I was given some once fired 30/06 brass that appears to be from the 60's. How old does brass need to be before it becomes unsafe to load?

my dad is still firing (and reloading) brass that he got in the early 1970s. he only shoots once or twice a year with it, so it's only been reloaded maybe 3 times. still works fine.

as far as i know, brass in an environment such as a home (i.e., out of the elements) won't corrode or break down.

I bought 2000 SL54 30-06 GI cases in the early 70s. I had plenty of commercial 30-06 brass so I used the GI brass for 8X57 and 7.65 Mauser and I have never had a problem with the cases. I still have several hundred that have yet to be formed.

I agree with the other posters "for the most part".

But, I've had some get "Brittle" on the shelf. I'm not positive "why" they became Brittle(prone to Neck and Side Splits), but it may have been from Ammonia Based House Cleaners. Just the fumes from the Ammonia can result in Hydrogen Embrittlement in Brass(including Gas Lines in the house). Then the Cases are ready for the Recycling Center.

If anybody has anything to add to the Embrittlement, jump right in and help me out.

So, my recommendation would be to randomly pick 3-5 Cases and see how they do. If all goes well, try 15-20 other ones. And if there are no Splits, do the normal Full Case Prep and Weight Sorting on all of them.

Best of luck to you.

Thanks!

I'm shooting LC43 with my Steyr HS-50 50BMG. Translated, that's Lake City 1943. So far no problems. As far as I know, it's been fired twice, Once by the US military and once by me. I'll be shooting it until I have problems.

I have many WCC54 & 55 cases that I'ved used to form wildcats and many other old cases, some dating back to 1929. roger

You won't have problems with commercial cases from the 60's. Some military rounds used in that era still used corrosive priming compounds.

quote:

Originally posted by Hot Core:
I agree with the other posters "for the most part".

But, I've had some get "Brittle" on the shelf. I'm not positive "why" they became Brittle(prone to Neck and Side Splits), but it may have been from Ammonia Based House Cleaners. Just the fumes from the Ammonia can result in Hydrogen Embrittlement in Brass(including Gas Lines in the house). Then the Cases are ready for the Recycling Center.

If anybody has anything to add to the Embrittlement, jump right in and help me out.

So, my recommendation would be to randomly pick 3-5 Cases and see how they do. If all goes well, try 15-20 other ones. And if there are no Splits, do the normal Full Case Prep and Weight Sorting on all of them.

Best of luck to you.

HC,
I bought a large container of the 4831 at a estate garage sale. The widow said he stored the stuff in the garage. It was in one of the original paper barrels. I had bought 10 lbs or so.
A number of years later I loaded some .303 British ammo with Remington brass that cracked after being stored a couple of years. By that time I had the powder 4 or 5 years. Some of the rounds hang fired and left a lot of unburned powder in the bore.
I had stored the remaining powder in a plastic container. Upon checking it, it smelled of nitric acid and emitted purple-brown fumes. I had noticed that when I opened the closet it smelled of acid. The surface of the powder appeared wet though it had been stored in an air conditioned environment. It was tough to do but I poured 5 lbs into a long string out in the road late at night and lit it.
The acid acting on the stressed brass caused stress corrosion cracking. Some of cases split while stored. Some split down the neck and a few split around the neck at the base of the bullet
where the stress was the greatest.

I think ammonia is even worse for brass. The phenomenon of stress corrosion cracking is said to have been discovered by the British in India.
They stored their Snider or Martini-Henry ammo in the same barn they kept their horses in during the wet season. The ammonia fumes from the horse urine attacked the brass and cause it to crack. SCC is also know as season cracking.

Ed

Thank you.

I've not had any powder go bad that I'm aware of, but I can see what you are saying.

Years ago I'd bought some factory ammo for the 22Hornet. It was splitting Cases on about 50% of the shots. I got ahold of the manufacturer and they asked me to return it to them which I did. And they sent me two boxes to replace it.

No telling how long the first box had been in inventory when I bought it, but apparently it had some kind of problem.

ireload is correct, it is stress corrosion cracking , not hydrogen embrittlement .The stress is cold working from forming the brass, especially the neck.That's why the factories anneal the necks.Corrosion comes from moisture but especially ammonia compounds.The Brits 'season cracking' problem came in India in the wet season where thunderstorms created ammonia from the nitrogen in the air.Other sources such as urine do the job too...Check the necks , if cracked discard. [If you have a gas stove in your kitchen with a brass flexible hose ,replace the hose with one of stainless steel immediately !]

quote:

Originally posted by mete:
[If you have a gas stove in your kitchen with a brass flexible hose ,replace the hose with one of stainless steel immediately !]

Absolutely! We had a house Ka-Booooom in NC that they believe resulted from a "Pin Hole" cause by the Ammonia Vapors.

Once they determined what it was, I called my relatives in KY and told them all to have their Gas Lines checked and replaced if they were Brass. Even made a trip to KY to verify it had been done.

Thought about it and decided to call Louisville Gas & Electric. Everyone I spoke to there was very professional, but had not heard of the problem. After I returned to the Carolinas my relatives said the fine folks at LG&E apparently followed up on it, verified the problem and issued Alerts to all their customers and the local News Media.
-----

Just a couple of years ago a Church Ka-Boomed in Carrolton, KY. I never heard the result of their investigation, so I can't say for certain what caused it other than it was a Natural Gas Ka-Boom.

This is really not something to take lightly.

Best of luck to all you folks.

There was quite a bit of nitric 4895 on the market for a while and still might be. I got 8 # of it and it played hell with primers and cases and the bases of bullet turned a nice dark green.

Mixing it in a 33 gal. garbage can and putting it on my lawn was a great big mistake.

The cases may have become brittle but they were disposed of also so we"ll never know. roger