45 ACP Cases

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Bucksnort1

New member
Several years ago, I purchased some re-sized and primed 45 ACP cases. I'm just now beginning to complete case prep for loading. There are about 50 of these cases. I noticed a greenish-yellow powdery substance coating the inside of each case. Does anyone know what this is? Is it a lubricant?
 
If they were polished when you got them, that could just be powder from corncob treated with Lyman's green polish. If they were not polished, then I would look at the case heads to make sure they aren't military cases old enough to have been fired with corrosive priming mix (early 1950's and before; on military brass the two-digit number are the last two digits of the year of manufacture), nor oddball foreign cases that could have had corrosive primers long after that. If they were fired with corrosive primers, you don't want to decap them in your press and spread the corrosive residue (potassium chloride) around. Rather, you'll want to use a hand decapping setup like Lee has for its Lee Loaders. This, plus a shell holder a hammer are all you need, and they can be cleaned easily in soapy water and dried.

If you don't have corrosively primed cases, but still have the oxidation issue for some reason. Decap the cases and put them into into a gallon milk jug half filled with water that has had a couple of teaspoons of citric acid and a few drops of dishwashing liquid added. Shake that well. Let it sit for fifteen minutes, shake again, flush the liquid, rinse and dry. The citric acid will remove the corrosion and leave the surfaces passive.
 
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