My brass got baked...

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  • Goodcat

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    So, I cleaned about 8,000+ 9mm casings in a jet garden bath with dawn and lemon shine to get a quick and basic cleaning before going back in the bin, to later wet tumble with stainless steel. After finishing, I cooked the brass at 170* for an hour to dry it off. No problem...

    Then, while I was away, my wife forgot it was in there cooling off and preheated the oven to 400*. :): She immediately noticed as it was finished preheating (took about 15 minutes to get to that temp, and immediately removed them and air cooled). About 1/4 of the cases have that annealed look to them, though they weren't above 300 degrees long at all.

    Should I worry about the case head, or based on the low pressure of the 9mm and the short exposure time in a moderately high temperature, give them a shot? Thoughts? Hoping to not throw away my entire 9mm collection, was about to load up 1k!

    Uploading a picture of some of the brass from the bottom of the pans, vs the top (more annealed look).

    53EDFC1F-0F80-4714-A82F-F5A75DD091E9_zpslpxrrkmq.jpg
     

    AmmoManAaron

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    I would be concerned about the fully discolored ones, they are probably dead soft now. Even though the temperature setting was only 400*, the ones closest to the heat source probably got much hotter than that. A cooking oven heats unevenly by it's nature because the primary concern is just average temperature inside the oven, it's not an engineered heat treating oven where evenly heating the object inside is a critical concern. The non-discolored ones might be ok, but keep in mind you are dealing with pressures of around 30,000 psi when you fire a standard 9mm Luger (max SAAMI pressure is 35,001 psi). If you were dealing with something truly low-pressure like 45 Colt and could fire them in a strong single shot like a Contender, I might be willing to try ONE of the most discolored ones and see how the case looked afterward (fully expecting a deformed case head and associated issues)...but I would NOT do that in something like a typical semi-auto 9mm handgun, just too risky considering what could go wrong in that setting. I say the fully discolored ones are scrap now and a few of the non-discolored ones should be test fired cautiously and then inspected closely.
     

    Goodcat

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    load up few of the worst and give them a try.

    Cartridge Case Annealing - MassReloading

    Problem is not the annealing, its the annealing of the case head. Maybe gonna sell these as "unusable" components and buy a smaller quantity of once fired again and call it day and someone else can sort through them all! Can't be more than a quarter looking funky.
     

    Fullmag

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    Looks like she cooked your brass off....it happens. Scrap the discolored ones they look completely annealed. Look up case mouth annealing, know they are dealing with rifle cases, they are taking care to only discolor the mouth of the case and not any more so they don't ruin the case.
     

    ScouT6a

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    As much as it sucks, I wouldn't trust the fully discolored ones, either. For the reason, already stated. The heads being annealed. 9mm brass is too reasonable to take a chance.
     

    Goodcat

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    As much as it sucks, I wouldn't trust the fully discolored ones, either. For the reason, already stated. The heads being annealed. 9mm brass is too reasonable to take a chance.


    Alright... think I'm gonna scrap anything funky looking and the list the rest later 1/2 price or something with full disclosure. I'm sure I have a few hundred extra laying somewhere I can start again on. Thanks everyone!
     

    Sling10mm

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    Really, as I see it, this is your wife's fault, so I would make her buy your replacement brass.....:stickpoke:
     

    Goodcat

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    Really, as I see it, this is your wife's fault, so I would make her buy your replacement brass.....:stickpoke:

    A slightly sad story, but our son broke his femur. She's been sleeping next to him in our living room in his half body cast for a week now. I cut the heat and told her last night, then this morning leaving for work didn't want to make noise and wake them, so I left it in there even though I wanted to pull it. The bad news is, its prob an 8 year collection. Good news is, my wife said I could buy 2k or whatever I wanted! I'll start with that, load 1k and start the process over. I have a good wife, because I wasn't in trouble her oven and previously her jacuzzi tub was full of 9mm brass in the first place. LOL. There might be 8k-10k, actually... really not sure. Live, learn, understand and forgive! I certainly wouldn't have remembered to check the oven before preheating if I had been going through her ordeals at home with all this!! Looking like $40 per 1,000 shiny is the going rate. Sucks to toss this much, but I'd rather not risk anything. Maybe someone else wants to for cheap. Hahahaha
     

    bocefus78

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    Be safe.....toss them. Scrap value on those should be enough to buy you 2000 good cases and some budget flowers for the wife.

    I'd sell you 2k by weight for $40 unpolished, or $ 50 polished. Located near Cabelas in nobletucky.
     

    Tactically Fat

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    If you were inclined, you COULD paint them with some kind of engine paint / brake caliper paint / etc and make dummy/training rounds out of them.
     

    Goodcat

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    Be safe.....toss them. Scrap value on those should be enough to buy you 2000 good cases and some budget flowers for the wife.

    I'd sell you 2k by weight for $40 unpolished, or $ 50 polished. Located near Cabelas in nobletucky.

    Id take you up on that, but just ordered 3k last night! Scrap yard it is. Thanks everyone!!
     

    AmmoManAaron

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    Id take you up on that, but just ordered 3k last night! Scrap yard it is. Thanks everyone!!

    Call your scrap yard first and make sure they will take cartridge brass. OmniSource on West Street wouldn't take it - liability they said. The scrap yards in Columbus and Bedford do take cartridge brass. I'm not familiar with the scrap yards around Fishers.
     

    natdscott

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    Looking like $40 per 1,000 shiny is the going rate. Sucks to toss this much, but I'd rather not risk anything.

    If it makes you feel better, my rifle brass costs more than that per hundred.

    I think you are doing the right thing by starting over.

    -Nate
     

    bwframe

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    Late to the thread. Glad to see the questionable brass being scrapped. Hopefully it all is.

    I was prepared to help keep that questionable brass off of the ground at any local public range. With stepped 9mm and other brass out there with issues, we don't want anything further out there that might be dangerous.

    With unsupported chambers and PCC's more and more prevalent along with the ever increasing popularity of 9mm as a caliber over the others, we don't need to add any further reason for failure into the loop.
     

    Gluemanz28

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    I sorted 1.5 buckets last night. 2 more buckets to go.
    The sorting trays were a good investment. The .380 plate works pretty good to.

    Now if only a fast way to sort the sm vs lg .45 cases.
     

    Goodcat

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    Late to the thread. Glad to see the questionable brass being scrapped. Hopefully it all is.

    I was prepared to help keep that questionable brass off of the ground at any local public range. With stepped 9mm and other brass out there with issues, we don't want anything further out there that might be dangerous.

    With unsupported chambers and PCC's more and more prevalent along with the ever increasing popularity of 9mm as a caliber over the others, we don't need to add any further reason for failure into the loop.

    yup gonna scrap 100% of it, or throw away.
     
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