Badly Oxidized Range Brass - OK To Reload?

[WartHog]

Been sorting through some buckets of range brass and have some that is very badly oxidized as shown in the pic below. Will brass that oxidized return to like new after wet tumbling with SS pins and if so, will it be safe to reload or should it be scrapped?

[Sig so sour of ca]

Yep. Amazing what lemishinr and car wax soap does. Try it.

[Sig so sour of ca]

I would suggest taking a magnet that you use to pull your media out with and going over the brass. Always surprising when you find steel cases.

[fguffey]

I would suggest taking a magnet that you use to pull your media out with and going over the brass. Always surprising when you find steel cases.

Long before the reloading forums there were men that reloaded. During this time they cleaned cases, some of the early processes were scary. I settled on vinegar, nothing fancy, I did not add sugar, spice and everything nice; I used straight 5% vinegar for a maximum of 15 minutes and then rinsed them twice in boiling water. After rinsing I tumbled, time of tumbling never required more than two hours.

F. Guffey

[WartHog]

Thanks, Sig - I'm going to hand sort any damaged cases for recycling and separate by caliber then deprime before tumbling. Bought one of those Harbor Freight Magnetic Pick Up Tools for finding steel casings and picking up SS pins.

[xfer42]

My 308s started that way. Picked them out the mud, obviously shot from fluted chambers and had been sitting for years. They cleaned up fine, except the flutes.

[JackEllis]

Yep. Amazing what lemishinr and car wax soap does. Try it.

+1

They don't have to be all shined up to shoot. Decap them first, then wash in a solution of hot water, a pinch of Lemishine or other cleaner with citric acid, and a small dollop of dish soap. Stir for a minute or two, then drain and rinse a few times. You want them clean enough to inspect but I'm one of those folks who isn't a big fan of shiny brass (to each their own).

[WartHog]

I have a F.A.R.T. that I'll be running them thru. Is a 9mm casing of citric acid about right for a load?

[Cowboy T]

I've seen worse. A little wet tumbling with a bit of Lemishine (you don't need much) seems to restore cases to bright shininess. And actually I am a fan of clean, shiny cases because it helps me see any defects in the brass. Deprime 'em first, before you do this, so that you get the primer pockets clean as well and can more easily check them.

[Featureless]

Tumble it see what it looks like.

[xfer42]

I have a F.A.R.T. that I'll be running them thru. Is a 9mm casing of citric acid about right for a load?

The water hardness and the other contaminates plays a big factor.

If they come out pink, it was too much, too long. Thats kinda hard to do with dirty brass. Ive had to add more if mud was included in the mix. I used to use less than 1/8 teaspoon in Milpitas, never had water stains in the house either. Here in Boise, I have water stains, and I have to use a solid teaspoon to do the same. Heavily tarnished stuff, I just toss back in the dirty pile if I want them to match. They will eventually blend in with the shiny.

I go out to public lands every weekend to shoot here in Idaho. The National Guard trains out here too, so my boys (8 & 5) like to treasure hunt for 50bmg cases and grenade spoons. This was from one of the weekends (some are live):
20200503_173637.jpg
20200503_222232.jpg

[BajaJames83]

Throw a few drops of woolite white I there it really cleans the carbon off

[bigbossman]

I'll bet there's some steel in that bucket.

[fguffey]

Again, I use vinegar on the worst of cases. I clean the cases in vinegar for a maximum of 15 minutes. Before that I used a receipt that called for cleaning the cases for a maximum of 2 minutes (long story); any longer than 2 minutes resulted in the cases being rendered scrap.

Some of the cases you have collected are crimped blanks. Cleaning the blanks can be impossible unless you open/expand the crimp. You can get all the help you need from the claims department.

F. Guffey

[Beelzy]

Wow, how times have changed. A few years ago, everyone would have told you to scrap it.