Are these cases ruined?

The only difference between a brass cartridge case and a brass spring is that the brass spring isn't holding back upwards 60,000 PSI of face-rearranging powder gas.

If the brass spring or diaphragm fails it's generally not that big of an issue.

If a cartridge case fails, it might not be an issue at all (neck split), or it might be one of the most memorable days of your life (case head failure).

That said, 185 deg. F isn't high enough to start the annealing process, which begins around 500 deg. F. At that temperature it takes (from what I'm finding) an hour or more for the physical structure to being annealing.

I dry my cases by spreading them on an old bed sheet in front of my dehumidifier in the basement and leaving them for a couple of days.

Never had an issue.
 
RC20, there has to be something you do not understand about annealing and drying cases.
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Again; I purchases 1,400 cases for #14.00 at a flea market,I purchased another 800 cases by the pound at an Iron and Metal yard in Yorkers NY. The cases were the worst of cases because of the condition/appearance, at the time no one wanted to clean them.. To clean the cases would require 7 days of tumbling, for those that are counting it would have required months of tumbling in a tumbler that was limited to 120 cases at a time.

Because I am not hard headed I could have been loading those cases in two hours, that is the time required to clean those cases in vinegar but there is a problem with vinegar. I insist on rinsing cases after 15 minutes in vinegar, and then there comes that 'and then' moment.

After rinsing and drying there is a residue left on the cases, because I do not want anything between the case and chamber but air there is no room for residue. What does that mean? I tumble after rinsing.

F. Guffey
 
Mr. Guffy,
Did you consider using a base (like baking soda) to nutralize the acid (vinegar)?

A lot of metals are cleaned/polished with calcium carbonate and calcium bicarbonate, can't see where it would hurt to use that as a tumbling medium in the first place.
Dirt cheap (pun intended!).
 
Quite often, newer reloaders asking simple questions are flooded with advanced techniques or theories in long rambling posts that may or may not pertain to the original question. I would much rather see a simple question answered simply and then, if the OP asks, advanced processes/theories can be explained. Otherwise confusion is the only thing some of these answers supply...:rolleyes:

(Brass temperature thread has morphed into "cleaning, polishing, processing and brass springs" "discussion" :()
 
Borgli wrote:
Hi. Quick question, are these cases damaged from heat? I tried drying them in the oven at 185f for 30min.
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Didn't see any photographs, but if it was simply a case of 185 degrees in the oven for 30 minutes then any discoloration or damage should be cosmetic.

Also, be aware that the temperature inside a household oven is not consistent because of convection within the oven cavity.

I don't use an oven to dry brass, I simply set it on a towel in the sun. But, if you are going to use an oven to dry brass, use it on its lowest heat setting, use a metal cookie sheet/banking pan, line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper and remove the brass about every five minutes and agitate the pan to ensure a different part of the case is contacting the cookie sheet/baking pan.
 
Borgli wrote:
Hi. Quick question, are these cases damaged from heat? I tried drying them in the oven at 185f for 30min.
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One more time, I do not know why the OP,s cases required drying, cleaning cases in vinegar on the Internet was not a popular ideal in the big inning. Before vinegar I use some stuff that would eat your shoes off in a hurry if not careful and when starting the process I did not have time to answer the phone or door. And when cleaning cast iron the tank looked like the making of a Frankenstein movie.

And then? There is always an 'and then' moment'. Reloaders started using lime shine, lemon juice etc., Leaving the residue on the case is up to the reloader. When I use an acid I choose to rinse it off.

F. Guffey
 
F. Guffey wrote:
One more time, I do not know why the OP,s cases required drying,...
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Perhaps because they were wet.

It may not be required that the OP clean cases with acids or detergents or that he tumble them in a wet media, but for whatever reason he did choose to get the cases wet. And once wet, they needed to be dried out.
 
Perhaps because they were wet.

That right there if funnier then all get out and a perfect example why goofy should crawl back under that rock from which he came .
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Again, it would help to know what liquid and of fluid was used to get them wet. I believe drying cases in the oven is a bad habit and I do not want to leave a residue on the case after drying.

