Miscellaneous Coloring of Brass ( putting color to your brass )

[bgoff_ak]

So I found this on that world wide web thing...

I've been thinking of how i can make my .223 brass look diffrent then others .223 brass ( and really my whole lot of brass) to help know what came from my supply and what is "new" in the range bucket. has any one tried to dye their brass ( i was hoping out of the ss media it may be able to be dyed and set like Au or simular process )

This section is from the "Henley's Twentieth Century Formulas Recipes Processes" encyclopedia, by Norman W. Henley and others.

Miscellaneous Coloring of Brass
Yellow to bright red: Dissolve 2 parts native copper carbonate with 1 part caustic soda in 10 parts water. Dip for a few minutes into the liquor, the various shades desired being obtained according to the length of time of the immersion. Green: Dissolve 1 part copper acetate (verdigris), 1 part blue vitriol, and 1 part alum in 10 parts of water and boil the articles therein. Black: For optical articles, photographic apparatus, plates, rings, screws, etc., dissolve 45 parts of malachite (native copper carbonate) in 1,000 parts of sal ammoniac. For use clean and remove the grease from the article by pickling and dip it into the bath until the coating is strong enough. The bath operates better and quicker if heated. Should the oxidation be a failure it should be removed by dipping into the brass pickle.

A verdigris color on brass is produced by treating the articles with dilute acids, acetic acid, or sulphuric acid, and drying.

Brown in all varieties of shades is obtained by immersing the metal in solutions of nitrates or ferric chloride after it has been corroded with dilute nitric acid, cleaned with sand and water, and dried. The strength of the solutions governs the deepness of the resulting color.

Violet is caused by immersing the thoroughly cleaned objects in a solution of ammonium chloride.

Chocolate color results if red ferric oxide is strewn on and burned off, followed by polishing with a small quantity of galena.

Olive green is produced by blackening the surface with a solution of iron in hydrochloric acid, polishing with galena, and coating hot with a lacquer composed of 1 part varnish, 4 parts cincuma, and 1 part gamboge.

A steel-blue coloring is obtained by means of a dilute boiling solution of chloride of arsenic, and a blue one by a treatment with strong hyposulphite of soda. Another formula for bluing brass is: Dissolve 10 parts of antimony chloride in 200 parts of water, and add 30 parts of pure hydrochloric acid. Dip the article until it is well blued, then wash and dry in sawdust.

Black is much used for optical brass articles and is produced by coating with a solution of platinum or auric chloride mixed with nitrate of tin.

[texassako]

Interesting and I would want to be real sure it did not alter the brass physical properties or mess up my dies(scratches) if I did it. Red or violet would be pretty visible, or go with brown/olive green for a steel case look to trick the brass thieves scrounging under your feet while you shoot.

On second thought, a lot of those use ammonia/ammonium products that can ruin brass.

[bgoff_ak]

i was wondering if the solutions would "etch" much more then a shallow cannelure. i'm not sure if the ammonia actually penetrates the brass or is much more superficial ( more becasue i just plain don't know / have not done any reading yet. ) i know i can get HCL ( but don't know what it does to brass ) not all of the acids i would think are bad as the brass polish ( birch / casey i think ) is two dilute acids. as for making them dull i can do that really easy with a little bit of softscrub in my ss media. its some place between steel and clean brass. iwas really hoping some one would have a i've been coloring my cases red for years....

[RoyEllis]

This is what I use when I need to "color-code" some brass. Let dry then heat set in a toaster oven & it's surprisingly durable but unlike most chemical mixes it won't harm your brass.
http://www.ispikeit.com/Store/p-14-blade-spoon-dip.aspx

[bgoff_ak]

not mine its ahhhhh her's.... its furrrr breat cancer awarness ? actually with all the pinks mods ( AR's and the likes ) I would not be suprised ! a side not i have a buddy that's color blind and we had him using pink ducting tape on every thing till some guy at the range asked us where we bought that bright pink tape... ( he thought it was a good idea to know what target was his ) after that the gig was up !

[dbosman]

Nail polish seals the primer, marks the case, and comes in several colors.

