Brass? Petina or?

[groundsclown]

Doesn't look like normal tarnish. Already checked & it's not steel. I seem to recall either speer or win had loads that were a dark colored brass...but I could be wrong.
I was given about a hundred rnds today, all the same color but all mixed h.s. Even the primers are the same color

Whats with the color?

 

[moxie]

Brass turns that color when it's lain in a cow pasture for some time. Still works good, just looks odd.

 

[groundsclown]

Nope don't believe this has been laying in a field somewhere. The inside of every case is spotless & clean.

 

[Blue Thunder]

I have had some in my collection of 9, 40, 45. All went into the tumbler and came out with the same color but the inside was really clean. Loaded well, shot well, recycled again. The main thing is when reloading the brass needs to be really clean prior to going into the press.

 

[Ex]

I've often found brass like that in the desert. Attributed it to sun and weather. It will shine nicely with tumbling but not get it's brass color back without Lemishine or similar.

Once, soaked some badly browned brass in very dilute lemon juice prior to tumbling and it all came out very nice. the acid in the Lemi... etches the discoloration out. If left in the lemi* too long the brass will turn pink. I have still polished this up in the tumbler and had good results, though I may not use it for high power loads if it turned pink.

 

[VulcanChecks]

Looks like oxidation from something on the outside of the case. Could be the way the rounds were stored before you got them.

 

[JoelSteinbach]

I have had the same look with some new star line brass that was sitting in a box for about 5 years, I don't believe it will change your hand loads.

 

[groundsclown]

Thanks everyone. I wasn't really concerned over the safety, just the color seemed like maybe someone had treated it or cleaned it with something strange...Hell I shoot brass until they split or primers fall out

 

[FROGO207]

Yep that looks like really weathered brass to me. Might be some old ammo that was laying around for years and finally the owner decided to shoot it up because of lack of supply or rotating it out of storage. I got some rifle ammo that had brass that looked like those from my grandfathers stash after he died. His were reloaded 30-30's that were 40 or so years old by the time I got them.

 

[burrhead]

A few years ago I found a piece of 25-20 on my place. It was black. I threw it in the tumbler and kept it in there with batch after batch of regular brass. It took about six months but it finally came out looking shinny.

 

[joustin]

Blackened nickel, Hornady has some like this. The Novekse branded Nosler ammo is the same

 

[splattergun]

deleted

 

[Hondo 60]

Hmmm My first thought was they laid in a wet field somewhere, but the inside being clean is odd.

You got me stumped.
Not that I'm some bastion of great knowledge or anything, but I'm still stumped.

 

[groundsclown]

Got an answer this morning from the RO that gave this brass to me...drum roll please.

Just plain 'ol weathered brass that he wet tumbled

I originally found it puzzling because he asked me if I'd ever seen brass that appeared to be coated.
Also. Brass that I get from this range is NEVER tumbled. They give or sell it as is.
Which led me to believe (with how clean the inside was) that someone maybe treated the loaded rounds with something.

So DHS, FBI, Scoobie Doo & all t.v. branches of NCIS can stand down. We can now get back to more important issues like what the kardashian/jenner breakup

 

[GlowinPontiac]

I picked up a whole bunch of .45 from the range that was blackened like that. Wet tumbling with citrus spray cleaner and lemishine in the water got them looking almost new again. Took about 2 hours of tumbling through.