Brass condition question

B

Benchguy

New member
I have some brass pieces that have strange discoloration spots on them. They have been in storage for many years in OG boxes inside a wooden box not exposed to wet conditions of temperature swings. The spots look like ring worms LOL and are from 1/16 to 1/4” in diameter and not perfectly circular ! I can feel a slight texture difference when I scrape hard with my thumb nail. I used a wire to check the inside but can’t feel anything.

Thoughts on cause or concerns of safety. They’re my 22-250 brass. Some boxes marked under $8, if that gives you an idea of age.

TY
 
A whitish circle around a blackish spot? It's brass corrosion. I've seen them on NOS ammo, and they appeared to be caused by imperfect rinsing and drying after a wet tumble. Perhaps minerals in the water spots picked up moisture from the air or some such mechanism.

Verdigris, black copper oxide, and white zinc oxide are shown below in the before picture of the photo series showing ultrasonic cleaning. But this was pretty extreme, caused by the cases being left in a leaky Ziplock bag in a flooded basement. All these cases loaded and fired just fine, btw. None of the worst corrosion had tunneled more than a couple of thousandths of an inch that I could measure. It seems to take a spell to corrode through a case. (The exception is nitric acid corrosion from the inside due to powder deterioration in a loaded cartridge. That can drill right through.)

attachment.php
 
Rub the "spots" with 0000 steel wool and any gun oil ... if the spots clean off and haven't eaten into the metal case deep enough to cause concern ... run them through a brass polishing sdession and they should be nice and shiney and ready to load .

I had a card board of over 500 military 308 Winchester , once fired brass cases from the shooting range at Fort Polk , Louisiana , stored since around 1970 - 1971 .
About three years ago ... I got around to processing the 308 brass ... a few had corrosion spots and stains ... most cleaned up just fine but a few were too corroded ...
I don't think any were dangerous ... but since I had soo many I just tossed the badly stained and correded ones , maybe 12-15 cases and polished the others .

If they clean up well with steel wool & oil and the case hasn't been "eaten Into" ...weakened ... by corrosion ... they should be just fine .

Some of mine were outdoor range pick-ups and had gotten wet and corroded ... the others were simply tarnished and polished up in the tumbler with walnut shell polishing media .
Gary
 
I was able to rub the spot away with steel wool and oil. Tried to figure out the photo posting of before and after with my phone but had no luck. But with it coming off I’m satisfied! I tried that last night without oil and it didn’t go as well.

My best guess is that when they were first put back in the holders they had some moisture on them. It’s only a few 15-20 that have these spots and everything was stored in the same location.

Thanks for the tip and responses!
 
The exception is nitric acid corrosion from the inside due to powder deterioration in a loaded cartridge. That can drill right through.)
Click to expand...

It takes a spell for the nitric from powder deterioration to eat through, too. We just usually don't have any idea its going on, until it gets through to the outside.

Even though it is in constant contact with the inside of the case, its not a lot of acid vapor and not a high strength concentration, so it takes a spell, I wouldn't say it drills right through, not like high molarity Nitric acid liquid.

Connect a garden hose to a 12M nitric line and they brass hose fittings are gone in a couple of minutes, or less. Not eaten through, GONE!! LOL

Was involved in the clean up after some idiot did that in the plant where I worked. Instead of getting the correct hose, (which are heavy) he actually made an adapter so the garden hose (much lighter) could attach.

Turned out that was the last day he worked in the plant. Spendy "mistake" which could have gotten someone seriously injured, but fortunately, no human got harmed, though one had to seek alternate employment! :rolleyes:
 
Looking at the pics posted above, I would've tossed the brass.

In the second, cleaned up photo, the brass appears to have a pinkish tint to it. This could be from dezincification, which is just as bad as verdigris.

No brass is worth what the rifle, scope or whatever gets damaged if the brass fails.
 
Benchguy said:
I was able to rub the spot away with steel wool and oil. Tried to figure out the photo posting of before and after with my phone but had no luck. But with it coming off I’m satisfied! I tried that last night without oil and it didn’t go as well.

