How dry is dry enough?

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Guy48065

Guy48065

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Now I need to examine the drying process after a wet tumble. Yesterday I opened a jar of brass I had tumbled a couple weeks ago and found damp bright blue goo in the bottom of the jar. I had spread these cases out in a dehydrator and let them bake for a couple hours. They seemed hot and dry when I checked on them so I turned off the dehydrator and let them cool for a little while.
And then dumped them into a plastic jar and screwed the lid on.
Condensation formed inside and now I have green spots on some of my brass.

I checked a large container of 30-06 cases I ran last weekend and there is condensation droplets on the inside of that container as well. Those were run in wash & wax so they still look good. Got lucky.

Obviously I'm not letting them bake long enough, cool long enough, or something else I'm missing.
 
I would let them dry quite a bit longer than 2 hours. The drying time will highly depend on how much water you can shake out of them beforehand and how much water is left trapped inside. Rifle cases have a lot of dead air inside that does not circulate easily.
When I dry my brass, I leave them sitting out in a shallow open tray or box for a few days before I seal them in a container just to be sure they are 100% dry.
 
oven dry them! but don’t forget to crack the oven door to let out the steam
 
Guy48065 said:
Now I need to examine the drying process after a wet tumble. Yesterday I opened a jar of brass I had tumbled a couple weeks ago and found damp bright blue goo in the bottom of the jar. I had spread these cases out in a dehydrator and let them bake for a couple hours. They seemed hot and dry when I checked on them so I turned off the dehydrator and let them cool for a little while.
And then dumped them into a plastic jar and screwed the lid on.
Condensation formed inside and now I have green spots on some of my brass.

I checked a large container of 30-06 cases I ran last weekend and there is condensation droplets on the inside of that container as well. Those were run in wash & wax so they still look good. Got lucky.

Obviously I'm not letting them bake long enough, cool long enough, or something else I'm missing.
Click to expand...
Water boils at 212 °F at 1 atmosphere of pressure (sea level). The wet brass only has to reach that temperature for a few minutes for the water to effervesce completely. But, below that point you will need a lot more time for the water to evaporate. If you are significantly above sea level, increase the heat to 220 °F. If you are significantly below sea level, how are you breathing right now??? :confused:
 
Using a towel or 2 (or 3) to get water out really helps. After I rinse, I lay brass out on a big towel then pinch the ends and work all the brass back and forth. Like a big hammock that is cleaning or polishing a bowling ball. Once the first towel is used I'll transfer to another towel to pull more water out. Depending on how wet the second towel gets will determine if I need a third. I've been messing around with oven drying just to see how quickly I can get the brass totally dry. 20 mins at 180 degrees then let them sit in the oven until cool enough to handle. Seems to work pretty good but haven't done it with enough different cartridges to establish any concrete conclusion with the process. Regardless, I'll let the brass sit out another day or two (either on a towel or in an open bin/container) just to be sure all the water is gone. Then, I'll put a note in with the brass so I know what's been done. So far zero signs of moisture in the sealed containers.

I should probably note that I am in a very dry climate so the brass dries much faster vs a more humid area.
 
I have the space to pour the brass in plastic flats with paper towels in the bottom and let it air dry for a week or more before putting it away. I always remove the primers before wet cleaning as well. Live in Maine.
 
I make an effort to shake the cases to get as water out of the case as easily possible.

I then spread the cases on an old terry towel. I stir the cases perodically to move any water around that may be left in the case. I probably do this for a couple days. I spot check cases as I’m storing them away and if I find some water I continue the drying process.

I prep cases shortly after shooting them as opposed to waiting until I have a large batch. It goes quick and time spent with small batches is pallatable. When I need to reload, cases are ready instead of wading through the prep process.
 
I spread the brass out on a large towel and let dry overnight or until I place them in either an open Dillon bin or boxed in their plastic Ammo boxes. Either way air is free to circulate.

placing them in an airtight container just allows the air also trapped to condensate out.

To add. The OP didn’t mention if the cases were de-capped. Wet tumbling cases with spent primers is not, IMO, good. The spent primers will trap moisture that can take days if no weeks to dry.
 
