Corroded Brass ?

[CatskillCrawler]

My bud and I had a disagreement over reloading corroded brass. I have a mess of once-fired brass which I was sorting through while we were discussing loads for his .270Win. Some of this brass has been sitting idle for 20 years. I have always reloaded brass which has tarnished or browned in spots as long there is no pitting, green or white discoloring. I usually use this brass for my range practice loads. I have been doing this for some time now. I have dissected them before and only seen reason for concern on the brass which has pitted. I usually limit them to 4-5 reloads with mild charges.

He thinks otherwise. That any brass which, after tumbling, is discolored from brass' golden hue is grounds for discard.

I will discard the three in the near row on the right. The others I will tumble, re-inspect and go from there:

Close-ups of same with the discards on top of pic:

Discards on the bottom of the pic:

Set me straight please.

 

[JD338]

I agree with you BUT, I would put some #0000 steel wool on the spotted cases. If they don't come clean, I would toss them.
I am a shiny brass kind of guy. :grin:

JD338

 

[joelkdouglas]

I also err on the side of caution with brass. Not to say that pieces are not perfectly fine, but if I have any question in my mind I discard the piece. Sometimes I discard the group of 20.

Yes, I admit I often err too much on the side of caution. But brass is relatively cheap.

 

[DrMike]

Being allergic to catastrophic case failure (it can leave ugly, red marks on my body), I tend to err on the side of caution. I'm working with brass provided by a customer at the present which requires culling. Much of it is corroded. For load development on the low end of the load, I may use a mildly corroded case. However, when it comes to mid-range and higher that will generate pressure approaching maximum, I will discard. Brass will maintain its integrity to ~81,000 to ~85,000 psi if there are no flaws. Since I don't know the extend of the damage to the case caused by corrosion, I will not take the chance.

 

[nvbroncrider]

No chance brass is cheap your eyes are forever.

 

[SJB358]

No chance brass is cheap your eyes are forever.

Exactly! Brass is much cheaper than eyesight!

 

[russ808]

Recycle the junk brass.
Make a little money to buy more stuff
Russ

 

[onesonek]

It depends on how deep the corrosion is. Sometimes that is just surface staining of sorts. I take like those and give a hot water bath in a solution of 2 tbs. of citric acid per quart of near boiling water. This cleans the brass, plus passivates it. Once dried, I inspect the spots with a 30X glass. If any pitting is notice, then I discard those. The passivation leaves the brass dull, which I like for hunting,,,if I want it bright for the other a short tumble works.
But when it gets to the point when you see that greenish white stuff, thats mostly the zinc being attacked and leaching out. Those areas will be weaker and so, be discarded.

 

[Guest]

For me, brass like that gets thrown in the trash can. Not worth the chance of an accident happening. I value my eye sight to much. If money is an issue buying brass, go to some rifle ranges, I bet you would find some 270 brass laying around you could use.

Don

 

[Mountain Goat]

Brass is way too affordable to be forced to use sub-par pieces or pieces that you don't know the full history of its use.

The only brass that I use is brass that has been loaded by me, and only me, since it was new.

 

[CatskillCrawler]

Thanks gents. Very predictable responses from an experienced crew. Sometimes I have to hear it a few times for it sink in.

All of this brass was fired from my rifle before I started to reload. I had 44 boxes of once fired factory brass for my .270 alone. Some of it is perfect. Others not so. I've noticed that the bullets stored in the plastic belt carriers fared better than those stored in the styrofoam holders. All of this brass was stored in a dry attic storeroom.

I've gone thru it all now and have discarded roughly 20% due to corrosion. I cut a few more which I considered to be borderline and found no discoloration on the inside but then again, paraphrasing here... "brass is cheap and blindness is permanent". Why risk it. I still have more than enough to last me until this barrel is shot out.

I'll continue to load some of the brass that has cosmetic anomalies but anything that even resembles anything more than tarnishing will get crimped and thrown in the brass bucket.

Just for the record, my friend was still incorrect as some of the language he used contradicts the results of these findings. :lol:

 

[ScreaminEagle]

My rule with corroded brass is: if I can run my fingernail over the area and feel it catch on the corrosion, then it is junk. If it has spots but I can't feel them, then they are fine.

 

[CatskillCrawler]

My rule with corroded brass is: if I can run my fingernail over the area and feel it catch on the corrosion, then it is junk. If it has spots but I can't feel them, then they are fine.

This is my new standard.

 

[FOTIS]

I agree with you BUT, I would put some #0000 steel wool on the spotted cases. If they don't come clean, I would toss them.
I am a shiny brass kind of guy. :grin:

JD338

Ditto here!

 

[kraky]

Id hit em with some flitz metal polish. They will quickly come clean or show you pitting. I would be using without hesitation some of that brass and it would look great after the flitz.