Tarnished brass?

[hunter63]

While cleaning out my MIL basement I came across a bunch of fired brass.
I know that my FIL bought factory ammo, fired them and saved everything.
I might even have fired some of them 25-30 years ago.

A lot of the cases were in very good shape, so other than being a dark color, the appear in good shape. Polished up just fine.

There are some, though, that have deeper marks that didn't come out after about 4 hours in the Lyman case polisher.

I sorta worked out the bad spots with "Scotch Brite" and put them back in, after pulling out the very nice cases.

Any rule of thumb on this?
Thoughts?

[Kilroy]

How deep are the marks? If more than just surface tarnish or light scratching/scuffs it could hurt the case integrity. If you have deep pitting or gouges...personally, I'd use those for windchimes, not loaded ammo.

[NotSoFast]

I agree with Kilroy. If the spots were deep or pitted you would be safer to recycle those pieces rather than take the chance of a rupture.

[poacher]

I third the nomination for wind chimes. If you have enough of the brass there is no reason to use suspicious cases for reloading. A fairly deep pit might be just enough to create a case failure or if it's close to the base you might get a case and base seperation. If that happens you will be trying to peel a case out of your chamber.

No reason to take the chance. Sort through them pick the best and if you pitch a couple no loss. I sort and go for complete boxes. so if I end up with 22 cases and I don't have any other brass for that cal. I pitch the last two cases. I know I could save them but sometimes I end up saving for ages before I have another 18 cases to add the two to for a 20 count.

Take care Be safe Poacher

www.handloadersbench.com