Corroded case. Still good to load?

[Atakawow]

Picked up some fired brass, only later to find out they are all 'corroded' looking (notice the brownish spots). Any idea what causes the brass to develop brown spots on them? The one shown in the picture is about average as far as spot sizes go. Some of the brass have large spots and long streaks of browns on them.

Are these still good to use?

http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa91/atakawow/IMG_20110614_173743.jpg

[454PB]

It almost looks like somebody tumbled some tarnish off.

As long as there is no other defects, I'd use them.

[-06]

I keep a bottle of vinegar(green now) that the badly tarnished brass sits in for a bit. It really does the job of cleaning the green off. A few good rinses and complete drying makes it ready for tumbling. Amazes me how well the vinegar removes the corrosion. For really bad spots I hit it with a bit of steel wool while still wet.

[Tom W.]

Yup they'll work....

[CATS]

Search here for citric acid. If they they get pink spots from the soak they have issues. If they do not clean off with a light tumble then the brass is weak in that spot. I scrap brass that stays pink.

[captain-03]

That will shoot just fine!!

[geargnasher]

Search here for citric acid. If they they get pink spots from the soak they have issues. If they do not clean off with a light tumble then the brass is weak in that spot. I scrap brass that stays pink.

EXACTLY. The citric acid bath is not only an excellent way to chemically reduce zinc and copper oxides back into elemental metals and passivate the surface, but also a superb test to determine if the brass really is scrap or not. If a light polish in the tumbler won't get the pink off after a bath and a dry, or if there are little pits in the pink spots (use a lens for this inspection) then trash them.

The ones in the pic ought to be just fine the way they are.

Gear

[Gtek]

If there is no pitting, run-em. I have taken #0000 steel wool pad, lay on top, make a loose hot dog. Light pressure with three to four turns in one direction. Check for pitting. Gtek

[MtGun44]

Gear is correct. Only deep areas of dezincification (stays pink -copper- after citric acid bath)
not removed by some polishing with something like a fine scotchbright pad may be suspect.

For regular pistol loads, not an issue. Hot magnum loads, maybe. For serious, max pressure
rifle loads, deep pink pits could be a problem.

What you have there seems extremely superficial.

Bill

[Atakawow]

Thank you for the replies. This puts me at ease. Hate to have to scrap 1,000 30-30 brass. :smile:

[Lizard333]

It looks fine. Run them in a tumbler for a couple hours and look at the again. You probly won't see anything anymore. I have had brass that looked worse than that by cleaned right up after a good cleaning in the tumbler.

[Mk42gunner]

Shoot, I thought that brass looked good the way it is.

Robert

[troy_mclure]

ive used "pink" brass before in low power loads before. i had a few really deforme and bulge in the pink spots. like the brass bubbled.

i now toss brass with pink spots.

[BOOM BOOM]

Hi,
shoot it, no problem.

[snuffy]

Those aren't corroded, they're stained. Probably caused by getting wet repeatedly without being dried, left to air dry slowly.

The citric acid bath is what will take it right off IF it's not too deep. Those that have ultrasonic cleaners can use the vinegar bath to quickly get rid of the tarnish. Hornady and now Lyman have cleaner concentrates for U.S. cleaners that work really well. The "one shot" cleaner I bought for my HF U.S. cleaner works really well for that kind of stain.

[Rocky Raab]

Yup. Those look like water stains to me. Common when using liquid case cleaners and the brass isn't dried rapidly after rinsing.

Tumble it if it bothers you, ignore it if it doesn't.

I'm not a stickler for shiny; haven't had a load yet that shot better when the brass gleamed like gold. I tumble when cases get ugly - and even then it's mostly to protect my sizer die.

[michiganvet]

The Col. is right. That is just water spots. Corosion on brass is green. I recently bought an ultrasonic cleaner, which will remove the carbon from the inside and the primer pockets and anything on the outside that can damage dies, but I probably won't polish as that is just cosmetic.