Brass

[TNRELOADER]

Hello everyone. It's been a long time since I've been here. I had to take some time off for building a home and getting my family together. But now I'm getting my equipment out and getting ready to start reloading again. But I have a question for you guys. I went through my stored brass and noticed most of my brass that was sized and ready to reload and stored in cardboard sleeves has turned a blue hue. Not corrosion just blue like it's been heat treated or annealed. Once ran through the tumbler it comes back to a lustrous brass. Just wondering if any one knew what may have caused this. All of my casings in bags were shiny as the day they were put in them.

[rancher1913]

probably a reaction to the sizing lube.

[country gent]

May have been a reaction to the cardboard tubes. Ammonias is one of the things that will turn brass a blue or blue green.

[midnight]

Blue-green color on brass is oxidation. If just a thin film that cleans right off you aree probably OK. Examine the cleaned brass to see if the oxidation was deep enough to cause pits. Toss any showing anything more than surface oxidation. Your cases must have been exposed to high humidity. Cardboard holds a lot of moisture. Storage in sealed plastic or metal containers will aleviate the problem.

Bob

[Bazoo]

Cardboard is often treated with waterproofing and fire resistant coatings, I bet it was a reaction to that.

[TNRELOADER]

First let me explain my process for this brass. I always polish dirty casings with walnut media with Dillon polish added. I then spray with hornady one shot lube then go through my usual sizing trimming and deburing process. Then I will run through the tumbler again to polish and remove lube. What was interesting is the ammo boxes I purchased from midway blank white cardboard with styrofoam trays. OnlyThe brass not covered by the styrofoam turned blue. They are still slick and shiny just varying shades of blue.

[Bazoo]

That is pretty odd, Not just dull but actually blue?

[TNRELOADER]

No it's not dull at all. Still whiney like it just came out of tumbling media just blue. Varies from light blue to a deep blue. I dont know how to post pictures but will try to figure it out.

[mdi]

All of my casings in bags were shiny as the day they were put in them. If those stored in bags are still clean, and those stored in cardboard aren't, I'd guess it's the cardboard. As mentioned above, some of the chemicals used in making the sleeves is probably causing the "blue haze"...

[Der Gebirgsjager]

In view of what happened, it kind of goes without saying that you won't put the re-polished, loaded ammo back in the same boxes.....right? I'm just finishing up my winter reloading project and used the MTM transparent blue plastic boxes, cheap from Midway.

[TNRELOADER]

Nope. Won't be going back in boxes. I checked some of my loaded ammo stored in those boxes inside us ammo cans and the same thing happened to them.

[TNRELOADER]

Sucks cause I have hundreds of these boxes in multiple calibers.

[TNRELOADER]

237047

[TNRELOADER]

Take picture of brass when I get off work.

[TNRELOADER]

237061

[TNRELOADER]

237062

[mudygmc]

That's impressive. I've loaded way too many rounds in way too many ways over the years. I've never seen a casing that discolored and still shinny. We used to use boxes like those but now use mtm plastics or ammo cans with silica or desiccant packets in them. The cardboard must have been releasing some chemical the brass didn't like. Lesson learned I guess.

Adam

[Bazoo]

Man that's neat and weird! Is it just the brass that's on the end of the tray? Just on the side towards the cardboard?

[mdi]

Yep, dat be weird! Only the exposed brass, outside of the foam inserts? In about 40 years playing with cartridge brass I've never seen that...

[jeepvet]

It is even more weird that the heads did not discolor. But on the bright side, that is a really cool color. You might put the brass in in without the styrofoam tray and then you will look even better.

[higgins]

I've seen factory ammo brass turn slightly darker above the Styrofoam, but not turn another color.