old 5.56?

[calibanman]

I found a ammo can full of old milsurp 5.56 that I had forgotten about over the years. There are about 500 rounds lose and some on strippers. Problem is that some have corrosion all over them and smell real bad and the stripper clips are pretty rusted up. If I remember correctly I got them from a friend who said a little water had gotten in the can and they stared to turn green and stank so he gave them to me. Primers still look good and powder still sounds lose and therefor dry? So are these rounds toast? I've heard a few say tumble them and shoot with a bolt rifle or should I give them to someone who reloads since its unfired brass. I really don't need to save them 5.56 is relatively affordable but I just don't like being wasteful.

[Air]

Pics? I once shot a box of some very old, we are talking ancient .38's and all went bang except one.

[justMike]

I think you should select a few of the worst and pull them down and see if it is the powder that is the source of the smell and check the condition of components. That should tell the tale of whether to tumble them or not.

[MAC USMC]

Tell me you are not going to tumble LIVE AMMO - - ever had one bullet tip strike a primer? Do you need an explanation?

I have a very old tumbler with a hole in it thanks to my son tumbling some LIVE .30-06. He was uninjured except for his pride and hot coffee on his chest.

[SixPointEight]

Tell me you are not going to tumble LIVE AMMO - - ever had one bullet tip strike a primer? Do you need an explanation?

I have a very old tumbler with a hole in it thanks to my son tumbling some LIVE .30-06. He was uninjured except for his pride and hot coffee on his chest.

I've never found definitive proof that a vibratory tumbler can set of a round. I tumble live ammo with no problems.

OP: If you can, pull a couple and check em. If not, you could try shooting some of it. OR give it to a reloader. Whatever you're comfortable with.

[Divernhunter]

"I PERSONALLY" would not shoot badly corrodied ammo, even if cleaned. I reload and would put them down and reuse the bullets and if the powder was good the powder. I pull the bullet then pour the powder into a good primed cas. Then when I have enought I seat the bullets. I use a collet puller. I have about 400 rounds of 7.62X54R and 200 rounds of 223 that I am doing that with now.

[Gio]

I tumble all of my rounds as I cannot take an hour or longer to hand wipe all of my .223 I make. Once my brass is processed they go right into my hopper and get loaded and after I tumble them for 10-20 minutes in lots of 300 or less depending on how many rounds I loaded. I do not put the lid on if I put less than 250 rounds in the tumbler, that's how confident I am in nothing going wrong with them in the tumbler.

Also it will help to post a pic of the ammo in question so we can tell what would be the best steps to take in making sure the ammo is "safe" or not.

[CSACANNONEER]

Tell me you are not going to tumble LIVE AMMO - - ever had one bullet tip strike a primer? Do you need an explanation?

I have a very old tumbler with a hole in it thanks to my son tumbling some LIVE .30-06. He was uninjured except for his pride and hot coffee on his chest.

Even big manufacturers tumble live ammo as the final step before packaging. Was your son using a vibratory tumbler? If he was, it's the first and only case of this happening that I have heard of.

[SixPointEight]

Even big manufacturers tumble live ammo as the final step before packaging. Was your son using a vibratory tumbler? If he was, it's the first and only case of this happening that I have heard of.

I agree. I could imagine it's possible in something like...a cement mixer. With no media.

However with media I can't imagine enough falling energy to set off a primer.

[Boots]

Wow... regardless, I don't think I would ever tumble live rounds.
Besides, I wouldn't trust the state of the powder. I would pull all the bullets, dump the powder into a container, tumble the brass and go from there after an assessment of their condition.

[gunboat]

Since a round "cooked off" in a cardboard box does't penetrate the box, I find it strange that a round "going off" in a tumbler holes the tumbler. The tumbler is considerably more substantial than a pasteboard box.
The bullet is the heaviest component and without confinement in a chamber moves the least.
Col. Julian Hatcher experiments --

[ar15barrels]

I would tumble them and inspect them afterwards for corrosion.

[AJAX22]

If you don't want em, I'd be willing to try tumbling them for an experiment.

[Mrskylinetou]

I tumble all my live rounds, no problems. My wife is active and in Iraq, I'm friends with the guys who make the local ammo for the range. They tumble their ammo in a cement mixer type thing. They told be that one time in the 10 years he been in that mos he had a round blow. Happened this year and he was inspecting then throwing 556 rounds into a bucket. I'm sure it's not a far strech for them to blow one in several thousand, the bucket is a bad example. I'm tumbling now do I looked at my brass moving in the bucket, the center stud I think would be where one brass could get stuck stand up then have a round come down on it.

Was it pistol rounds, maybe 45, something with a large primer and maybe the soft cheap ones?

I would just toss them. LC one fired reloads are too cheap to mess with trying to recover stuff that could corrode yr gun, explode bec of a weak case that goes unseen or get a squib load. I would mind experamenting with junk loads though...

[Farquaad]

Tumble them, maybe a little steel wool on the tough spots. I bet they would be fine. I am saying this sight unseen of course but I have shot some pretty corroded ammo and had no problems. I have also tumbles hundreds of rounds of loaded ammo and have never had a problem. As was said before all the major manufacturers and reloading operations do it as a matter of course.