradation that is causing the copper colored spots.

Dan