12 gauge ammo rusted,NEEd HElp....

[manubrar67]

hi members.......
i have problem with my dads 12 gauge cartriges they r rusted and the cap of cartriges are covered by rust
these cartriges r very old...i want to clean them,but have no idea with what solution i can clean them and make them usable....
these cartriges r maybe 20 or more than 20 years old..these had stored in plastic bag and some cartriges r in cloth bag...
mostly rusted r KF ammo ,some r eley grand prix...
sorry didnt able to upload a KF ammo pic they r more worse than these pics,all metal cap of kf ammo is covered in rust....
i am uploading pics of eley cartriges so u can have some idea.....
and also want a tip for future where i should store them in a plastic bag or plastic,wooden box etc....
really appreaciate if u provide me a solution...to clean the ammo and the ammo can be used for shooting.....
thanks....

[Kumarnishith]

I have shot many old Eley's..many of them were > 40yrs old...few of them were completely soaked in water and than later on dried under sun...Will I do it again??? No!! But then may be its just me..For me It's more of a headache shooting these old, poorly stored rusted ammo which have been exposed to extremes of temperature & moisture. Shotgun cartridge pressures are very much lower than most rifle cartridges! It should not damage your weapon in any case. However if the round doesn't fire, you need to wait before opening the chamber or chambering another round as it could be having a slow burn and go off as it is being released from the chamber. In case of misfire, point the barrel in safe direction and wait for few minutes before opening the chamber..Luckily shotgun cartridges are not that costly in India as compared to most center fire cartridges...It will be best to just get new ammo and carefully dispose of the old ones!

Regarding storage of shotgun catg. or for that matter any cartridge I would suggest you to keep them in air tight plastic boxes tucked away in cold dry environment!!


-Nishith

[Kumarnishith]

Also, since these old Ammo are prone to misfire..though not always..it might be fine to try them out during practice sessions instead of keeping them beside your shotgun...In case any self defence situation arises and your gun misfires you are pretty much left with a stick in hand!!

-Nishith

[Mark]

Steel wool and light oil works, another method that uses less scrubbing is to use toilet bowl or bathtub cleaner that "removes iron stains". The ideal tool is an old toothbrush for this, dip it in the cleaner and lightly brush. Wipe dry and lightly oil afterwards. Also, many of these chemical cleaners will remove bluing so do not do it near the shotgun or you will get speckles in the bluing. Also, these cleaners are poisonous so toss the brush when you are done to make sure a child will never put it in their mouth.

[Safarigent]

Hi mark,
If one oils a cartridge, or even part of it, doesnt one chance increasing bolt thrust/ backwards pressure, and that too in a cartridge where pressures might as it is be high due to exposure to the elements?
I only ask as i havr a few of these oldies and would love to know more.
Thanks in advance.

[Mark]

Discussing oIl on cartridge cases is one of the sure fire way to get an argument started in a group of reloaders!

So with that, please keep in mind these are my opinions and may not correspond with someone elses, and for that matter I may be wrong too!

Anyway, to briefly describe the issue to members who have not heard this before, when a cartridge is fired the case expands slightly and actually grips the chamber of the gun barrel. After the bullet has left and the pressure drops the case shrinks back slightly and it can then be extracted. However, a large amount of the force holding the cartridge in the chamber is exerted by the cartridge case walls. The force that is not exerted on the walls tends to drive the cartridge case backwards against the bolt, and it is termed "Bolt Face Thrust" as it is a force pushing backwards against the bolt.
The classic case that illustrates a beautiful example is the 300 H&H:


Taper in a case not only helps the cartridge feed smoothly into the chamber, but it helps with extraction as well.


SO ANYWAY..... After all that, if a case has been oiled it can slip and not grip the chamber as much, however the number I have learned was that it only increases bolt thrust by 5% and since guns have a safety factor of 5X or more it is usually not an issue unless there are other factors such as an obstructed bore or an overloaded cartridge.


Now, having said all that.... the oiled case stuff really only pertains to tapered cases and not to straight wall cases such as the M1 Carbine cartridge:


And shotguns also fall into the same category.

Anyway, nothing wrong with keeping cartridges lightly oiled. It is preferable to wipe them before you load them but if you forget nothing catastrophic is going to happen.

[manubrar67]

Thanks mark and nishith.....for the advise...
Well if any other expert/members has his own views/advise pls feel free to throw it on this topic
So me and people like me can get as much as information on this topic....
Cheers...
I will try to upload some more pics of kf cartriges which r even more worse than these pics..

[manubrar67]

the worse one cartriges i already given to a person in my village he said that he can shoot them with his external hammer 12 gauge...
@mark u mean i apply some oil(is it gun oil)....

[Sam Kunal]

If somebody still has such old or empty 12 bore cartridges,they can give it to me if they want. I can use them in my maternal uncle's gun.