Would you reload this brass?

[lead-1]

I picked up some assorted brass from an old friend and need your opinion, would you reload this brass? It is once fired Winchester that is tarnished for whatever reason. I tumbled it for 3-4 hours and this is how it turned out.

[WILCO]

When in doubt, toss it out.

[JFrench]

I would. They don't have to be perfect and bright to reload.
James

[hoosierlogger]

I wish some of my brass looked that good.

[HardColt]

Looked serviceable to me except for the badly dinged and bent ones. I'd gladly toss out to my scrap yard pile to sell,that is, when I have a ton or so of rejected unserviceable brass.

[Bass Ackward]

That looks better than 98% of my brass.

[EMC45]

That looks like 10MM maybe? If so, as scarce as it is at times, I would load, shoot, repeat.

[Dan Cash]

Case mouth not rolled over, case not radically bulged especially at base= reload. Dents will blow out as long as your expanding plug can enter. Your stuff looks good.

[44man]

Dirt off to keep from scratching dies is all that is needed.

[white eagle]

sure load em up

[HeavyMetal]

If you really want to be a stickler for clean go buy a bottle of Birchwood Casey's case cleaner and follow the instructions.

I've had case's that looked way worse turn completely clean, like new, after a 4 minute dip in this stuff followed by an hour or so in walnut shell with a little rubbing compund added to it.

I would salvage and shoot unless I saw obvious issues like cracks.

[Shiloh]

After you load and shoot them, the dents will disappear. Shoot them. I have brass that looks worse than that.

SHiloh

[Moonie]

I wouldn't have any problem loading and shooting them myself. Lots of my brass has looked much worse. The dents will be ok.

[lead-1]

It is .45 acp brass and I think I will go with WILCO's opinion on the first 4-6 pieces in the top row as you can feel the roughness on the tarnished area. As for the rest of the brass it is more or less stained/tarnished and I have never had any this bad so I come here for the opinions, thanks.
Also as for the dents my Glock does that to the brass too and the sizer die usually irons them out.

[Hardcast416taylor]

AAAAAARRRRRRRR, Mr. Smee. A double load of cannister shot if you please to shred their frilly rigging!!Robert:brokenima

[NickSS]

I have loaded 45 ACP brass that was dented, corroded and totally filthy when I picked it up. All of it worked as well as new brass without a single problem. In fact some of the brass I am using right now is just about black in color and you can not even read the head stamp b ut it still works just fine through my pistols.

[Dark Helmet]

Hit the worst ones with 4 aught steel wool, soak them all in homemade case cleaner for a couple hours. Rinse and dry, tumble again.That should bring them to a shine.

[mtgrs737]

What Dark Helmet said, just make sure that they are just tarnished and not corroded which might weaken them.

[BOOM BOOM]

HI,
Most look good enough to shoot, most dents just fire form in the chamber.

[zxcvbob]

I might not shoot some of that if it was .30-06 -- I would at least inspect the corrosion spots carefully to make sure they were becoming dealloyed. I've had some corroded brass blow out little pin holes and I don't like hot gasses coming back in my face.

It most handgun cartridges, no problem. In .45 ACP I would load them without even thinking about it; the pressures aren't that high. The dents don't matter even if it were rifle brass.

[missionary5155]

I have a zip lock bag of brass for when I am in my kayak or walking about the woods /swamp that I use on those oppotunity shots. If I loose a few it is no matter. And they shoot near enough I see little difference under 30 yards.

[chboats]

Check out this thread. clean, load and fire form and they will look like new.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=83572&highlight=citric+acid

Carl

[dubber123]

I've got .45 ACP's with an "18" headstamp, with the old style stake crimp in the side to prove to me it's not 2018.... :) Brown as an old shoe, and has been fired dozens of times with 230's @ 850 fps. Never a problem. .45 ACP brass has to be about the hardest stuff to kill off.

[Freischütz]

They look ok. You'll be able to tell more by the effort necessary to resize them and their appearance after resizing.

[MtGun44]

Buy a bottle of Lemi-Shine, mix up and drop in the brass. It will shine up very quickly.

It will work fine as is.

Bill

[home in oz]

Yes, I would.

[Uncle R.]

Even at today's prices, brass is comparatively cheap. It's certainly cheaper than eyes or fingers. Corrosion is bad not just because it's unsightly but because it weakens the brass. At some point corrosion goes past the line of ugly and becomes dangerous. It's probably more significant with higher pressure cartridges but I would err on the side of caution, especially in the area of the case head and feed ramp. If they're corroded badly, I'd throw 'em out.
Uncle R.

[a.squibload]

AAAAAARRRRRRRR, Mr. Smee. A double load of cannister shot if you please to shred their frilly rigging!!Robert:brokenima

Say, uh, wasn't your patch on the other eye a minute ago?

Citric acid and hot water (or Lemishine, same stuff), then tumble, if they're clean you can spot cracks & pits,
and it'll help keep 'em from tarnishing or corroding.
Or so I've heard.

[dualsport]

This is coincidence. I was going to ask; what causes verdgris (sp?) on brass and how to prevent it?

[smkummer]

I'll be about the 20th person to say load it and shoot it. I shoot several 45 acp pistols, revolvers and submachineguns. They are far from bad. In most 45 acp firearms, if you split or crack a case upon firing, you may not be able to tell until you pick it up. I have loaded severly tarnished 38 special brass that finally cracked after several reloads with no ill effects. Even if it was not tarnished, reloaders generally shoot that type of brass until it cracks from work hardening.

[H-Marlin]

Verdigris is a green substance formed when the copper in brass reacts with one of several different substances. Most likely with cartridge brass it is reacting with oxygen. However, vertigris can form with many other things and I suspect that a big culprit is the stuff on our fingers when we handle brass. I have no evidence of this but from what I know of chemistry I would say that prevention would be to keep your brass clean and dry, and wash your hands before taking your brass out of the tumbler. Moisture, humidity, and contact with acids (possibly from hands) will enhance the formation of verdigris.

[dualsport]

Thanks H. I will follow your advice. It sucks to have a stockpile of brass and then find it going green. I've been picking up 9mm brass for 25 yrs.! Several 5 gallon buckets full later, I noticed it was turning. Now I'm running it all thru the Turbo Tumbler and putting lids on the buckets with some dessicant. I'll wash my hands before and after now.

[leadman]

one to 2 ounces of lemon juice in a quart of veryhot water cleans brass very well.
I would use that brass.