Brass Black for 9mak

[daniel craig]

So. I'm getting a 9mak handgun. I was thinking to make it easier for me to distinguish between my 9mm Mak and my 9mm Luger ammunition when I have brass cases for both, as well as hopefully making it easier for someone who picks up 9 mm brass for reloading to tell that it's not 9 mm Luger casing, that I would apply brass black from Birchwood Casey to the 9mak casings.

The question is and this might sound like a dumb question so forgive me would it be safe to put brass black on a live round? I don't see why it wouldn't be but I also don't want to screw around with chemicals if they're going to react with the gunpowder in a live round.

 

[mjsdwash]

I can't answer your question but I will say that my 9mak brass gets a gouge from a triangle file in the rim. Easy for me to find and anyone who picks it up and reuses it with clear damage is an idiot.

 

[sparkyv]

According to the SDS, this is an aqueous solution of various acids. If you think that the water-based solution won't seep around and into the primer or around the bullet and into the powder, it could work. My reloads have no sealant, so I wouldn't do it to my loaded rounds.
https://www.birchwoodcasey.com/content/datasheets/Brass Black Touch-Up.pdf

would it be safe to put brass black on a live round?

 

[daniel craig]

According to the SDS, this is an aqueous solution of various acids. If you think that the water-based solution won't seep around and into the primer or around the bullet and into the powder, it could work. My reloads have no sealant, so I wouldn't do it to my loaded rounds.
https://www.birchwoodcasey.com/content/datasheets/Brass Black Touch-Up.pdf

I could just do a band around the circumstance of the case, staying away from the primer and bullet.

 

[trackskippy]

I just use a colored marker stripe across the base of my brass so I can identify it at the range. For what youre suggesting, if I even bothered, Id just use a different color, and then sort them when I got home, before they go in the tumbler.

 

[Tallball]

Yeah. My FiL used marker, too.

 

[N555]

They are very hard to pick out. I don't find them till I'm trying to put them on the shell holder when I'm sizing regular 9. I usually find a few per year.

 

[sparkyv]

That'd work.

I could just do a band around the circumstance of the case, staying away from the primer and bullet.

 

[Nodakdad]

After I get the rounds reloaded i put them butt up in a tray and take a black sharpy to blackened the rounds. Comes off when I clean the cases but is easy to remark them when I reload them again.

 

[trackskippy]

I saw these marketed before, but for me, just a swipe across the base while in a tray is a lot easier. This one looks like its currently unavailable, but if you look at it, it pretty simple and could be made cheaply yourself.

https://uniquetek.com/product/T1515-M

These are a little more expensive.

https://www.mkmachining.com/product/rifle-brass-marker/

and depending on how crazy you want to take it.

https://www.doublealpha.biz/us/double-alpha-automatic-brass-marker


And if youre cheap like me.

Lots of pretty colors.

 

[Pat Riot]

One recommendation, if you reload, clean each type of brass separate from each other if using markers. The marker will disappear during cleaning.

I have no experience with brass black, but if it changes the composition of the brass somehow I would not use it.

 

[doubleh]

I have used a magic marker for years to mark brass. When it quits working just pick a new one at any number of different stores. Cheap and harmless and it's easily removed with alcohol.

 

[sparkyv]

WOW! Those are solutions for no real problem, and some are quite spendy!

This one looks like its currently unavailable, but if you look at it, it pretty simple and could be made cheaply yourself.

https://uniquetek.com/product/T1515-M

These are a little more expensive.

https://www.mkmachining.com/product/rifle-brass-marker/

and depending on how crazy you want to take it.

https://www.doublealpha.biz/us/double-alpha-automatic-brass-marker

 

[Varminterror]

WOW! Those are solutions for no real problem, and some are quite spendy!

When you’re hauling $150-300 worth of brass out and about and firing 10 at a time from various props throughout a half mile long firing line, the same props as 50-200 other shooters, being able to quickly identify your brass away from the 3750 other pieces your squad mates will fire and the 49,750 other pieces the other competitors will fire during the weekend… yeah, marking brass tends to speed things up and prevents losing a lot of money in the grass, or other shooter’s pockets.

