Pardon Me Sir, Do you dehydrate your brass?

[GWS]

Dehydrate? Sure! When I have to wash dirty range brass, I take them outside for an hour in the hot dry New Mexico Sun. Then I take them inside and tumble with corncob........to cool those too-hot-to-tough and bone dry buggers off....and to polish of course. New Mexico IS a dehydrator.

[Bailey Boat]

Just send them to the laundry and tell them no starch and DO NOT fold!!!!

In 45 years of reloading I have never washed a piece of brass and don't intend to start now. If tumbling doesn't get everything clean then to heck with it, move on....... The only brass that isn't ejected into my hand is 45 ACP and I try not to pick up brass that wasn't mine....

[Slamfire]

I've left wet brass to dry overnight and come back to find them mostly dry, but some flash-holes were obscured still by a drop of water.

I dry mine in my oven or toaster oven so I don't have water in the primer holes.


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.

After reading Major Naramore’s book, it is obvious that the gentleman had a technical education in materials or materials engineering. He also worked in an era when the Army actually made rifles, cannons, 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 who and whom had material data on cartridge cases.

I am surprised that brass will anneal at 428 F, I would have thought that it is much higher. Still, I put my oven on low, and in a half hour or so, my “five and dime” store thermometers read 212F, and does not 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, if the oven temperature increases by much.

[spclPatrolGroup]

Please dont call it OCD, use CDO instead, its basically the same thing as OCD, but all the letters are in alphabetical order, as they should be.

[parttime]

I clean my brass in a tumbler with stainless steel media and dish soap. After seperating and rinsing I place the wet brass on a couple of racks of a cheap food dehydrater (less than 5 bucks at a garage sale or Goodwill). In about 10 minutes they are as dry as a popcorn f--t.

[kealil]

I vary on tumbling and wet-washing them depending on how impatient I am that day. When I DO wet-wash, I use a solar oven I DIYed a little while to make beef jerky. Keeps at a toasty 150 at night and can get as high as 300 on a hot day. Great way to do HUGE batches of brass....

[Jim Watson]

I wet tumble BPCR brass in ceramic media, rinse, and dry in a 2220-250 oven. The brass is very clean, I figure I am not transferring much lead to the oven. The pan used is dedicated to ammo, of course.

[deepcore]

After post-annealing quench or post-ultrasonic cleaning rinse I put my brass thru a few turns in the media separator cage. Helps with the water stuck in the flash hole.
Followed by a few mins in a (dedicated) brownie pan sitting on tip of my parabolic heater that's lying down on it's back.