Hydrosonic Brass Cleaning-Heat Affects Brass

[uplander01]

I have a suspicion that heat from a hydro sonic cleaner reduces brass life. Maybe I am doing it all wrong I don't know, but I quit using the Hornady hydro cleaner. I feel like if you don't do it right it can be like annealing, do it wrong and you are going to have case head failures or cracked case necks. Anybody else have any theories on this. I just returned to good ol' tumbling??

 

[Grumpy gumpy]

I’m not sure that a hydrosonic cleaner could get that hot that it would affect the brass.
And I think that you are referring to ultrasonic
Gumpy

 

[mdwest]

I agree with @Grumpy gumpy …

I use hot water in my ultra sonic cleaner… then I put my brass in the oven at 190 degrees for about half an hour to dry it…

I’ve never had a problem…

Hornady and Lyman ultrasonics top out at 140 degrees… the brass can easily handle that

 

[sniper7]

Annealing for a few seconds at 650-800F so you aren’t even coming close.

This article is above and beyond but has incredible info:

https://www.ampannealing.com/articles/40/annealing-under-the-microscope/

 

[Schüler Jumbo]

Sonic cleaner temperatures of 120F to 140F no where near temp to anneal brass. No worries. I wash my brass in a RCBS tumbler and dry in the oven at 170F for two hours.

 

[uplander01]

Thanks for the input. My hornady hydro cleaner get to 170’s, brass is hot as hell when I take it out. I was thinking it would almost function as a heat treatment and may cause brittle brass situation.

 

[Schüler Jumbo]

I appreciate your concern of possibly annealing the case head; always better safe than sorry. Good to ask the question. Depending on the structure of rifle brass Annealing doesn’t begin until around 500F and up to 700F.

 

[Schüler Jumbo]

And annealing brass does not make it brittle. Annealing softens the brass making it more ductile and less likely to crack.