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Old June 9, 2013, 09:07 PM   #26
Jim Watson
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Yup, by the time mine has been wet tumbled in acidic detergent and repeatedly rinsed, it looks clean enough to eat off of.
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Old June 9, 2013, 11:05 PM   #27
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I let them sit in the sun. The sun has been around for 12 billon years and gets the job done.
Where I live it feels like the sun has only been around since last Tuesday... A bit too unpredictable for sun-dried cases over here!!
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Old June 10, 2013, 12:34 PM   #28
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This comes up pretty regularly on various forums. Oven drying is energy inefficient but easy. Turn on the oven and put them in. Forget about them for a while. There are lots more efficient ways to remove moisture.

The temp is pretty irrelevant as most home ovens will not reach annealing temp for brass without making life in the house uncomfortable.

70/30 cartridge brass anneals at 800-1400F. Not 400 F. The chart on the prior page has it right. It's 400C, not 400F.

Try to run your home oven to 800F.

Here's a link to some more mechanical properties data:

http://www.lfa-wire.com/70-30-Brass-Wire_C26000.htm
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Old June 10, 2013, 01:56 PM   #29
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Quote:
This comes up pretty regularly on various forums. Oven drying is energy inefficient but easy. Turn on the oven and put them in. Forget about them for a while. There are lots more efficient ways to remove moisture.

The temp is pretty irrelevant as most home ovens will not reach annealing temp for brass without making life in the house uncomfortable.

70/30 cartridge brass anneals at 800-1400F. Not 400 F. The chart on the prior page has it right. It's 400C, not 400F.

Try to run your home oven to 800F.

Here's a link to some more mechanical properties data:
The chart I posted came from a different source than Major Naramore's book. The quote from his book is as he wrote it and he says 428 Fahrenheit.

I don't understand that unless he was looking at a phase diagram in Centigrade and wrote the wrong temperature measuring system. Four hundred twenty eight C converts to 802 F.

I recently found that the Major wrote a number of technical articles for the Arms and the Man and really was a ballistic expert. So maybe he knew something we don't know.

I really don’t care, I heat my brass just over 200 Fahrenheit in the big oven or a toaster oven. I let the stuff sit for around 30 minutes and it is dry. I cannot imagine trying to handle 800 F brass, it would be positively dangerous.
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Old June 10, 2013, 04:48 PM   #30
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The temp is pretty irrelevant as most home ovens will not reach annealing temp for brass without making life in the house uncomfortable.

70/30 cartridge brass anneals at 800-1400F. Not 400 F. The chart on the prior page has it right. It's 400C, not 400F.
Are you sure about that? I've read in various sources that it's a function of both temperature and time. Starts at under 500F, if left at 500F for an hour, it will be dead soft. The temperatures you quoted are if you want it completely annealed within seconds or less.
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Old June 10, 2013, 08:40 PM   #31
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If you have a food dehydrator sitting around, use that. It works just fine and definitely no danger of the brass being annealed.
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Old June 11, 2013, 08:22 AM   #32
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Even using the graph supplied on the previous page, no significant dropoff in tensile strength or changes in ductility even starts until about 350C or 662F. As for the time temp curve, I haven't really searched much for the data, and I guess it's out there, but to effect grain changes, it's a lot more about temps and a lot less about time.

To the OP's question, use the oven if you want, it's your electric bill.
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Old June 11, 2013, 08:48 AM   #33
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I would be interested in hearing why everyone feels that it is more effective or efficient to sonic clean their cases than just tumbling them? I just use a mixture of 50% fine walnut and 50% fine corn cob with a little polish and it seems to be just as effective and less time consuming. This is done with the spent primers still in the pocket. If I need to clean the primer pocket (not really necessary) I do that on a Lyman case prep center.

I would be interested in hearing what you feel is the advantage.
Jim

I do have a sonic cleaner but use it only for cleaning dies and gun parts.
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Old June 11, 2013, 12:25 PM   #34
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James,

Here's a chart from modern data that includes the stress relieving range. It's for 1 hour exposure. Naramore's chart may still be valid for shorter exposure. As long as the peak temperature your oven cycles to remains below the bottom of the stress relieving temperature range (below 250°C), you will be fine. Some ovens can cycle up and down 25°C or so, especially during initial heating so I would use more like 225°C as an upper setting limit, but verify the accuracy of it with an oven thermometer if you plan to get close to the stress-relieving range.

