I put a batch of .223 brass through the ultrasonic cleaner with a squirt of Dawn and a shake of Lemishine and was quite impressed with how shiny they came out. I then left them in a bucket of clean water for a couple of days to rinse and when I dumped them out, about 20% of them look like this. I'm not hung up on loading only like new ammo, but I am concerned that something important to know happened to these. The "copper" staining or maybe even etching seems to clean off with 000 steelwool but the brass does not quite go back to the original yellow color.
And no, as a beginner reloader I dumped these in without decapping first.
And no, as a beginner reloader I dumped these in without decapping first.