tarnished brass

[clampe1066]

I've got about 150 .44-40 cases that were loaded with black powder and stored without cleaning after being fired.  They've been sitting for months and I can see that the insides have become somewhat rough and dark.  Are they salvageable or do I need to retire them?  30 of them actually turned bright blue/green around the neck and I've already trashed those.  The others I'm needing more information on before I decide what to do.  The smokeless cases in the same caliber that were shot at the same time look fine, as I would expect. 

[Wills Point Pete]

 Clean them up and then look at them under a strong light, through a magnifying glass. If the brass isn't pitted, it's fine. After all there are a LOT of old guns out their, stuffed in a drawer, that still go BANG! with old green cartridges when pulled out of those drawers.

[Dick Dastardly]

Send me a dozen of your worse case pieces of brass.  I'll tumble them Three hours in my DD Ceramic Porcelain media and send 'em back to ya brite and shiny.  I've yet to find any that I couldn't clean.

DD-DLoS

[Ranch 13]

Soak them in a strong solution of Simple green and water and then rinse with plenty of freshwater. Dry them and then put them in vibrator cleaner with corncob media  treated with a tablespoon of Brasso. In about 2 or 3 hours they should come out looking pretty good. The look at them close for defects.

[clampe1066]

Thanks for the tips.  I cleaned them in some soapy water with a bit of vinegar and they are rinsed and drying right now.  I plan to buy a tumbler this weekend so I'll toss them in there and see how they come out. 

[Ranch 13]

 If you load and shoot black again, you might want to take along a mayonase jar with a soap and water (I use simple green) solution in it. Between relays if you have time deprime your cases, if not just plop em in the jug, that way when you get home and have time for clean up all you need do is rinse, dry and tumble.

[springfield]

I've cleaned cases like that with no problem. Just go to the auto part store and buy some paint swirl remover and pour some in the tumbler with the media and run it for a few hours or even overnight and they will come out better looking than new. And dig those greenish ones out of the trash, they will clean up fine too.