what do you think

[Abenaki]

I was drying some brass in the oven on low.
Had turned the oven off, and was letting them cool.

My Wife decides to help out by turning the oven back on and at 350 degrees.
She claims for only 10 minutes.

The brass is 380, 38 spl and 45 acp.

I am thinking about tossing them.


Take care
Abenaki

[jandmtv]

Depends on how hot the brass actually got. Play it safe and toss them if you didn’t hit it with an infrared thermometer to see how hot they actually got when you pulled them out.

[MrElectric03]

Not worth the risk imo. I'd toss them if I were in your shoes.

[Switchbarrel]

[Divernhunter]

That brass is pretty easy to find. Personally I would toss them. Then educate the wife.

[Abenaki]

That's what I was wondering about. And Just because the knob on the oven says 350.....who knows what it really is.

I put them in the scrap bucket. They were just a couple of handfuls of range pick up.

Thanks guys.

Take care
Abenaki

[JackEllis]

Might want to read this first.

Specifically:

Brass is annealed by heating it to a certain temperature for a certain amount of time. The higher the annealing temperature, the shorter the time required to anneal. The grain structure of the brass begins to change - indicating the start of annealing - at just under 500 degrees Fahrenheit. At 600 degrees F, brass will anneal in one hour. At 800 degrees F, brass will take only a few seconds to anneal.

Only the case necks should be annealed. If the case body or head is allowed to overheat, the case will be completely and irrevocably ruined for reloading. Also, no portion of the case should ever be allowed to reach 950 degrees F. At this temperature, over-annealing will occur, rendering the brass too soft and weak to reload.

As you can see, annealing is a balancing act - the neck must be heated (but not overheated) to the appropriate temperature for the appropriate time, while ensuring that the rest of the case does not reach a temperature that will cause it to soften as well. In addition, your process needs to be very consistent from case-to-case in order to preserve accuracy.

[nedro]

Doesn't the cartridge get hotter than 350 degrees when firing?

[noylj]

I consider air drying to be more than fast enough.
I would consider using MY OWN toaster oven or dehydrater if I HAD to dry them with heat.
Case cleaning: the most over talked and worried about and least important reloading subject.

[sealocan]

What do I think?

I think she had them on at over 500 degrees, maybe even overnight when you weren't paying attention.

... and she only got caught because you noticed them in their "just 10 minutes" cooling down stage.

She has taken out a huge insurance policy on you.

She's already replaced your pistol powder with something much much hotter and might even encourage you to make some hot handloads as well.

If she recommends you shoot any guns with unsupported chambers...
you're done for Buddy.

It's not that she hates you,
but her New Year's resolutions are New Year's resolutions and apparently she takes them very seriously.




(Or maybe I'm thinking of my girlfriend, either way dibs on each other's guns.)

[tonyjr]

My thought are and I do -
WHEN IN DOUGH . TOSS IT OUT .

[longrange1]

im on the other side of this....ida shot them and never worried about it...350deg is not hot enough to anneal brass plus the worst thing thats going to happen is the primer pockets might be loose after you fired them.

[Divernhunter]

I tried looking up "in the sticks" on a map so I might be able to give you some brass if you needed it but I did not find it.

[Abenaki]

I tried looking up "in the sticks" on a map so I might be able to give you some brass if you needed it but I did not find it.

Thanks. But, I have lots of brass.


Take care
Abenaki

[divingin]

Doesn't the cartridge get hotter than 350 degrees when firing?

Doubt it. It's exposed to very high temps, but very briefly.

That said, 350 is too low to do anything to brass. Let it cool until you can handle it and shoot it.