Reloading Question - or Overcooked brass

[SwampRatt]

I'm playing with all my new SS media cleaning stuff, and learning as I go. My question of the day is how long, and at what temp can I dry my cleaned brass in the oven without annealing it? I had it in the oven for about an hour at 300 and it looks like I ruined the batch.

Thanks in advance!

[jjrothWA]

Yep, over done.

No greater than 200 Defgree Farenheit, brass is single layer and put timer fro 20 minutes. let cool and continued reloading.

[RED]

No way 300 degrees is going to do much of anything to your brass. For example, one recommended way to anneal brass is to dip it into molten lead. Lead melts at something like 620 degrees...

The most common annealing process is to heat the brass until it starts to change color (in a darkened room) then tip or drop into water. 300 degrees ain't about to do much...

Hello, water boils at 212 degrees and is not going to change any basic characteristics of brass cartridges. If that were enough, why couldn't you pour boiling water over the brass to anneal it?

JMHO

[tmark]

I bake my brass at about 150 to dry them for about a half hour. I suggest using the lowest heat that gets the job done of drying.

[PhillipM]

You didn't hurt the brass, however it will tarnish in the oven. Been there, done that.

Jerry Mickulek has a video where he says to prop the door open a bit for air circulation, and I think that is a key part of the process.

I have floor vents in my home and central air. In the winter, the cases are in a mesh bag on a vent and in the summer, outside on the condenser.

A friend swears by acetone. He rinses the cases in a pan of acetone and they dry at room temperature quickly. He pours the acetone back in the gallon can and reuses it till it becomes so saturated it doesn't dry well.

Another thing I discovered when wet tumbling with ss pins is hot water will tarnish the brass too.

[bruce]

Re: OP. Agree with advice that brass is not damaged. However, would strongly recommend you not use lots of heat. Keeping the temperature down to say 200 degrees or less will dry the brass without any potential of messing up. JMHO. Sincerely. bruce.

[joem]

That's why I choose to dry tumble all my brass. Cleans up well and I didn't note any difference in shooting when I ran them through a sonic cleaner. Just a extra step that didn't improve accuracy IMHO at least.

[Sunray]

Brass in the oven for about an hour at 300 will do nothing but make it hot. Annealing requires 650 to 700 F.
Dry wet cleaned brass in a 'warm' or whatever the lowest setting is for 15 minutes. You still will not be able to handle it for at least another 15 minutes of cooling time.

[Former Cav]

I just use a dillon tumbler and walnut shells and dillon number 290 polish.
works great for me.

[XLF30]

Swamp Rat: Late response. I have a Rebel 17 and they sell a food dehydrator type dryer, not adjustable. I already had one with variable temp, So I called them and asked what temp I should set it on. They said 140F. That's what I do, it dries 4# in about an hour. If you're planning to use an oven, it might take longer, because the oven does not circulate hot air thru like the food dehydrator.

[Johnny P]

As mentioned above all you want to do is dry the brass out, and unless you are in a hurry just about anything over 100 degrees will do this. Also as mentioned above, nothing starts to happen to brass until you reach 600 degrees.

In annealing necks you can either heat them and let them cool naturally, or if you are in a hurry tip them over in water. The change in the structure of the brass has already taken place when the brass is heated and tipping them in water doesn't change anything in the annealing process.

[Parashooter]

In my experience, it takes longer to dry off the water than to just let them air-cool. Reasonably spread-out on a flat metal surface (e.g. cookie sheet), they're ready to handle and load in under 30 minutes.

[fguffey]

Once there was a reloader that held the case in his hand and turned the case over a flame, I was suspicious of the YouTube presentations because the video stopped and the next appearance of the case was missing the hand; meaning the case got too hot to hold.

Then there was a reloader that swore by the candle, same thing, the hand disappeared.

And now I wonder why no one has come up with a method and or a technique for testing cases that too brittle/hard to size or too soft to load.

In the old days before the Internet cases were cleaned in a harsh environment and required rinsing. The choice for rinsing was boiling water; the cases were rinsed twice in boiling water. The residual heat in the case dried the case after the cases were removed.

There was a time limit for cleaning the cases in acid. The time limit was 2 minutes maximum.

F. Guffey

[bigedp51]

Below a hair drier and a five gallon bucket for 10 minutes. (poor mans convection oven)


http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o254/bigedp51/hairdryer_zps427528d6.jpg

And you would have to go well over 500 degrees to effect the brass.

http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o254/bigedp51/brass-annealing-temperature2x_zpsbw9ahn1x.png

[fguffey]

I had it in the oven for about an hour at 300 and it looks like I ruined the batch

How would a reloader determine if the brass was ruined?

F. Guffey

[leftyo]

you could cook it at 300degrees for a month and not ruin it.

[fguffey]

How would a reloader determine if the brass was ruined?


you could cook it at 300degrees for a month and not ruin it.

Does that mean a reloader has no methodd and or techniques for determing if a piece of brass is too work hardened and or too soft after annealing to be used?

F. Guffey

[leftyo]

without having a mettallurgy lab in your spare room, no you have no real way of knowing.

[fguffey]

without having a mettallurgy lab in your spare room, no you have no real way of knowing.


Any reloader with minimum shop skill and reloading equipment can determine if brass is to soft. Reloaders without shop skills can not be convinced it is possible.

And then there is the ability to determine if the case requires annealing, I do not set limits on a reloaders ability.

F. Guffey

[leftyo]

well then, since your all knowing as always, why dont you just tell everyone how. i made brass for a living once upon a time, and i cant do it at home.