Look at the ring near the base of this brass

[sirgilligan]

Look at the ring at the base of this brass. I find it very interesting.





What is at that location where the ring is? I do not know how brass is made, but it looks like something is different about the brass at that point.

 

[243winxb]

Factory ammo? Came in a styrofoam box? Whats on the headstamp?

 

[Walkalong]

Reload?

 

[oldreloader]

Personally I'd pull the bullet and check for a grove inside the case.

 

[sirgilligan]

Once fired brass. PMC .223

It is my very first reload I did, and I keep it on my desk. I often pick it up and twirl it around while I am thinking, programming, etc. As I have handled it, it has changed color.

 

[Don McDowell]

Once fired in your gun or someone elses? Looks something similar to a precursor of case separation due to excessive headspace.

 

[sirgilligan]

Fired from one of my .223's, I am not sure which one. I full length resized them and only a very few had to be trimmed.

The other cartridges that I reloaded are all nice and shiny, and look like new, this color appeared after many hundreds and maybe even a few thousand times I sit at the computer and flip it around and roll it and such when I am thinking, kind of like some people do with an ink pen.

I am thinking that it is showing something about how the case is formed, maybe there is a transition in the material at that juncture?
It sure does look like the area that people show where a case head has separated.

 

[sirgilligan]

That round doesn't have a primer, it was my first ever to seat a bullet and try to crimp. So, I took a paper clip and bent a very small length of it at the end to 90 degrees and reached inside. Smooth as can be, no detection of anything. I also checked the many prepared bass from the same batch that haven't been loaded and they are all fine, and those not handled are shiny like new from tumbling.

It must be showing some transition in the composition of the brass, or some surface change due to firing or resizing, that shows darker. It does line up with many photos on line of .223 case head separation and where they failed. Still has me wondering.

 

[berettaprofessor]

Some of the 223 PMC I've seen is colored at the bottom, like it was case-hardened...I'm just guessing but is it possible they anneal the brass at that level?

 

[sirgilligan]

Some of the 223 PMC I've seen is colored at the bottom, like it was case-hardened...I'm just guessing but is it possible they anneal the brass at that level?

I wonder, it may be something to do with annealing.

 

[horseman1]

A theory based only on the picture:

Is it possible that part of the brass expanded when the round was fired and the use of the sizing die rubbed off any old tarnish in that location, but left enough on the rest of the brass to protect it somewhat from the acids on ones skin that are in the new environment? The resized portion had cleaner, exposed brass and had no older layer like the rest of the brass case....

 

[Conservidave]

That looks like where my Lee FL sizing die begins to size my .223 cases...

 

[hoycattle]

You'll notice some reloads look like this, at least some of mine do. It's from the sizing die. All of mine that had that ring have fired perfectly.

 

[sirgilligan]

Thanks for the ideas.

 

[R.Ph. 380]

Someone asked if the brass had been annealed that far down.No, absolutely not. If you ever think you have annealed brass that low, it must be thrown away. Cannot correct and cannot take the chance of firing. Make that brass too soft there, immediate kaboom.

 

[Niland]

That's totally where sizing die finishes up. I get the same thing on 223, 308 and 30/30.

 

[rcmodel]

I don't know if he is talking about the change near the case head where the sizing die stopped.

Or if he is asking about the dark ring about 1/3 up the case.

There is no way the sizing die stopped there.

rc

 

[fguffey]

That round doesn't have a primer,

this color appeared after many hundreds and maybe even a few thousand times I sit at the computer and flip it around and roll it and such when I am thinking

There are times I do not take the time to tumble a few cases to test loads and or a rifle, I spin the case, spinning removes artifacts. The visible ring you have on that case was caused by something, it has been suggested the case was shipped in a divider of some type, the divider was abrasive. Flopping, flipping and rolling while thinking made it visible. The flopping, flopping and rolling polished the case.

F. Guffey

 

[Niland]

What I meant when I said "where sizing die finishes up" wasn't that the die only goes to that point, but full length sizing doesn't change the case size all the way to the case head. Most chambers fit pretty snug at the head and slop a bit as you reach the neck. Thus fired brass is formed to the chamber and when resized will frequently show marks like this at some point along the length of the case where the sizing die stops resizing. Ahead of that spot the die simply frictions it's way along leaving scuffs that could look like that depending on lighting.

Idanoes, I'm just suggesting. It'd be nice to get a look at the setup. I'm skeptical without more detail from the OP.

 

[sirgilligan]

That is PMC brass, that is ships in a cardboard box with no divider in the box.
I am referring to the stripe that is a third of the way up from the case head, the strip right at the case head is the exact same color, and there must be some correlation between the two stripes.

I tumbled the once fired brass in walnut media. I lubed the brass with RCBS case lube rolled on a lube pad. I full length resized the brass with an RCBS die.

It is my first cartridge. It has no charge, no primer. It is my souvenir.

I roll it around, right now I am doing it, in my fingers and it has changed colors.

I took a paper clip and checked inside for any thing I could feel, and I felt nothing.

It is just an interesting mystery to me. Thanks for the responses.