TECH Tip: TOP TEN Ways to Dry Wet Cartridge Brass
Many shooters these days clean their cartridge brass ultrasonically, or wet-tumble their cases with stainless media (above). Both methods get brass clean and shiny, inside and out. However, when those wet-cleaning processes are completed, you’re left with a pile of soaking wet brass. How do you dry your brass quickly and efficiently, without unsightly water spots? Read on for some great answers…
In our Shooters’ Forum, Forum Gold Member Terry asked: “How do you dry your brass after Ultrasonic cleaning?” In an interesting Reloading Forum Thread, many smart suggestions were posted. A dozen fellow members outlined a variety of effective case-drying procedures, which work equally well for both wet-tumbled brass and ultrasonically-cleaned cases. Here are the Top 10 brass-drying suggestions from our Forum members.
TOP TEN Ways to Dry Cartridge Brass After Wet Cleaning
1. Food Dehydrator — Shake the brass in towel to get the bulk of water off. Next leave in the food dehydrator for 45 minutes or until there are no signs of moisture inside the cases. — Lawrence97
2. Lyman 5-Level Case Dryer — Rinse off cleaning solution(s), then load brass by type into racks in Lyman Cyclone Case Dryer. This is easier to load/unload than food dehydrators and holds more cases.
3. Hot Water + Compressed Air — Rinse all your cases as a batch using scalding hot water from the kitchen sink. Hot water evaporates off of brass very very quickly. Then hit them with compressed air. Takes 10 minutes. Simple. — SG4247
4. Oven Dry in Pre-Heated Oven — After pre-heating to 200° or so, turn off oven and put brass inside on a tray. Most important! Tell your wife what you are doing so she doesn’t crank it up to 425 to heat pizza! — MClark
NOTE: Many other members suggested oven drying at 150-200°. We recommend turning OFF the oven so you don’t cook your brass if you forget to remove the cases.
5. Towel Dry then Warm with Heat Gun — Roll brass in a towel until no more water shakes out. Lay out on cardboard box top and blow off with Harbor Freight heat gun. $9.99 on coupon. Two minutes of heated air and about half hour of wait and they are good to go. This is with primers removed. — Shaggy357
6. Compressed Air, then Sun Dry Outside – I rinse the brass, then blow them out with compressed air. Then, dependent on the time of year, lay them on a towel in the sun. — HogPatrol
7. Dishwasher on Dry Cycle – In the winter, I drop my wet brass cases neck-down on the rack pegs in the dishwasher, then turn on the dry cycle. In the summer…well, I’m in Texas. They go to the porch for a bit. — Toolbreaker
8. Alcohol Rinse then Air or Oven Dry — Rinse in 90% Isopropyl alcohol and either let air dry or stick in 175° oven for half an hour. Alternatively, use a dehydrator. — Zipollini
9. Slow Air-Dry in Loading Blocks — I have a reloading block with holes drilled in it. I simply load the block up and let it air-dry in the cupboard for a couple of days. — JCS
10. Wipe with Towel Then Anneal Normally — This thread is stirring my OCD side. Seems complicated for just drying — my brass dries just fine when I anneal it. This entire process can’t take an hour per batch. When finished, the brass is cleaned, annealed, and ready to size. — CHLuke
- Deprime, then tumble brass with stainless media, water, Lemishine, and dish detergent.
- Shake them easily in a strainer to knock out most media then grab 4-5 pieces, shake them over the bucket for the last of the media then inside a towel.
- Finally blow out the primer pockets and wipe with a towel, load in the Annealeez.
Similar Posts:
- Ten Ways to Dry Brass after Wet Tumbling or Ultrasonic Cleaning
- TOP TEN Methods to Dry Cartridge Brass after Wet Cleaning
- TEN BEST Methods to Dry Cartridge Brass After Wet Cleaning
- How to Dry Brass After Wet Tumbling or Ultrasonic Cleaning
- How to Efficiently Wet-Tumble Cartridge Brass
Tags: Annealing, Brass Cleaner, Cartridge Brass, Case Tumbler, Cyclone, Lyman Case Drier, Stainless Media, Ultrasonic Cleaning, Ultrasound
Be very careful with the oven drying method and make sure to use a thermometer. Overheating your brass can soften your case heads which can then expand inside the bolt face and be a REAL bear to extricate. Ask me how I know.
How about an article on the damage that these cleaning techniques do to the brass?
Or dirty versus clean accuracy?
Editor: You raise some important points. For restoring old range brass, ultrasonic cleaning can work wonders. But I have 8+ reloads on my centerfire match rifle brass and it simply gets a wipe with Ballistol after shooting to remove the carbon on the outside of the neck. No tumbling, no ultrasonic. And we believe that a little carbon inside the neck can be a GOOD thing. However, for PRS guys and other folks whose brass gets on the ground, or for those who want to get all the gunk off the inside, brass cleaning may make sense.
I dry my brass via a 5 gallon bucket of alcohol, dunk a basket of 500 pieces of brass in the bucket, the alcohol bonds with the water and then when removed the alcohol evaporates. Then test for water dilution of the alcohol to see when it needs distilled back to pure alcohol. Simple, easy, and clean, and requires minimal energy.
After ultrasounding my brass all I do is drain it and then dump the moist cases into a tumbler. The tumbler medium absorbs the moisture and after twenty to thirty minutes the brass is perfect. Don’t need to dry separately. Works perfectly.
There is some interesting information about water staining here
https://theconversation.com/no-more-water-stains-we-found-a-new-way-to-control-evaporation-using-maths-94858
Has anyone tried replacing the water in the wet-pin tumbling process with alcohol, denatured or otherwise? Probably won’t need the detergent, either, the pins just knock the tarnish / dirt off the cases.
No water, no “water spots”, fast drying, no need to do any distilling of the alcohol, just filter out the “discolouration” and then store for re-use. If you start getting “spots’, it will probably be because the alcohol has absorbed water from the air, just like it does with E-10 etc. fuels
Definitely some fire risk; pure alcohol fumes, any heat or spark source….. Maybe best tried outdoors, away from the house and garage. Strain and shake off the excess alcohol. Spread the brass on a clean cotton sheet or old beach towel laid on a concrete pad or such. Will work better with direct sunlight in Summer.
Once my cases have been final-rinsed (I collect & save water from my basement dehumidifier for this) I put ‘em in saved 50-case plastic ammo holders, knock the water out of most of ‘em by rapping holder against my palm, then put the cases neck-up on a wire closet rack beside that dehumidifier’s outlet grille. Cases dry overnight this way. Otherwise it’s an afternoon on the porch or driveway in the sun from May-October.
If’n I need ‘em quicker I put a bunch in a metal sieve (also useful for catching them when they drop out of my MRB annealer) then heat ‘em up with an industrial heat gun. Takes maybe 15-20 minutes to do start to cool-enough-to-handle finish.
I use one of these. Works great. https://www.amazon.com/Boon-Lawn-Countertop-Drying-Green/dp/B004OR1DTC/ref=sr_1_4?dchild=1&keywords=bottle+drying+rack&qid=1594389643&s=baby-products&sr=1-4
(1) I used a brass-media separator to separate 100% of the pins from the brass as well as shake most of the water off. (2) I dumped the brass onto a fluffy towel and rolled them around. This left water in the flash hole and inside the case. (3) Overnight in a conditioned space this water dried up.