how do you dry brass after wet tumbling?

[Paul_1982]

Well now I'm worried lol.

I am new to reloading .303 and am not 100% sure they were completely dry inside..... not bone dry fresh from the oven anyways!

Maybe I'll pull a couple bullets and inspect.

 

[Blastattack]

I take my range brass which is still pretty much clean and lube/resize/deprime then tumble it to clean the dirt, lube, and primer pockets all at once. When I put the brass in the oven it shrunk down and the resized necks were too tight to hold a round so I had to re-resize the brass. I don't need to be a star in metallurgy to know that putting brass in the oven can seriously ruin your day, especially if you're reloading for a semi-automatic with a chamber that sits right in your face, like the Garand.

Your procedure is weird. I de-prime my cases and then they get tumbled, afterwards they get re-sized and loaded. I do this to be sure my brass is clean inside and out so as not to damage my dies with carbon deposits or other foreign material. As for putting brass in the oven you have provided no proof of how it could "ruin your day". I've cooked every batch of brass I've ever cleaned and never had one single issue. I seriously doubt I ever will. An oven set to 200-250 Fahrenheit will not be hot enough to negatively affect the metallurgical qualities of your brass. The necks may well "relax" a little, but that is not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, likely the only reason you noticed it was because you had already pre-stressed the necks by re-sizing them. It just means that they have had a little bit of stress relieved, and metals that are swaged down tend to shrink when stress relieved. You likely would not have even noticed if you cleaned the cases and dried them before you re-sized them. You have to reach 480 Fahrenheit before you even start annealing your brass and (potentially) ruining it; anything below will have no effect.

 

[rebrousse_poil]

When all my brass are clean and rinses, I put them in a jar with hot water, remove and put them on my air drying porcupine (just a box with bamboo skewer sticks) for the night...done!

 

[Haagen_Dazs]

Clean -> Oven - > Lube/Resize = OK (your way)
Lube/Resize -> Clean - > Oven = BAD (my way) (Except I don't put my brass in the oven anymore, I let it dry over a few days in a warm dry area)

I don't mind running 'dirty' brass though my resizing die because it means I don't have to clean off any lube at the end of the case prep stage (saves time). Casings are like springs and they relax when heated (yes, even without annealing them). When you're shooting reloads from a Garand and the chamber is a few inches from your eyes you want to make damn sure that the bolt is going to fully close and lock up. A resized casing that was 'relaxed' in the oven could lead to the rifle not locking up after loading a new round which could lead to the bolt opening during firing which could lead to a bunch of brass and other stuff in and around your precious money making eyeballs (which could lead to your #### falling off )

 

[zuke]

I've been doing the SS tumbling for 4-5 year's now, and helped pioneer a lot of it. There's different way's to do different thing's, and if it work's for you so be it.
When I first get/find brass it get's deprimed then a 4 hour tumble. When I'm ready to tumble my fired brass I might size then tumble, because I know how dirty the brass is.

 

[Andy]

I put mine in a towel and shake them around, then let sit out for a couple days to make sure they are fully dry. Now that sumer is closing in i will put them out on the back deck for the afternoon to dry. I'm typically not in a rush when doing it but if i was i may look into using my rack in the dryer.

I do that, but if in a bit of a hurry (i,e, I need them in 24, not 48 hours) I will grasp each one by the base and shake a few drops out of the inside. I'll put them over a furnace vent in winter and in the sun in summer.

I always lube, size then tumble. If they're really filthy, I'll deprime with the Lee deprimer, tumble, lube, size, then tumble again.