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Old June 1, 2014, 03:17 AM   #1
Pond, James Pond
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Oxidation spot. Cause for concern?

About 9 mths ago, I bought and then loaded some 275gr Cast Performance .430 LFN bullets for a woods load, using N110, Fiocchi primers and Starline brass.

Since then, whenever I go to the woods, I open the safe, grab my Ruger RH, open up the ammo cabinet, take out my speed-loader, load the gun, holster it and put it in my bag.

Once in the forests, it either sits under my jacket, OWB or in my shoulder bag.

Once home, I unholster, swing out the cylinder, line-up the speed-loader, tip the cartridges back in, lock the speed-loader, and put the whole lot back in the safe.

The other day, when putting it away, I noticed a small crescent or turquoise oxidation at the mouth of one case and thought it odd as brass is fairly inert in moisture and I do recall a thread about corroded cases loaded with N140.

So, what do you think I should do with this case?

Shoot it off and replace it with another?

Should complete cartridges not be good to use for years, even decades, rather than months?
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Old June 1, 2014, 09:31 AM   #2
Misssissippi Dave
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If it were mine and I knew the corrosion developed recently (year or less), I would shoot it and clean the case before checking it to see how much if any of the case was damaged by the corrosion. I probably would fire all the rounds in that speed loader while I was at it. I find checking cases is always easier to do once they have been cleaned.
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Old June 1, 2014, 03:11 PM   #3
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I would pull the bullet to see if the powder is the cause of the oxidation.
You need to know if that entire lot of ammo (and powder) is going to cause problems.
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Old June 1, 2014, 03:22 PM   #4
Pond, James Pond
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Quote:
You need to know if that entire lot of ammo (and powder) is going to cause problems.
Horrible.

I suppose it is not the end of the world and I can seat it again, but if it is the powder, I will NOT be impressed.

Whilst I don't have the component stocks to produce ammo to then store, I certainly don't want ammo with a sell-by date.
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Old June 1, 2014, 03:31 PM   #5
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Yep. It's not a good thing to wonder about, and I would be quite upset to find out that the powder is bad.

But, that's why you need to check. Assuming it's an isolated incident could get you in serious trouble down the road, if it is the powder breaking down and you pull the trigger on a round that has had its burn rate significantly changed.
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Old June 1, 2014, 03:52 PM   #6
Pond, James Pond
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I will also look at all the others I loaded around the same time.

Question now is, how do I know, once I have taken it apart, that anything iffy is down to the powder, or just because it was sitting on my sweater hip one time too many?!
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Old June 1, 2014, 06:55 PM   #7
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Look for the usual suspects:
acrid odor
brown dust
brown gas
interior of case oxidized
etc.
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Old June 2, 2014, 12:53 AM   #8
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Will do.

Thanks!!
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Old June 2, 2014, 01:30 AM   #9
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"Hold it right there, reloading scum!!", I hear my inner voice scream.

I may have made a mistake.

I took the bullets out and looked at them again I think this may have been bullet lube, which is blue, that had accumulated at the mouth, as I have seen the same blue up on the bullet, nowhere near the brass.

It also all wipes off and is greasy. Corrosion would not do this, nor be found on lead.

My eyes...
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Old June 2, 2014, 06:50 AM   #10
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It is good to hear you have a simple solution. One easily fixed too.
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Old June 2, 2014, 06:44 PM   #11
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That's great news.
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Old June 3, 2014, 12:47 AM   #12
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That's great news.
Great news for my bullets, bad news for my Optician's bills!!
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Old June 4, 2014, 01:23 PM   #13
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If I load cartridges intended for serious social needs AND I expect they'll be around, unused (hopefully), for a long time, I make them in new sized nickeled cases.
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