Bad brass question

[hotrodder636]

Is there s a temperature at which once fired brass would no longer be good for reloading? As in, the brass was heated up after it was cleaned to about 450-500F?

[michael word]

I would not use those cases. 500 degrees is about the temp that brass starts anealing and may have made the case heads soft.

[markm]

There's a lot of bad info and videos on annealing out there....

Here's a good article....

from:
http://www.6mmbr.com/annealing.html


Optimal Case Temperatures for Successful Annealing
Brass is an excellent conductor of heat. A flame applied at any point on a case for a short time will cause the rest of the case to heat very quickly. There are several temperatures at which brass is affected. Also, the time the brass remains at a given temperature will have an effect. 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.

The trick is to heat the neck just to the point where the grain structure becomes sufficiently large enough to give the case a springy property, leaving the body changed but little, and the head of the case virtually unchanged.

If cases are heated to about 600 degrees (F) for one hour, they will be thoroughly annealed--head and body included. That is, they will be ruined. (For a temperature comparison, pure lead melts at 621.3 degrees F).

[hotrodder636]

There's a lot of bad info and videos on annealing out there....

Here's a good article....

from:
http://www.6mmbr.com/annealing.html

Thanks For the article Mark, it was a good read(I have taken metals and materials courses in the past due to my job so I understood :D)
Basically, I think I ****ed up....I was drying some .45 and 9mm brass in my oven after cleaning and instead of 240F (boil the water off) I typed 440F on the damn digital display. They cooked about 20-25 minutes at 440F. The article said the brass crystalline structure would be unchanged at temps less than 482F for any amount of time. However, bad brass is not something I want to load into my HKs or any other pistol for that matter. I am sure it is fine but would rather not take the chance. That's what I get for not self checking. It was about 100 rds of .45 and 50 rds of 9mm.

[markm]

Shoot... pistol brass? Scrap it to be safe. I always wipe down my brass and tumble it in walnut to dry it off.

[hotrodder636]

Yeah, I was just trying to cut corners..lesson learned.

[Nightvisionary]

A few years ago I put over 300 pieces of 5.56 brass in the oven to dry. I set the oven at 400 or so and intended to leave them for 15 minutes to dry. Something happened and I got sidetracked. Anyway they spent over 12 hours in the oven at that temperature. I was going to toss them but after consulting an engineer at work as well as some here I decided to try reloading a few. Since then I have reloaded many of those cases a couple times and haven't noticed any issues.

[morpheus6d9]

To dry in the oven set to 115 then turn oven off put brass in allow to dry
Enjoy :cool:

sent from the toilet

[shootist~]

To dry in the oven set to 115 then turn oven off put brass in allow to dry
Enjoy :cool:

sent from the toilet

No drying needed if you use corncob (or walnut*).

...*not recommended for toilet.

[hotrodder636]

No drying needed if you use corncob (or walnut*).

...*not recommended for toilet.

Yeah, I tried something different with this batch; ran them through the Ultrasonic, polished, then the Ultrasonic again to see if I could find any appreciable difference....results....No.

So I will continue to hit with the Ultrasonic followed by the corncob media for final polish and drying like I had been previously doing.

[morpheus6d9]

Wet tumbling with stainless steel media is the the way to go :)

Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk 2

[hotrodder636]

Wet tumbling with stainless steel media is the the way to go :)

Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk 2

...tell me more....

[Magelk]

...tell me more....

http://www.stainlesstumblingmedia.com/

[markm]

...tell me more....

https://www.m4carbine.net/showthread.php?t=83059

I'm running two of these tumblers.

[hotrodder636]

Looks like even the insides of the cases get super clean!

What kind of cost comparison vs normal tumblers and media would I be looking at here?

[markm]

Triple the price of a vibratory. 10 times the results.

I won't even touch brass that hasn't been SS media tumbled. It's simply uncivilized. :p

[Pork Chop]

Since we're on SS tumbling, I have a question. I know thumlers is the standard, but I have an opportunity to buy a used Lortone tumbler http://www.lortone.com/midsize_tumblers.html and I'm wondering if anybody knows anything about them?

I believe it's 12 lb capacity. The barrels are nice because they're all plastic, so no liner, but other than that it appears similar to a thumlers.

I can likely get into it around $100. Any input for me here?

Thanks.

[markm]

I can likely get into it around $100. Any input for me here?


The thing is... Thumlers have a high speed motor that tumbles about twice as fast as standard tumblers.

You might be able to get good results with it, as long as it doesn't leak water or anything.

[Pork Chop]

The thing is... Thumlers have a high speed motor that tumbles about twice as fast as standard tumblers.

You might be able to get good results with it, as long as it doesn't leak water or anything.

That's what I needed to know. It seals up, I've looked it over. I like the way it seals up and the barrel design better actually, but I wasn't sure about the speed and its a bit smaller, too.

Maybe I'll just pass. I don't want to buy twice, damn things are spendy enough already.

I REALLY like the results you guys are getting, I want in the cool kids club. :)

[markm]

Yeah.. I only run about 120 pieces of .223 per load.... That's actually a good batch size though. Gets me a decent batch to resize, trim, and prime without getting too bored at any one process.

[GLShooter]

To dry in the oven set to 115 then turn oven off put brass in allow to dry
Enjoy :cool:

sent from the toilet

If I did that they would be cooler than setting them on my porch here in Arizona. Why would I want to slow the drying time? :no:

Greg

[morpheus6d9]

Just get a tumbler from harbor freight 40 bucks get shiny brass like this
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/04/26/4ujy6epe.jpg

Sent from the toilet

[hotrodder636]

Just get a tumbler from harbor freight 40 bucks get shiny brass like this
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/04/26/4ujy6epe.jpg

Sent from the toilet

And what is the cleaning media there?

[morpheus6d9]

Some dawn and stainless steel pins

Sent from the toilet using Tapatalk 2

[markm]

Not too bad, Jackson! :)