My best guess is that when they were first put back in the holders they had some moisture on them. It’s only a few 15-20 that have these spots and everything was stored in the same location.

Thanks for the tip and responses!
Click to expand...
Awesome Outcome !
Glad they cleqaned up . Most of mine cleaned up also ... who knows why some got spotty and others didn't .
Gary
 
50 shooter, that’s some interesting information! I read the first link and it describes the color of the center of the “bullseye” spot. Definitely concerning.

What’s the trick to posting pics via my phone? I’d like to show what I’ve got going on.
 
I haven't posted a pic here in years.

I think you can click the box with the picture of the mountains at the top of the window when posting to the thread. That should open a drop down menu, from there you should be able to post it from the picture album in your phone.
 
What’s the trick to posting pics via my phone? I’d like to show what I’ve got going on.
Click to expand...
You can create a phone contact using your email address. Then share the pic as a message to your email. Open your PC - open your mail - download the photo. I use the old Microsoft Paint program to crop & edit pictures as you'll often need to make it a LOT smaller to upload it on this forum as an attachment.
 
Unclenick said:
A whitish circle around a blackish spot? It's brass corrosion. I've seen them on NOS ammo, and they appeared to be caused by imperfect rinsing and drying after a wet tumble. Perhaps minerals in the water spots picked up moisture from the air or some such mechanism.

Verdigris, black copper oxide, and white zinc oxide are shown below in the before picture of the photo series showing ultrasonic cleaning. But this was pretty extreme, caused by the cases being left in a leaky Ziplock bag in a flooded basement. All these cases loaded and fired just fine, btw. None of the worst corrosion had tunneled more than a couple of thousandths of an inch that I could measure. It seems to take a spell to corrode through a case. (The exception is nitric acid corrosion from the inside due to powder deterioration in a loaded cartridge. That can drill right through.)

attachment.php
Click to expand...
Nick,

The differences in lengths of those 30-06 cases is staggering. They did clean up nicely. Are those from a batch of Lake City Match M72 ammo?
 
Based on the Canada article that 50 shooter posted above I think that this picture I posted of a 308 Winchester brass is showing a zinc corrosion reaction resulting from The Alkali pH of the Dawn dish soap that I tumble with. I am in the process of tumbling the brass again -after I used a WFT tool and trimmed. I am testing wet tumbling using stainless steel pins and turtle wax car wash and wax mixture. I think it will solve The Alkali reaction problem.
 
Recycled Bullet,

Mine look like those exactly using dawn dishsoap, its worse after I put them in my case dryer, I just throw them in some corn cob media now, and it shines them up really nicely. Its an extra step but im OCD about clean brass.
 
akinswi said:
Recycled Bullet,



Mine look like those exactly using dawn dishsoap, its worse after I put them in my case dryer, I just throw them in some corn cob media now, and it shines them up really nicely. Its an extra step but im OCD about clean brass.
Click to expand...
Please try the Turtle Wax wash and wax in your wet tumbler and report your results. It is the big white jug with the green label. I recently tested the first batch with a big batch of deprimed 357 Magnum brass. The results are amazing!

I am repeating the test with 308 Winchester brass to see if I can get consistent results.
62e53216c45aa6e3e209dcec2f505edd.jpg
cbdef76f4428c2f2c4bf3a45d77db347.jpg
 
Akinswi,

Those are, indeed, M72 cases. Note, however, that the ones that look shorter are pushed forward a little in the line and the camera is angled slightly downward, so the length difference is, I think, all about perspective and lens distortion, and is not real.
 
Recycled bullet said:
Please try the Turtle Wax wash and wax in your wet tumbler and report your results. It is the big white jug with the green label. I recently tested the first batch with a big batch of deprimed 357 Magnum brass. The results are amazing!

I am repeating the test with 308 Winchester brass to see if I can get consistent results.
62e53216c45aa6e3e209dcec2f505edd.jpg
cbdef76f4428c2f2c4bf3a45d77db347.jpg
Click to expand...
I will those look fantastic!
 
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