Why do my case mouths turn orange after firing?

[G.Gadea]

Gooday,

I am new to reloading and have just shot my first batch. The ammo is 7.62x54r out of a mosin nagant. For many, but not all, of the fired reloaded casings the mouth of the casing now has a orange hue, which was not present on the casings prior to firing. The orange hue does not appear on casings from factory ammunition when fired from the same gun as well.

Does anyone know what could be causing the case mouths to turn orange after firing? Is this a problem that should lead me to discard these cases? Am I doing something wrong in my reloading process?

Thank you


Edit: The gist of the reloading process I used is to pull the bullets and powder from steel surplus 7.62x54r. I then put the powder and bullet into 1F brass casings, some of which come from unkown origins and some of which come from firing factory ammunition through my gun. I do not think that this should or could cause any problems, but I want to clear up any confusion.

 

[bdft]

Pierced primers? Temperature change from using different powder? Some before and after pics would help.

 

[G.Gadea]

Pierced primers? Temperature change from using different powder? Some before and after pics would help.

The primers are not pierced in the reloads, they look about the same to me. There are different powders being used in either case, for my reloads I am using the powder from surplus rounds whereas the factory stuff uses whatever PPU put in. I thought that the orange colour could be a sign of annealing in a way as well, however I don't understand how only the neck would experience this.

Here are some photos (one with orange neck is reload, one with gold is factory): https://imgur.com/a/LA5DNvo

 

[woodchopper]

so different cases from different manufacturers

you have some PPU from Serbia and then the other stuff is Igman, Bosnian manufactured ammo

so is it just the Igman with the slight discolorations?

and what exactly are you doing for reloads? are you pulling down surplus ammo and using the powder in the brass cases?


oh and technically it is the case mouth that is turning orange

 

[G.Gadea]

so different cases from different manufacturers

you have some PPU from Serbia and then the other stuff is Igman, Bosnian manufactured ammo

so is it just the Igman with the slight discolorations?

and what exactly are you doing for reloads? are you pulling down surplus ammo and using the powder in the brass cases?


oh and technically it is the case mouth that is turning orange

Yes, it is true that there are different cases. However, the effect is seen even on 1F PPU cases fired from this gun. The other cases are 1F cases that I have purchased from others. You can see that, in the pictures I have included, both the Igman and PPU cases experience discoloration (only in the reloads). For the reloads, I am reusing the bullet and powder of the surplus rounds while normalizing the powder weight and using new primers.

 

[jethunter]

Did you lube the case necks that had the bullets pulled?

 

[G.Gadea]

Did you lube the case necks that had the bullets pulled?

The case necks of the copperwashed surplus steel cases prior to pulling their bullets? Because I did not lube the case necks of those as I discard them and the bullets would come out perfect. I do lube the brass cases prior to FL sizing though.

 

[jethunter]

Then the discoloration might be from the residual lube on the neck being effected by the heat from your burning powder.

 

[G.Gadea]

Then the discoloration might be from the residual lube on the neck being effected by the heat from your burning powder.

Thank you! I'll try to clean em off better and to not overdo it, and see if that helps.

 

[jethunter]

Thank you! I'll try to clean em off better and to not overdo it, and see if that helps.

Wipe the necks with a damp paper towel or cloth after they're loaded is easiest if you don't have too many.