Pretty hot brass into pretty cold water.....Is it safe?

[komishe]

I'm just getting into reloading and I fear I may have ruined some brass.

I was running some brass in a HF Chicago Electric sonic cleaner with the heater on for around 1/2 hour. I'm unsure of how hot it gets, but guessing somewhere in the 200+ range.

Like a doofus, I took the clean brass and dunked it into a bucket of distilled water to rinse it. I believe I heard a faint *scrunch* as the hot brass hit the cold water and rapidly shrank.

I left heater on low all night to keep my RCBS scale from getting too cold in the garage where I also store my distilled water. I would reckon the temp of the water to be around 50 degrees.


Thankfully I started with a small lot of the worst of my brass to learn with. For now, I'm going to label it and put it aside until I hear a thumbs up or down.

Thanks

 

[svxwilson]

I think you will be just fine. If I remember correctly this is a step some take to increase the life of the brass, I think they heat it up with a torch and then dunk it I believe this is also called annealing. Going from real hot to cold is a heat treatment and usually only helps make it stronger. When I used a sonic cleaner to clean my brass I always rinsed with cold water and never had any adverse effects. I upgraded to a thumlers tumbler and never looked back. The only thing I sonic clean anymore is gun parts.

 

[Bob 964]

Your brass should be fine. When annealing brass, I heat the neck and shoulder of the case to temperatures in excess of 600 degrees and then drop the case into a bucket of water. Annealing softens the brass and makes it last longer.

 

[BobinNC]

Yes, it this case it is "Safe"...to use the brass.

 

[Limedust]

Pretty hot brass into pretty cold water.....Is it safe?

Maybe it's just me, but that sounds more like tempering than annealing. I was under the impression annealing involved quick heating and lengthy cool downs.

Edit: I see now that non-ferrous metals can take the quenching. My bad

 

[komishe]

Thanks a lot guys.

I'm no metallurgist and I like my eyes,ears and fingers :0)

 

[DocB]

kornishe,

I doubt your gear gets brass 200+ hot. Mine runs maybe 130 Fahrenheit. Doubt you can run it for 1/2 half hour at a time as well, but I usually run my brass for 1/2 hour total time. Don't know your solution, but Lemi-Shine and Dawn works well, as does B-W Casey Case Cleaner.

Rinse twice or thrice with tap water, then with distilled/filtered water. Otherwise, brass is save to use.

HTH,
DocB

 

[DocB]

kornishe,

I doubt your gear gets brass 200+ hot. Mine runs maybe 130 Fahrenheit. Doubt you can run it for 1/2 half hour at a time as well, but I usually run my brass for 1/2 hour total time. Don't know your solution, but Lemi-Shine and Dawn works well, as does B-W Casey Case Cleaner.

Rinse twice or thrice with tap water, then with distilled/filtered water. Otherwise, brass is sage to use.

HTH,
DocB