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Posted: 2/5/2011 6:36:45 PM EDT
So... theoretically, mind you, if one were to wash rifle brass, then bake it in the oven at 400 degrees for 30 minutes in order to dry it... would there be anything wrong with the brass? (I mean, other than the dark yellow color it turns?)
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Found this at 6MMBR.com... maybe I'm ok? "Brass which has been "work hardened" (sometimes referred to as "cold worked") is unaffected by temperatures (Fahrenheit) up to 482 degrees (F) regardless of the time it is left at this temperature. At about 495 degrees (F) some changes in grain structure begins to occur, although the brass remains about as hard as before––it would take a laboratory analysis to see the changes that take place at this temperature." |
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Load one with a regular load, Shoot it in a gun you don't have much money into, if the primer falls out and the rim tears off, it's probably too soft.
Seriously try squeezing one or two with pliers just above the base and compare to the force it takes to deform an "uncooked" case. If it feels noticeably "softer" you have created SCRAP  there is no way to properly harden a case that has been softened by heat . I've tried to reload brass that got cooked inside a ammo can in a house fire the gunsmith almost had to cut the chamber with a reamer to get it out
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Quoted: Load one with a regular load, Shoot it in a gun you don't have much money into, if the primer falls out and the rim tears off, it's probably too soft .Seriously try squeezing one or two with pliers just above the base and compare to the force it takes to deform an "uncooked" case. If it feels noticeably "softer" you have created SCRAP there is no way to properly harden a case that has been softened by heat. I've tried to reload brass that got cooked inside a ammo can in a house fire the gunsmith almost had to cut the chamber with a reamer to get it outI just checked this based (again) on 6mmbr.com: "Adjust the Vice-Grips so that they can put considerable squeeze on the head area and crush the annealed case. Now crush one of the normal used cases. The difference is dramatic." The difference in my case was undetectable. I'm thinking I'm ok, I didn't have the oven anywhere close to 450 degrees, much less the 500 it would take to anneal the brass. I'm thinking the only bad effect is that my first round of brass through Thumler's Tumbler with Stainless Media is now a bit darker yellow than I'd prefer. Lesson learned. Thankfully without any real problems. ETA: So this proves it was not grossly annealed, but doesn't necessarily prove the cases weren't compromised. I'm gonna go turn the oven back on to 400 and stick a thermometer in there just to be sure, but, while kitchen oven dials aren't "accurate", I don't think it's 50-100 degrees off, either. |
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Found this at 6MMBR.com... maybe I'm ok? "Brass which has been "work hardened" (sometimes referred to as "cold worked") is unaffected by temperatures (Fahrenheit) up to 482 degrees (F) regardless of the time it is left at this temperature. At about 495 degrees (F) some changes in grain structure begins to occur, although the brass remains about as hard as before––it would take a laboratory analysis to see the changes that take place at this temperature." Yes, you're okay. Don't fuck around with half ass "tests" and guessing. Use engineering data. Plus, there's no need to dry cases at such high temperatures, 200F to 250F is all that is necessary. |
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Found this at 6MMBR.com... maybe I'm ok? ....." Yes, you're okay. Don't fuck around with half ass "tests" and guessing. Use engineering data. Plus, there's no need to dry cases at such high temperatures, 200F to 250F is all that is necessary. Absolutely correct... as usual! 
Definitely wouldn't be trying to push known limits/anneal brass for whatever seems like a good life-cycle idea unless you're funded to do it correctly. B2 ( BTW AeroE, I've lost the bubble but IM or post WTF your SIG-line means if you think about it. My "ENGR skillz iz" a bit rusty/non-current even though I kind of still work around it... Must have missed it.  ).
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If you have the cases perfectly clean, no safety problem. IF you have any primer residue in the primer pocket(s) or inside the cases, it will contain trace amounts of lead.
If you do not use the stove/oven/cooktop for food preparation, no problem. If the oven is for food preparation, there is the POTENTIAL problem of ingesting lead which is cumulative in the body (once in you, it's yours forever). Just like arsenic poisoning, a very little bit probably won't harm you, or not. It would be best to discuss this with your food preparer and see what she thinks. |
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So... theoretically, mind you, if one were to wash rifle brass, then bake it in the oven at 400 degrees for 30 minutes in order to dry it... would there be anything wrong with the brass? (I mean, other than the dark yellow color it turns?) I do exactly after de-priming and washing range brass . Except at about 200 degrees . For about 2 hours & turn the oven off and let it slowly cool , un attended , in the closed oven . God bless Wyr |
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Hypothetically speaking... of course. If someone were working brass late into evening.. Say 3 hours past bed time and decided to oven dry. Theoratically of course fell asleep for say.... 8 hours. Awoke, forgetting the night before.
Those up late reloader, worked my brass off hang overs can be a real bitch !! Then around lunch time when time to bake a fish stick lunch. Discovered my reason for being tired the next morning resting in the oven. Theoratically, speaking. Hypothetically, of course. Would my brass be allright or my fishsticks cooked ?? Been there, done that @ 200 degrees. |
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Found this at 6MMBR.com... maybe I'm ok? "Brass which has been "work hardened" (sometimes referred to as "cold worked") is unaffected by temperatures (Fahrenheit) up to 482 degrees (F) regardless of the time it is left at this temperature. At about 495 degrees (F) some changes in grain structure begins to occur, although the brass remains about as hard as before––it would take a laboratory analysis to see the changes that take place at this temperature." Yes, you're okay. Don't fuck around with half ass "tests" and guessing. Use engineering data. Plus, there's no need to dry cases at such high temperatures, 200F to 250F is all that is necessary. +1 |
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Quoted: It gets really brown/blue Before I had a tumbler I would "wash the brass" and then throw it in the over at 200F for 30minutes to an hour. Well someone turne4d it up to 400F to cook something! And I found some really brown/bluish brass! Well, even the batch I baked at under 200 this morning turned darker yellow as well. I think I'll just towel and airdry moving forward, the oven drying method seems counterproductive to all that work to get bling on my brass. My only real complaint at this point is the low capacity of Thumler's tumbler. I need one that's about 4 times the size of this thing... I can only get about 1/3 of a 30cal ammo can's worth of brass cleaned at a time with it. |
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It gets really brown/blue Before I had a tumbler I would "wash the brass" and then throw it in the over at 200F for 30minutes to an hour. Well someone turne4d it up to 400F to cook something! And I found some really brown/bluish brass! Well, even the batch I baked at under 200 this morning turned darker yellow as well. I think I'll just towel and airdry moving forward, the oven drying method seems counterproductive to all that work to get bling on my brass. My only real complaint at this point is the low capacity of Thumler's tumbler. I need one that's about 4 times the size of this thing... I can only get about 1/3 of a 30cal ammo can's worth of brass cleaned at a time with it. I didnt have a tumbler at that point, but all my brass took less then an hour to get really shiny. All the ammo in this picture was made from brass that was dreid in the oven, but then I put in the tumbler for 30-60 minutes when i finally got a tumbler. 
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| 170 to dry. It takes less then 30 minutes with unprimed brass. In your situation I would just run the cleaned brass through a vibratory cleaner with some corn cob and Nu Finish. The shine seems to last a lot longer with the car polish. Also, the corn cob would last forever because you are polishing only perfectly clean brass. |
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