DukeConnor
New member
Youll put your eye out kid tumbling loaded rounds
Permanently marking brass?
- Thread starter emcon5
- Start date
When brass oxidizes there are two types of oxidation. The common type is black (CUO) in color and this was dissolved by the vinegar in the Worcestershire sauce . The other type of brass oxidation is red (Cu2O) in color and acids wont touch it. Abrasion or a petroleum based cleaner will
For a while I used to just wash my brass in detergent and lemon juice or vinegar and that would happen. It would polish right off with never dull
Lot of time wasted. 15 minutes in a warm 5% citric acid solution with a little dishwashing liquid added and running in an ultrasonic cleaner did this:
Afterward, I tumbled it in standard Lyman media for half an hour and the pinkish areas were back to brass color and shining. In this instance the pink is not an oxide, but a very thin surface layer of brass that has lost its zinc, leaving copper behind.
My experience marking .308 heads with an automatic center punch, which I did for a time on Remington cases, giving them an additional mark after each load cycle to keep track of the load history, was that it raises a very shallow crater wall around the prick mark that flattens against the breech face during firing. It didn't seem to hurt anything obvious in terms of performance, but this was in a 3/4 moa gun, and not a one-holer, so no promises there. The marks did tend to gradually fill in, so the oldest ones started getting harder to see.
The rim notch hurts nothing and the rim doesn't affect pressure and a shallow notch on the back surface where the rim chamfer is can't weaken anything important.
Afterward, I tumbled it in standard Lyman media for half an hour and the pinkish areas were back to brass color and shining. In this instance the pink is not an oxide, but a very thin surface layer of brass that has lost its zinc, leaving copper behind.
My experience marking .308 heads with an automatic center punch, which I did for a time on Remington cases, giving them an additional mark after each load cycle to keep track of the load history, was that it raises a very shallow crater wall around the prick mark that flattens against the breech face during firing. It didn't seem to hurt anything obvious in terms of performance, but this was in a 3/4 moa gun, and not a one-holer, so no promises there. The marks did tend to gradually fill in, so the oldest ones started getting harder to see.
The rim notch hurts nothing and the rim doesn't affect pressure and a shallow notch on the back surface where the rim chamfer is can't weaken anything important.
FrankenMauser
New member
I have a spare. No worries.