Baked brass

[necchi]

 
 Well last night I sized, trimed, washed 30pcs of 7-08,,I put'm on a cookie sheet, put'm in the oven @ 170 for half an hour, turned the oven off and went to bed. Figgured I'd just let'm dry there till today.
 Today, I felt like pizza for dinner. Per heated the oven to 425 while the pizza thawed for 5 minutes like the directions said,,,,

Well you know it . I never took the brass out,,,Are these cooked? er-um,,Toast,,arrg,,I mean are these going to be ok or did bringing them to that temp mess with the temper of the whole case? Are they going to be too soft from anealing??

[Autorim]

Not sure, but my guess is that you screwed up.

[Graybeard]

That's pretty close to the temp needed to anneal brass. I'd not recommend using them. Let it be an expensive lesson. Keep your brass out of your oven and out of your dishwasher as well. 

[necchi]

I was afraid of that.
 This is some advise I WILL heed. They did hue to a different shade than shiney new.
 They are from factory ammo I have previously shot. I sorted them out by brand. I'll scrap this batch of win cartirdges and mark it as lesson learned.
I could/should have let them just air dry overnight..  Thank you

[1sourdough]

 Why not just tumble like the rest of us? Put a tumbler on your Christmas list.

[necchi]

 Oh I got a Thumler Tumbler with walnut hull, I'm sure could get'm shiney again, but i'm afraid I may have messed with the temper of the entire case,,ya know? made'm too soft. Tumbler works handy for knockin down the sprue on cast round ball too. A little soap and water, and I'm back to polishing brass again.   I dug through the closet and found 20 rem shells that'll keep me happy for awhile, I guess it'll be interesting to see if there is a diff in the loads with them vrs the winchester.
 We get a small Christmas bonus check, enough to get me new brass, a pound of powder and some bullets,,what more could a guy ask for? Besides a few quiet hours at the loading bench.  
 

[GH1]

Forget the brass, was the pizza damaged?
GH1

[sk330lc]

Forget the brass, was the pizza damaged?
GH1

My thoughts TOO 

[BCB]

I don't know if the brass would be ruined or not...

I thought the temperature to anneal brass was over 600 degree.  It seems that is the temperature, or near it, that a temperature crayon was to be used when annealing...

I don't know if I would try a piece of that brass or not.  I actually might with a very very light load...

Yet, I don't think 7mm-08 brass is all that expensive.  Heck, I have made it from 308 brass and it is everywere...

Good-luck...BCB

[jhalcott]

http://www.lasc.us/CartridgeCaseAnnealing.htm
 read this  and make your decision based on self preservation. It takes time AND heat to affect the brass. SO you may have screwed up that brass.

[necchi]

Good read jhalcott, Thank you. The site is on my fav list for future ref.

 Although he say's work hardened brass is unaffected by temps up too 482,,it's lines like this that are repeated several times;

"Any annealing whatsoever of the cartridge base is over annealing and is dangerous."

 That will make me scrap the brass and take NO CHANCE with the stuff. He's got that in red font about 4 times!
Without turning this into a "What's the best brass?" thread, I guess I'll turn my mishap into an oppertunity to try different brass before I buy new. I loaded those winchesters 3 times,, now I'll try the remingtons,,who knows, I might just learn some more. I really do appreciate all you guy's being here,,

p.s. the pizza made it through the oven ordeal OK, I did to add a little extra pepperoni and cheese though

[Steve P]

Tough lesson when it takes away half of your reloadable brass for that firearm.  Kenny writes a good article on his annealer.  Jim Harris and Scott Mann did a similar article with Ken's annealer.  I don't know if it is linked on the LASC web site or not.

Just a few more thoughts before you toss your brass.  How hot did your oven get when you were pre-heating it for the Pizza?  Did it get fully to 425?  Do you have another thermometer?  Have you tested your oven's thermometer?  If you take the same cookie sheet, place it on the same oven rack with a thermometer on it, what temperature does it read when you pre-heat your oven to the 425 again.

Your cookie sheet has much more surface and will act as a heat sink for some of the heat.  Even though the oven may have show it was pre-heated to 425, your cookie sheet and brass may not have reached that temperature yet.

Something to think about if you are hard up for brass............

I wouldn't jump into any max reloads if the brass is salvagable.

I use my oven to anneal .22LR, .22 mag, and 17HMR brass to make bullet jackets.  I lost a few batches working up to my heat and timing sequence.  Brass that has exceeded time or temperature becomes really soft.  The cases above that were bad were easy to squish between the fingers and folded up in the press.  Maybe polish your brass to remove the tarnish and run them into your sizing die.  Do they feel any softer?

Your call in handling.  Be safe.  I am just offering some "food for thought" as my old boss used to say.

Steve

[BCB]

Steve P. makes a good point about being able to squeeze the brass between your fingers if it is annealed to the point of being too soft....

I have annealed 100's of 30-30 brass to form into 7-30 Waters.  (It actually isn't necessary to anneal it but in the beginning I did)...

If the brass was annealed to much, or heated to too high of a temperature, the case mouth/neck area could easily be squeezed shut simply by applying pressure between my thumb and index finger...

Addendum:  For the brass to get this soft that it can be squeezed, it must be cherry-red color before it is water quenched.  And I know that oven didn't get that brass that hot...

That may help with your decision also...

Good-luck...BCB

[SHOOTALL]

two questions 1) how hot does the brass get when fired ?
                    2) if the brass was reheated and quinched in water it would be harder and useable ?

[84Jim]

Steve,

I realize this should be probably asked under the bullet swaging discussion, but does your 22 brass anealing in the oven work?  If so, whats your formula?

I tried it in our oven under a cleaning cycle.  I think the anneal was decent, but just not quite enough.  It did turn the racks blue (you're supposed to remove them when you clean), and I caught holy hell from my wife, and can't do it any more.  I also tried an industrial oven at work with a max temp of 450.  Definately not enough and I left the brass in over night.  Just curious.

As for the 7mm-08, I think that 22 brass is a different alloy that takes more temp to soften, so I can't offer an opinion.  But you do need a dull red glow when annealing with a torch, and I think that is way over 425.

Jim

[Graybeard]

I'm locking this thread down before someone talks you into doing something stupid. ANY annealing of the case head is too much and thus dangerous. The few bucks you spent on the brass is not worth the risk. Toss the stuff and start over. Let it be a lesson learned.