Baking My Wet Tumbled Brass

[jski]

After wet tumbling my brass I have tried putting them on an old cookie sheet and put them in the oven set at 300° for 25 minutes. Seemed to work fine. I assume this will not alter the metallurgical properties of the brass? 300° should not be sufficient to do that?

 

[The Glockodile]

After wet tumbling my breasts...

Fascinating.

 

[murf]

spell check strikes again. i put my breasts in the oven for fifteen minutes @ over 300 degrees fahrenheit.

luck,

murf

 

[Atavar]

For drying cases anything over 212° should be fine. Try 250°
If you have an air fryer it should work even better with the fan forced air circulation. Those are cheap and small enough you could get a dedicated one for the loading room.

 

[jski]

MEA CULPA!
MEA CULPA!
MEA MAXIMA CULPA!

I used the dictation software while walking my dog! But I must admit, that was quite humorous!

 

[westernrover]

Those temps are safe. Deprimed brass will dry more easily than brass with spent primers in the pockets. I live in an arid climate and rinsing the brass in hot water heats it up enough for the water to flash off. Even so, I give it at least a day to dry. In humid Florida you might need more effort. Hot water rinse, tumble it in a towel, and bake it in the sun -- oh sorry, it's probably raining outside. Hair dryer? Air compressor with a blow gun? Make a tray with 2x4's, 4'x8' with a bottom of hardware cloth or wire mesh. Dump out a 5-gallon bucket of brass and hit it with the leaf blower. If you anneal the necks, that will dry it for sure.

 

[jski]

Those temps are safe. Deprimed brass will dry more easily than brass with spent primers in the pockets. I live in an arid climate and rinsing the brass in hot water heats it up enough for the water to flash off. Even so, I give it at least a day to dry. In humid Florida you might need more effort. Hot water rinse, tumble it in a towel, and bake it in the sun -- oh sorry, it's probably raining outside. Hair dryer? Air compressor with a blow gun? Make a tray with 2x4's, 4'x8' with a bottom of hardware cloth or wire mesh. Dump out a 5-gallon bucket of brass and hit it with the leaf blower. If you anneal the necks, that will dry it for sure.

Since using wet tumble cleaning, I always deprime first to get the primer pockets clean and the primer flash ports clean. It also allows water to flow completely thru the case thereby clearing the case interior.

Works wonderfully well !

 

[goon]

I’ve never wet tumbled, but brass picked up out of the snow with ice caked on dries out OK if you put it over a heating vent (in a factory plastic insert).

 

[Demi-human]

Brass begins to anneal at > 400°, and takes sixteen hours at that temperature. Oven dried brass is safe.
I dry my wet tumbled brass at 170° in the convection oven for a half hour, they are always dry, even heaping two inches thick.

Duck breasts(mallard) glazed with brown sugar, wrapped in maple bacon. Roasted for fifteen minutes. With blended jalapeño orange jelly.

 

[dh1633pm]

Not sure I would use an air fryer. I heat up the grill to about 250-300 then turn off the grill. I then place the brass in an aluminum pan in the grill. It seems to do the trick. Funny our drying options are as varied as we are.

 

[JEBruns]

I tried the oven drying at various lower temps and settings (convection oven), but the brass came out discolored. Only used the Franklin packets for cleaner. So I've taken to spreading them out on foil wrapped cookie sheets and putting a fan on them for a couple of days. I pour them onto towels after getting the pins out and give them a quick dry that way before the fan process.

 

[Herman B]

I assume this will not alter the metallurgical properties of the brass? 300° should not be sufficient to do that?

Any differences in sound when rolling around two bags of brass, one baked and the other unbaked? Did the heat discolor your brass? If yes to either, you have your answer. Whether the metallurgical change is significant is a different matter. 300 F sounds excessively hot.

 

[Caplock]

I've "warmed" wet tumbled brass in my toaster oven to dry them. Same one that I bake powder coated bullets in. It's reloading gear only now.

Are you guys using your home oven that you also cook your food in?

 

[PWC]

I only wet clean, in a bucket, dirty, muddy range pick up before vibe cleaning. I have a hair dryer dedicated to drying my dogs after bath, that will dry brass, on hi setting, in 10 min, hand agitated on a dog towel. Too hot to hold when done.

