Using old brass?

[Wildyams]

Can you clean up and use old brass? Back in November I had a few friends out, and we went shooting out back. This was before I got into reloading so we all just let the brass fly and left it there (there was about an inch of snow so it would have been hard to find anyways). So anyways, it sat out there on the ground through the winter, was covered in 3 feet of snow, an inch of water during the run off, and now its been baking in 100 degree heat for the past month. Today when I was out shooting I picked up a couple of the casings and they looked in decent"ish" shape. Would I be able to tumble these, clean them up and use them? Or should I just dispose of them?

Thanks

 

[ArchAngelCD]

If the brass was in good shape when you shot it it's in good shape now. Pick it up and tumble it for a few hours. After that give it a good inspection and if there are no splits or cracks it's just fine to reload. The weather won't bother the brass over that short a time. If it were laying there for years and it turned colors or had heavy pitting that would be a problem because the integrity of the brass would probably be compromised.

 

[Wildyams]

What about nickel plated stuff? I think there was some of that. I originally thought it was steel, because of the dull grey it was now but then I checked the headstamp and it was hornady. I don't think hornady reloads with steel cases.

 

[faire bien de...!]

I've used some cases that have been lying in the weather for months with no problems, but I know it's my old brass that I'm picking up. If you throw them in your tumbler for a while they should clean up pretty well, though the discoloration from the weather is sometimes hard to remove. Sure, it gets pretty hot sitting in the sun, but certainly not hot enough to spontaneously anneal the case or anything. You should be fine using them, but let's see what others have to say...

 

[ArchAngelCD]

The Nickel plated stuff will probably clean up easier than the yellow brass because the Nickel plating is slippery. I wouldn't worry about any of it as long as you inspect all the cases after you tumble them.

 

[moosehunt]

Old? A year or so? That stuff is still on the tit! Old is 20, 30, 40 years! It may be tarnished a bit, but that is totally immaterial so long as the metal is sound, i.e. not cracked or split. As to the tumbler, fine if you're into pretty, but it's fine as is, just make sure there's no trash, dirt inside. Tumbling is a waste of time as far as I'm concerned, as all it improves is looks, not function, but each to his own. I pick up and use brass that's browner than Obama--works fine with no tumbling.
Enjoy! Have fun! Shoot, don't fret!

 

[ArchAngelCD]

Tumbling is a waste of time as far as I'm concerned, as all it improves is looks, not function, but each to his own.

moosehunt,
I have to totally disagree. I don't tumble my brass for looks, I tumble it to clean it. I refuse to run dirty brass through my Carbide dies. Besides, dirty brass is harder to check for imperfections. Also, not cleaning you brass is a sign of sloppy work IMO.

 

[evan price]

The thing to watch out for is if the brass shows any colour change to reveal a pink or reddish tint. This is indicative of chemical leaching of the zinc from the brass alloy. This leaves the copper. This makes a very brittle spot in the brass. Contact with the ground and moisture can do this. If you see any pink, it ate the zinc. Scrap those, they will split quite quickly.

I personally will tumble chocolate brass in an aggressive mixture of coarse walnut for 1-2 days to try to clean it, and my experience is that if it does not have a sparkle in the first day it won't, ever. I like clean, shiny brass, so the chocolate brass goes in the scrap bucket.

 

[243winxb]

The thing to watch out for is if the brass shows any color change to reveal a pink or reddish tint. This is indicative of chemical leaching of the zinc from the brass alloy. This leaves the copper. This makes a very brittle spot in the brass. Contact with the ground and moisture can do this. If you see any pink, it ate the zinc. Scrap those, they will split quite quickly.

< Very true. Ammonia in nature is formed as a product of decomposition of animal and vegetable matter under damp or wet conditions. Brittle brass is not good. Don't wash brass in vinegar.

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[KenWP]

I use a 300 H&H and ammo is hard to find sometimes so I buy old cases at gun shows and where ever I can find it. It tumbles up nice and clean and after a good eye check it shoots fine.

 

[The Bushmaster]

Wildyams...If it is a dull grey. Make sure it isn't aluminum instead of nickel plated...

Tumbling serves several purposes. Cleans the cases in prep for resizing. Makes inspection of the brass for splits, cracks and pitting much easier. Let's face it...It just plain looks good when it's nice and shinny, besides showing pride in craftmanship...

 

[fguffey]

243winxb, I have seen cases that were ejected without necks, a very disciplined reloader of 30 years called and informed me he developed a problem with some of his reloads, he examined the case of the 5Th round fired, it did not have a neck, then he examined the first four, he managed to find 3 necks, he did not find the fourth, long story, he took the time to visit, at the time we were on another forum and he had noticed I did not make an effort to make everyone happy, anyhow, I put together projects that would answer his questions and the tools necessary to accomplish results without spending large sums of money, he changed his methods and techniques and the problem went away, and he found some of the advice he got on the Internet was not what it was c#%$d up to be.

