How hot is too hot to dry brass

[kalielkslayer]

I’m in the school/class that I won’t prep that brass for weeks.

When I separate pins, I throw my brass in a box. I put paper towels between rows of brass. In the winter I put the box in the basement, near the wood burning furnace. Everytime I feed the stove, I turn the box. That stove sucks the moisture out of the air. In the summer I put the box outside in the sun. I turn it a couple of times a day. The brass stays in there for at least a week. But it’s rare it gets loaded within a month.

That said, 40 years ago I knew I was gonna get laid off from my job. 1982, hard times. I bought a bunch of cases, powder and primers. When I got laid off I hunted 5 days a week, and job hunted the other 2.

By the end of duck season, I was almost out of hulls.. We were hunting flooded corn, semi autos. Every case was wet inside. I would come home, clean my birds, put the hills on a cookie sheet in the oven, 175. Sleep for 2 hours. Get up, load them back up, sleep for 3 more hours, and do it again. One of the most fantastic 3 weeks of my life.

The local Chinese restaurant would trade for Chinese food, and/or cash a couple days a week.

Just trying to get by with what I lived, and feed the family.

bottom line the oven works, fortunately I’m at a point I don’t need it today anymore.

 

[silicosys4]

I oven dry my brass at 180. I did have an issue with an oven that was new to me after I moved into a new house. I found out later with a thermometer that the thermostat on the oven was drastically off by about 100 degrees, so my 180 degrees was more like 280 degrees....hot enough that it discolored the brass from shiny gold to a brownish color, but several random brass crush tests showed them to be ok.

 

[Buzznrose]

I de-prime all my brass before cleaning it. I use an inexpensive Lee press with the universal de-priming die, I paid like $21.99. This whole set up is strictly for depriming all brass to include range brass.

That’s exactly what I use too.

When I take the brass from the wet tumbler, I rinse it off thoroughly in clean water and then use a magnet to remove the pins. Then I wrap it in an old towel and shake it to get most of the water out. Then a few hours in the summer sun spread out should dry it . I do go out a few times and kinda shuffle it around a bit to help remove any excess water from the cases…

 

[Archie]

I used to use my wife's retired (unused) hair dryer. The older kind that had a hose running to a 'bonnet' affair that fit over the head. I used the heater/blower and the hose to blow past the cleaned and wet brass in a cardboard box. I doubt those hair dryers are available anymore.

I changed to the old towel in the sun system, or, old towel in sunlight system.

Then I found out a media tumbler will both shine and dry brass (media absorbs the water) after pin cleaning and separating the brass from the solution. Also makes the few absent pins easier to find. (Use magnet.)

If all else fails, open air and time always works and is least expensive. Takes longer, but...

 

[ms6852]

If all else fails, open air and time always works and is least expensive.

When using air, as you stated time is the key element that makes it work or fail.

 

[CQB45ACP]

I’m in the school/class that I won’t prep that brass for weeks.

When I separate pins, I throw my brass in a box. I put paper towels between rows of brass. In the winter I put the box in the basement, near the wood burning furnace. Everytime I feed the stove, I turn the box. That stove sucks the moisture out of the air. In the summer I put the box outside in the sun. I turn it a couple of times a day. The brass stays in there for at least a week. But it’s rare it gets loaded within a month.

That said, 40 years ago I knew I was gonna get laid off from my job. 1982, hard times. I bought a bunch of cases, powder and primers. When I got laid off I hunted 5 days a week, and job hunted the other 2.

By the end of duck season, I was almost out of hulls.. We were hunting flooded corn, semi autos. Every case was wet inside. I would come home, clean my birds, put the hills on a cookie sheet in the oven, 175. Sleep for 2 hours. Get up, load them back up, sleep for 3 more hours, and do it again. One of the most fantastic 3 weeks of my life.

The local Chinese restaurant would trade for Chinese food, and/or cash a couple days a week.

Just trying to get by with what I lived, and feed the family.

bottom line the oven works, fortunately I’m at a point I don’t need it today anymore.

Great story.

