Max Temperature for Drying Brass

[Greg Y]

The American snackmaster can be found in every second hand store in the US. They heat around 140 and add the fan. I've found my brass to dry more quickly with the fan.

 

[TheCZKid]

Check the article in the Daily Bulletin on this very subject. dated 23 Feb. 2023.

23 « February « 2023 « Daily Bulletin

bulletin.accurateshooter.com

Here's a link, since I looked it up. thanks!

 

[Chiquita]

Unless you have to reload "immediately" I mean "right NOW" after washing, then turn them base side up and leave them outside in the sun or on the kitchen counter. They will be dry in a day or less.

 

[NorCalMikie]

Wet tumbler cleaned, rinse in hot water, rolled on a thick towel.
Gas or electric oven. (I use gas) Laid out on a cookie sheet in a warm oven to dry. I usually shake each case before it gets in the oven.
Gas oven? Pilot light will dry brass overnight.
Oven (gas or electric) has to be REAL HOT to effect brass softness.
Electric? Turn oven on low, get it warn, add cases and after they're dry, pull them out and double check. If still damp inside, cook longer. No use being in a hurry now.

 

[chuckshooter]

I think if you want to know max temp to dry, then we should also discuss max time, since annealing is a temp and time combination. 500 degrees and one hour, brass is starting the anneal process. Then there's the question of can you trust your oven temperature to be correct. So if you plan on using max temp, let's just say 450. Then I would be careful with how long I would bake my brass. . I personally use 180. My daughter took a picture of me pulling out a cookie sheet of brass from the oven and posted it with the caption " this is my dad's idea of cooking "

 

[Hoot]

Everyone has their mojo process. When I wet tumble, which is getting less and less as I learn more, I pre-heat our ancient gas oven to 350. I put the already towel rolled brass on a cookie sheet, single layer. I put the sheet of brass into the pre-heated oven, close the door and immediately turn it off. Then I go find something else to do for a short while, allowing the oven and brass to coast downward in temperature. By the time I remember that I left brass in the oven, they're dry. Helps to turn on the interior light to remind you or the wifey as you pass by. Setting a count-down timer with a loud beeper helps as well.

Question for the member who shouted out the Snack Master. How many cases, say 308 parent, can you fit in it at a time? Doesn't look very big in the pictures.

Hoot

 

[Greg Y]

I've never filled the snackmaster with what my thumbler holds. It'll do a bunch.

 

[SongdogHunter]

I use a food dehydrator

i turned my Hornady case dryer into a dehydrator

 

[divingin]

Question for the member who shouted out the Snack Master. How many cases, say 308 parent, can you fit in it at a time? Doesn't look very big in the pictures.

I don't know about the Snackmaster, but I made some racks for 8-tray dehydrator that holds the cases base up at 45 degrees, every 1/2" or so. They hold something like 180 pcs per tray, and think I can fit 4 trays when loaded with 308 (I usually don't do enough at one time to fill 4 trays though.) It runs at 75C, whatever that works out to. An hour does it (probably as does 30 minutes, but an hour is easier to set.)

Base up allows the water normally trapped by the shoulder to drain, so when the primer pockets are dry, so is the rest of the brass.

 

[markm87]

Unless you have to reload "immediately" I mean "right NOW" after washing, then turn them base side up and leave them outside in the sun or on the kitchen counter. They will be dry in a day or less.

THIS! What the hell? In the summer here in AZ they're dry and hot to touch in 20 min. In the winter, I just leave them on a Tshirt indoors and come back the next day. ZERO chance I'm cooking brass in the oven.

 

[shoot4fun]

Why would the brass be wet?

Many popular brass clean methods involve water. I'm sure there are still reloaders using vibratory method with corn cob or treated walnut shells but the shiniest brass comes from tumbling with stainless media in a solution of distilled water, Dawn detergent and Semi-Shine. It really makes the brass shine.

 

[Ned Ludd]

Everyone has their mojo process. When I wet tumble, which is getting less and less as I learn more, I pre-heat our ancient gas oven to 350. I put the already towel rolled brass on a cookie sheet, single layer. I put the sheet of brass into the pre-heated oven, close the door and immediately turn it off. Then I go find something else to do for a short while, allowing the oven and brass to coast downward in temperature. By the time I remember that I left brass in the oven, they're dry. Helps to turn on the interior light to remind you or the wifey as you pass by. Setting a count-down timer with a loud beeper helps as well.

Question for the member who shouted out the Snack Master. How many cases, say 308 parent, can you fit in it at a time? Doesn't look very big in the pictures.

Hoot

I use this type of food dehydrator. It completely dries the brass in 30 minutes, possibly even less. I'm guessing you could dry several hundred .308 cases at a time. I don't know exactly how many it will hold at once as I only clean 125 cases at a time in a Thumler's Tumbler. I then spread them out on two shelves in the dryer, but it could hold a lot more.

https://www.amazon.com/Dehydrator-Professional-Circulations-NutriChef-PKFD12/dp/B00VHLXAQC/ref=asc_df_B00VHLXAQC/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=167155690034&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=6096535759759785944&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9024595&hvtargid=pla-503005144232&psc=1

 

[butchlambert]

Why would the brass be wet?

Well mine are when they come out of my tumbler with SS pins, Dawn, Lemi-shine, and water.

 

[Mark611]

I use a wet tumbler, after tumbling wet I use another tumbler to remove the pins and excess water, I then put them into loading trays or old ammo trays that the water will flow thru, I use a hair dryer that gets pretty hot, and blow dry them! it takes about 5mins to do several hundred cases, with no water spots and ready to load if I want!

 

[Catfur]

Thanks for all the replies.
I was looking for the max temperature for drying that would not hurt the brass. It sounds like you can not hurt the brass with the kitchen oven or toaster oven on max temperature but it may become discolored.
Also there is no need to go that high warm ~200 is good enough but if you make a mistake there is no problem with the brass.

Totally untrue, at max temps in your oven, you can fully anneal brass in less than an hour (it's about 1 hour at 600F). Probably a couple of hours at 500F.

If you keep the temps lower (like 250F), the brass will theoretically anneal, but it will take longer than the universe is currently old.

 

[dellet]

200 is enough to ruin brass in a toaster oven, at least the side that sits too close to the heating element that gets cherry red.