5 gallon bucket

[watlow]

Just the other day I received a 5 gallon bucket of 9mm brass. My question is do need to clean it all right away or do anything to keep it from damaging itself? It will probably be awhile before I need most of it.

[BrianKr]

watlow, the lack of responses you've gotten in the few minutes that your thread has gone unanswered should give a hint as to how to handle it. It has been recalled and I'm the person who has been designated to collect this brass. Just send it to me for proper disposal. I know what you're thinking, "That's a really nice thing that Brian is willing to do for me.". Hey, that's me. I'm all about people. (good haul BTW!)

I also masquerade, part time, as a Nigerian prince who has a nestegg of 40 some odd billions of dollars and I need a mere 40k of your money to access it and I'll give you a few billion later if you help me.

OK, back to reality. I wouldn't do anything with it, including sending it to me if it doesn't look OK. You didn't mention if it's been tumbled, cleaned, or if it's range brass. But assuming no funky processing or alkaline or acidic range dirt or processing, we can only guess, I would just leave it alone until you get to it. Keep an eye on it to see if anything about it changes. Or I can keep it safe for you, but I've noticed that brass near my reloading bench has a tendency to sublimate and disappear. It's the strangest thing and defies the natural laws.

:-) enjoy your brass!

Edited May 28, 2016 by BrianKr

[wolffy1876]

It will be fine to sit till you need it.

[Hi-Power Jack]

Depends on your def'n of "be awhile" ...

If it's going to be more than a few months,

I'd make sure it's all dry, and I'd put it in

an airtight plastic bag ...

Just my 2 cents worth.

[Ultimo-Hombre]

Don't throw partially empty cans of booze on top of it.

That stuff won't polish out

[mlmiller1]

If its from a wet area or has damp mud, I would start the tumbler & keep it going till you get it done. If its dry, it can sit forever more or less

[Bamboo]

I have some .45 cases that have been in long term storage for years now. I tumbled them to get the dirt and crud off, then sprayed them lightly with Pam cooking oil spray and stored them in a 5gallon bucket with a tight cover. They still look good and when the time comes to use them a couple hours in the tumbler and they should be good to go. For me it was worth it for these cases as they are all the same head stamp and once or twice fired.

For mixed range brass - meh - might not be worth the effort. Just make sure they are dry and in a covered container as others have said.

[warpspeed]

I recently got a 5 gal bucket of 223. I throw a couple pounds in the tumbler and clean for about 4 hours. I have a timer on the tumbler so I can't set it and walk away. Then to another bucket for storage. I figure in a week, it will be all done.

I don't think there is any harm in just keeping it as is but this way it won't seem like such a daunting task.

[watlow]

Thanks guys most of it is once fired police training ammo so yes it seems like a gold mine.

[jrswanson1]

Another PSA here. If you have cats in your residence, cover that bucket! For some reason they like using buckets of brass as kitty litter.

[bfalcon00]

Another PSA here. If you have cats in your residence, cover that bucket! For some reason they like using buckets of brass as kitty litter.

Oh that would have really pissed me off. Then again I'm not a cat person haha

[Miranda]

... really? cat piss?

ANY piss... is bad for brass.

so is barf and ammonia.

If the brass is dry, let it sit.

other wise something like what warpspeed says.

dry is all you need, cleaned is better.

miranda

[jrswanson1]

... really? cat piss?

Demon Spawn was angry with my daughter so he squatted over my bucket of brass and did his business. He did the same thing with my box of 44-40 brass. I hate cats.

[Solvability]

Be sure to put it in a dry place - one thing that can happen to brass is an electrolytic reaction that makes the primers bond to the case. When you try to decap them it will just punch through leaving a ring and be unusable - if they are dry and stay dry that won't happen.

[mwray]

... really? cat piss?

Demon Spawn was angry with my daughter so he squatted over my bucket of brass and did his business. He did the same thing with my box of 44-40 brass. I hate cats.

Sounds like the cat is ready for its last supper of rat poison