Any Problems With a Particular Brand of Brass? Results Added

[Jimbo357mag]

Case manufactures often get inferior brass from their suppliers. A lot has to do with the source and chemical make-up of each batch. I have seen problems reported with many different brands. It is usually impossible to tell the brass is bad until you see the failures.

 

[6gun]

I would strongly suspect it's the polish you used it can make brass brittle and crack.

 

[Cholo]

Dillon polish is top notch!

 

[6gun]

Dillon polish is top notch!

The bass cleaner from the grocery store is top notch but it will also make your brass crack, I would suggest reloading some of the same brass with the same load without using the Dillon polish on the cases and see what happens.

Could also be something in the media if he's using some of that pet store stuff and not media made strictly for reloading by one the a reloading company, that pet store stuff some people use might have some ammonia or something in it to cover up pet odors.

 

[AJGUNNER]

Ok, so if Dillon polish makes brass brittle, why would it only make Winchester brass brittle??? :idea:

Don't think I am buying this theory. :roll:

I also load plenty of 9mm, 38, and 357 and have been using the same walnut media and Dillon polish for 25+ years. Never had a split case in anything except Winchester 44 mag brass.

 

[6gun]

Ok, so if Dillon polish makes brass brittle, why would it only make Winchester brass brittle??? :idea:

Don't think I am buying this theory. :roll:

I also load plenty of 9mm, 38, and 357 and have been using the same walnut media and Dillon polish for 25+ years. Never had a split case in anything except Winchester 44 mag brass.

There are chemicals in many brass polishes that will make brass brittle, and where are you getting your media?

I'm not saying this is what happened to your brass but it is a possibility, so if your going to be rude and roll your eyes I'm not going to help you narrow down the problem.

 

[greenmtnguy]

Of all my loads for 45 Colt, the Winchester brass is generally the thinnest.. Resize & Trim some cases of different vendors to the exact same length and fill them to the top with water, then weigh the water from each one - the winchester will often hold a bit more cause the walls are thinner. If you use some cleaner/polish that can make things brittle, the thinner brass will split first. Then again, case mouth splits from work hardening will also propagate in thinner brass. I generally only use Starline, and sometimes Remington brass in my warm/Ruger 45 Colt loads

 

[Cholo]

The bass cleaner from the grocery store is top notch but it will also make your brass crack, I would suggest reloading some of the same brass with the same load without using the Dillon polish on the cases and see what happens.

Yeah, Dillon doesn't know anything about reloading :roll:

 

[Jim Puke]

I have used all combinations of cleaners, polishes and media...never had a single problem.

Your problem, is the brass.

 

[Tom W]

The only thing like that that has happened to me was mostly work hardened nickel plated brass in my .357. When I was starting out I'd load it as long as I could. Come to think of it, I still do in my .44 SRH, with no ill effects. unless the brass turns green, with a crayon looking patina on it. I've found stuff I'd loaded up many moons ago...

 

[6gun]

The bass cleaner from the grocery store is top notch but it will also make your brass crack, I would suggest reloading some of the same brass with the same load without using the Dillon polish on the cases and see what happens.

Yeah, Dillon doesn't know anything about reloading :roll:

They don't make the brass polish it is supplied by a vender that put their label on it so you never know what your getting.

And remember as I already said this may not be the problem but is a possibility, got have a open mind and look at all avenues to solve problems.

 

[AJGUNNER]

Ok, so if Dillon polish makes brass brittle, why would it only make Winchester brass brittle??? :idea:

Don't think I am buying this theory. :roll:

I also load plenty of 9mm, 38, and 357 and have been using the same walnut media and Dillon polish for 25+ years. Never had a split case in anything except Winchester 44 mag brass.

There are chemicals in many brass polishes that will make brass brittle, and where are you getting your media?

I'm not saying this is what happened to your brass but it is a possibility, so if your going to be rude and roll your eyes I'm not going to help you narrow down the problem.

I am still working on the single small bottle of polish, and the original 5 gallon bucket of walnut shell that I bought from Dillon along with the tumbler 25+ years ago. I put a tiny little cap full of polish in with about every 5th or 6th batch of brass.

 

[6gun]

Ok, so if Dillon polish makes brass brittle, why would it only make Winchester brass brittle??? :idea:

Don't think I am buying this theory. :roll:

I also load plenty of 9mm, 38, and 357 and have been using the same walnut media and Dillon polish for 25+ years. Never had a split case in anything except Winchester 44 mag brass.

