what about tarnished brass?

[fluffy]

I recently acquired a lot of brass from an estate sale.
While most of it cleans up very well,a certain percentage looks like it laid out on the ground for a period of time(range pick up,Im guessing).
At what point would you not use the ugly ones?
Im thinking of treating my tumbler media with rubbing compound,just to see what it looks like,and aybe use the brass for hunting,and just"let 'er fly" when fired.
Whats your opinion?

 

[solvability]

Wash it in Lemishine and see what it looks like - if it is pitted or brittle toss it.

 

[squarles67]

Pistol or Rifle?

With pistol ammo I'll load and shoot just about anything, I'm a bit more particular about rifle brass.

 

[fluffy]

30-30,308,9mm,300 win mag

 

[ranger335v]

Tarnish is dark and harmless. An hour or so of soaking in vinegar (very weak acid) will reduce the tarnish to a thin pink which will easily tumble off.

Green is corrosion and, like rust, it eats into the metal. Toss any that have more than a thin green layer, it will split during sizing and firing.

 

[45lcshooter]

Depends how you like your brass. For the ease of reloading, cleaner cases the better on equipment. Me, personally i like to open up a box of loaded ammo and it shines.

If cases are pitted or cracked, obviously throw them out/scrap.

 

[fluffy]

some have black spots,some are not tarnished,but are rough textured over some of the surface,some have multicolored spot,but dont appear to be pitted.
I put the worst 2 dozen in the tumbler with corn cob media that has been treated with a lot of rubbing compound.
Incidentally,the corn cob media is sold at walmart as animal bedding,and is about double the size grains as normal media.
Aside from hanging up inside the case more than usuall,I see no difference so far.

Oh,and I like my brass clean.

 

[243winxb]

If brass looks like this.......... Google- "Stress Corrosion Cracking" and "Dezincification" Both make brass brittle, weak & unsafe.

 

[robbieg19]

I pick up all the 9mm brass I can find. the stuff that is really tarnished (almost black in color) I soak for about and hour in a mixture of 1 gallon water, half gallon white vinegar, 1/4 cup dawn and couple tbl spoons salt. I then rinse it and pour it in a bucket of water with 1/4 box of baking soda. The brass that was black comes out a dull pinkish color. I rinse it a couple more times then spread it out on a towel to dry. I then tumble in walnut shells for about 2 hrs and then in corn cob with polish added for about another 2-3 hours. When its done its hard to pick out the brass that started out black. I know this sounds like a lot of work but I really like clean brass. Also the vinegar and water soak seems to get the inside of the cases much cleaner than just tumbling.
I have just tumbled the really tarnished stuff and it comes out shiny and brown. I have loaded and shot several hundred with no problems.

 

[fluffy]

well, the rubbing compound removes all but the worst spots,and those are the ones that look like the picture.
It does give the brass a kind of neat "matte" finish ,though.
Im going to see if corn cob will polish it back to normal.

 

[morcey2]

I polish them up, drill a hole through them, and use them for dummy loads.

Matt