Whops.. Forgot the brass in the oven..

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katastrof0

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Hi there!

Washed some range brass here today and threw them in the oven to quickly dry them.. Forgot about them for 2 hours at 100Degrees C and now they have a somewhat gold colour to them..

Safe to use?

BB John
 
100 degrees C would be the same as boiling them at see level. I've boiled a couple hundered 308 cases to clean them and then did what you did to dry them out in the oven. I loaded them without any problems and fired them without any problems.
 
Assuming that your brass only reached 100 degrees C, there should be no problem...

If the brass sat right on top of a gas or electric element/burner, it's possible that it reached a hotter temperature.

I often dry brass in the oven that I've washed to clean (mostly when it's too wet outside to let them lay in the sun to dry). My oven has a minimum temperature setting of 170 degrees F, which is what I always use. I also make sure that the trays with the brass on them aren't right over the heating elements.

I've never had any problems from the 'heating.' I'm guessing that brass laying out on the ground in the sun here in Colorado can probably be heated to at least 170 degrees F by the sun.

Forrest
 
a somewhat gold color to them..
Safe to use?
Click to expand...
Good question!
150 degrees didn't make them change color, that's for sure.

I think I would toss them, as anything hot enough to cause a color change also probably annealed them to one extent or another.

Better safe then sorry!

1224.jpg
rcmodel
 
Gotta go with rcmodel on this.

100 to 150 degrees would not hurt a thing, but it also would not make it change color. It would take a higher temp than that.
 
I use the oven to dry my brass all the time. And it does change color slightly, not as bright as when they come out of the tumbler. It is not the same as Annealing. For one thing the brass is not cherry red. For another the brass in the oven is not near as hot as brass case coming out of my auto loaders. :scrutiny:
 
There's a difference between celsius and farenheit. 150 degrees C = 302 degrees F.
 
What solution did you wash them in? Maybe you're seeing the effects of the wash as opposed to the heat. 150 C isn't going to change the temper of the brass, you'd need more than another 150 C to do that.

Perhaps the gold color is the color of the brass when it is clean and any surface oils or powder stains have been burned off. If it turned a lightly pinkish color, then I'd be worrying about it.
 
What was the headstamp of the brass, since I have some Federal and TZZ brass that has a pinkish color and they have never been in the oven.
Chief-7700
 
FAHRENHEIT - CELSIUS, he's in Norway

I believe the heat with water vapor is a catalyst for petina/tarnish/ oxidation, change of color, I have experienced this myself, no more oven drying.

150 degrees CELSIUS is about 302 degrees FAHRENHEIT.. For high pressure rifle rounds I would have to test the cases before reloading, for 45acp low pressure I would reload after I was sure the primer seated well. Annealing temp is 615 F. 323 C..
 
What solution did you wash them in? Maybe you're seeing the effects of the wash as opposed to the heat.
Click to expand...
Soap and washing up liquid, Then rinse, then water and Citric acid for an hour or so.. Rinse and in the oven.. Maybe its the citric?

What was the headstamp of the brass
Click to expand...
Mixed. Range rat pickup;)

BB John
 
I have dried brass in the oven and have never had it turn color. It got too hot or, like some folks have said, it's the wash.
 
Yup! Done that. Cases got annealed all right! Firing them was quite interesting. They did not exactly blow out, but, did they bulge! Well, only one, actually. I tossed the rest.:(

There is of course, a way to test them. Just press a rounded point onto one of them untill it makes an impression then do the same to a good case. You will see the difference. They even sound different when you tap them.
 
Annealing, or almost...

Katastrofo--At 150 CELCIUS, you were very close to annealing the cases. Some of the above posters have neglected to consider that your oven is calibrated in Celcius degrees.

If you have other .45 ACP brass, I'd scrap these to be on the safe side. I once left a batch of brass in the oven, and contacted one of the reloading-supply companies, and they said that my brass way "probably" all right. "Probably" isn't good enough for me.

And with the worldwide demand for copper being as high as it is, you can get a nice price currently for any scrap brass you have. This is a bad thing for ammunition prices, but a very good thing for brass rats.

Now, next time you have brass to clean, use a vibratory tumbler with ground corncob, and don't use liquids. Then you won't have to dry the brass. Less hassle that way.
 
Katastrofo--At 150 CELCIUS, you were very close to annealing the cases. Some of the above posters have neglected to consider that your oven is calibrated in Celcius degrees.

If you have other .45 ACP brass, I'd scrap these to be on the safe side. I once left a batch of brass in the oven, and contacted one of the reloading-supply companies, and they said that my brass way "probably" all right. "Probably" isn't good enough for me.

And with the worldwide demand for copper being as high as it is, you can get a nice price currently for any scrap brass you have. This is a bad thing for ammunition prices, but a very good thing for brass rats.

Now, next time you have brass to clean, use a vibratory tumbler with ground corncob, and don't use liquids. Then you won't have to dry the brass. Less hassle that way.
Click to expand...

Oki doki. Wont use them:)

Think ill go back to my old method of just laying them out on a towel on the bathroom floor and wait a day or two:D

BB John
 
Washed some range brass here today and threw them in the oven to quickly dry them.. Forgot about them for 2 hours at 100Degrees C and now they have a somewhat gold colour to them..

Safe to use?

BB John
Click to expand...


I would use um. Tumble them you will see they come right back to there shiny selves:D I'll buy them from you, and make them into 400 Corbon;)
 
Smokey Joe said:
At 150 CELCIUS [sic], you were very close to annealing the cases.
Click to expand...
No, as several of us have pointed out, he was no where near the temperature required to anneal brass - that is if his oven thermostat is calibrated fairly well. (But, if it was that far off, his food would be over cooked as well. ;)

peterotte's idea to put a controlled dent one of the "cooked" cases is a very good one. You can readily tell if the brass has a different hardness compared to normal brass.

How many cases are we talking about anyway?
 
But, if it was that far off, his food would be over cooked as well.
Click to expand...

Cooking? Heating up food?!
Here in Norway we wear our sheep skins and eat our meat raw. Always been that way and itll stay that way damnit!

On a more serious note.. The oven i use for brass drying is not the same oven i use for food. This oven is one of those little things you find in cabins. You can barely cram a pizza in there.. Well you can, but you got to be creative about it.

The heating elements are right on top some 30cm above the plate. Probably got a little to hot. Anyway im not using the cases. Like one said earlier.. better safe than sorry.

PS: 27 45acp cases, no biggie:)

BB John
 
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