So the second batch of .45 Long Colt I ever made, a little over a year ago, I made with Pyrodex P. I had decided to sell my BP cap and ball revolver for a flintlock, and therefore needed to go "real BP" instead of substitute, and so I had little other use for the leftover Pyrodex except in a cartridge.
Anyway, after firing I tumbled the cases like I normally do (wet stainless steel pins), but without rinsing them first. All the Pyrodex crud stained the cases inside and out. At first I was mortified because my expensive .45 LC brass was "ruined," but after I loaded them up I realized they looked pretty darn cool, especially for an older cartridge.
Since then I've run the cases through another 3 or 4 batches and each time about 30% of the stain goes away, so at this point it can be a little tough to tell them apart from normal ones.
Has anyone done this intentionally (or unintentionally) and got a good result like I did? Any easy way to do it? Obviously I could shoot off some more Pyrodex but then I have to clean that crap out of my guns too, which I'm only willing to do from time to time. I've considered just pouring a teaspoon of unfired Pyrodex in with the brass when I clean them, but I'm not convinced that'll work.
I've read about lemon juice and other ways of turning the brass black, but they seem to have a similar or worse lifespan to the stain.
EDIT: I repeated the original results, and I'd forgotten just how discolored they get after the first run. (Note that the first 20 or so posts existed before this edit)
Left side: Normal cleaned brass (mixed 1 to 5 cleanings)
Right side: Brass cleaned exactly the same way, but contained ~25 gr Pyrodex P when fired. These are NOT nickel cases. Note the brass kind of shows on the case head just in front of the rim. These looked like the left side before Pyrodex.
Center: Some loaded cartridges with brass made the same way as right side, but fired with smokeless powder and cleaned normally 4 or 5 times since that happened.
The transition between the right side and the center color goes through a sort of purple hue, which is pretty cool. The silvery, almost case hardened look doesn't last all that long (1 or 2 more cleanings)
Cleaning recipe: Stainless steel media, Harbor freight tumbler, filled with hot water, ~1/2 tsp Lemi-shine, 2 small drops of dish detergent. Tumbled for 1.5 to 2 hours. Rinsed in warm water, hand dried.
I do think this has some potential utility beyond the cool factor for e.g. keeping track of 9x19 vs 9x18. However, given the mess that comes along with BP and BP substitute, I think it only makes sense if you can do it an easier way, which I haven't tried yet. Again, I'm not convinced that unburned powder will give the same result, but I'll try with some throw-away 9mm brass later.
Anyway, after firing I tumbled the cases like I normally do (wet stainless steel pins), but without rinsing them first. All the Pyrodex crud stained the cases inside and out. At first I was mortified because my expensive .45 LC brass was "ruined," but after I loaded them up I realized they looked pretty darn cool, especially for an older cartridge.
Since then I've run the cases through another 3 or 4 batches and each time about 30% of the stain goes away, so at this point it can be a little tough to tell them apart from normal ones.
Has anyone done this intentionally (or unintentionally) and got a good result like I did? Any easy way to do it? Obviously I could shoot off some more Pyrodex but then I have to clean that crap out of my guns too, which I'm only willing to do from time to time. I've considered just pouring a teaspoon of unfired Pyrodex in with the brass when I clean them, but I'm not convinced that'll work.
I've read about lemon juice and other ways of turning the brass black, but they seem to have a similar or worse lifespan to the stain.
EDIT: I repeated the original results, and I'd forgotten just how discolored they get after the first run. (Note that the first 20 or so posts existed before this edit)
Left side: Normal cleaned brass (mixed 1 to 5 cleanings)
Right side: Brass cleaned exactly the same way, but contained ~25 gr Pyrodex P when fired. These are NOT nickel cases. Note the brass kind of shows on the case head just in front of the rim. These looked like the left side before Pyrodex.
Center: Some loaded cartridges with brass made the same way as right side, but fired with smokeless powder and cleaned normally 4 or 5 times since that happened.
The transition between the right side and the center color goes through a sort of purple hue, which is pretty cool. The silvery, almost case hardened look doesn't last all that long (1 or 2 more cleanings)
Cleaning recipe: Stainless steel media, Harbor freight tumbler, filled with hot water, ~1/2 tsp Lemi-shine, 2 small drops of dish detergent. Tumbled for 1.5 to 2 hours. Rinsed in warm water, hand dried.
I do think this has some potential utility beyond the cool factor for e.g. keeping track of 9x19 vs 9x18. However, given the mess that comes along with BP and BP substitute, I think it only makes sense if you can do it an easier way, which I haven't tried yet. Again, I'm not convinced that unburned powder will give the same result, but I'll try with some throw-away 9mm brass later.
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