Some of them looked fine but a lot of them were tarnished, some very much so. So I did an internet search and tried one of the ideas I saw for removing the tarnish.
It worked very well.
ALL of the cartridges looked much better afterwards and many of them looked brand new. It didn't get of all of the tarnish on the worst ones, but they look respectable now.
Here's what I did:
I put some white vinegar in a glass jar and added 1 1/2 tablespoons of salt. Then I put 40-50 cartridges into the jar, put the lid on, then shook the jar for a couple of minutes.
Then I dumped everything into a strainer with a bowl under it to catch the liquid.
Next, I dumped the cartridges onto an a old towel spread them out and let them dry.
Problem solved!
You can reuse the liquid several times before you need to dump it down the drain.
I reload and always have a fairly large supply of ammo on hand. What has always worked for me is running them in my old (40+ years) Dillon vibratory tumbler. Corn cob media and a capful of liquid car polish/wax. Brand of polish unimportant. I put a dryer sheet in media and change it as needed , keeps media clean .
(Side trivia: I bought a 30 or 40# bag of corn cob media from Grainger years ago. Turned out to be a lifetime supply for me at a fraction of cost for media packaged as expressly for reloaders.)
Some will say not to vibrate loaded rounds but I disagree. Federal cartridge, for one, tumbles their loaded rounds as a final step before packaging. (They're in Anoka, Minnesota and I've known a lot of people that have worked for them).
I was once curious after listening to negative comments. I put 20 rounds for my .358 in my tumbler and ran them for 6 days nonstop. (144 hours). Man were they pretty! ;)
I then ran 5 through my chronograph and found zero difference between the test samples and stock rounds.
The thought against vibrating is it will break down the powder and change its burn characteristic. I found to my satisfaction the idea has no merit.
I also use cotton or rubber gloves when taking rounds out of tumbler and packing to prevent fingerprint tarnishing which happens easily with brass.
Funniest experience in polishing loaded cartridges happened to my old hunting and general best bud in Tucson. We were working at Davis Monthan AFB back in the 80s. He had some rounds for his 6mm that were tarnishing. So he cleverly was polishing them on a cloth buffer wheel in our shop at the Base. Of course he finally managed to get one a little hot and cooked it off. Minor surface wounding to couple fingers (and likely ruined shorts) was only damage.
We discontinued that brilliant practice.
Hmmm, did not know that, thanks for sharing...
Something about dropping live rounds into a jar of liquid and shaking them doesn't sit well me. It's probably fine, but.....
Matt
Didn't figure I'd admit to this level of compulsion LOL
It fits your profile, what you did with your Jeep, your fishing and all. ;)
I also have been known to do this at times. I have an old Lee holder that grips brass by the rim and fits in my chuck on drill press. Super fine steel wool (0000?) and Flitz quickly makes them pretty.
Only do this when In a certain mood. ;)
Matt, If you don't already, start annealing your brass. Think I finally started annealing after much reading of John Barnes mostly. Very easy and makes brass last almost forever. Made a big change in my reloading.
My father did a lot more reloading than I do. He had a small bench grinder, with a polishing wheel, set up on his reloading bench. He'd pop the primers, then stick the brass on a wooden dowel and run them over the polishing wheel. It would take about 3 seconds per casing to get them looking new again.
I'm not familiar with annealing brass, but I will look into it. Thanks!
Good to hear from you, my friend.
Matt
I set a bottle propane torch on bench with an old towel next to it.
I take a piece of brass and hold it with my fingers at the rim. Then I put it in flame and slowly rotate it until fingers get warm. Toss it on towel to cool. (Some water cool. they should research brass properties IMO)
Usually I'll only do a half dozen or so bare fingered to refresh my visual memory on neck coloring. Then I'll put on light cotton glove for remainder of batch.
Think Barnes suggests a plumber's candle. I prefer a torch just because I dislike the soot from a candle.
Sidenote- I mostly use a Lee neck sizing die, with a body die only as needed to reset shoulder and body. Stand alone decapping of primer. Seldom is trimming of length required.
Guess what I miss most about southern Arizona is the shooting. Up here there isn't all the endless miles of public hills and desert. I find I'm reloading more than shooting. I have a unsupervised 2 bench 100 yard range 14 miles away that I mostly use. A sportsman's club annual membership makes it available but it kinda sucks compared to miles and miles of coyotes, jacks, rocks and back stops.Never into the extreme long range shooting (except jacks or coyotes on occasion) but i sure miss the 200 to 500 yard shooting. 100 yards does work for position practice. Standing , sitting and stuff. And sighting in and basic group testing seems ok. For years i preferred 200 yards for group comparison just because.
Sorry about the hijack, Kyle.
Matt
It's easy and I've found the acceptable temp to be fairly broad.
I've been trying to get my Tucson/Green's Peak partner to anneal for 20 years or more. He just won't give it a go, some hang up on him and it's very atypical for him. (his cabin in White mountains , he's got it solar electric and heated water and rain collection, etc. all engineered and built by him. Very very smooth and trouble free setup) He just buys new brass after 5 or 10 reloads depending on cartridge and load.
It's actually been several years since I've done any reloading. I just don't shoot that much any more. I need to pull all my reloading stuff out of storage and re-familiarize myself.
Check your PMs.
Matt
I'm learning stuff from you and Dan, and unlike the previous poster, I don't claim to be some know-it-all, tough guy stud.
For annealing brash necks I do the following. I deprime the case, dip the neck in motor oil and with my fingers I dip the neck into my melted lead pot until the case base gets too warm to hold in my bare fingers. This is not a self dreamed up idea but a well know advanced reloading way of annealing neck cases. Using lead at 750-800 degrees it's a set tempature not a maybe hot torch flame.
If I'm doing hundreds of cases I use my second hand on my wrist watch and time 5-6 cases by using my bare fingers. Then I use a pair of pliers and time each case to the very second for each case.
Only been reloading for 53 years but I learn something everyday.
I also develop new loads with new powders and bullets for a large re-manufacture ammo company to keep me sharp. I develop the loads they want, test them across a chronograph for their required velocity. Then they send my loads out for pressure testing for their records. I use current reloading manuals for loads. But will all the of imported bulk powders used the powder info is just close to a current USA powder so it's a thought process to use up or down on the weights for each caliber.
You guys will probably laugh, and I'm sure Shawn Magyar (aka: HedgeHunter) will make some derogatory comment, but here's what my father and I used to weigh powder. It's an old pharmaceutical scale that's amazingly accurate. It's certainly not as convenient as some of the new digital scales, but the nostalgic factor makes it pretty cool to me.
Matt
