Is this brass safe to load and shoot?

I want to load some 416Rem light practice loads (300gr with H4895) to break in a new rifle, but I'm concerned this lot of virgin Remington brass I have is rotten. Looks like some moisture may have gotten to it inside and out. I sized a couple dozen cases and decided to stop. Is it worth the risk or should I scrap the whole lot? I'd be happy if I could get one firing out of them. (Originally posted under "What did you reload today?")

DaddyFlip said:

I want to load some 416Rem light practice loads (300gr with H4895) to break in a new rifle, but I'm concerned this lot of virgin Remington brass I have is rotten. Looks like some moisture may have gotten to it inside and out. I sized a couple dozen cases and decided to stop. Is it worth the risk or should I scrap the whole lot? I'd be happy if I could get one firing out of them. (Originally posted under "What did you reload today?")

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In reloading I always err on the side of caution. I would scrap them all, it looks like they did not get rinsed well after cleaning.

I mean, if you don't want to trust it, then I bet you have just met a guy that would take them off your hands and try them

I would run them for an hour or two in a conventional vibratory cleaner with corncob media and polish and see how they do.

shootist~ said:

I would run them for an hour or two in a conventional vibratory cleaner with corncob media and polish and see how they do.

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Thank you. This is after 90 minutes of Lyman Corncob Plus with the polishing compound. Didn't make much difference.

Rez Exelon said:

I mean, if you don't want to trust it, then I bet you have just met a guy that would take them off your hands and try them

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I'll remember that. Thanks.

It does not appear the structural integrity of the brass is compromised. I wash all my brass in hot water and dishwashing detergent. Then dry in the oven at 170F. Not any higher temp than 170 because I don’t want to anneal the case head. I wash the brass in a RCBS tumbler. I anneal the necks every two firings.

I'm a big fan of the stainless wet tumbles myself. If I had those that's what I'd do. Wet tumbling is a bit more of a pain --- particularly with Snowmageddon upon us since I usually use the "sun" and "nice temperatures" to dry things. I use the RCBS tumbler and usually the way it works is:

1. Save a bunch of brass up (because this is a pain even if it gets things factory new looking)
2. De-prime all brass. I don't size here, just deprime.
3. Load up a few pounds of brass, fill tumbler about 3/4 full and add some hornady case cleaner. I forget the ratio and the garage is cold for me to go look.
4. Run tumbler for about 2 hours.
5. Admire the super duper shiny brass while straining it.

Now, for the reason it's a pain. I can repeat that procedure about 8 times before the solution has lost it's solution-ness. That's why I like doing big batches to make it worth it. So after the timer is up, then the changeover begins

6. Do basic strain of container into 5 gallon bucket. Really shake the tumbler hard to get as many pins out as possible. Set bucket to the side.
7. Dump brass into a rotary media separator. Go to town until I don't hear pins coming out.
8. Get 5 gallon bucket 2. Pour a bunch of brass in, rinse with garden hose while agitating. Empty water and retrieve pins with magnet until rinse water is clear. Repeat till all brass is done.
9. Another separation in the rotary.
10. Set everything on a towel in the sun for a few hours. I hear you can just put them on trays in an oven on low if your wife will not murder you for having brass in the oven, but I'm not trying that.
11. Pour solution and all pins and more dirty brass in and start over.

If the sun and wind gods shine upon you then the brass on the towel will be pretty dry before the next batch is done, but I just leave it in the sun for about two days kind of agitating them from time to time.

That method will take the nastiest dirtiest range pickup to new looking. Just consumes time.

As a bonus like @Schüler Jumbo pointed out, annealing is a great idea. Any fired brass I get for big boy cartridges gets annealed before I trust it. I don't worry about that on pistol or "common calibers" like 223.

I’m not at home right now to show you, but I live in a humid climate and freezing winters, my brass looks like this a lot. I load and use brass like this all the time, they are not maximum loads, but accurate loads.