Keep in mind that brass depends on head hardness which is work hardened and should not be stress relieved, much less actually softened. Technically, stress relief is often called "partial annealing" as the brass is not softened by it the way annealing all the way would do.



Since the cases are cleaned already, there's little left to get loose. You're way below vaporization temperatures for lead. Remaining bits of crust in the flash hole is about the only concern. Just follow Shane's suggestion to buy your own cookie sheet for the brass and you should be OK.
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Old June 11, 2013, 12:58 PM   #35
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Unclenick: Good chart. Any problems with me stealing that and using it?
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Old June 11, 2013, 04:50 PM   #36
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Go ahead. Just keep in mind that all brass is not created equal, so some fudge factor needs to be involved. This article has some details. Indeed, it might be worth limiting that oven down another 25°C because of that.
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Old June 11, 2013, 05:05 PM   #37
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Thanks for the chart. It does confirm that I was operating well below any danger level to the brass' properties.

From a vapourising crust perspective, I will see if spinning and air-drying produce a significant increase in drying time. If not, I'll stick to that for the time being.

BSTS!
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Old June 11, 2013, 09:36 PM   #38
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I use SS media. Put it in a wire basket, place it on a shoe rack in the dryer. About 30 min. good to go.
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Old June 11, 2013, 11:14 PM   #39
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chances R
I use SS media. Put it in a wire basket, place it on a shoe rack in the dryer. About 30 min. good to go.
I have done this and it does work well. It still uses more energy than the food dehydrator though.
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Old June 12, 2013, 12:47 AM   #40
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Would isopropyl alcohol have any adverse effects on brass (including nickel plated)? I have a large amount of 100% and it might be very effective in helping dry brass to dunk them in a tub of alcohol after rinsing with water. This could also be useful for drying dies after I ultrasonic clean them.
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Old June 12, 2013, 09:21 AM   #41
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Just wondering here.

Do you folks have so few brass cases that you need to speed up the drying process.

Reason I'm curious is that even tho I reload for close to 40 different calibers, in all cases I have available empties in the thousands.
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Old June 12, 2013, 09:26 AM   #42
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Just wondering here.

Do you folks have so few brass cases that you need to speed up the drying process.

Reason I'm curious is that even tho I reload for close to 40 different calibers, in all cases I have available empties in the thousands.

For rifle calibers, and rifle calibers only, I like to get the match ammunition I shot the day before, completely sized, trimmed, washed, and primed by the end of the next day.

It takes about 30 minutes in the oven at "low" to completely dry them. While they are heating up to 200 F , I am doing something else.

Pistol brass stays in buckets till I run them through the tumbler to remove rocks, spiders, gunk. Never wash pistol brass and I never clean the primer pockets.
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Old June 12, 2013, 11:37 AM   #43
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Would isopropyl alcohol have any adverse effects on brass (including nickel plated)?
Unclenick, any opinion on this, I use alcohol with my case lube to spray my cases before sizing and air dry in-front of a fan to evaporate the alcohol and leave a thin coating of lube on them.

Thanks
Jim
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Old June 12, 2013, 12:02 PM   #44
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Alcohol and acetone both dissolve water and aid in rinsing it away. Just be mindful of the fumes, especially for the latter as they not only affect the body directly, but are explosive when mixed with air in the right concentration.

The only issue I am aware of is speed of evaporation in a humid climate. I've seen acetone evaporation chill things fast enough to cause a lot of condensation to form on them in high humidity. Alcohol will do this, too, but to a lesser degree, so watch out for it.
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Old June 12, 2013, 02:06 PM   #45
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For rifle calibers, and rifle calibers only, I like to get the match ammunition I shot the day before, completely sized, trimmed, washed, and primed by the end of the next day.

It takes about 30 minutes in the oven at "low" to completely dry them. While they are heating up to 200 F , I am doing something else.
I must have WAY to much brass, even match rifle cases.

I've have way enough std. 223 rifle cases. Slightly over three 5 gal buckets full all prepped and ready for reloading.
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