Cleaning green tarnish off cases

[NuJudge]

I bought a lot of 6.5x55 Swedish surplus several years ago. It came in battle packs that had been opened at some time, then taped closed. I opened another one this last weekend, and much of the brass had green tarnish on it, but no serious pitting. I believe that there was some chemical in the paper attacking the brass. I shot all of that pack off in a match Sunday, and it all fired and shot well.

I have a lot of Berdan primers, and have been planning on reloading the brass. Tumbling the brass in my Vibratory cleaner with new rouge-treated walnut shell does not seem to get rid of it.

Any suggestions?

[MtGun44]

Go to the grocery store and buy a bottle of Lemi-Shine. Mix about a teaspoon to a gallon
of water, drop in the brass. It will be very clean very quickly. May leave a bit of pink stain
where the green was, which will tumble off. Look near the dishwashing soap.

Citric acid (safe for you brass and human consumption) is the active ingredient. Harmless.

Bill

[Kevin Rohrer]

Powdered citric acid is available in women's hobby stores like Hobby Lobby. I have a tub of it setting at home. It's great for removing rust and corrosion from dies and such.

[RKJ]

If you can't find Lemi-shine, you can just get the cheap Lemonade packets. They work great and are cheap.

[-06]

Had a wee bit of 303 that was badly corroded. Dropped it into a pot of vinegar and brought to a steam hot while stirring often. It took all the green away. Washed them thoroughly and dried then tumbled. Brass ended up shiny and "purdy". Moma doesn't want to use my green vinegar though--lol.

[SlamFire1]

Pull a couple of bullets and see if you have green corrosion like I found on these bullets.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v479/SlamFire/Reloading/Old%20Gunpowder/DSCN1108CorrodedBullets.jpg

Also examine the powder for any red particles. This 30-40 was loaded in Nov 1898 and the powder is dangerously deteriorated as it is all red.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v479/SlamFire/Reloading/Old%20Gunpowder/30-40FA11-1898RedpowderDSCN1095.jpg

If you have green corrosion or red in the powder the gunpowder is out gassing NOx. Gunpowder has a shelf life and when it gets old the surface changes and you get burn rate instability. On very rare occasions rifles have exploded with old ammunition.