 

[NR53]

I repurposed an old food dehydrator that I hadn't used in decades to dry my wet tumbled brass. An hour at 125 degrees seems to do the trick for me.

 

[GeoDudeFlorida]

Brass begins to anneal at > 400°, and takes sixteen hours at that temperature. Oven dried brass is safe.
I dry my wet tumbled brass at 170° in the convection oven for a half hour, they are always dry, even heaping two inches thick.

Duck breasts(mallard) glazed with brown sugar, wrapped in maple bacon. Roasted for fifteen minutes. With blended jalapeño orange jelly.

Saw a thing on one of the cooking channels where some guy cooked duck breasts in the air fryer. Said it was basically a mini convection oven. I think he won whatever contest it was.

I don't wet tumble brass or breasts but my father-in-law wet tumbles his brass now - don't want to know what he does with his breasts, none of my business - and he said using the toaster oven caused him great pain in the right hand. His wife found out the reason her toast was tasting "funny" and smacked his knuckles with a wooden spoon. Told him to get his own toaster oven. He picked one up from Wally-World for under $15 and says it works great. That's one of the things I helped him find a safe place for when we re-organized his reloading bench in the barn. He only reloads .45ACP now, no rifle. He puts about 300 in a frying basket and toasts it on "dark" for two cycles. Comes out smelling kinda like you boiled the water out of a pan but it's all dry, inside and out.

 

[AJC1]

I use 250 for an hour as its never going to change the brass and its above boiling. Ten or 20 degrees either way based on a crappy oven matters not at all.

 

[AJC1]

I've "warmed" wet tumbled brass in my toaster oven to dry them. Same one that I bake powder coated bullets in. It's reloading gear only now.

Are you guys using your home oven that you also cook your food in?

Yes because my brass is cleaner than my cutlery

 

[GeoDudeFlorida]

Yes because my brass is cleaner than my cutlery

Okay, that's scary.

 

[jski]

Any differences in sound when rolling around two bags of brass, one baked and the other unbaked? Did the heat discolor your brass? If yes to either, you have your answer. Whether the metallurgical change is significant is a different matter. 300 F sounds excessively hot.

Excessive for 30 minutes? There might be a slight difference in color with brand-spanking-new Starline brass. Hard to tell tho.

 

[IALoder]

I repurposed an old food dehydrator that I hadn't used in decades to dry my wet tumbled brass. An hour at 125 degrees seems to do the trick for me.

This is how I do it as well, sometimes I forget it in the dehydrator and it goes for 3+ hours. No harm no foul. I used to do 250° in oven for an hour, and that worked okay as well, still had a few that were a little damp from time to time.

Duck breasts(mallard) glazed with brown sugar, wrapped in maple bacon. Roasted for fifteen minutes. With blended jalapeño orange jelly.

This sounds amazing!

 

[GeoDudeFlorida]

Excessive for 30 minutes? There might be a slight difference in color with brand-spanking-new Starline brass. Hard to tell tho.

Depends on if you baste and pre-sear or braise and go straight to the glazing sauce.

 

[AJC1]

Okay, that's scary.

I delegate dishes to my son who is thirteen. I inspect every dish every time. Trust but verify.

 

[DMW1116]

Recrystallization of cold worked cartridge brass starts at ~450 to 500 F. I dry mine at 225 F for about an hour and a half including heat up time. It does turn a little darker even at that low a temperature but it’s just barely noticeable.

Edited to add: significant loss of strength happens pretty quickly, say within half an hour or so once the temperature threshold is passed. Complete recrystallization takes longer. Also, the more cold work there is the lower the temperature to a point. Cracking is possible at about 70% but I wouldn’t think brass makers would cut it that close.

Here is a link for those looking for more detail.
https://vacaero.com/information-res...rmation-and-annealing-of-cartridge-brass.html

 

[packetloss]

I used to do the oven thing, but found that while my oven seems to go as low as 175, the brass would still end up changing color slightly. I ended up springing for a Frankford Arsenal brass dryer and it is easier to deal with, dries the cases faster and I can set it low enough that the brass doesn't tarnish at all.