Ice and condition of brass

[BridgeWalker]

Last week I picked up a bunch of brass. Some was left over from a couple day earlier. Some was new. It either fell into snow, or straight onto ice, where it instantly melted and then the ice quickly refroze around it. Getting it out was a bit tricky.

I finally got around to sorting and tumbling it today and I noticed that a lot of it discolored--dull and some with that sort of subtle rainbow-y stripes of color as from extreme temp changes.

It occurred to me that it had cooled awfully fast--from ejection to frozen in a couple seconds. I know next to nothing about how temperature changes affect metals, but the strange discolorations were a bit concerning. Could this be a problem? Any reason not to use brass from cold conditions?

 

[Idano]

No I wouldn't worry about the temperature change. The brass didn't get hot enough like in the annealing process where you get the case cherry red then quickly quench it. Living and shooting in Idaho I have picked up a lot of brass in the field and at the range that has landed in the snow and never had an issue.

However, if you're concerned I would gladly take the brass off your hands

 

[BridgeWalker]

Nah, thats ok. I'll hang onto it. I didn't think the temp changes were extreme enough to be a problem, but the color changes weirded me out a bit.

 

[Idano]

Okay but remember I offered. Heck I have picked up discolored brass off the desert that been in a wildfire and as long as it cleans up, resizes properly and still maintains good neck retention I use it. Here is a good article on the effects of temperature and the annealing process.