Cleaned, "dried" brass - heavily mottled!

[huntinlever]

Not sure where this should go.

This would really bum me out. Just cleaned a couple hundred mixed, 1X fired WW and Starline 30-30 and 30-06, as I usually do, 1 hour with stainless pins in a Frankford Arsenal wet tumbler.

Also like I usually do, I dried the brass on a dedicated cookie sheet in our oven, intended 150F x 1 hour. It's a new to us oven and as it turns out, it was showing as 210F.

It came out heavily mottled - never happened before. I am thinking somehow it's probably all wasted, now. Even some blue-coloration, like an annealed neck - but it's all over every case, body, everywhere.



-even though 210 is over my usual 150F - that's well below any danger zone. What's happened? And is it now trash?

[Der Gebirgsjager]

Interesting. Probably not ruined. I'd try a few rounds before tossing the brass. I know that it's kind of a bummer to get a level of finish and shine less than expected, but unless the bluish areas were actually corroded before polishing I'd give it a chance. I use a vibratory tumbler and dry medium, usually white corn cob, and I've found that spots that remain are often stains, but seldom have experienced any trouble. Like they say, ugly but functional.

DG

[Dusty Bannister]

What is the solution recommended and what is the cleaning time recommended for this unit. I use a lyman unit with Armorall auto wash and wax and some lemi-shine. Tumble time is suggested as 3 hours. I might find a little dark stain if I start with really nasty stuff. If there is green on the cases before I clean, I consider those cases damaged and not to be used since one can not see the inside of the cases.

[Recycled bullet]

Tumble them again make them bright and shiny then rinse them a bunch of clean fresh water. I get spotty mottled brass when I do big batches and do not properly rinse the solution off of the brass before it goes through the dehydration process inside my toaster oven.

[Recycled bullet]

The danger zone is over 500 degrees Fahrenheit your toaster oven has to be severely defective if that's how hot it got inside there.

[huntinlever]

OK, great, thanks guys. I'd thought that was way too low to do anything. It's actually a full-size oven, too, so no worries about local heat from any heating elements, etc.

I'd wondered if maybe it had to do with overloading the tumbler, the only thing different I think I might have done (this is the smaller Frankford tumbler). Normally I don't load it this heavy. I did run it through again, but again with the soap (still have some of the original pods Franklin gives as a sampler with the unit). I'll try it again, maybe this time just with water and with maybe 1/2 each load.

The stuff was only once fired and in excellent shape, so that's why it was puzzling to me. I do love the shiny brass but to be honest the only reason I use pins is to help me see any possible developing defects, and to do a better job cleaning out the primer pocket. Probably not needed, just a habit.

Thanks again all. I'll give your thoughts a go.

[bedbugbilly]

I use a Frankford Arsenal with SS pins - hot water and a sash of citric acid and a good squirt of lemon shine . I found with mine, I needed to let it go for 2 hours if I wanted my brass nice and shiny. I tried cutting the time back a couple of times and it just didn't come out sparkling shiny. One was with 30-30 casings and the other with 9mm casings. I normally drain off the dirty water and rinse well in cold water - then lay out on a towel to air dry. For me, I never cross the line into my wife's domain.

How tarnished / dirty was the brass to start with? I have cleaned some rifle brass that was really stubborn and it came out very dull, kind of mottled looking. Doesn't;t seem like the drying at the 210 degrees would be that hard on it? You might throw some of it in the tumbler again and let it go longer that an hour and see how it comes out - it may come out just fine.

Were they bright when you laid them out on the cookie sheet or didn't you notice? If they were wet, I don't know if I would have noticed one way or the other if I was concentrating on getting them in the oven.

Let ud know how it works out - we can all learn something!

[Winger Ed.]

I've had minerals in the water do something like that.

[BLAHUT]

I run my brass through the tumbler with hot water, ss pins, lenmi shine and some simple green, After drying I run all through the corn for an hour or so just to clean up any tarnish ?

[huntinlever]

OK, interesting and it brought me to look more around the web, thanks guys. Just never ran across it before - brass always came out looking new, even 4-5X or more firings. This stuff was very clean going in relatively speaking as it was all just once fired.