There are chemicals in many brass polishes that will make brass brittle, and where are you getting your media?

I'm not saying this is what happened to your brass but it is a possibility, so if your going to be rude and roll your eyes I'm not going to help you narrow down the problem.

I am still working on the single small bottle of polish, and the original 5 gallon bucket of walnut shell that I bought from Dillon along with the tumbler 25+ years ago. I put a tiny little cap full of polish in with about every 5th or 6th batch of brass.

That is a lot of polish to be using if you add it that often, not saying it is but could be making your brass brittle, if your using the same media after 25 years likely it's soaked full of polish and powder residue.

I use Lyman corn media it has polish in it already I run it till it no longer polishes a dozen loads or so, then I put a cap full of Lyman recharger polish in it and run it till it no longer polishes for the second time then dump it and start with new media cause it's full of powder residue and filthy at that point, plus even if I did add more polish it would never polish as good as new media.

I don't want to tell anyone how to polish brass cause we all have our own method's of doing it, but one thing I'll point out is walnut media is rather course and meant for cleaning rather than polishing.

I use to polish mine clean with corn when I really should have cleaned with walnut first then polished with corn so it wore my media out faster, now days I have a sonic cleaner so I clean with it then tumble in corn, my media stays cleaner lots longer now.

 

[SweetWilliam]

I just bought 500 mixed 380 brass & had about 8 of them not fit in my shell holder. They were all GFL headstamp.
And as far as those pics of split cases
How many times have they been loaded? Cause to me they look old.
I have the same WW headstamp brass in 44 & 45 & have run them hot numerous times with no splits. I know it's only a matter of time though.

 

[Tom W]

AJGunner, buy some untreated corn cob media from Midway, throw the old stuff out and you'll be amazed at the short period of time it will take to clean your brass. I add some Nu Finish car polish to mine and in two hours it looked like brand new brass. Yep, I was too cheap and learned the hard way... After a while the media loads up and really does nothing, not to mention the sharp edges get worn smooth and just rub rather than clean....

 

[AJGUNNER]

I guess I should have specified that I am still working on the original bucket of media---not using the same batch for 25 years. I keep some filthy media for really dirty range pick up stuff, just to pre-clean it. Then I go to some fresh stuff with a cap full of polish added about every 5-6 batches. When this gets visually filthy, I toss out the black stuff and this then becomes the pre-clean stuff. Then I start another batch of fresh.

 

[loaded round]

I buy my untreated media in bulk at a pet store and also use Nu Finish car polish for case cleaning/polishing and discard when dirty. Nu Finish at a capful at a time is just as good as case polish but at 1/2 the cost. Same thing with pet store media.

 

[dougader]

Brasso is polish that I stay away from now. I does have ammonia in it.

I looked for the WW case I had that split down the side from the inside out but can'r find it now...

 

[Chuck 100 yd]

According to a test done many years ago, by the NRA, Ammonia will make brass brittle . It also is a time thing, it happens slowly sometimes. Many years ago I polished up a bunch of once fired Norma .243 brass ,using Brasso, and stored them away. Several years later I loaded and fired them. Almost every one of them ended up with split necks .

 

[Rick Courtright]

According to a test done many years ago, by the NRA, Ammonia will make brass brittle . It also is a time thing, it happens slowly sometimes. Many years ago I polished up a bunch of once fired Norma .243 brass ,using Brasso, and stored them away. Several years later I loaded and fired them. Almost every one of them ended up with split necks .

Hi,

I don't use ammonia based products on my cases, though I do put in 1/4 teaspoon of citric acid with my Dawn dish soap and warm water when I wash them if they're really gungy looking. Just out of curiosity, do you suppose the brittleness caused by the ammonia would be avoided or mitigated with annealing?

Or is it an irreversible chemical reaction, as I've seen suggested by collectors of brass stoves? I've seen discussions of folks' brass turning red with some polishes, and how that indicates one of the alloying metals is being leached out. I've heard a lot on this subject, but can't honestly say I KNOW much!

Back to the OP's handgun brass, those pictures really look to me like his splits are a side effect of something else. Could be, though chances are slim, that Winchester simply got a bad bunch of brass, though something inside me says they'd test the lots before turning them loose on the manufacturing floor. However, if those Norma cases took years before they split, that could easily 'splain the Win .44 brass if it got a little too much ammonia way back when...

Rick C