Tumbler results question

[emptybrass]

So I just emptied my dry tumbler and got two strange pieces of brass out of the batch.

Odd Casing by Randy Digby, on Flickr

The were in the same batch as the center casing and all others looked normal. These are purchased brass so I looked through the batch just to see if there was a much larger shell that these two boys could have been riding in but found none. So what's going on?

 

[Walkalong]

Looks like either steel cases or badly corroded brass.

 

[CLP]

maybe you picked up someone else's brass when you collected yours.
i've done that before with 45acp

 

[emptybrass]

Not steel.
One is head stamped LC 05 and the other is LC 06.
Purchased, once fired.

 

[frankenstein406]

Looks like winter brass, if it bothers you buy some lemi shine or a wet tumbler

 

[emptybrass]

No. It dosen't bother me...just thought it unusual for it to come out of three hours in the tumbler looking like that. Guess it'seems just really corroded. Thanks for looking.

 

[Walkalong]

I wouldn't use it.

 

[gamestalker]

I run into that from time to time also.

GS

 

[Tony k]

One on left is just tarnish. One on right has corrosion

That's what brass looks like after it's been outside for a couple winters. I've scrounged brass from every gravel pit in my county, and the majority of it looks like this to some degree. The one on the right looks like it has actual green corrision inside. Those crack right away in my experience. Toss em.

I have a lot that look like the one on the left that I've loaded three to four times each. They don't fail with any greater frequency than untarnished brass in my experience.

Mine that are tarnished that bad have been in the tumbler multiple times but they are still brown. Shiny and smooth, but still mosly brown.

On the other hand, I've only been reloading for a couple years. If someone with more experience like walkalong says "I wouldn't use it," there's probably a good reason why.

 

[emptybrass]

I'm still new at reloading as well, which is why I posted. In the scrap bin they go. Thanks for all your replies.

 

[CLP]

I bet if you wet tumbled all three that you wouldn't be able to tell a difference between them when they came out. I suspect they somehow unknowingly got mixed in your brass. They're tarnished and that's how they look when left on the ground at the range for a few months. I don't think that happened in your tumbler.

 

[lightman]

I vote to scrap them. 223 brass is too cheap and easy to find to take a chance on a corroded case failing.

Just for kicks, I have tumbled cases like those. Walnut or corncob just make for a black shiney case. Stainless media, Joy and Lemi-shine will make them look like new.

 

[Tony k]

The more I think about it, the more I agree with tossing them. When I was scrounging them back in the spring of 2013(?), anything associated with "assault rifles" was unobtainable. I was desperate for components so I was trying to be resourceful.

Fast forward to now: 223 cases are about more common than 22LR cases at the range. I've got buckets of the stuff, and there's no reason to keep junky brass right now.

I would also guess that spotting signs of imminent case failure are a bit more difficult with the heavily tarnished brass.

 

[Steve2md]

toss em, they're plentiful. But for an experiment, you could chuck em up in a drill and clean em with steel wool and a bronze bore brush, or try soaking in vinegar or lemon juice for a bit. Still, they're just too easy to find for free or nearly free to sweat it