Stainless Steel Tumbling and long term storage

I'm in the process of loading about 2k 30 carbine for my brother in law who wants it for long term storage. I have the brass tumbling right now. I know the SS media takes the brass down to a fairly raw state, if there anything I can do after it's all been loaded that will keep the brass from tarnishing or corroding? I don't really care that it stays "blingy", but I don't want it to look worse than the mill surplus stuff he has now (LC54 and LC71 head stamps). It will be stored in a mil surplus ammo can with a good seal. A friend suggested a light coat of oil but that seems messy. I thought about tumbling the loaded rounds in corn cob. That seems to put some kind of film on the brass that may help. Any thoughts or am I being paranoid? I'd hate for him to open up the can in 4-5 years and it all be tarnished or corroded.

Store in ammo cans, that's all that is needed.

Desiccant is optional.

I started the same thread just a few days ago. If you're like me, don't handle the ammo while sweaty, oily, otherwise you'll get tarnish on the brass, perfect shape of your finger prints.

One member suggested to tumble the finished/loaded rounds in clean corn cob just for a few minutes just before loading them in the ammo cans. And of course, dessicant packs help.

GlockMonk

Thanks guys, I'll handle with latex gloves and make sure there is some dessicant in the cans.

customary bling pic:

If you're using LemiShine, you can relax a bit. The citric acid in LemiShine leaves the brass far less prone to darken than any other cleaning agent. Store the cleaned cases in something air tight like an ammo can. If you pack it while inside in air conditioning, you probably won't need desiccant, but go ahead anyway-it won't hurt.

What the others said. As long as he leaves the can shut (THIS IS KEY), it will stay good for the foreseeable future.

I will sometimes leave reloads in a cardboard box in my basement and I don't see tarnish in years, even when exposed to air. If you are really concerned about this, you could always vacuum seal the loaded rounds in packs of 50 or so. Even if the rounds tarnish a bit in storage, it shouldn't effect performance.

I think storing in an ammo can should be sufficient to prevent anything from corroding the brass in 4-5 years.

To each his own I guess, but I would use cotton gloves. I do not know if the stuff they put on the latex will cause any problem or not but I'm 99.9% sure that cotton will not.

Latex gloves are powdered to ease donning and doffing. The powder is latex powder, and by itself it won't be a problem. But finding real latex gloves is a challenge anymore. Most exam gloves are vinyl or nitrile, both of which are completely neutral in terms of contaminating anything.

While cotton gloves are more comfortable to wear, they cannot prevent moisture from the hand from getting through to what you're handling, and they do collect and spread whatever is on what else you touch. Unless you can keep your work area "dark room clean" and use ohotographers' cotton gloves, go with vinyl gloves.

[quote]Originally Posted By jself24:
I'm in the process of loading about 2k 30 carbine for my brother in law who wants it for long term storage. I have the brass tumbling right now. I know the SS media takes the brass down to a fairly raw state, if there anything I can do after it's all been loaded that will keep the brass from tarnishing or corroding? I don't really care that it stays "blingy", but I don't want it to look worse than the mill surplus stuff he has now (LC54 and LC71 head stamps). It will be stored in a mil surplus ammo can with a good seal. A friend suggested a light coat of oil but that seems messy. I thought about tumbling the loaded rounds in corn cob. That seems to put some kind of film on the brass that may help. Any thoughts or am I being paranoid? I'd hate for him to open up the can in 4-5 years and it all be tarnished or corroded.[/quote]

Tarnished is ok, corroded is the problem..

Do a search for clay packs, They come in numerous sizes I can't for the life of me I Cant remember the name of the company in TEXAS I bought a bucket of them awhile back. They are great for long term storage.
I use them in my ammo storage ,my vault, my fishing reel storage.

Maybe someone knows the name can give a holler..

I have a few thousand .223 brass that were SS tumbled and then put into a rubbermaid container. Over the course of a year, the brass got dull and dark, and the brass that was SS tumbled and then tumbled in corncob and Nufinish polish is still as bright as the day it came out of the tumbler

I have read reports of SS tumbled brass being too clean in the neck area, and folks having problems with inconsistent bullet release due to the friction beween the bullet and the brass. Don't know all about that, but I tumble in corncob also to keep it bright.

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