Let alone keeping your brass properly identified for segregation between firings when you might have 4 or 5 or 6 different rifles of the same chambering with batches of 400-500 pieces of brass for each, with firing counts from virgin brass to 20x, and might have ammo loaded for all 4 or 5 or 6 and might have ammo from multiple firing counts loaded at once… keeping quick segregation identifiers is pretty handy as well…

And when you’re about 180 rounds into marking a 250 round batch, for the 5th, 6th, or 10th time in a season, yeah, a tool which speeds up the process is pretty damned attractive…

Although, I will say, I will never mark the bodies of my brass ever again. I did for a couple of seasons, and ended up with some of the worst fouling and carbon rings I’ve ever seen, and no matter how much brushing and how much alcohol I ran through that barrel, I couldn’t get patches to stop coming out purple. So I only mark my extractor grooves now, and have a little wood block I drilled to align my markers with the groove, and trim my marker points to better mate with all facets of the groove.

 

[sparkyv]

Ok, there's a niche need, but I'm sure there's a more simple, frugal way!

When you’re hauling $150-300 worth of brass out and about and firing 10 at a time from various props throughout a half mile long firing line, the same props as 50-200 other shooters, being able to quickly identify your brass away from the 3750 other pieces your squad mates will fire and the 49,750 other pieces the other competitors will fire during the weekend… yeah, marking brass tends to speed things up and prevents losing a lot of money in the grass, or other shooter’s pockets.

Let alone keeping your brass properly identified for segregation between firings when you might have 4 or 5 or 6 different rifles of the same chambering with batches of 400-500 pieces of brass for each, with firing counts from virgin brass to 20x, and might have ammo loaded for all 4 or 5 or 6 and might have ammo from multiple firing counts loaded at once… keeping quick segregation identifiers is pretty handy as well…

And when you’re about 180 rounds into marking a 250 round batch, for the 5th, 6th, or 10th time in a season, yeah, a tool which speeds up the process is pretty damned attractive…

Although, I will say, I will never mark the bodies of my brass ever again. I did for a couple of seasons, and ended up with some of the worst fouling and carbon rings I’ve ever seen, and no matter how much brushing and how much alcohol I ran through that barrel, I couldn’t get patches to stop coming out purple. So I only mark my extractor grooves now, and have a little wood block I drilled to align my markers with the groove, and trim my marker points to better mate with all facets of the groove.

View attachment 1140553

 

[Varminterror]

Ok, there's a niche need, but I'm sure there's a more simple, frugal way!

Again… when you’re holding that marker for the 4000th round of the season, you really start wanting something faster and less tedious. Shoving a case into a marking block and spinning it quickly (I kinda twist mine with a quick spin like a tubing cutter) to get sharp coverage, instead of holding each the marker and cartridge painstakingly and attentively marking each.

Folks loading low volumes or not mixing their brass with that of others every weekend don’t need brass marking tools. I drive more than most folks, I’ve put over 2 million miles on F-150’s in the last 25yrs, but I have never needed a fireproof suit or a 5 point harness in my truck, but I acknowledge there are some drivers out there in the world which do.

 

[tmd16556]

At a lower volume, I find that they just feel and look different once you get them home. That gets 95% separated, and headstamps get the rest. I only put marker on converted brass, and use odd 9mm brands to convert.

This said, Makarov brass is a pain because of the low recovery rate. I built a brass catcher/deflector that moved me from 70-80% to 95-100%, but it is big. I still tend to shoot steel case ammo for now because of that. Once I run low, I’ll bring the brass catcher back out.

 

[trackskippy]

I just drop them into a 50 round tray that comes in the box with new pistol ammo when they come out of the press, and run the marker down the base of the round. You get a broad stripe in the color or colors of your choice, and for pistol rounds, it takes about 5 seconds for the whole tray.

Rifle rounds take about 10 seconds, as they are more floppy in the short trays, aren't as stable, and you have to hit them one at a time. Still quick and easy though.

I get the markers off Amazon for a couple of bucks. Plenty of colors to choose from and cheap.

I load in bulk, all week long. No way I'm using one of those tools, I'd be there forever just marking things.

For things like 9mm and 380, I don't bother separating them when I'm scrounging my brass, they both go in the tumblers together. You can feel the 380's are different when you're sizing, and they get sorted then. Anything else that are easy to see the difference when they come out of the tumblers and go into the media separator get sorted there.

The only time I worry about doing it prior to tumbling is if the cases can get stuck together, or in the case of something that might require it done beforehand, which is normally a PITA.

 

[buck460XVR]

I too have used a cheapo magic marker to mark brass. Basically it was when developing loads to differentiate between powder charges. Never seemed to affect the ammo. I doubt very much that the chemicals in a magic marker would have sufficient quantity and time to creep around the primer and kill it, or affect the powder. Odds are the solvents used in them are similar to what is used to seal primers.