Just wondering, how soon after you wash your brass do you reload it? I batch process my reloading components, step by step. I may tumble, sift and bag a few hundred cases. Next I inspect, may be days later, may be weeks. Then I size, prime and bag. I have a few hundred assorted case in my shop waiting for a charge and bullet...
Question about drying my brass
- Thread starter usmc0811
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Demi-human
maybe likes firearms a little bit…
Mine are sprayed while still warm, sized, trimmed and chamfered, expanded and primed immediately.
If it is clean, it is completely ready to load.
If it is clean, it is completely ready to load.
lightman
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Varminterror
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Too hot to handle is typically something over 125 degrees F. Kerosene burning in air runs typically 3800 degrees F, but steel typically melts around 2500 degrees F. So your brass is getting somewhere between there.
Skip drying it over the flame.
Skip drying it over the flame.
Robertc1024
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I clean mine in an ultrasonic, rinse them, then dump them out on a towel. Put a fan on them, and come back the next day.
Z28roc
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I wash my brass with cartridge case cleaner and hot water, in a sealed container. I let it sit for about 5 minutes, and then shake it for a few minutes. I then dump it into a media separator, and rinse with hot water. After most of the water has drained, I use a hair dryer, and turn frequently until it's dry. It really doesn't take very long. Then I toss it in the tumbler with a cap or two of NuFinish, and in a couple of hours it's blinding!
Just a thought; "too hot to handle" is ambiguous and subjective. When I retired after the last 25 years of my career as a Construction Equipment Mechanic/Electrician, my hands were pretty tough and calloused, and "dulled" in many senses, temperature being one. But now, those same hands 9 years after retiring, are much more sensitive and almost as soft as a baby's butt (It took 5 years to get all the grease/oil/gunk stains off). The hot items I can hold are much cooler now than what I could hold 9 years ago... 
Just a thought; "too hot to handle" is ambiguous and subjective. When I retired after the last 25 years of my career as a Construction Equipment Mechanic/Electrician, my hands were pretty tough and calloused, and "dulled" in many senses, temperature being one. But now, those same hands 9 years after retiring, are much more sensitive and almost as soft as a baby's butt (It took 5 years to get all the grease/oil/gunk stains off). The hot items I can hold are much cooler now than what I could hold 9 years ago...
Her in Fl if you leave any metal tools out in the Sun for just a little while or leave brass to dry on the driveway. It all becomes much to hot to handle, it will burn your hands even tough work hands.
But my question for the OP is not the drying but the washing. What sink are you washing it in. I hope it is at least some utility sink and not the kitchen!
Dry in 10 minutes or less!
CMV
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Curios - why the lemishine and vinegar - don't they both do same thing? Just wondering if I'd benefit adding the vinegar since I just do the lemishine & Dawn.
Kitchen sink - guilty
But I do clean it with Ajax scouring powder + bleach afterward. White Corain so looks a lot better after I've used it for case cleaning & scoured vs it's normal day-to-day look (note: don't buy a white Corain kitchen sink - ever....).If I want it dried quicker, I put in a big baking shallow baking tin - like the size for a sheet cake but real low sides and set oven (electric) for lowest setting on convect. It's around 180°F. 20-30 min and as soon as it cools it's dry. I decap first so holes at each end might be helping too.
On a beach towel folded in half, on bed in guest bedroom with ceiling fan on - that works well too, just slower than heat.
Curios - why the lemishine and vinegar - don't they both do same thing? Just wondering if I'd benefit adding the vinegar since I just do the lemishine & Dawn.
Kitchen sink - guilty
If I want it dried quicker, I put in a big baking shallow baking tin - like the size for a sheet cake but real low sides and set oven (electric) for lowest setting on convect. It's around 180°F. 20-30 min and as soon as it cools it's dry. I decap first so holes at each end might be helping too.
On a beach towel folded in half, on bed in guest bedroom with ceiling fan on - that works well too, just slower than heat.
