blue winchester 9mm brass

[rockshooter]

Today I was scrounging at the range and found a bunch of blue-colored Win 22 marked 9mm brass. It's not magnetic, boxer primed. When I wet-tumbled it with lemishine and soap, it all turned dusky black. Any idea what it is?
Loren

[kevin c]

It’s Winchester’s training ammo. The cases are supposed to be distinctly different from duty ammo so the rank and file won’t carry the wrong load.

While it looks kinda like steel cased after washing (I get the same gray color with citric acid (the active ingredient in Lemishine)/car wash/stainless steel pins), filing shows brass underneath.

I go ahead and load it: makes MY loads distinctive. The one problem I had is that the coating is soft (at least it is after going gray); it left a buildup on my carbide sizing die that started scratching cases (I wasn’t using any sizing lube). It took a diamond grit polishing to remove it (and now I use lube).

[rockshooter]

Thanks for the response- based on your experience with build-up in dies, I'll just put it in my brass recycle bucket.
Loren

[high standard 40]

I've seen purple 223 brass. It appeared to be nickle plated under the purple color. Confirmed to be from LE training cartridges.