hello friends, I have some old 7.62x54r on stripper clips its nasty gunk on it can i use steel wool to glean it and still have it fire safely?
You could, but if you have access to a vibrating case tumbler, it would work much better. I just tumbled a batch of 1,000 of tarnished and dirty Romanian 7.62X25 and it now looks like brand new commercial ammo.
Jonathan, You won't have any problems firing the brass after you clean it with a solvent(such as brake clean) and steel wool. Keep in mind though, that brass is a soft metal. Use a less abrasive steel wool, such as 0000 to ensure you don't take too much brass off. Also, if you want your brass to be shiny, 0000 will ensure you won't have deep scratches in the brass. On a different note, there is a product called 'Flitz' that works great for polishing and cleaning up metals such as brass. It uses small abrasive particles in a liquid to polish and restore a bright finish. The ideal solution would be to run the brass through a tumbler or sonic cleaner. However, if you've only got a few cases and don't plan on using it that often they can be a bit pricy. Regards, Dustin All of the previous also applies to steel cases(just noticed they were steel), just add a good rust preventative and ensure the cases don't show any current signs of rusting as cleaning them up will most likely clean off any prior rust inhibitors. A rusted case is NOT safe to shoot.
* Yes, but I use both fine steel wool and Liquid Brasso Metal Polish on mine.* You can buy it at any Hardware and I believe Walmart carries it.* Great stuff.*
