I'm old, yes, but what do they teach people these days?

[AccelR8]

I'm just in one of those WTF moods I guess but I'm thinking of a conversation earlier this week with another shooter at the range about cleaning range pick-up brass:

“Put them in water? Aren't they metal?”
Yes, they're brass. Water won't hurt them.
“Won't they rust?”
No, brass doesn't rust.
“You just said they were metal!”

 

[mousegunner]

Tell him about the guns with brass frames, you got to tumble them in corn cob to clean them!

 

[nmkid]

Once I told my grandson, "it just takes common sense". His response, "grandpa, they haven't taught us that yet in school". True story.

 

[butchlambert]

My question, what is the white corrosion in old pickup brass? I have a few boxes of 30-40 Winchester new in the box ammo that has corroded through. That is from the outside to inside.

 

[Joe Maisto]

My question, what is the white corrosion in old pickup brass? I have a few boxes of 30-40 Winchester new in the box ammo that has corroded through. That is from the outside to inside.

I too have wondered about that. Often times I have had old factory ammo that had corroded brass that had turned green at the mouth. Certainly nothing I would attempt to fire...

 

[Pawnee Bill]

I'm just in one of those WTF moods I guess but I'm thinking of a conversation earlier this week with another shooter at the range about cleaning range pick-up brass:

“Put them in water? Aren't they metal?”
Yes, they're brass. Water won't hurt them.
“Won't they rust?”
No, brass doesn't rust.
“You just said they were metal!”

Unfortunately, in today's world the parents teach their children very little compared to what we were taught back in the old days. The parents are too busy with careers and keeping up with their kids multiple activities that they have spoiled rotten by giving them everything without teaching them what it takes to have things, ie making them do chores for an allowance. It is really a sad state. Common sense is something they don't teach in school.

 

[TAJ45]

The corrosion may welll be the acid from the cardboard boxes.
When picture framing, the choice of the mat's composition can be "acid free rag" iirc. Not all matting is acid free, most wasn't when I dabbled in framing.
If you have a valuable print or document you want to preserve, always use acid free. fwiw

 

[pirate ammo]

My question, what is the white corrosion in old pickup brass? I have a few boxes of 30-40 Winchester new in the box ammo that has corroded through. That is from the outside to inside.

Plain old Oxygen is highly corrosive and we breath it everyday, throw in a little salt that's everywhere and science takes over.

 

[Rustytigwire]

Children have to be allowed empty head time to develop curiousity.
Today they are crammed full of entertainment and not made to think for themselves.
An eager mind will fill itself with what is provided. Knowlege and facts, logic and reasoning, or BS lies deception unicorns.
That said some minds seem quite resistant to reality no matter how well they are brought up. Every persons sponge has different absorbent qualities.
Not all are destined to win or even survive.

 

[BP1]

Once I told my grandson, "it just takes common sense". His response, "grandpa, they haven't taught us that yet in school". True story.

Buy that young man a new gun..that was priceless..

 

[Racebannon3855]

I'm just in one of those WTF moods I guess but I'm thinking of a conversation earlier this week with another shooter at the range about cleaning range pick-up brass:

“Put them in water? Aren't they metal?”
Yes, they're brass. Water won't hurt them.
“Won't they rust?”
No, brass doesn't rust.
“You just said they were metal!”

Of all the things I try to teach in shop class, the one that former students always remember is being on time. Several former students have told me in the past year that they got a promotion because they are the only one that gets to work on time. Teaching them to weld was good, teaching them to be on time was worth more at the end of the day. Not sure what that says about our society.

We have been hosting bonfires on our farm for the Cross Country kids the past few years. They have never been around fire and it is hysterical to listen to them talk. "Hey, fire is hot." After that I will throw a water bottle with a little water left in into the fire and watch the kids jump when it pops. You should hear the explanations for why that happens. When I melt an aluminum can on a stick they are really amazed.

When the fire dies down I have them watch for satelites overhead, anything to keep them off their phones. Kids that grow up in subdivisions never look up and if they did the artificial light blocks all the "stuff" outside of our planet. They are a product of how they are raised.

Last week I shared my XJ Cherokee parts stash with a young guy that was building his own XJ. We need to help/support/encourage any kind of hands on activity. When your local school board is trying to eliminate hands-on/vocational classes we need to speak up. The push for every kid to go to college / university has hurt learning, we need to worry less about multiple choice tests. Not many multiple choice tests in the real world.

Thanks for working with a young guy to teach him about brass and it's corrosion resistance. It will come back to you.

