Drying brass

[dcloco]

What lead is being washed down the drain? I am not aware of any lead residue, remaining in an empty shell. If so, there are BIGGER issues to deal with.


If the brass is clean, as WeekendReloader advises (remove primer), EVERYTHING else stays clean - dies, presses, and, and, and you!

 

[ballman6711]

What lead is being washed down the drain? I am not aware of any lead residue, remaining in an empty shell. If so, there are BIGGER issues to deal with.

I think he means the lead styphnate left inside the brass from the primer igniting, hence the lead which is then captured in the water.

I dry tumble my brass in a vibratory tumbler so can't say for certain.

chris

 

[WeekendReloader]

The lead I’m talking about is whatever trace amount of lead that is left from the fired primer and the exposed base FMJ or cast lead bullets. Probably not that much, but I certainly am not going to lick my fingers after handling dirty brass.

 

[HowieG]

What lead is being washed down the drain? I am not aware of any lead residue, remaining in an empty shell. If so, there are BIGGER issues to deal with.


If the brass is clean, as WeekendReloader advises (remove primer), EVERYTHING else stays clean - dies, presses, and, and, and you!

I would imagine that if you are shooting cast, lead residue is in the case.

 

[BOISE BADWOLF]

They should be very dry. I put them in the oven for like 30-45 min at about 200° and then let them cool and they are dry. 250° might be a little bit hot. I have had them turn color (hardened steal look) at that temp but they still work fine. One thing I do is shake the excess water outa each shell (like 3 at a time) it takes a little extra time and arm gets tired but you get ALOT of water out and makes drying time way shorter. I then store them in bags with a moisture desiccate until ready to use. P.S Putting them in a sealed zip lock while a little warm will reveal any moisture (condensation) then back to the oven. Oh and mine are hand washed in a vinegar water soap and salt solution.

 

[MakBaba]

Out of the tumbler, I put them in a towel, hammock style, and slide them around inside for 5 or 6 times. The outside is now dry. If I’m in a hurry I’ll hit them with a hair dryer for a few until dry

 

[Demi-human]

I would imagine that if you are shooting cast, lead residue is in the case.

If it uses a primer, that is not non-tox, it has lead contamination on it. Brass, to chamber, to muzzle, to action. It is in the combustion gas, and therefore, everywhere.

The citric acid and detergents bind the lead. It settles to the bottom of the septic and is pumped out by the friendly neighborhood septic service. It then gets processed like municipal waste, or it gets pumped into the ground. Which, conveniently, is where we got the lead.

I don’t wet tumble because I freak out about lead. After all, I send a bunch out into the world just to practice. Nor for the spotless brass. It is faster and easier for me. They are done in an hour, whether I need them then or not. Saves time. Saves me from cleaning the pockets on pistol cases because mine get dirty. Things don’t need to make noise all night either.

Can’t argue the results, but who’s trying to convince anyone?

 

[Average Joe]

I go the solar route, let the sun dry them.

 

[jimmyvegas29]

As far as dumping it down the drain, two words come to mind. Flint, Michigan.

I was thinking Dupont in Ohio.

 

[whughett]

I can see how it keeps the house clean, but the lead dust goes into the water system? And after that, you still have to dry the brass. I am still not seeing it, but each to his/her own.

Lead dust what lead dust ?Lead doesn’t dust unless it oxidizes.

 

[Fine Figure of a Man]

They feel dry but are they?

Yes, if they were wet they would feel wet.

 

[HowieG]

Lead dust what lead dust ?Lead doesn’t dust unless it oxidizes.

Uhuh. I will just politely disagree and let it go at that. If you want to call it lead residue, or lead particulate, or whatever, I still would not pour it with water down a sewer anymore than I would pour the oil from my last oil change down the sewer.

 

[HowieG]

I was thinking Dupont in Ohio.

Works for me. There are all manner of places like that in this country.

 

[KY DAN]

So, I'll bite. Why not just vibe your brass in dry media and skip the brass drying all together. Is there a big advantage to this wet thing??

You are speaking what I believed to be true for the last 15 years and I was happy to believe it. I shoot particular calibers in quantity. For instance I load 9mm 10k at a time and I use progressive presses, I have done this for years using a variety of presses. I have used star , dillon, ch auto champ, lee and all reach a point of failure using traditional cleaned brass.

So I can deprime on my lee pro 1000 and wet tumble and load to my heart's content without stoppages from dirt, spent primmers, or traditional primmer issues.

I lube my presses about once a year and keep them clean.

 

[packetloss]

The lead I’m talking about is whatever trace amount of lead that is left from the fired primer and the exposed base FMJ or cast lead bullets. Probably not that much, but I certainly am not going to lick my fingers after handling dirty brass.

It's more than just trace amounts. Someone posted that they had the water from wet tumbling tested and it registerd 65,000 ppm of lead, compared to their drinking water which was .01 ppm.