I realize the other variable, and Ed you bring it to mind, is that we recently moved and this is my first tumbling. I'm wondering if it is indeed a new water supply. I think I'd like to either re-do this stuff with RO water, or at least as a rinse cycle. Additionally, I've seen some suggestions to periodically wash the empty tumbler and media pins with whatever we use (dawn, lemi-shine, etc.), as the pins and tumbler itself can bear grime. I don't think that's it (I mean, dirty tumbler and pins. I do now suspect the water?) because this came on dramatically, and not gradually. I also rinse both thoroughly until the water comes out completely clear and clean.

I'm intrigued to try a longer cycle, but I've always been concerned about beating up the brass to be honest. I started out at 30 minutes without pins to now, for some time, 1 hour with pins, rinse well, rinse again individually under cold (tap) water to flush of pins and make sure they're thoroughly rinsed and, usually, 150 min. in oven for up to an hour. Interesting.

I'm not concerned with aesthetics, just thought somehow I'd compromised the integrity. If not that, that somehow I'd introduce some sort of fouling eventually into the rifle itself. (It should be apparent I've got zero metallurgical knowledge, just the minimum to know what to do for my purposes).

As with all threads, thanks for coming forward. I'll have to chew a bit and try stuff out hopefully in a fairly methodical way. I'll try to post with any results.

[JimB..]

As mentioned, can’t imagine it got hot enough to hurt it. Give the mouth of a case a squeeze between your fingers, if it crushes pretty easily it’s ruined. Doesn’t sound very precise, but it’s good enough.

[huntinlever]

As mentioned, can’t imagine it got hot enough to hurt it. Give the mouth of a case a squeeze between your fingers, if it crushes pretty easily it’s ruined. Doesn’t sound very precise, but it’s good enough.

Good tip, yep, thanks.

[Kestrel4k]

I have avoided water spotting / staining of brass, by /immediately/ vibratory tumbling (walnut etc) after wet brass dries.

If I let the brass air dry for a period of a few hours, it is much more difficult to remove via traditional tumbling.

[huntinlever]

Probably a dumb question, but I've got so many sort boxes already, between headstamps and numbers of firings in each of our 4 cartridges I reload for (adding a 5th - just shot his 125 year old 38-55 and that thing is a beauty. Time to put it back into circulation). Would you guys sort this stuff out, if you'd use it, as a kind of "practice" brass or something, or would you feel fine tossing it in with other cleaned 1X fired brass (that looks nothing like this batch)?

[Hannibal]

Given the conditions that the brass was cleaned and dried under I'd say it's nothing more than the difference in the tap water now. Either the PH is slightly different or there's more minerals in it.

I've had brass that looked like that before and it shot fine with no changes in lifespan. Purely a cosmetic thing. If it bothers you then you can try changing your cleaning process but personally I'd not bother with it.

[Winger Ed.]

I'm wondering if it is indeed a new water supply.

I wouldn't worry about it much.
I've noticed the (water) stains on my brass sometimes and just used 'em anyway.
I haven't shot my eye out yet.

Something that might help is a bump of one of those dishwashing machine rinse additives ya see on TV commercials in your rinse water.
I don't know how they work, but the stuff does a good job on our dishes.
When it runs out-- ya don't have to check its level in the dispenser.... it's real obvious.

[Moleman-]

We have a water softener at our house. I can wash the cases with tap water but if I don't want to chance spots I have to rinse the soap/wash-n-wax off the cases then tumble again for a short time with RO water.

[deces]

It looks like it's just a common water stain, I dump my brass on a old towel and roll all the brass in the folds and leave out in the sun. I haven't seen those spots since. You could always invest in a reverse osmosis system for your rinses & health.

[huntinlever]

Excellent, many thanks guys.

[murf205]

In my area, we have lime in the water. Not enough to make fertilizer but traces never the less. I use the FA tumbler w/pins but I rinse with distilled water and spread the cases out on a towel in the toasty warm Alabama sunshine. When I dry tumble after this, I use a tablespoon or 2 into the media. It gives a slick but not wet coating to protect the brass from tarnishing. A lot of trouble? Yes but it certainly makes for some handsome ammo.