[bgoff_ak]

I use clear to seal out the weather thinned out with a little acitone... works like a charm. Ive done the marker thing but it does not really help you when your brass is getting kicked across the range. i'll have to try it with a little color and see how it turns out. off to wal-mart to look like an odd ball looking at nail polish.

[Whiterabbit]

Awwighty then, which one o' you fellas hasth the hot pink brass?

I'll bet fewer of the brass stealers would get your brass underfoot while you are busy shooting if it were pink and purple :)

[Crosbyman]

Use Dykem layout die. You can buy it many places in spray cans or brush top cans. You can also use it to see if a bullet is contacting your lands.

[Whiterabbit]

oh! you also gotta get the dip N glow garlic scent dye.

Another dead giveaway your brass is yours! :)

[45fan]

This is what I use when I need to "color-code" some brass. Let dry then heat set in a toaster oven & it's surprisingly durable but unlike most chemical mixes it won't harm your brass.
http://www.ispikeit.com/Store/p-14-blade-spoon-dip.aspx

Roy do you know how this holds up to wet SS pin tumbling?

[RoyEllis]

Roy do you know how this holds up to wet SS pin tumbling?

Honestly can't say as I don't use SS tumbling media, but I know it takes the 2nd cycle tumbling with walnut media to remove the majority of it. The headstamp will still be colored for several cycles though.

[sparkz]

Layout Die,, check McMaster Carr or even Granger, dip the headstamp and its marked till you clean it off and I bet then even would still see some of it in the embossed headstamp

Patrick

[garandsrus]

Here's an article I found in the Sept/Oct 1969 Handloader magazine that talks about coloring brass cases. I haven't tried any of the recipes but would like to see how the brass turns out:
101685

John

[Bullshop Junior]

I've been wondering about powder coating brass, but have been wondering how the heat treating would affect it.

[45fan]

Here's an article I found in the Sept/Oct 1969 Handloader magazine that talks about coloring brass cases. I haven't tried any of the recipes but would like to see how the brass turns out:
101685

John

That does look very interesting, would like to try it but where do you get potassium chlorate, nickle carbonate, lead acetate or sodium hyposulphite and any of the other chemicals the article describes?

[Bullshop Junior]

That does look very interesting, would like to try it but where do you get potassium chlorate, nickle carbonate, lead acetate or sodium hyposulphite and any of the other chemicals the article describes?

Doe run.

[45fan]

Doe run.

? You lost me completely.

[Bullshop Junior]

It was a joke. You might try a chemistry supply place.

[jonas302]

Nail polish on the headstamp seems to hold up though firing and dry tumbling

[garandsrus]

I looked up several of the chemicals on ebay and they are available.

[220swiftfn]

I ran into that problem looking into rust bluing formulae in Angier's book..... Just about ALL of the "commonly available" ingredients will now get you on a watchlist if you try to buy them, or will only be sold to a business or an educational facility.....


Dan

[jmorris]

You can get the dark flat free color by just leaving them in your stainless tumbler for 24 hours.

If you have blackland soil in your area throw them in the dirt until it rains on them and they turn black and normal tumbling will not remove the stains.

[jmorris]

I ran into that problem looking into rust bluing formulae in Angier's book..... Just about ALL of the "commonly available" ingredients will now get you on a watchlist if you try to buy them, or will only be sold to a business or an educational facility.....


Dan

You don't need to be on a list to be watched anymore and if your here, your likely already on one.

[HollowPoint]

This is what I use when I need to "color-code" some brass. Let dry then heat set in a toaster oven & it's surprisingly durable but unlike most chemical mixes it won't harm your brass.
http://www.ispikeit.com/Store/p-14-blade-spoon-dip.aspx

Do you have any pics of your brass wearing these colors? Just last weekend I got a chance to go out and fire my hand guns out in the desert and I swear I lost half of the empties because as soon as I shot them the combination of the brass color and the soot from the gun powder combine to make them invisible when they hit the ground.

I'd like nothing better than to be able to see my empties so that I don't have to keep buying more. Brass ain't cheap; especially 45 and 380 brass.

Do these coatings alter the dimensions of the brass in any way?

HollowPoint

[220swiftfn]

You don't need to be on a list to be watched anymore and if your here, your likely already on one.

Just one???


Dan