Again: I purchased 1,400 30/06 cases each complete with a 30 cal dirt dobber (small black wasp), to clean the cases after the wasp hatched would take at least 4 days of tumbling, I cleaned them in 15 minutes by submerging in a 3 gal jug filled with 4% vinegar, after washing and drying I tumbled the cases for 2 hours, as I have said I clean very tarnished cases with vinegar for 15 minutes once for the life of the case, is this new? no, find a B&N reloading on how to reload, back in the 50s, they used dilluted So3, the cases came out black, and they did not loose the neck of the case unless they did something wrong that had nothing to do with cleaning.

The 1,400 cases cost 1 cent each, of the 1,400 many were used to form 8mm, 7mm, 7.65X53, 257 Roberts, 6.5X257 Roberts, 35 Whelen etc.. plus another 800 I purchased that were in belts with metal links, the cases were available to any one, they wanted pretty, shinney, once fired, just fired cases, 15 minutes is a small investment in time, not being vain I will purchase and use 'stuff' that other certique and then find fault, my thinking? they do not have a B&N reloading manual.

I visited Pat's reloading in Ohio, he had new unfired LC and LC match, nm cases for .08 to .10 cents each, a few friends kicked in to make the stop worth while, so I am not forced to use the 2,200 cases, none of the cases have 30/06 on the head stamp, to me that is another advantage.


F. Guffey

 

[atblis]

I think Hornady does in fact make steel cased ammo.

 

[moosehunt]

Some of you think shiney brass makes you look more "professional", makes you a better "craftsman". Each to his own, but I strongly disagree. It justs wastes your money and time, in my opinion, but if you like shiney brass, go for it! Obviously, one doesn't run dirty brass through dies--if it's dirty I wipe or wash it clean. I don't think that by not polishing that I am missing any flaws or defects. I might agree that shiney brass looks nice, but since virtually no one but me sees it, and it performs no better, I simply say why bother? I'm not telling others what to do, just my opinion and why. That's $100 +/- that I can spend on something else. I only have carbide dies for pistol cartridges (.32 H&R and .45 Colt in my case), but in thinking about the comment made above about carbide dies and dirt, a carbide die would be much less suceptable to damage from dirt than would be a standard hardened steel die. I wouldn't run dirty cases unless by gross error, but I'd be much less concerned about the carbide die than the steel ones. You'ld have to do something pretty drastic to scratch or damage a carbide die.
Cheers! There's no gain in chastising others simply because you have different opinions!

 

[atblis]

Yeah

Water+dish soap+a little shaking= clean enough brass.

 

[Randy1911]

Old!!!!!

I have loaded old brass that was headstamped 1943. It was a dark brown, but had no problems with it. It loaded just as fine as new brass.

 

[FROGO207]

YA-DA YA-DA YA-DA The clean the dirty and the tarnished! If I am going to load it for storage or likewise I will polish it , seal primer,load it , and seal lead. If I am trying to establish loads or go blasting some paper only to reload within a short while polishing after the initial one will not be needed.

 

[rondog]

I get brass like these all clean and shiny. But I'm a little more anal than most folks.

 

[hokeyplyr48]

God those are dirty!
How exactly do you go about doing it? Just tumble them for days? soak them? both?

 

[FROGO207]

Some in there don't look half bad! ALL will be usable if not cracked or otherwise.

 

[SciFiJim]

Rondog, please share your method. I get brass like that occasionally when I hunt for brass in the weeds at the range.

 

[1SOW]

rondog +1

For me, Era Laundry soap & water, soak, shake, blast with garden hose with the nozzle set to 'painful', drain and dry on a towel outside in the TX sun. Then deprime and tumble in corn cob. Works.

 

[SciFiJim]

1SOW, as an alternative method, you might deprime first with a universal depriming die. It will help to the get the water out easier if both ends are open.

 

[1SOW]

Yes, but I don't have the extra press/die.

I have to get the mud and grit out first. I'm using a Lee Turret press with deprimer in the sizing die. It's just simpler to wash range brass cases first.
I have washed twice, before and after deprime, but it's not worth it for pistol.

I wish I did have a deprimer only set-up. If I can find a deal......

 

[rondog]

I soak 'em in this stuff, it'll eat that black crud right off. That part about "restores brass casings to a bright finish in seconds!" is BS, though.



But, it's expensive and hard to find locally. Midway and the like have it, but there's the shipping. Actually, I've also had decent luck soaking them in plain old Orange KoolAid. Mix it up per directions, but don't add sugar. The citric acid in the KoolAid will eat the crud.

After soaking, washing/rinsing/drying, I'll run 'em for several hours in dry Kaytee brand walnut bird litter from PetSmart to scrub 'em, then I polish them in corncob media with a little NuFinish car polish mixed in.