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I clean my brass in a walnut shell dry tumble or a stainless steel rotary tumble. For the ammo I plan to use up in the short term, under 3 months there is no problem. However the ammo I want to store long term I would like to keep it shiny. Personal thing.
I would also like something that would seal around the primer and bullet, so moisture doesn't get inside. I have some .257 Roberts ammo that was reloaded back in the 70's, shoot great, but is down right ugly.
Has any one tried vacuum bagging there ammo for long term storage??
 
I vacuum pack many of my custom reloads. No need to seal primers or bullets on center fire rounds but don't try to vacuum pack 22 ammo. Doesn't work.

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As far as sealing, I think there are a few companies that make commercial sealants out there, the big company that sells stuff to military/etc is Hernon, I'll be honest, if you talk to them once, don't ever count on never talking to them again, I still get calls and e-mails from one of their salesmen.

For a while I was talking to the people at Loctite about products they had that might be suitable, and did some experimentation with Loctite 290, but never really finished the eval. Generally, the requirements for actually "sealing" the round are relatively simple and could be done with paste-wax the limitation is, how long will the round remain free of water intrusion. For the most part, I've never had an issue with water intrusion (even for ammo that's been submerged) on a short term basis. Any ammo that's been underwater longer probably will have other mechanical defects that will keep me away from it.

As far as vacuum sealing... I tried it once, it's kinda've a pain in the tookis and doesn't really buy you much. My choice instead has been to package reloaded ammo in 50ct paper boxes and then put them in a 6mil plastic bag and heat seal it. Vacuum sealing doesn't buy you anything, and most of the "food saver" type bags are much more fragile than industrial plastic tube.


I vacuum pack many of my custom reloads. No need to seal primers or bullets on center fire rounds but don't try to vacuum pack 22 ammo. Doesn't work.

View attachment 118446
No stripper clips? Son, I am disappoint!
 
When I sold my Mauser K98 a couple of years ago, I included 500 or so rounds that had been stored in bandoliers in standard issue GI ammo cans. They were shipped that way to me and allegedly had been stored that way for most of their life. They were not sealed in any way. I shot around 250 of them before the sale I mentioned. The friend who bought all of it is shooting the rifle and ammo in old military rifle club matches and doing quite well. The headstamp on the cases read 1943.
 
I have fully functional 270's I made early 70"s I ceremoniously shoot 5 rounds every year that still look good and have yet to fail. kept in the original boxes they came in when first shot as factory loads, and ammo can.

Food for thought with no actual experience here but I'd be wondering if vacuum packing uncrimped rounds could alter the seat depth, or less likely, even the primer depending on how many times you reloaded them, since air inside the round would be looking for an exit. ??
I seem to remember buying anti tarnish paper to wrap some silver in from portlandjewelrysupplies.com (Simon Goulob) I think, may help your sparkle.
 
I have fully functional 270's I made early 70"s I ceremoniously shoot 5 rounds every year that still look good and have yet to fail. kept in the original boxes they came in when first shot as factory loads, and ammo can.

Food for thought with no actual experience here but I'd be wondering if vacuum packing uncrimped rounds could alter the seat depth, or less likely, even the primer depending on how many times you reloaded them, since air inside the round would be looking for an exit. ??
I seem to remember buying anti tarnish paper to wrap some silver in from portlandjewelrysupplies.com (Simon Goulob) I think, may help your sparkle.

If you're trying to make pretty bullets stay that way, the best way is in your brass-prep step, use a polish that has wax in it, like dillon rapid polish, berry's etc. Stay away from the midway/frankford arsenal polish, it's crap. For best results, add a little bit of mineral spirit to the tumbling media if it's older media, this helps get the wax onto the cases. Also makes them easier to size.
 
I've put corroding copper hollow points through my Glock before. I couldn't tell you how old the actual ammo was. Probably 30+ years old. Gramps hollow points from back in the day. Everyone of them went bang.
 
I've put corroding copper hollow points through my Glock before. I couldn't tell you how old the actual ammo was. Probably 30+ years old. Gramps hollow points from back in the day. Everyone of them went bang.

In other words I wouldn't worry about it. Buy some sealer if you are.
 

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