range brass.

**texasgunhand** · 02-21-15, 16:43

Can you use tarnished brass for reloading? Some of them have a red coloring. Washed them in dish soap and vinegar. Most of them came out ok but i guess some were out in the rain a long time.

**markm** · 02-21-15, 18:09

Agitation is key. The kind you get with hours of wet tumbling.

**texasgunhand** · 02-21-15, 18:24

Ill have to look into one, i was wondering if it was safe. A wet tumbler is in the future for sure. Ive spent a ton on stuff since December,but iam planning to get one when i can.

**SlimMan** · 02-23-15, 14:01

I've never avoided tarnished range brass. If the brass is "solid" I don't worry about a little oxidation. I give it a good dry tumble (walnut) but that still doesn't make is sparkle. But shootable--no problem.

**markm** · 02-23-15, 14:45

Same here. I take pride in bringing ridiculously nasty looking brass back to life.

**masan** · 02-23-15, 16:08

Originally Posted by markm

Agitation is key. The kind you get with hours of wet tumbling.

OP, if you go the wet tumble (with stainless media) route make sure to take some before photos of the brass, that way you can prove to yourself just how well the wet tumble works.

**MegademiC** · 02-23-15, 19:56

Deleting this for now... further experimenting has shown my suggestion to be possible bad advice.

I don't know for sure cause it worked once...

**bigedp51** · 02-25-15, 15:13

Originally Posted by texasgunhand

Can you use tarnished brass for reloading? Some of them have a red coloring. Washed them in dish soap and vinegar. Most of them came out ok but i guess some were out in the rain a long time.

1. I wet tumble my brass for several reasons, if you have firearms that throw perfectly good brass away on to the ground these cases can have dirt, grit etc. imbedded on the outside of the case. Old dirty brass if not cleaned properly can scratch your dies and even have the grit imbedded inside the die and continue scratching your brass. Wet tumbling will "scrub" your cases and greatly reduce chances of scratching your dies.

2. Also I only reload .223/5.56 range pickup brass that still have crimped primers, that way I know it is "ONCE FIRED" brass. If the ammo was reloaded you don't know who reloaded it or how many times it was loaded.

3. If you do not have a wet tumbler then chuck these tarnished cases in a drill using a Lee case trimmer then polish with steel wool. If the cases still look nasty after this get rid of them, its not worth damage to the firearm or "YOU" if the case fails.

Below, old reliable, end of the world, off the grid Lee case trimmer, chuck this in a drill and use 0000 steel wool to polish the outside of the case.

I use the method at the link below of white vinegar and salt to clean tarnished brass and then tumble with walnut media in a vibratory tumbler and it worked well. This was before I started wet tumbling with stainless steel media. And also remember brass exposed to the elements can degrade and become weaker. Cartridge brass contains iron and zink and when you mix this with water the brass can and will degrade over time.

Homemade Firearm Cleaners & Lubricants
http://www.frfrogspad.com/homemade.htm