 

[mousegunner]

Children have to be allowed empty head time to develop curiousity.
Today they are crammed full of entertainment and not made to think for themselves.
An eager mind will fill itself with what is provided. Knowlege and facts, logic and reasoning, or BS lies deception unicorns.
That said some minds seem quite resistant to reality no matter how well they are brought up. Every persons sponge has different absorbent qualities.
Not all are destined to win or even survive.

Yes. I see my grandsons, 2 and 4, and I want to teach them things about the world around them by using all their senses not just what they see on a screen.

I want to show them how to tile a floor, do some wood work, change out a radiator, shoot a gun. I want them to look at any situation and see if there are consequences, options, and to make informed choices. Their father is a good man but there are things he didn't experience that would be hard to pass on. The only thing I ask God is to give me long life and health so I can help guide, counsel, teach and watch them grow.

 

[wkdickinson]

Unfortunately, in today's world the parents teach their children very little compared to what we were taught back in the old days. The parents are too busy with careers and keeping up with their kids multiple activities that they have spoiled rotten by giving them everything without teaching them what it takes to have things, ie making them do chores for an allowance. It is really a sad state. Common sense is something they don't teach in school.

I agree, but my parents had a different take on it - chores (taking the garbage out, mowing the lawn, doing the dishes, etc.) were part of our responsibility as part of the family. An allowance was a "gift" from our parents, my mother told me many times, the two had nothing to do with one another. Sometimes if there was a "project" out of the ordinary, they would pay us something for helping, but not often. We did the same with our kids and hopefully they are passing it on as well.

 

[markT]

It’s amazing to see our youth. They seem so self confident. When I ask some young person a question, they whip out their iPhone and boom an answer pops up. Not a bad thing but sometimes the person uploading the answer ain’t got a clue.
We have a local Ace hardware and I love messing with those kids. I know they are glad when I leave.

 

[DangerRanger]

Stupidity isn’t age dependent. Ignorance isn’t either but you old folks have just had more changes at avoiding it.

 

[AccelR8]

Well maybe you had to be there. What got me was not so much his uncertainty about putting them in water, in fact I'd almost expect that if a person didn't know. Heck, when I first heard about wet tumbling as an experiment I put half a dozen dirty range scrounged 223's in tap water with some dish soap and left them for a month. I knew short term was OK but long term effects of chlorine, fluoride, whatever minerals, petroleum distillates in the detergent...? Few days, no problem but after a while they turned green and nasty. So that's a reasonable question I think.

One thing was the confusion about “metal” and “brass” as if they are two different things. I would expect a person to at least know that brass is a metal. We learned that stuff in 8th grade science class, what is a metallic element, what is an alloy, the properties of different metals and alloys. Not shop class, science class that everyone took.

The biggest thing though, and this is why I said I guess you had to be there, his “You just said they were metal!” was delivered as if to say “Ah ha! I just caught you in a contradiction! You're full of...baloney!”

It seems to me many people today, rather than listen to advice and consider that it might be useful information (double check and verify from another source later if you're not sure) they just automatically assume you either do not know what you're talking about or are deliberately trying to mislead.

Maybe I'm over sensitive to that but you're met with...well let me explain it this way. I had a career a a technical trainer and also worked as an adjunct faculty lecturer at several technical colleges and when that career was over I operated a shop for 5 years with employees. Most of the students and young employees seem to have the attitude of, I know what you say is wrong so whatever you tell me to do I'm not going to do it, I will do the opposite of what you told me.

It wasn't always that way.

 

[AccelR8]

Stupidity isn’t age dependent. Ignorance isn’t either but you old folks have just had more changes at avoiding it.

Oh I see plenty of old guys doing really stupid things at the range. Usually safety related, like sweeping the firing line with their muzzle with their finger on the trigger or handling guns while others are down range tending targets. And when you tell them they get all offended and defensive. I've even been told "If you're not comfortable around guns you shouldn't be around a shooting range!" They ALWAYS want to argue about safety. How many times I have heard "it ain't loaded" from some old guy. True story; I watched a guy pick up his 30-06 deer rifle off the bench, holding it at waist level and turn 180 degrees sweeping the entire firing line and point it at the parking lot. I yelled Hey! Muzzle! He pointed it at the ground in front of his feet and pulled the trigger and blew a big hole in the ground.

edit to add; and yeah in the past I've had people tell me things, convince me they knew what they were talking about, I acted on their advice and it turned out they were full of...baloney!

 

[Medic505]

Dumbass has no bounds.

 

[antelopedundee]

My question, what is the white corrosion in old pickup brass? I have a few boxes of 30-40 Winchester new in the box ammo that has corroded through. That is from the outside to inside.

Probably corrosion of the zinc component in the brass. Zinc salts are normally white in color.

 

[pirate ammo]

Probably corrosion of the zinc component in the brass. Zinc salts are normally white in color.

Don't forget the Oxygen,got to have it also.