[daryldiane]

hi,
I have found some Israeli mid 50's dated ammo that appears sound but is rather dirty and tarnished.
What is the best way to clean it up for shooting?
I've heard it's not advisable to tumble it, but do you think 15 min in the tumbler would make it dangerous to shoot?
I want ot use it in a K98 in very good condition.
Thanks

 

[1 EYE]

I use the vib brass cleaner 30 to 40 min, I have played with this and have let ammo run in the vib cleaner for 10 hr with know problems.

 

[daryldiane]

Thanks 1 EYE.
Anyone else tried it?

 

[MTS2]

If it's just tarnish, I wouldn't mess with cleaning it. Otherwise, get a green "Scotch Brite" scrubbing pad and clean them up while watching TV or something.

I don't tumble loaded ammo because I don't think the cosmetic aspect changes performance, and if it's deep corrosion or something, it won't clean up anyway.

 

[Youngblood]

I have cleaned thousands of dirty rounds in my vibratory case cleaner (~1hr per batch) with corn cob media and a bit of the Frankford Arsenal polish. I think that the safety key to this is to assure that you don't add so many to the media that they no longer "swim" with the current but, instead, jam-up and vibrate like crazy.

Tarnish on rounds doesn't concern me ... oil/grease/grime do.

 

[1 EYE]

If you shoot alot of tarnished dirty ammo It will start to stick in the chamber Clean ammo clean gun no sticking.

 

[jonk]

Tumbling will not cause you any issues, in my experience. The concern is that it COULD shake up the powder enough to start to break it into finer pieces and increase burn rate, but really I don't see that happening unless you let it go for days. I'm told that ammo companies tumble their loaded ammo as a final step.

 

[gun_lover]

Cleaning ammo in a vibrating tumbler has never caused me any problems. I agree with 1EYE, I prefer to have my ammo clean rather than scratching the chamber or gunking things up. It will then also be easier to inspect the rounds so that any with deep corrosion, as MTS2 points out, should be set aside and used for components.

 

[daryldiane]

Thanks all.
I'll tumble for 30 minutes and inspect.