Badly carbonized brass

[condor bravo]

cw

No I'm not aware of anyone in the area who has a wet tumbler. No doubt that is the one thing that would really clean them up. I've been forcing myself not to get one so an attitude change might prevail. The clean up and drying after tumbling are kind of a turn off.

[higgite]

25 small primer .45 cases? To the junk brass box they go.

[condor bravo]

Actually quite a few more than 25, others not affected had been placed in other containers. Enough to warrant changing over to small primer system.

[cw308]

condor bravo
I felt the same way , didn't like the idea of water in the case . Once I saw how well it cleaned I was hooked , remover all the carbon inside the case . I started with the Harbor Freight tumbler ,will fit 50 cases , pistol or rifle . One pound of pins , ran me around 50 dollars . Then I got the larger Red Tumbler B Tumbler
I use the H F every week , that's all you need if you not blasting away . I shoot mostly 308 I didn't like the built up carbon & stuck media in the case , I would run a patch in the case after cleaning & always some grains would be stuck in there . Check out some video's on line , that's how they come out , no gimmicks . You'll turn in a prima dona , only shoot shinny rounds.

[condor bravo]

cw

You might be getting me hooked. Would have to run it surreptitiously since a pan of brass drying out in the oven wouldn't go over too well.

[cw308]

condor bravo

Oven , that's off limits to me . After tumbling I dump the cases in a towel , then I place them in those plastic holders that store bought ammo comes in . They dry over night .

[jetinteriorguy]

I would suggest two steps to clean this brass. The first has already been suggested, that's a soak in citric acid. I use about a heaping teaspoon in a gallon of hot water, I use the stuff made for canning and get it in the canning dept at Wally World. Let this soak for about ten minutes while stirring it occasionally. The second step is to add some of the Barkeepers Friend scrubbing and poslishing compound to your tumbler media, I would add a couple tablespoons at most, it's doesn't take a lot for this stuff to work.

[F. Guffey]

Guffey refers to blackened brass that was removed by vinegar. So why not give that a try?

Not what happened, before the Internet I cleaned brass, when finished the brass turned black, I was told it was 'pickled' and ready for storage. In my short life I have never found brass that was canned, stored and put-away; but, if I do find brass that is black, canned and stored away I will know what caused it. I found vinegar was the best way but I did not make it a habit. I used vinegar on the worst of cases, I only used it for 15 minutes for the life of the case and I rinsed in boiling twice.

F. Guffey

[condor bravo]

Mr Guffey
Vinegar soaking did the job very well. I let a few cases sit overnight and the cases and I thank you for the vinegar reference.

[condor bravo]

jetinteriorguy
That combination should work good also. I have Barkeeper's Helper so would need to run down some citric acid to give it a try.

[condor bravo]

cw
Should I succumb to a steel pin tumbler, the Big Red B would seem the way to go. How many pounds of pins would be sufficient for 250 pieces or so per session, divided perhaps 40 % rifle and 60 % handgun? How are the pins handled after a tumbling--just let them sit in the tumbler until next time without drying??

The HF tumbler appears to have a pretty small drum.

[cw308]

condor bravo

The red tumbler uses 5 lbs. of SS Pins , 250 is fine . You should drain the dirty water, flush out with clean water . You can leave the pins in the tumbler after draining out the water. The pins will last forever , no need ot order extra . I use the HF tumbler when shooting only 30 rounds of 308 , shooting 250 I would use my red tumbler , I have both , and both work great.
Check out STM ( Stainless Tumbling Media . Com ) . I see your softening on wet tumbling , you won't be disappointed.

All the wet tumblers work , look for the best price .

[hdwhit]

condor bravo wrote:
Should I succumb to a steel pin tumbler,...

Glad to hear you got resolution of the problem.

The question of whether or not to wet tumble with steel pins depends on what you are looking for. If you want "surgically clean" or "jewelry grade" brass, then steel pins and a rotary tumbler are the way to go.

For my part, I don't care if my brass can blind people with its reflection. I want it clean enough to facilitate a visual inspection and not have stuff on it that will damage my dies. Thus, "new to me" brass gets soaked for 15 to 30 minutes in an acid solution (Vinegar, Lemi-Shine, Barkeeper's Friend) and then air dried prior to visual and instrumented inspection. After re-sizing, the brass is tumbled in walnut media to remove the resizing lubricant. The brass comes out shiny, but not reflective, and that's all I ask it to be.

[cw308]

hdwhit
Let's look at it this way . If you were going to buy once fired brass , one box had bright & shinny brass the other was just brass color, both cost the same , which one would buy . l feel very clean brass is better all around , from sizing , loading , chambering & easier to see brass problems . I'm also one of those guys who cleans my firearms after shooting . That's another back & fourth I have with my friends .

[higgite]

If you were going to buy once fired brass , one box had bright & shinny brass the other was just brass color, both cost the same , which one would buy .

Personally, I would buy the shiny brass for the same price, of course. And if I was polishing brass to sell it, I would polish it bright and shiny. But, I'm not selling it so sparkle doesn't matter.

[condor bravo]

After soaking some more cases in vinegar all the black disappears and the cases come out very shiny, that is until they dry out and then morph into the dullest dull you could ever imagine, but then a little dry tumbling reverses the dullness back to the nice shine. However this is not a process to do routinely but just for experimenting to see what works.

[condor bravo]

I opened a new box of unfired Winchester Winclean 9mm ammunition that had been in storage for five years and packed in styrofoam inserts. About one quarter of each round, 90 degrees vertical circumference, was heavily covered with the black coating. It appeared that the rounds had been leaning against the stytofoam at the blackened location, now leading to the conclusion that the blackening is caused by some chemical reaction with the styrofoam.

As previously pointed out this discoloration is difficult to remove whereas normal carbon black is generally easy.