Been doing a bit of cleaning up of some of my fifty Cal. BMG rounds and cases after my off sider was going to dispose of a small bag of shells and cases .
In the lot was some three fifty cals. and an unusual .45 acp round ~
First stage into the 'snake oil' ( which is primarily designed for cleaning up silver coins but I found it works very well on brass as well~ )
I am currently using my orbital sander mounted in the vice with moderate grade wet and dry ~ and finish off with a 1500 grade W&D. by hand and polish !
I know many like to retain the original patina ~ I do have an intact and 'live' round soaking in oil ( for 12 months now1) which I am undecided about ~
Obviously finish varies from those recovered from the soil, those fired and non-fired ~ to those which have never 'hit the dirt' ~
Then when I was cleaning up some of the projectiles I have accumulated ~ I took the grunge off a particularly grotty one to find ~ Opps it has a zinc/ nickle coating ~
Long story short it is a Vickers tracer round !!!!!!
In the end I have a fifty BMG case which has had the projectile ripped out as rougly a Bush dentist would pulla swaggies's molar!
The Vickers fit all but perfectly and looks the part even if it is a 'lie'!
Then the last round which was donated my a mate turned out to be a nice surprise ~ 1937 FA
But still a few more to go ~ mot including the 'modern' post War era types ~
Some unmolested ~ some partially cleaned and ~ One original Aust Digger's WWII souvenir acquisition ~
About 1/3 the way through the lot!
103,528
Bookmarks