From: gmk@falstaff.mae.cwru.edu (Geoff Kotzar)
Subject: Re: Tumbler media information
Organization: Case Western Reserve University

In article <38000@mimsy.umd.edu> bercov@bevsun.bev.lbl.gov (John Bercovitz) writes:
#In article <37975@mimsy.umd.edu> grl@drutx.ATT.COM (Randy Lyman) writes:
#
##Wash all cases that were picked up off the ground, especially
##the ones that weren't mine to begin with (you know the kind --
##ground into the mud, etc.)  I use a weak solution of dish soap
##(I use Joy) and water, then rinse well, then lay them out on a 
##towel for a day.  (If they don't dry well using this method, 
##you can stick them in an oven, pre-heated to the lowest setting, 
##for several hours.  Turn the oven off before you put the cases 
##in, and place them on a towel or something non-metallic.)
#
#Try this oven-drying on a couple of test cases first.  A long time 
#ago I tried this and found that my oven on its lowest setting cycled
#hot enough to slightly anneal brass.  It's one thing to anneal case 
#necks and quite another to anneal case heads.  When you anneal case
#heads, the primer pockets loosen in one or two reloads.  Also, I sure
#wouldn't want to try any hot loads in annealed cases.
#
#I ended up using a hair drier to dry the cases.  If you don't dry
#the cases fairly soon after washing them, they'll often get verdigris.
#
#          JHBercovitz@lbl.gov    (John Bercovitz)

This is good advice on how to avoid an unpleasant problem. I recently
switched to using isopropyl alcohol -the rubbing kind- to speed the drying
process. Wash in soapy water, rinse in plain water, a final rinse in the
isopropanol. Drying time is reduced considerably. The stuff is cheap too.
I pitch it when it starts getting dark from primer residue figuring that
it has sucked up enough water to reduce its effectiveness. I adopted this
procedure after storing the alcohol in a steel container that started to
rust on the inside after a while. Now I just return it to the plastic
container it comes in.

G. Kotzar