As mentioned tumble/polish the brass using a polishing compound in the media. I prefer walnut over corn cob,

Personal, if this is new brass, or once fired brass, I'd tumble it in walnut media with a brass/media refreshing/polishing compound, check the reloading brass dimensions in the reload data, trim (if/when needed), and reload this brass to my desired load and shoot it.

Note:
No matter whether using corn cob, walnut, steel, etc media not all brass comes out of the media blemish free whether new, once fired, or ten+ times fired.

The main objective is to look for stress and deformities caused by excess pressure.

Thanks all for the input so far; I'm going for it. I have Redding and Lee dies; I've resized 24 through each full length die and am happier with what the Lee die is producing. Both need a bit of trimming and I'll be ready to prime and load. I'll report back the results.

Sorry @Rez Exelon; however, if you DM me an address, I'll send you some of this brass just for asking. Paying it forward.

DaddyFlip said:

Thanks all for the input so far; I'm going for it. I have Redding and Lee dies; I've resized 24 through each full length die and am happier with what the Lee die is producing. Both need a bit of trimming and I'll be ready to prime and load. I'll report back the results.

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Personally, I'm believing you are 100% good to go. Still, just like Boyd mentioned, I wouldn't start them extra spicy

Rez Exelon said:

Personally, I'm believing you are 100% good to go. Still, just like Boyd mentioned, I wouldn't start them extra spicy

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Check my edit

That is super generous and awesome, but I'm afraid I cannot in good conscience accept --- I have plenty for what I need and was mostly trying to be a bit of a smart alec in that you should hang on to them!

Rez Exelon said:

That is super generous and awesome, but I'm afraid I cannot in good conscience accept --- I have plenty for what I need and was mostly trying to be a bit of a smart alec in that you should hang on to them!

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LMAO.....this is a hard crowd. Way too much taken literally. Most can't appreciate sarcastic humor.

But those that can appreciate sarcastic humor are willing to let you sound more like a troll than an articulate intellectual.

When you see this emoji in a response: If You Know You Know. You are in the proverbial cross hairs of being had.

Photos should always be judged with caution, but at first glance I would use this brass for practice loads. When it comes to hunting, and especially shooting DG, it is different. In this case I also primarily load new brass or someone that have been reloaded only one time and that are in perfect shape. Otherwise, I use brass of very different conditions.

Rez Exelon said:

That is super generous and awesome, but I'm afraid I cannot in good conscience accept --- I have plenty for what I need and was mostly trying to be a bit of a smart alec in that you should hang on to them!

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You just describe a whole lot of the members here, including me. Makes things more lively!
I had some old 22 hornet loads....I mean old 30 + years old. tried fire form them to K hornet....100% split cases. Brass age is a definite concern. The brass the OP showed did not look old.

If there is any corrosion on the inner or outer walls, don't use them. The walls are weakened and can rupture with ignition.

Been reloading for over 55 years and have run into many diffrent conditions of brass. If the corrosion is only on the out side I wouldn't have a problem using it, for range brass. But never for hunting myself I will only use once fired brass for hunting.

UPDATE: I don't have a wet tumbler, but it gave me an idea. I soaked 25 in hot soapy water, then rubbed the outside of each piece of brass with Barkeeper's Friend on my my fingers until I couldn't see anymore brown or black. This didn't take long; maybe a minute per piece and no hard scrubbing- like applying Imperial Wax lube. Then took a 45cal nylon brush and scrubbed the inside of each case. Rinse well then drop in a can of distilled water until all were complete. Dry by hand, then put on a pan in the oven to dry all the inside water. Now I will examine each piece and make a determination. Here's the worst piece of this lot before and after, outside and inside. You can see that the brass is pitted where the corrosion was, so this one should be trashed. I've thought about it this long, I should probably trash them all...

TRASH IT! Some runs of Remington brass have been pure junk.