Did I mess up?

[mikld]

but I came across some information stating that a few seconds at 800* will anneal a case.

Lots of discussion about your heat gun and it's possibilities, how to measure temperature with your fingers and "I do it this way" posts. But I think this, the quote above, is the problem. What is your source of info? Was the source an article in a gun magazine, or on a forum?

You reloaded and shot the brass with no problems. No loose bullets from too soft brass? No weak crimps from too soft brass? I wouldn't worry...

 

[Boogsawaste]

Ok I went ahead and tested. 148 wadcutters and a piece of 9mm brass shown with piece of same headstamp control brass.

Low setting: Buried the needle on my temp gauge that maxes out at 220*. Like in 10 seconds. That's the highest I have available at the moment. Nothing to lead and brass that I could see.


High setting. After about 2- 3 minutes or so the lead started to melt. I knocked it away and continued to heat the brass. 3 maybe 4 minutes and I stopped. My lighting in the garage isn't great so I don't know how long it took to get this color but I can always do it again.

Enjoy the pics!

Oh the 800* thing came from an article. Don't remember the author. Might have even been a blog. I'm guessing it means that the brass itself needs to be at 800* for a few seconds and not the temp of the heat on the brass. I am no metallurgist but that makes sense to me.

Shot some of the brass and nothing out of the ordinary. Guess I'll keep shooting the rest and forget about it. However I did find out that the cheap Wagner heat gun sure does get hot enough to melt lead and appears to anneal brass too if held in place too long.

Maybe I'll look for some new brass anyway as I could always use more anyway.

 

[Boogsawaste]

One more pic. The inside of the brass changed color too.

 

[tenntex32]

Your heat gun doesnt put out 800deg of heat, it would melt lead if ot did. Just sayin.

There are hand held heat guns that put out 800 degrees or much hotter. They are used in electrical harness fabrication and termination and are designed to shrink solder ferrules that have a ring of lead to make electrical bonds between wires, wires and metal braid shields, etc..

When I first started aviation contracting I used a typical/inexpensive paint remover heat gun. It had two settings, one around 750 degrees and the other was around 1100 degrees. Typically the lowest setting would get most lead solder ferrule chores done, but if high-temp lead solder was being used it was right on the very edge of being practical without a quick bump to the high heat setting for just a second or two and then bumping it back down to low.

Dale

 

[moosedog]

What advantage do you get with wet tumbling over dry tumbling? I've never tried wet but have dry tumbled since 1973.

 

[Boogsawaste]

I tried another piece of scrap 9mm and it took about a minute or less to get it that color on high. Did not change at all on low for a couple minutes. Tried it with a propane torch and it was like that in about 10 seconds.

I'm not really concerned after seeing how long it took to change color holding the brass stationary and the gun about 1/2" away. I was constantly stirring the brass (yes with my hands), to keep it moving and while it was very hot, it wasn't melting my skin off. If I held a piece in my hand for any length of time it would have burned but not 800* type burns!

Plus I looked over my brass and it looks pretty normal to me. I don't tumble for hours and have them looking like a mirror but it's pretty obvious once annealed as far as I can tell. Couldn't check the fired stuff as it's all dirty anyway. Was shooting lots of unique.

 

[J. R. WEEMS]

MESSING UP

Yeah, working ahead is ALWAYS a good idea. I did that even before I retired. Still do even now. I have no idea where Quakertown is, but if you want to travel to the state line in Greencastle I can offer you a 4 1/2 gallon bucket of 1 fired 9mm. This has been cleaned, but I have more than I can use. No charge. Just thought I would offer. I have been using a small cheap fan and a tray but am going to pick up of those Lyman brass dryers when I get around to it. Just let me know.

 

[Boogsawaste]

Yeah, working ahead is ALWAYS a good idea. I did that even before I retired. Still do even now. I have no idea where Quakertown is, but if you want to travel to the state line in Greencastle I can offer you a 4 1/2 gallon bucket of 1 fired 9mm. This has been cleaned, but I have more than I can use. No charge. Just thought I would offer. I have been using a small cheap fan and a tray but am going to pick up of those Lyman brass dryers when I get around to it. Just let me know.

Thank you for the kind offer! I believe it's almost 200 miles away from me. I do however have enough 9mm. It's the 38/30-30 that are suspect for me. I've thought about replacing them all but I'm guessing they're ok. On the other hand if anyone has either of those they want to part with pm me and shoot me a price.

 

[ImprovedModel56Fan]

Probably didn't reach 150 degrees Fahrenheit. Or even 120.

 

[Ackley1952]

One question. What could it possibly hurt if you had an annealed the brass. anyway ?

 

[muddocktor]

One question. What could it possibly hurt if you had an annealed the brass. anyway ?

The brass gets dangerously soft. You can have brass separate and blow part of it down the tube with the bullet or rupture and blow hot gases and burning powder back at you. Not a good idea.

 

[scattershot]

Doesn't sound like you did any damage. If you could touch the brass after drying it, I doubt if you got it hot enough to soften it to any degree.

Just curious, could you share your load for the 336?.

 

[Boogsawaste]

Had some time to mess around in the garage and to be honest this was kinda fun. Used the torch on some 9mm for no other reason than to see how long it would take. So disregard those. The 30-30 (split neck), and the 357 (came with mixed brass and looks like it went up into the wrong sizing die), were heated with the heat gun.

I remembered I have a temp probe for my Fluke so I tested the low and high. Low was 450-500 and high cut off around 800. Meter went to open so probably went higher.

I put the probe inside the 30-30 against the neck where I had the heater concentrated. Temp went to 550ish after sitting there for 3 minutes. I decided to stop at that point. So even though the gun throws off much more heat it's not enough to quickly heat the brass through and through. Propane has something close to 3000f degrees if I remember correctly.

So looks like nothing to worry about.

What I learned: As others mentioned, pre plan and don't rush.

Heat guns can throw off some serious heat.

I have too much time on my hands. Don't tell my wife.

Oh, the 30-30 load was 165 mbc coated lead over 8 grains of trail boss. 8.5 spread to 1.25". Under 8 was 2"+. Check your manuals first though!

 

[scattershot]

Oh, the 30-30 load was 165 mbc coated lead over 8 grains of trail boss. 8.5 spread to 1.25". Under 8 was 2"+. Check your manuals first though!


Thanks! At $38.00/lb., though, I doubt if I'll be using much of it.

 

[Boogsawaste]

Oh, the 30-30 load was 165 mbc coated lead over 8 grains of trail boss. 8.5 spread to 1.25". Under 8 was 2"+. Check your manuals first though!


Thanks! At $38.00/lb., though, I doubt if I'll be using much of it.

I get the "1lb" , 9oz in reality for $18. Not terrible but it's no bullseye! I also shoot a lot of red dot in 30-30 with good results.

 

[scattershot]

I've become a big fan of Red Dot.

 

[Univibe]

I bought a $24 electric toaster oven. I set the temperature to 250 degrees F. One 30 minute cycle dries handgun cases. It takes about 3 to dry .223 rifle cases.

 

[Boogsawaste]

I bought a $24 electric toaster oven. I set the temperature to 250 degrees F. One 30 minute cycle dries handgun cases. It takes about 3 to dry .223 rifle cases.

I picked one up a while back to powder coat car parts. Might put it into action for brass.

Again, thanks everyone for your input.