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I shake mine to both get extra media, and moisture out.

I put them in a cardboard box with several paper towels between layers of cases (75 9mm per layer, 60 .40 per layer). I close the box and put them in my basement in front of my forced air wood furnace. Everytime I put wood in the furnace, I turn the box(es) for 2 days. Then I put them in the appropriate tub IF the paper towels are bone dry. The wood furnace doesn’t only heat, but it sucks moisture out of the air. I have 2 boxes, over 700 .40 cases sitting in front of the furnace right now.

When it warms up, I plan on putting them on a cookie sheet in the sun.

If I have doubts (towels aren’t bone dry) I put them in the oven at 170 for an hour, then leave them in there until they are cool.

But I tumble 2Xs. Once before sizing/decapping and once after. I’m way more concerned with after.
 
cfullgraf said:
I make an effort to shake the cases to get as water out of the case as easily possible.
Click to expand...

Bottleneck cases almost always have water in them after wet tumbling that will take forever to dry if you don't shake it out case by case. Rolling on a towel or similar doesn't get it all, IME.
 
**Brian19** said:
When you heat them at this temperature, do you notice they come out a little tarnished? I’ve only gone this high a couple time because that has been my result. Thanks.
Click to expand...

I only do it if I need to dry brass quickly like if Im doing a quick tumble on range brass before I size it. Yes, they tarnish a little bit.
Dont get me wrong, I like shiney brass, but I like clean brass better. A little tarnish or water spots doesnt effect how it shoots. Thats why air drying has always been good enough for me.
 
Winter I usually rinse them dry with a towel and then put them on another towel in the corner of a room inside out of the way.
Then into plastic jars in a couple days.

Summer when it's 100+ outside a couple hours in the sun on an old towel does the trick. (and makes them almost to hot to touch!)

I figure err on the side of caution before putting them in jars just to be safe, I am in no hurry to get them in the jars.
(I use old candy/peanut jars to store both cleaned and primed and cleaned brass-free sort of)
 
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Once way back when I first started wet washing my brass I ended up with a squib and a stuck barrel. Upon returning home and disassembly of the remaining cases I found 4 more rounds with wet powder! At that occurrence it just happened to be my lovely wife that was firing the gun that had the squib. When she found out what happened she was quite unnerved by it. I just kept telling myself to thank my Maker that the bullet stuck in such a way that it would not allow another to fully chamber or it could have ended badly!

Since then all wet brass is dumped into a towel and rolled, from there it goes into a cheap toaster oven now used only for this purpose. It has a rotary timer and it is set for 200*F for 30 minutes. It is then left in the oven until it is cool enough to pick up. From there it goes into a dry vibrator with clean corn cob for another hour to further dry and polish. Then into an open jar so there is no chance of condensation. Also I now have enough pistol brass that it can sit for months before needed. It has now been 5 years w/o another incident.

Some might think this is a lot of extra work but as demonstrated water and powder do not play well together and I am not going to risk anyone's health or safety by not preventing the preventable. Would rather be a little inconvenienced than risk a loved one.
 
I have been using a cheap food dehydrator for years.
It gets plenty hot, but not too hot.
It moves lots of air.

Depending on the number & size of cases, I'll go an hour or so.

I have not ever had a moisture problem after wet tumbling using the dehydrator.
 
I don’t deprime first, so a lot of water gets trapped inside. I’ll leave them on some old mesh frames outside and occasionally mix them up a bit as their orientation sometimes doesn’t allow them to dry easily. Depending on sun/wind/humidity they can be out for a day or two. Good luck.
 
I know its a extra step but depriming before wet tumbling works a lot better.Almost all the posts about a ring of primer sticking in the primer pocket are by people who wet tumble with primers in.Putting a desiccant pack in may help.
 
Maybe I'm not picky enough or maybe I'm just lazy. I don't wash my brass at all. I only dry tumble with corn media unless they're really filthy in which case I'll use walnut. But quite often I barely do anything. I'll just scrounge up some range brass, toss them in my sifter and give them a quick blast with an air hose.
Maybe I'd get the brass really clean if it was going into a Korth or something, but even then I doubt it.
 
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