Discolored brass, what is causing it?

[Jaan]

I went out shooting today for the first time in ages. As I'm going through my brass separating my 45 Colt from the 44-40 tonight...I noticed ever single 45 Colt case is discolored on one side only. That's for both pistols. Maybe I've never noticed it before?  The only thing that all have in common, is the ammo came from the same person. Thanks in advance!

[Larsen E. Pettifogger, SASS #32933]

Powder blowby.  Common with light loaded .45s.

[Abilene, SASS # 27489]

That's actually not bad.  I've seen some, even just today, that were almost black from soot.

[Wild Eagle]

Mr. Pettifogger is correct.  This is what all of my 38 special brass looks like after being fired.  Some powders are worse than others as far as discoloring the brass, but with the low pressure loads we use you're going to get some.  I have not found that it hurts the brass, or at least not too much.  I can load brass about a dozen times before it starts cracking/splitting.  

[Trailrider #896]

Some .45LC chambers are slightly oversized. The cartridges lie tipped downward in the chamber. With the lighter loads, you will get blowby on the "top" of the cartridge as it lies in the chamber.  Not so much with .44-40 as the brass tends to be thinner and the chambers are probably slightly tapered.  Either increase the loads or forget about it. Probably will clean off when you tumble them, or use some #0000 steel wool if it bothers you.

[Garrison Joe, SASS #60708]

Titegroup powder puts lots of soot on cases, even with moderate loads.     It comes off with case cleaning.  As Trailrider said, not a problem.

.45 Colt brass with it's thick walls is the most prone to getting this.  .38 special less so.   The bottleneck cases - often show no sooting at all!

 

good luck, GJ

 

[Eyesa Horg]

That's how they look out of my Marlin. 

[Cheyenne Ranger, 48747L]

Bullseye does this, too

 

tumbling will get rid of it

[The Original Lumpy Gritz]

Light load, hard brass, large chamber.

[Rough 'N Ready Rob]

Bad with 700X, good thing is I know what brass is mine.😁

[Griff]

That hardly merits mention.  This is what dirty brass looks like:  

 

Yea, ok, so most of that is BP fouling... 😛

[watab kid]

On 7/27/2024 at 9:16 PM, Abilene, SASS # 27489 said:

That's actually not bad.  I've seen some, even just today, that were almost black from soot.

that was my thought as well , mine are far blacker - the powder choice does have some input as well , 

[Krazy Kajun]

22 hours ago, Griff said:

That hardly merits mention.  This is what dirty brass looks like:  

 

Yea, ok, so most of that is BP fouling... 😛

 

Cleaning brass is just like taking a bath, you should do it at least once a year. 
 

Kajun