Whats with this .270 brass

[300zx_tt]

I tossed some of my buddies .270 brass into my sonic cleaner, used citric acid and a touch of dawn and they came out looking like this. I tossed in some of my .45 just to see what would happen. Came out perfect. Brass didn’t look exceptionally dirty or anything. Just want to rule out something I did.

 

[Bandit320]

Well, they do look acid etched. Something unique to the brass and the mix you used?

 

[BuLLet]

How well did you rinse with fresh water after the tumble? Looks like the cleaning mix wasn't fully rinsed off.

 

[1moaoff]

☝

 

[300zx_tt]

How well did you rinse with fresh water after the tumble? Looks like the cleaning mix wasn't fully rinsed off.

They looked like that in the cleaner, Before I pulled them out.

 

[300zx_tt]

Well, they do look acid etched. Something unique to the brass and the mix you used?

This is the first batch of brass I’ve cleaned that I personally didn’t shoot. Buddy dropped them off when he found out I got a sonic cleaner. Wanted to see if it was worth it for himself... nothing out of the ordinary looks wise.
I tossed in a batch of .45 brass just to see if it was the solution. Came out fine, then added a another dash of citric acid just for shits and giggles for the second round of .45 and that’s the brass I have pictured

 

[BullGear]

I'd say don't do that.

 

[300zx_tt]

I'd say don't do that.

Lol, ya don’t say?

I honestly don’t think it was something I did, I couldn’t recreate what happened with it. I dropped a few pieces of that brass on the ground, thought I grabbed it all but I’m gonna look and see if I missed one. Maybe it had something going on with before I dropped it in? I didn’t really look it at it real well, but nothing jumped out at me either

 

[Bandit320]

This is the first batch of brass I’ve cleaned that I personally didn’t shoot. Buddy dropped them off when he found out I got a sonic cleaner. Wanted to see if it was worth it for himself... nothing out of the ordinary looks wise.
I tossed in a batch of .45 brass just to see if it was the solution. Came out fine, then added a another dash of citric acid just for shits and giggles for the second round of .45 and that’s the brass I have pictured

It really doesn’t matter that you’ve 45s didn’t tarnish. Every lot of brass produced has minute differences in it’s composition, just what happens when you batch metals. It’s almost certainly a different age, been stored differently, fired at different pressures in a chamber that possibly has some residue or toughness to it. If reloaded, how many times. If it was range pick up who knows how that affected it. As you alluded to in your post subject there’s something about that brass that caused your compound / ultrasonic cleaner to etch it. since it’s not doing it to all of your brass I wouldn’t worry about it to much.

 

[FuhQ]

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I tossed some of my buddies .270 brass into my sonic cleaner, used citric acid and a touch of dawn and they came out looking like this. I tossed in some of my .45 just to see what would happen. Came out perfect. Brass didn’t look exceptionally dirty or anything. Just want to rule out something I did.

I used to process ammo at an ammo plant for a machine gun range, and we would occasionally have that happen. It's a chemical reaction with the brass from using TOO MUCH citric acid. We used LemiShine and dawn and Burnishing Compound in big 5+ gallon vibratory brass washers, and if you used too much of the LemiShine, you'd end up with pink brass, just like that. Best thing, cut back on your amount of citric acid, and start measuring things out with actual volumes, instead of eyeballing it. Or use actual brass cleaning solution in your sonic cleaner.

 

[300zx_tt]

Well, called my buddy up today after I sent him pictures of his brass, and he said he picked out “the best of the bunch”. I asked what that meant, so he swung by tonight and dropped off the rest of it, a mangled up tin tray of the worst looking brass I’ve seen. He said he tried to polish it with baking soda, salt, lemon juice and dawn. Said an old timer told him it’s “the best way” to clean/ polish brass. Don’t know what all was done after that concoction was applied but I’d imagine he didn’t rinse it well or let the lemon juice sit on it too long? Regardless, it was a waste of my time and energy in every way shape and form. He told me to keep them for the trouble, So I’m going to melt them down in my forge, what a waste.

 

[300zx_tt]

 

[FuhQ]

He should go back to whoever told him that "recipe" and kick their ass...

 

[BullGear]

I'd like to be introduced to that old timer. Just so I could slap him.

 

[myronman3]

i was going to ask what the brass looked like before you tumbled it, as my guess was that the brass was in bad shape before you started with it. usually when i see brass that looks questionable after cleaning, it’s because it was in rough shape before it went through the cleaner.

 

[300zx_tt]

i was going to ask what the brass looked like before you tumbled it, as my guess was that the brass was in bad shape before you started with it. usually when i see brass that looks questionable after cleaning, it’s because it was in rough shape before it went through the cleaner.

It was in a ziplock bag that had a design on it, so I didn’t really pay too much attention to it. When I dumped the brass out 3-4 fell on the ground, I grabbed them and took a quick look... just looked pretty dirty. But obviously it was staining/corrosion. Now I know, if it’s not my brass, inspect it and make sure I’m not pissing in the wind. I think he thought it would clean that kind of stuff off of it lol