Is this BP corrosion?

[Typecaster]

I was gifted an ammo can of 30-30 brass, Winchester headstamp, and about 30 or so had a pale green "deposit" in the neck. It's been years since I used BP without washing my cases, but I seem to remember that the verdigris was more blue than this...and a lot more of it.

Should I trash 'em?

Richard

[Boz330]

Clean them up and try them with a light load. Annealing might not hurt. If it was black I think they would be much worse than that. Possibly corrosive primers of some sort.

Bob

[725]

Hrad to tell anything from a photo. Could it be something used in the polisher? Like car wax (ie. Nu-Finish) residue. Is it soluable in water? Does it brush away?

[garandsrus]

Typecaster,

I think the cases were just put away wet. Tumble them and see what happens...

John

[Don McDowell]

Pour about an inch of straight simple green in a quart jar, then fill about 3/4 full with water , drop those cases in there and let em soak for a bit then slosh em around like you was building a milk shake , rinse em in the jug till the water comes clean. Dry and then tumble. They should be fine.

[KCSO]

Typical wet storage with powder fouling, not necessarialy b/p. I would clean and anneal them and see if you get splits.

[Nueces]

Mebbe one of you BPCR loaders could tell is if a sniff test could ID this crud as BP induced. That is, if you'll cop to leaving your own cases uncleaned long enough to know. :mrgreen:

Mark

[montana_charlie]

I have picked up old cases out in the hunting fields that looked much the same, and they were of calibers that (I'm sure) were loaded with smokeless.

Like many here, I wouldn't shoot a stranger's reloads...so I certainly wouldn't trust brass that a stranger (or anyone) had let fall into that condition.

CM

[jonk]

I've shot much worse looking....

I agree, probably not black, probably just got wet.

[omgb]

It's not likely from BP or corrosive primers. I shoot a lot of both and they do a mess like that in 24 hours, give them a few days and it really gets nasty. I am pretty sure you have some water corroded brass, in other words, just normal atmospheric corrosion. They might clean up and they might be safe, but hey, 30-30 brass is cheap and readily available all over the world. Why risk a good gun on something so cheap. My advice, crumple them with pliers and put them in the recycling can and then go buy some new brass of known ancestry and usage.

[Don McDowell]

The 30-30 has never been loaded with black as a factory offering, so unless somebody was messing with a bp load the generally turns out to be the drizzlin scours, it's a safe bet that's just normal powder/primer residues, mixed with moisture and time.

[mooman76]

I go along with the others in saying it probubly isn't from bp but just regular brass tarnish and corrosion from sitting a long time. They should have some of the rotten egg smell left assocciated with BP if that were the case. Either way though I would clean them up and inspect them and if they looked good, reload them. Shoot away!

[Razor]

This is BP fouling...

[oldguns]

My BP 44-40 brass looks like Razor's picture if I let it go too long. The corrosion creeps down the outside of the neck.

[94Doug]

I would think if you want to find out, put one in some vinegar, check the smell. Rotten eggs=black powder. That should also neutralize the bp residue.

Doug