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Posted: 6/9/2013 6:36:32 AM EDT
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I have been ultrasonic cleaning my brass for a few months now. I initially played around with a recipe until I found the right one. They have all involved the use of a gentle acid (vinegar), a detergent (Dawn dish soap), and a base (baking soda) to neutralize the acid.
At the beginning I sent about 200 .223 cases through a cleaning cycle, let them dry, and primed them. I just got around to loading these cases after a couple months and the cases all have a pinkish hue. Some of them have the slightest bit of corrosion on them. My question is this: should I be worried about the structural integrity of these cases? I'm a little nervous about just loading them and shooting them. I thought I might de-prime them all and start over but I'm afraid that I have weakened the structure of the case and don't want a kaboom. Thoughts? |
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You removed angstroms of thickness with the acid.
The pink color is copper exposed by leaching the zinc out of the alloy. Tumble those cases in walnut for 30 minutes to remove the color. The corrosion is caused by your rinsing practice. I wouldn't mess with the baking soda, just rinse the cases in cold water for several minutes and be done with the process. Citric acid (most of us use Lemishine) will yield a better result by passivating the surface of the cases. Don't use vinegar and citric acid together, the vinegar removes the passivation and the cases will turn darker and more brassy colored. They're okay to use, they just don't have that blinding shine. |
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