Thread: Brass cases are tarnished / revolver

I keep a loaded GP100 as my nightstand gun. Recently I checked the ammo and the brass was tarnished.. It was a brown mottled tarnish, not the green.. I had cleaned the cylinder w/ Hoppe's #9 after shooting, followed by a dry patch, and lastly a very light patch of CLP, prior to reloading and storage.

I understand dissimilar metals stored together will corrode one another. For years I kept steel cased .357 in the gun and I never noticed any corrosion.

Is this tarnish normal? Does it weaken the ammo and make it unsafe in any way? Has anyone had this happen to them?

Thanks in advance,

Without pics I would say it is normal and no problem. After awhile brass will loose its luster but it is fine to shoot. I have reloaded a lot of tarnished brass in the 10's of times without a problem. If you are too concerned, just put some fresh in from time to time. It is a good idea to freshen your ammo up from time to time anyway.

If you don't have any of the green "verdigris", then the rounds are just ugly, not unsafe. What you might do is take some Nu-Finish Car Polish or something similar, put a few drops on a rag, then wipe the rounds until they're clean and shiny. The car wax has a polish compound that won't harm the brass and will leave a tarnish resisting film on the brass of the case and jacket material.

Strangely enough, Hoppe's can cause some of this discoloration itself. I like to wipe the cylinders dry by pulling a piece of torn t-shirt through the chambers and store without any lube visible. There's enough that remains in the metal pores after merely wiping to prevent any corrosion, that is unless you leave the pistol in your fishing tackle box in the bottom of the boat

Any gun cleaning chemical left on the gun will eventually attack the brass of the shell casing, this is the main reason why nearly all defensive ammunition comes in nickel plated cases. Were it my gun, I would wipe the cylinders out, put fresh ammo in it, and fire off those rounds next time I head to the range.

Thank you for all your help guys. I'm going to take these cartridges out and shoot them, and replace w/ the Hornady Critical Defense .38 +P, which are nickel plated.