Cleaning cases with an acid is not new, leaving a residue on the case after rinsing is a bad habit. In the old days before Internet reloading cases were cleaned in acid, rinsed in boiling water (twice) and then stored, no one on this forum as ever seen one of the cases; with one exception.

F. Guffey
 
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A far simpler method of case drying would be to add two pounds of hygroscopic silica to the tumbler, Crystal cat litter would work very well. Close it up, turn it on, let it run for a while. Sift out all of the beads, shake out any sand or silica dust and scrutinise each case for residual dust so you won't be firing powdered rock down the barrel.

I will guarantee that every case will be bone dry, without any trace of staining related to heat, and there will be absolutely no risk of heat damage.

Wow, I don't think that I'm going to recommend this. It sounds really stupid.
 
A far simpler method of case drying would be to add two pounds of hygroscopic silica to the tumbler,
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briandg, for the worst of cases, and then I have to assume he has a tumbler and then? Is he wet tumbling? Without a tumbler I can clean cases in vinegar for 15 minutes then rinse and then start sizing. Problem, it is a bad habit to clean cases in vinegar, size and then load and go for long time storage.

F. Guffey
 
F. Guffey wrote:
...no one on this forum as ever seen one of the cases; with one exception.
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I think you're being terribly presumptive there.

Some of us have been loading for decades and long before the internet Hornady Handbook #4 was recommending the use of vinegar to clean and shine brass cases. So, not only have many people not only seen cases cleaned with a weak acid solution and rinsed multiple times in hot/boiling water, but some of us are still shooting cases processed in that way and loaded in bulk in the late 1970's and early 1980's.
 
I think you're being terribly presumptive there.

Some of us have been loading for decades and long before the internet Hornady Handbook #4 was recommending the use of vinegar to clean and shine brass cases. So, not only have many people not only seen cases cleaned with a weak acid solution and rinsed multiple times in hot/boiling water, but some of us are still shooting cases processed in that way and loaded in bulk in the late 1970's and early 1980's.
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presumptive? Thank you, I do not get many of those, I have been accused of building booby traps, I have never taken the time to deny the practice because, in my opinion, boobys are too easy to catch.

One day someone will find some cases that have not been seen in 60+ years, once found they will jump on the internet reloading forums and declare they have rediscovered something and include the term "what were they thinking of".

Back to the worst of cases, again, I use vinegar for the worst of cases to save time when tumbling. There was that time I came home with a 5 gallon bucket of 30/06 once fired cases. Problem; there was a 30 caliber dirt dobber in each one of them. I waited for them to hatch, when my wife opened the barrage door she claimed it looked like a black sinister cloud leaving through the open door. For me? Not a problem, the black dirt dobber 'almost always' includes black widow spider in the 30 caliber case for its young.

A few days ago I got bit by something three times or I was bitten by three different spiders about the time I decided I needed to see a doctor I got over it.

F. Guffey

And my wife hollered: "There is a spider!!!" And then? I had to ask: "WHERE!" It was crawling down my back and then? I had to ask inside of my shirt or outside of my shirt? I took off my shirt and then ask: "Where is it now?". I stored slabs of pecan in a barn to dry, while carrying them out of the barn my friend on the other end of the blab hollered "SNAKE!!" and I had to ask "What kind?", I knew where it was because it was looking into my left ear hole. I decided it was one of those snakes he needed in his barn.

Rattle snake hunting was different.
 
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Hi. Quick question, are these cases damaged from heat? I tried drying them in the oven at 185f for 30min.
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Answer: No.

One of the more entertaining threads. Just to add to the confusion, I'll add this:

Wait until your wife is out of the house. Place your wet brass in one of these:

https://www.amazon.com/Whitmor-Mesh...d=1500581380&sr=1-4&keywords=mesh+laundry+bag

Pitch the bag (they come in all sizes, so get the one appropriate to the amount of brass you need to dry) and put into your clothes dryer with a couple of damp face towels.

Set dryer on "high."

Close all doors between you and clothes dryer to keep noise slightly below living next to an airport.

Run dryer until face towels are dry. Your brass will be also.

Remove quickly to make sure wife does not find any evidence in dryer!
 
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