How to tell if modern ammo is rusting?

[ct78]

[ct78]

[ar15barrels]

Brass does not rust.
That's just crappy looking ammo.

Is it reloads?

[divingin]

None of that is anything to worry about. Probably caused by acids in your skin oil from handling it before. Could also be something in the plastic bags you're storing it in. To avoid that in the future, wipe it down with a silicone cloth or the like before storing. Or wash and dry your hands better. Best bet is to leave it in the original packaging; plastic bags outside that are up to you.

You should worry more when you get green or brown chalky raised stuff. That shows an effect that's more than a surface appearance.

[ct78]

Brass does not rust.
That's just crappy looking ammo.

Is it reloads?

Factory ammo. Fiocci, Win WB, AE to be specific. I did pick out some of the worse looking ones

I checked the 9mm I had stored similarly and it’s not like that. So just an interesting observation.

[ct78]

None of that is anything to worry about. Probably caused by acids in your skin oil from handling it before. Could also be something in the plastic bags you're storing it in. To avoid that in the future, wipe it down with a silicone cloth or the like before storing. Or wash and dry your hands better. Best bet is to leave it in the original packaging; plastic bags outside that are up to you.

You should worry more when you get green or brown chalky raised stuff. That shows an effect that's more than a surface appearance.

[ar15barrels]

It's just tarnish from handling.
If you had that same ammo in it's original boxes that was untouched by human hands, it would probably look the same as the day you bought it.

Some of that ammo does look like reloads though.
Like maybe someone filled old factory boxes of ammo with reloads and returned them somewhere and then you bought them.

[ct78]

It's just tarnish from handling.
If you had that same ammo in it's original boxes that was untouched by human hands, it would probably look the same as the day you bought it.

Some of that ammo does look like reloads though.
Like maybe someone filled old factory boxes of ammo with reloads and returned them somewhere and then you bought them.

[ar15barrels]

Interesting comment about the reloads. They were all bulk boxes bought at Bass Pro, Ammo Bros type locations. I thought ammo would also be non returnable type purchases

Sometimes it's the employees that are doing it.
No way to know for sure though but some of those rounds really look like the cases has been resized since they show a pronounced swell just above the case head that only fired cases would have.
New brass won't have that swell until it's been fired once.
Ammo bros does sell reloads so maybe you just didnt notice what you were buying.

[kcheung2]

Yeah I agree some of them look like reloads due to that ring towards the bottom of the case.

Take a picture of a bunch of headstamps. Are they all the same? Is the crimp still intact? I assume there's a crimp since the cases are annealed.

[Featureless]

Just keep your ammo in the original containers and quit handling it so much. You must have very acidic sweaty hands to have caused that much discoloration.

[VictorFranko]

[ct78]

Just keep your ammo in the original containers and quit handling it so much. You must have very acidic sweaty hands to have caused that much discoloration.

[Canucky]

Ammo cans, lots of ammo cans.

[CoopsDad]

Those moisture absorbers get loaded with water pretty quickly. You can return them by putting them in the oven at 200* for a half hour. You can also buy larger ones on amazon pretty cheaply.