 

[Skgreen]

YMMV, but 20 minutes @ 210 spread out on 4 dollar-store cookie sheets will dry an oven-full for me. (I decap prior to tumbling)

Come to think of it, my '20 minute' routine is the fastest/easiest part of my brass cleaning process.

 

[CQB45ACP]

You want to keep the brass below the temperature it will anneal. Hotter is not better.


Handloader’s Manual
Early Naramore, Major Ordnance Dept Reserve, Small Arms Publishing , 1937

“The best and surest way of drying cases is with the use of artificial heat, but care must be taken not to overheat them, as too much heat will soften the brass and may render it incapable of withstanding normal pressures. Most modern stoves, whether electric, gas, or coal, have oven thermometers that are, at least, fairly accurate. For stoves sold in the United States, these thermometers register degrees Fahrenheit and brass can be heated up to 428 degrees Fahrenheit without undergoing any change in its grain structure. For drying cases it is best to keep the temperature as low as 300 degrees. This heat is amply high for the purpose and offers a liberal allowance for any inaccuracy of the thermometer. If you oven has no thermometer, one can be purchased at small expense in almost any department or five and ten cent store. The thermometer should be placed near the cases as the temperature will not be the same in all parts of the oven. It is also well to place the cases on one of the sliding shelves or racks, away from the bottom of the oven, or the heating element if it is an electric stove.”

I doubt anyone has coal fired ovens anymore; this was written in 1937.

Major Naramore worked in an era when the Army actually made cartridges and had research labs. Today everything is contracted out and data sharing just does not exist between contractors or anyone else. But then, he could call up an Army buddy and find out within the system whom had material data on cartridge cases.

I put my oven on low, and in a half hour or so, my “five and dime” store thermometers read 212F, and doesn’t go any higher. Since water boils at 212F (at sea level) I know my brass is dry. I don’t set the oven any higher than warm because all the grease in the oven evaporates on my brass.

Basically, keep temperatures low and you won't anneal the brass. Annealing the brass is bad. If the case head gets soft, it will blow, and that could ruin your pistol or your rifle action. Might put out an eye

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I have been using the toaster oven more of late, I pour rifle brass into a steel colander ( just the right size for the toaster oven) and turn the thing to warm. Which is about 150 F on the dial. A half hour later, all the brass is dry, and too hot to handle. So I pick up the colander and empty the brass into something that won't melt.

I knew someone would have graphs

 

[Buzznrose]

For a while, I was using my buddy’s Frankford Arsenal dryer, but “brass dryers are spendy compared to food dehydrators which are 2/3d the price. They do work well.

But the South TX sun and prevailing winds work okay, just slower.

 

[CQB45ACP]

The boiling point of water has nearly nothing to do with the efficacy of drying as it’s being discussed here.

Reminder - we boil water on electric burners with coil temps around 1000F and gas flame temps over 3000F…

Another reminder - we don’t have to boil water to remove it from our cases, nor do we really want to do so…

No we don’t have to boil the water and I’d wager the little amount of moisture would be long evaporated before it reached 212 degrees anyway. But, the burner temps do have much to do with the time it takes to achieve whatever target temperature we seek. And lest we forget, a watched pot never boils.

 

[hdbiker]

I used to dry my brass on an old cookie sheet pan in the oven at 250 degrees for 15 minutes

 

[barnfrog]

140F on top of oil fired boiler, over night, for me.

I feel like a downright moron for not thinking of that. No more wasting electricity to dry brass in my house.

 

[lightman]

When I use the oven I dry at the lowest setting, 180-200º for 20 minutes or so. Usually I just dump them out on a towel, roll up the sides to form a wall and stand them up with the case mouth facing down. I deprime before wet tumbling which I believe aids in drying. The hot Arkansas Sun works well in the Summer months too.

Like many of you I usually don't load immediately after tumbling. Sometimes it can be months or even years!

 

[Archie]

When using air, as you stated time is the key element that makes it work or fail.

Allowing ample time works in other things in life as well. like planning retirement. Like saving up a nest egg. Like whether to argue with your spouse or significant other.

 

[Skgreen]

I made drying racks for my brass that work nice.
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Gotta say, someone went through a fair amount of effort to make all those blocks and fill 'em w/brass, over and over again!!!

Kudo's to ya!!!