You are either not married or have a very lenient Wife
It was a few years ago Experimenting between the two. Yep, they both are acids and do the same thing. So does oxalic,and phosphoric
Buckets of range brass full of dirt and crap., I do not wet tumble
Demi-human
maybe likes firearms a little bit…
CMV
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You are either not married or have a very lenient Wife
The latter. But for general safety sake I do it while she's out
As long as I clean up after myself she doesn't care.
TxRoadDog
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I use keep warm on my oven for an hour or so. Brass comes out just barely too hot to touch but not too bad. No issues in a looooooooong time. Funny thing about it too. When I was a teenager living with my dad, he absolutely was opposed to the idea and I had to dry my brass out in the sun. In the winter time I just had to wait... no big deal. Now that I'm married and have been on my own for a long time, my wife doesn't seem to care?
CMV
Member
Because YOU bought current oven and have to deal with it if you tear it up. DAD bought his and would have to deal with it if you tore it up.
. He probably started drying brass in it day after you moved out
OP
OP
usmc0811
Member
I actually do use my kitchen sink. Should I not?
Demi-human
maybe likes firearms a little bit…
If you slop the contaminated water in the sink, splashing it over the clean dishes in the drying rack, and leaving the mess all over the counter top without so much as a side glance as you walk away with gleamingly bright cases...
No. You should not use the galley's food preperation area.
If one can manage pouring the grey water in the drain, after clearing out any dishes and utensils that could be contaminated, and then rinse it it a calm, low pressure manner, perhaps even sudsing and scrubbing the entire thing afterwards, there should be no cause for concern.
While a cavalier attitude of lead toxicity is never prudent, it is not radioactive. Soap and water...
No. You should not use the galley's food preperation area.
If one can manage pouring the grey water in the drain, after clearing out any dishes and utensils that could be contaminated, and then rinse it it a calm, low pressure manner, perhaps even sudsing and scrubbing the entire thing afterwards, there should be no cause for concern.
While a cavalier attitude of lead toxicity is never prudent, it is not radioactive. Soap and water...
See post above by Demi.
So many people freak out over lead exposure in tumbling brass,(unfounded as it is) yet there are some who use the family kitchen and oven. Makes no sense to me??. But not even going back to that convoluted topic,
No your exposure to lead is probably be little to nothing by using the kitchen sink and oven but just seems there are better places. My Wife doen't like me washing my hands of grease and dirt in the kitchen and heck do most of the cooking!
AABEN
Member
I have a sonic washer for my brass I de prime them before cleaning in summer I set them in the sun If I am in a rush I use a old hare dryer I got at a yard sale dry them they get so hot I will not pick them up for 5min I let them set for a Hr before reloading to see if they will draw moister
tightgroup tiger
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I clean mine in an ultrasonic cleaner and put them on cookie sheets under one of my inferred heaters mounted on my wall. it dries them all in 30 minutes and doesn't damage anything.
http://www.leevalley.com/en/Garden/page.aspx?p=44590&cat=2,42194,73355&ap=1
I paid $49.95 for it and serves a dual purpose. That was years ago and they are $69.95 now but you can probably find them cheaper.
I adjust how hot it gets by how close my cases are to the heater. I've never seen discolored cases come out from under there.
I bought it at Lee Valley,
http://www.leevalley.com/en/Garden/page.aspx?p=44590&cat=2,42194,73355&ap=1
I paid $49.95 for it and serves a dual purpose. That was years ago and they are $69.95 now but you can probably find them cheaper.
I adjust how hot it gets by how close my cases are to the heater. I've never seen discolored cases come out from under there.
I bought it at Lee Valley,
jradisch
Member
If I really want to dry brass quickly I'll use a heat gun which only takes a few minutes to dry a few hundred pieces. Usually I'll just let it dry a day or two. I've got hundreds of clean brass ready to load.
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