Ruined Brass

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  • Last Post 13 December 2009
jimkim posted this 12 October 2008

I polished some brass the other day. It turned out fine. The next day I used the same media to polish another load of brass. It looked fine when I turned the tumbler off that morning. When I got back from the farm that afternoon I went to take it out and it had turned black/green/blue. Now the cases are ruined. I don't know what could have happened. The brass I polished the day before is still shiny and new looking. Do any of you have an idea of what might have happened? How could my media have gotten contaminated? My tumbler is in the carport.

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RicinYakima posted this 13 October 2008

This isn't a joke. Look for cat pee or poop in your tumbler! If it was ever opened over night, the little beggers will use it as a litter box. Either has enough NH3OH to ruin the media and everything it touches made from copper. Ric

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jimkim posted this 13 October 2008

I didn't even think about the neighbor's cats. I have caught hell keeping them out of my yard the past few days. I guess I'll have to keep the lid on from now on. Thanks.

PS: Thats a lot better than what I was thinking. I thought we might have meth cooks in the neighborhood again. I know I haven't smelled anything this time.

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gunarea posted this 06 November 2008

Brain tap please

    My situation is similar and I would like to continue this thread. The tropical storm Fay, dumped three feet of rain on us here in central Florida. No one was properly prepared for the level of flood that ensued. In my particular area there are heavy pine stands with the resulting pine needle forest floor. All the rain sat for weeks in 95 degree heat and steeped a tannin acid tea. Several boxes of cast projectiles got soaked and were left with a white powder coating. Remelting and casting solved this issue with only moderate cussing, I like to cast.  Twelve hundred or so 44 mag brass were immersed in the tea and consequentially turned black. Extended periods of tumbling only produced shiny black cases. Although they are squeaky clean and do not appear etched, I am hesitant to use them for a couple of reasons. 

   Did the soaking in tannic acid deteriorate the casing enough to be cause for failure under firing pressure? Will any of this be harmful to my firearms? Some were primed but I suppose it isn't worth the chance of a mishap to trust them. Vanity and years of bench-rest shooting have made me much too anal for reintroduction into my stock. If they are sound and safe, would it be of poor manners to offer these as a gift? I would appreciate answers as well as opinions.    Thanks.

                                                                                       Roy

  

Shoot often, Shoot well

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JetMech posted this 06 November 2008

Roy,

I run into similar situations, but having to do with steels. When subjected to acids, they experience hydrogen embrittlement. So I looked it up as it pertains to brass, and this is what I found:

INTERGRANULAR CORROSION

LEACHING: Selective leaching corrosion is corrosion accelerated by the selective leaching of an alloying element out of the alloy matrix. The most common form of this type of corrosion is Dezincification, the selective leaching of zinc out of the brass matrix. Brass is made of zinc and copper. Zinc is considerable more corrosive than is copper. In certain cases, e.g., when brass is exposed to an aggressive environment, the zinc will corrode preferentially and leaching zinc from the brass alloy leaving behind a weak network of copper. It may look strong but is has been severely weakened.

Based on that, I would throw them in the recycle bin.

Bill

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CB posted this 06 November 2008

Roy, I certainly wouldn't scrap them out. The straight wall pistol cases are a lot more forgiving in a situation like this than would be for higher pressured bottle-neck rifle cartridges. If it were me, I'd load some up with something light like gallery 50' loads and then examine the brass. See if it stretches and see if it re-sizes hard. If there seems to be nothing physically wrong, you could try some with a stiffer load, but definitely keep them for gallery loads.

Don't let them get out of your hands if you have any doubt of your safety or others and then smash them if you're going to scrap them................Dan

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JetMech posted this 07 November 2008

That's a good idea, Dan. I didn't think of gallery loads, probably 'cause I've never tried them (yet). At least, being  a permanent nice shiny black, it will be easy to keep them segregated.

Bill

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CB posted this 07 November 2008

Right, I purposely marked my old 44 mag brass that was showing stretch signs and now only use them for gallery loads. I currently am using 7gr Unique behind a 240gr cb.       Sweet load!  :fire  .............Dan

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gunarea posted this 07 November 2008

Thanks Fellas

    Considering the information on dezincification of the copper based cartridge and possible injury of a friend, the answer is obvious to me. They are history. In all my years, this has never happened to me before. This also explains why the cast bullets had the powder crust on them. Through this lesson, I may have stumbled upon a cheap and easy way to remove zinc from the new style wheel weights. I appreciate your input.

                                                                                           Roy

Shoot often, Shoot well

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gunarea posted this 13 December 2009

Alright Fellas

   The scrap dealers in this area will no longer accept  ANY  cartridge cases. What I now know for sure is that the ones with live primers still function after a period of drying. Bad news is that they are no longer consistent for charge detonation and won't deliver any dependable accuracy. Putting them in the garbage to become landfill is unacceptable for me.

    A while back I loaded fifty of the cases with 5.1 gr of Promo topped with a 215 gr semi wad. Twenty four rounds were shot through an old model Ruger super blackhawk during a regular Lawnsteel game. This loading was done during the “primer shortage", so I used the subject brass which had been primed before the floods. No failures were present in any of the cases. Darrel and I had our butts handed to us as we attempted to use these rounds. Noticeable difference in report.

   Back to the subject of poor manners. Would any of you have a positive use or disposal plan for some or all of this brass? My inventory of brass will not suffer from this loss and I am too old and lazy for working to reclaim this quantity. Vanity won't permit reintroduction of this “ugly” brass into stock. I'm open to suggestions as well as requests. If my offer is rude, I apologize.

                                                                                                Roy    

Shoot often, Shoot well

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blindeye posted this 13 December 2009

Brass in contact with cat piss contaminated media (or anybody else's pee for that matter) might not be safe to use, even if it was restored to a 'clean' appearence. The ammonia (from any source) can cause Stress Corosion Cracking. Even leaving an ammonia based bore solvent in the chamber can cause a reaction with the brass cartridge cases that will leave them brittle and can make one wonder why some cases are breaking in half without an apparent cause. Ammonia and brass are a bad combination.

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jimkim posted this 13 December 2009

Roy if you don't want them, I would like to have them. I'm pretty sure Charles wouldn't mind some roundball or extra-light practice loads. He might even let me shoot his revolver a couple of times. I wonder how well they would work with ratshot.

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