Shelf life new brass
- Thread starter Hammer
- Start date
Keep it sealed away from humidity and you'll be good for a lifetime.
fairchaser
Well-Known Member
If you are concerned, tumble and anneal it. That can't hurt.
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DaveB
Well-Known Member
You should have some kind of steps you follow with any brass you bring into your reload life.
For NEW brass my steps are:
FL size and check length.
Separate good and bad length.
Bad length go to trimmer.
Bad go to inside chamfer
clean all good via SS tumble. You can leave the pins out and just use soap. Do this while trimming.
clean all trimmed chamfered now good via SS tumble. You can leave the pins out and just use soap. Prime all.
Store primer end up in color-coded by caliber plastic ammo boxes.
For fired brass:
clean via SS tumble with pins .
FL size and separate good length from bad.
Bad must be trimmed to length, chamfered
Prime all.
Store primer end up in color-coded by caliber plastic ammo boxes
As others have rightly noted SS tumbling tends to peen the case mouth. Not sure of what to do exactly but mostly I let it go. If it is too pronounced I chamfer it until no peen
When I acquire a new caliber I also find minimum of 500 new brass. When a piece gets damaged it is tossed.
When I have fired say 300 rounds of a particular caliber we decap, SS tumble soap only, FL size in groups of 50 or 100, in order of first fired first re-loaded. Keeps everything in order and I know when fired count gets to about 6 or 7, 5 in mag cases, I start being real careful about neck checks.
I find that when you have a large number of items upon which you will perform the same task, you find ways to make the monotony less killing/painful/hateful.
For NEW brass my steps are:
FL size and check length.
Separate good and bad length.
Bad length go to trimmer.
Bad go to inside chamfer
clean all good via SS tumble. You can leave the pins out and just use soap. Do this while trimming.
clean all trimmed chamfered now good via SS tumble. You can leave the pins out and just use soap. Prime all.
Store primer end up in color-coded by caliber plastic ammo boxes.
For fired brass:
clean via SS tumble with pins .
FL size and separate good length from bad.
Bad must be trimmed to length, chamfered
Prime all.
Store primer end up in color-coded by caliber plastic ammo boxes
As others have rightly noted SS tumbling tends to peen the case mouth. Not sure of what to do exactly but mostly I let it go. If it is too pronounced I chamfer it until no peen
When I acquire a new caliber I also find minimum of 500 new brass. When a piece gets damaged it is tossed.
When I have fired say 300 rounds of a particular caliber we decap, SS tumble soap only, FL size in groups of 50 or 100, in order of first fired first re-loaded. Keeps everything in order and I know when fired count gets to about 6 or 7, 5 in mag cases, I start being real careful about neck checks.
I find that when you have a large number of items upon which you will perform the same task, you find ways to make the monotony less killing/painful/hateful.
