How to dry wet tumbled brass

Never worried about drying the pins. They've sat wet from weeks to months with no problem. Half the winter they're out in the porch frozen too.

Living in Pallisers Triangle on the prairie desert I don't have to wait long for brass to dry either. If I'm impatient I put the colander over a furnace register or wherever the cat is sleeping.
Generally clean them right after shooting, particularly black powder stuff. Then reload when I get to it.
 
I have about 100x 30-06 cases in my oven right now. 200 degrees for 30 minutes on a cookie sheet with an old towel on it, works great.
 
woobie said:
For pistol brass, I throw them on a beach towel, fold over then roll it around a bit, them I just stick them back into the plastic trays from the ammo boxes, not the solid ones ;) , then leave them on the furnace floor vents overnight.
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I do something similar: I put the brass in an old fryer basket and stir them over the vent nearest the furnace. I use a wooden spoon or stick to stir them until I feel the air turn cool.

By then, they're completely dry.
 
Instead of finding a way to force dry them just plan ahead a bit more?

I use an ultrasonic cleaner to do maybe 1500 casings at a time. I'm in a situation where I can lay them out on an old towel that sits on top of the washer and dryer. They just sit there for a week and dry naturally.

The odd time where I needed some ammo for a match the next day I have force dried a small batch in an old toaster oven I use for shop things. But that's very rare. I'm happy enough with just having some patience and letting Mother Nature and the towel do the trick.
 
bearhunter said:
Dump the cases onto a cookie pan and put them in the oven at 225 F for five minutes. Then take them out to cool and dry.

Some folks put the cases into an old onion sack to shake up a get the water out of the inside before putting them in the oven.

Bottle neck cases are the most difficult to get the water out of, especially if you have large quantities.
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You'll think the brass is dry but it takes longer to get the primer pocket and primer dry if you clean 9mm for example because the primer is still in.
 
BCRider said:
Instead of finding a way to force dry them just plan ahead a bit more?

I use an ultrasonic cleaner to do maybe 1500 casings at a time. I'm in a situation where I can lay them out on an old towel that sits on top of the washer and dryer. They just sit there for a week and dry naturally.

The odd time where I needed some ammo for a match the next day I have force dried a small batch in an old toaster oven I use for shop things. But that's very rare. I'm happy enough with just having some patience and letting Mother Nature and the towel do the trick.
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I’m on well water. If I let them dry naturally they are covered in spots. Part of the appeal of wet tumbling is the shine.
 
I find a couple shots of Jet Dry with the Dawn and Critic Acid makes a big difference with the hard water spots.

To dry the brass, I use one of those tin foil BBQ pans with the slotted holes in the bottom to hold the brass while drying. It goes in the oven @ 225-250F or in the summer sun on dash of truck.
 
I deprime first. Make sure the pins are removed from the case interior. I shake them and use a large magnet to remove the stainless steel pins. Then roll the cases around on a fluffy towel. Then I use an air compressor on the primer pocket and then into the case's interior. If quality control is a little lacking, you get quite a surprise when the pins come shooting out. You don't make this mistake too many times before you wise up.
 
A) Cover a cookie sheet with a piece of paper.

B) Dump all the brass on the paper.

C) Into the oven at 200F while you do something else for an hour.

D) When you come back, they're more than dry, and without any damage to the brass or the oven. ;)

Ted
 
Why not? said:
A) Cover a cookie sheet with a piece of paper.

B) Dump all the brass on the paper.

C) Into the oven at 200F while you do something else for an hour.

D) When you come back, they're more than dry, and without any damage to the brass or the oven. ;)

Ted
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Exactly. Just i turn off the oven after an hour and leave them in overnight.
 
Lots of good ideas----- what works good for me. Wet polish with SS pins ,Lemi-shine/citric acid ---- most people use a bit of Dawn detergent which is excellent but I use a car wash soap instead that has the carnauba wax content. This keeps your shiny brass from tarnishing again . And it works for this purpose a long time .
To dry the brass I took a piece of plywood and partially nailed in 100 units 3in. Finish nails . I take the wet brass after removing the pins and set the cases down over the nails. I have compressed air available so I air blow the cases to chase off droplets of water on the outsides and in the primer pockets. Gravity mostly takes care of moisture on the insides. I then take my heat gun or hair blow dryer and go over the casings to warm them up and finish the drying process . This process takes very little time and I have no spots on the finished brass. This works vey well for rifle and longer pistol cases.
For the short pistol calibers I just roll them on a dry towel and then hang them in a mesh bag to finish drying. All of the oven drying ideas would be quicker for these small cases .
 
I deprime before tumbling.
Then after picking them out of the water I rinsed them in, I lay them on a towel and roll them back and forth to get the majority of the water off.
Then they go in a jar to rinse with methanol and once again go to a towel (different towel only used for this step) for a roll to get the bulk of the methanol off.
I then place them upside down on screws that have tiny heads. The methanol air dries quickly at room temp.
Typically I'm only tumbling about 100-250 rifle cases at a time though.
 
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