OT Severly oxidized bullets

[336A]

I dug out a box of Hornady XTP-HP .41 cal bullets that I've had for some time. Unfortunately some 70 bullets are very badly oxidized. So I have a couple of questions. First are they safe to load and shoot without causing unsafe pressure spikes? If not then is it safe to use BRASO on them?

[kaferhaus]

just run them through the tumbler

[J Miller]

Yes; it's safe to load them.
Yes; you can braso them if you want to.

I'd do what kaferhaus said and just run 'em in the tumbler to clean off any debris then load 'em.

Joe

[damienph]

Yes; it's safe to load them.
Yes; you can braso them if you want to.

I'd do what kaferhaus said and just run 'em in the tumbler to clean off any debris then load 'em.

Joe

Yep, tumbler or rub each one with 4/0 steel wool if you have the patience.

[336A]

Thanks fellas looks like I'll be using braso as I don't have a tumbler.

[Jeff H]

I would tumble them too.
Brasso will be tedious and I would be cautious using anything that has any chance of residual Brasso on it.
Brasso (at least it used to) contains amonia, which is not suppose to be so good for brass (yeah, I know, it's called "BRASS-o") because the amonia causes the brass to crystalize.

I am not a chemist or a metalurgist, but I have seen cartridge brass treated with Brasso fail. In fact, just last week, I pulled down some .257 Roberts cartridges (with my fingers, not an inertia puller) which were treated some ten or fifyeen years ago. I have others that were loaded at the same time, as well as empties which are in great shape. The necks all split while sitting in the box and green stuff grew inside the cases, onto the bottoms of the bullets and matted the powder charge together. A close friend and I watched over time as all the brass he used Brasso on (in the tumbler) failed. All the brass had become brittle and crumbly, regardless of the manufacturer.

I have tumbled pistol bullets before, but don't tumble small bore hollow point rifle bullets. You can't get the media back out of them and they don't shoot for beans afterword. Another lesson learned the hard way.

[Griff]

Unless it's some other stuff, I think that's actually "Brasso"™ Sorry, couldn't help myself!