New brass is grey?

[ghost town]

I found some 223 brass on the shelf today. I was so excited I did not even look at it. Got home to start reloading and realized 1/3 of the brass from the neck down is grey. The rest looks normal. It is HSM brass. I bought some years ago. It looked normal. Not the best but one can't be too picky these days. What is this?

[DT Guy]

And you're sure it's not steel cased? Because that's typically a dull grey color.

If it's actually brass, the 'from the neck down' makes me wonder if it's related to the case annealing process they used.

Larry

[Jim Watson]

Which end is up or down? Heat colors from the last anneal, if not polished off, will cover the neck, shoulder, and some of the body.

[Unclenick]

If the grey is on the case body below the annealed area, if the atmosphere in their location gets humid enough, and especially if there are chemical vapors in it, you can get oxidation of the zinc in the brass, whose oxide is white, and then also get black copper oxide forming. The right mix of the two colors could conceivably look grey, though when I've seen oxidation damage with both oxides, it usually is black center areas surrounded by a white collar.

My approach would be to tumble the brass with polish to see if the color returns. If it looks normal afterwards, do a load workup from a low minimum, like the Hornady manual often has, using a handful of cases randomly selected from the group, watching for splitting along the way. If you get any splits, toss the lot, as zinc oxidation has tunneled too deeply and weakened it. If it holds up, do several reloads to make sure none appear. If they don't, you are likely good to go with the rest, though I would still inspect for splits with a little extra after each firing.

[Marco Califo]

Pictures always help.

[WestDivide]

As DT and Jim W alluded to in their posts, I'd suggest the discoloration on new brass is simply that the manufacturer did not do a final polish on the brass.

All Lapua brass (.223 & .260) that I've bought new has a grey-brown coloration on the neck and ~1/4 to 1/3 way down the case body. I haven't tumbled them, but I suspect the discoloration will lighten or dissipate upon your polishing/cleaning.

That said, I don't have any personal experience with HSM ammo/brass, but since they are a small personal company in the US, I'm gonna have to get some and try it. They appear to have considerable experience with government contracts, and have been around since 1968, so there is that, FWIW.

-West out

[Unclenick]

I've used their ammo at matches in the past. Worked fine and was cheaper than Federal by about half back then. The cases at the time were Winchester. But when you order a large enough number, you can get your own head stamp. I think Starline told me forty or fifty thousand case minimum for that, but it was a long time ago. Forty years ago, Winchester had a special deal where they would put your name on the head stamp for a 2,000 case minimum, but it was just a short-lived promotion. Nonetheless, again, if you order enough you can get what you want on the head stamp. So HSM could still be Winchester brass.

The discoloration from annealing is called annealing stain. The military requires it to be visible on cases to prove they have been annealed to prevent season cracking. Also, Hatcher did tests on corrosion resistance that showed leaving oxides on the case made them much more resistant to corrosive atmospheres than when they were polished. The reason for polishing is just appearance, though I find it helps when I have to find the ejected brass in the grass during a short policing call.

You can see a picture of brass with an annealing stain here: https://www.midwayusa.com/product/2090862857?pid=898842

Let us know if that matches what you see.

[jetinteriorguy]

Originally Posted by Unclenick

I've used their ammo at matches in the past. Worked fine and was cheaper than Federal by about half back then. The cases at the time were Winchester. But when you order a large enough number, you can get your own head stamp. I think Starline told me forty or fifty thousand case minimum for that, but it was a long time ago. Forty years ago, Winchester had a special deal where they would put your name on the head stamp for a 2,000 case minimum, but it was just a short-lived promotion. Nonetheless, again, if you order enough you can get what you want on the head stamp. So HSM could still be Winchester brass.

The discoloration from annealing is called annealing stain. The military requires it to be visible on cases to prove they have been annealed to prevent season cracking. Also, Hatcher did tests on corrosion resistance that showed leaving oxides on the case made them much more resistant to corrosive atmospheres than when they were polished. The reason for polishing is just appearance, though I find it helps when I have to find the ejected brass in the grass during a short policing call.

You can see a picture of brass with an annealing stain here: https://www.midwayusa.com/product/2090862857?pid=898842

Let us know if that matches what you see.

The annealing stain is basically how I tell when my brass is sufficiently annealed. A similar method used to be common in knife making telling when to quench the blade.

[ghost town]

Thank you all for your help and Uncle Nick, Yes it looks like that. Came off mostly in the tumbler

[ackley man]