That should give folks an idea of just how much lead dust is left in spent cases. If you are going to use a vibratory tumbler, you better do it outside and wear a P100 or better mask and nitrile gloves. I wear a mask even when depositing spent cases into my wet tumbler and of course nitrile gloves when dealing with the dirty water.

 

[KY DAN]

Paper in the oven. Not a good combination.

I use an old 1200W hairdryer mounted in a std 5 gal utility bucket. Wet brass rests is a 1/4" mesh sieve (Amazon), atop the bucket.

View attachment 960048

View attachment 960049

I use paper towels a wickening device, and besides paper burns at 451 lol. We are golden

 

[HowieG]

You are speaking what I believed to be true for the last 15 years and I was happy to believe it. I shoot particular calibers in quantity. For instance I load 9mm 10k at a time and I use progressive presses, I have done this for years using a variety of presses. I have used star , dillon, ch auto champ, lee and all reach a point of failure using traditional cleaned brass.

So I can deprime on my lee pro 1000 and wet tumble and load to my heart's content without stoppages from dirt, spent primmers, or traditional primmer issues.

I lube my presses about once a year and keep them clean.

Works for me. Thanks.

 

[Archie]

I wet tumble remove as much water as possible, then put all the brass into a vibratory tumbler with media and vibrate dry. Then do what ever separation - media from brass - is needed then use magnet to retrieve pins from media.

 

[jebova2301]

Someone posted that they had the water from wet tumbling tested and it registerd 65,000 ppm of lead, compared to their drinking water which was .01 ppm.

Sorry, but I'm not buying it. The numbers don't add up. Just step back for a minute and think about that. 65,000ppm of lead. That means the sample he sent in was 6.5% lead. Let's look at that another way. If he tumbled using a gallon of water, and it was evenly dispersed, there was enough lead in there to make 29 124gr projectiles. Think about that for a minute...

Math:
65,000/1,000,000=0.065, or 6.5%
1 gallon of water is 128oz
1 pound is 16oz
1 pound is 7000 grains
128/16=8
One gallon equals 8 pounds of water.
8*7000=56,000
56,000*0.065=3640
Those numbers say there were 3640 grains of lead in the sample(over half a pound of lead!)
3640/124=29.35
In that one gallon of water, there was enough lead to make 29.35 124gr projectiles.

Let's look at this another way, and say he tumbled 2000 pieces of brass in that one gallon of water. That means every single piece of brass had, on average, 1.82 grains of lead contamination on it. For kicks, I just went ahead and weighed 10 Fiocchi small pistol primers. They weighed 36.798 grains, or 3.68 grains each on average. Basically, the amount of lead contamination per case on average is equal to half the weight of a new primer? Again, not buying it.

Taking it even further, I weighed 10 spent primers. They came out to 31.440 grains, or 3.14 grains on average, meaning a loss of about a half a grain each on firing. Now, I am going to take some info from the NRA, and they stated small pistol and small rifle primers can contain as little as 20mg(about 0.3 grains) of priming compound. Based on mine losing about half a grain of weight after firing, that may seem way too low, but don't forget about the little patch between the anvil and compound that also gets combusted. I think it would be a stretch to say they could contain as much as 50mg(0.75 grains), but let's do that to skew the numbers in that person's favor a bit. Assuming that is the case, and the priming compound was 100% lead(it isn't), that still means that if absolutely NONE of the residue from the primer got expelled through the barrel or chamber and it all stayed on the brass, it still means that there had to be, on average, approximately 1.1 grain of lead(in the case of a 115gr 9mm bullet, approximately 1% of the bullet weight) vaporized from the bullet, and that none of that vaporized lead was expelled out the muzzle or ejection port, nor did any of it stick to the bore. For the third time...not buying it.

Now, if that person got the results confused and it said 65,000 parts per BILLION, that would be a whole lot more believable.

 

[cfullgraf]

Anyone figure how much lead contamination due to bullets accumulating in a back stop versus the lead from primers dumped in the waste water stream?

 

[Demi-human]

Anyone figure how much lead contamination due to bullets accumulating in a back stop versus the lead from primers dumped in the waste water stream?

Whatever the number, I won’t stop wet tumbling, nor using a proper backstop at the range.

 

[Fine Figure of a Man]

Anyone figure how much lead contamination due to bullets accumulating in a back stop versus the lead from primers dumped in the waste water stream?

Anyone just wash their hands and move on with life after shooting, reloading or tumbling brass?

 

[lordpaxman]

They feel dry but are they?

If you enclose them in a clear plastic bag and wait a day, check for condensation on the inside of the bag.

I wet tumble without removing primers and usually air dry outside in the sun. Even short cases like 9mm can take a bit to dry as the spent primer holds a lot of water. I haven’t used the oven, yet. Good luck.

 

[whughett]

Perhaps if one is concerned about lead pollution from cleaning brass one shouldn’t create that concern by blasting lead down range into the environment in the first place. Just an observation not judging.

 

[Fine Figure of a Man]

Having bitten down on both lead and steel shot when eating duck and pheasant, I have learned to appreciate lead a lot. That doesn't mean it's finger lickin good.