Can you machine bullet brass? Let's find out! FarmCraft101
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- Опубликовано: 15 мар 2018
- I wanted to see if it was true that bullet brass was no good for machining, like I've read many times. So I melt 3kg of bullet casings and pour round stock in a sand mold. I take the resulting casting and machine it on the lathe. I discover that all the things that I read were _______!
Bullet brass? Yes I'm aware that bullets are the projectile, typically made of lead. The brass is the casing, and the bullet/casing/primer together are a cartridge. But many people don't know what cartridge brass is, or what casings are. Hence the term "bullet brass", which most people are able to figure out. Does it annoy you that it's not a technically correct term? If so... Bullet brass! Bullet brass! BULLET BRASS! ;-)
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I knew the answer b4 watching but you know me , anything to do with brass I’m all in 😁. Over 100 likes and not 1 thumbs down 👏🏻👏🏻. There’s always someone wanting to rain on someone’s parade . Keep it up my friend 😄👍🏻.
Ha! Hey Bigstack. I hadn't noticed. There's always a thumbs down. Give it time... Cheers brother.
If you hadn't been able to polish that bar, or if you ever find some that you can't, just hand it and a can of Brasso to a Marine. What you get back WILL be a MIRROR!
Semper Fi! Keep up the great content!
Add 3-4% lead and you now have c36000 freemaching brass. O tears with this
jbstyliin I was wondering what might need added to make a more free-machining variant of brass! I hadn’t thought of lead but now that you mention it definitely makes sense, as it is what makes 12L14 steel so very easy to machine...
Needs more zinc added. A quick look on wiki shows that gunmetal brass has 10% more copper.
Great piece of brass. The lack of lead makes it harder to machine. It is actually called cartridge brass which can be purchased in rod form as well as plate.
Tool and Die Maker here, damn near everything is machine able if you have the correct tools. I don't know a single material which you cannot machine that is solid or conductive.
When they say you can't do it....prove them wrong. Great video.
My father was a machinist in South America. After a shortage in Brass. The price shot through the roof. Needing it for couplings he got in contact with the military which then sold spent brass which he extruded into long tubes to manufacture the needed parts. I gotta ask him about that.
Any body who can make there own molds!! Melt there own brass and machine a great AR lower that works and looks great deserves a SUB!! I found you on your AR-10 cast and mach!!!! You are a very talented man!
You lost those 75g whilst the brass was molten and the zinc inside the brass was able to vaporize. That's what the fumes are. And yes it is very toxic, so don't stand close to your crucible while you're melting brass.
If you do intent to stand close, wear a mask of some sort.
No time wasted yammering. Great video. I always enjoy it when someone gets right to the point. Two thumbs up.
You should make a brass trigger for your aluminum can ar15. Maybe some "iron" sights, or just something to accent it.
Good ideas. Thanks!
Lol, I just read your description.
hmm...good ideas!
Some guys have a lot more fun than I do.
Welcome to the internet man
Great presentation. I've been put off of range brass by others as well, but your right, as a hobbyist it should serve my purposes just fine.
I love seeing people do things that other's say can't be done.
People tell me that crap all the time, and I tell them " yeah watch this, time to make it happen captain". LOL
You can do any dern thing you want with cartridge brass, but it's true value is to be resold as cartridge brass.
Well... Unless it is .22 brass.
Great video, craftsman pron for sure!
Man this is a really resourceful idea and im glad you didn't listen to those dubious.. what a fine cast brass blank you made! looked very solid and i think it machined very nicely for being a home-cast metal!! cheers to you for another successful project! thanks
How reloaders look while watching cases melt ➡😱😨😖😬😩
Lol
If it’s absolutely screwed brass
Meh
I reload & I'm also thinking about doing this with my shite brass. Plus in have a mini lathe I just bought. I also have a 15gal barrel I might turn into a foundry or forge not sure which yet. So many ideas so little time.
@@MyLonewolf25 brass can be resized and refurbished with just a few dies
@@ronwhittaker6317 not if it's split, neck crushed(initial setup), or belt separated. There are multiple reason why brass is passed it's reloadable life span.
@@mikeford963 I didn't discount that its common sense for most bubby and what cant be safely brought back can be recycled and there's no shame in it. it's a skill everyone who would lay down their life for old glory should know. thanks to Obama their calling folk like that terrorist again they said the same thing about our forefathers.
👍Nice! I’ve got a decent hoard of spent cartridge brass myself in big containers in the shop. Was going to start reloading but decided against it. Probably just take it to the recycler again. 5 or 6 yrs ago I took over 700#, that particular year we had a very good Christmas. Keep up the great work. Great channel! Glad I found it! 👍
I weld and Monday morning fever sucks old timers told me a long time ago maybe 20 years ago or more drink a glass of milk before welding anything zinc and it will help to not get sick I was thinking they was crazy but I tried it and it works I have Learned so much from for old times
Alas this has been debunked as a old wive's tale with zero effectiveness. Milk DOES NOT cure/prevent zinc toxicity
...yeah, that or use a hood over your welding area that draws the gases away from your face...even a small amount of air flow will help, as long as it isn't drawing out the shielding gases...
Lmao guess you haven’t learned about the placebo effect
Welded heaps of shelves out of water pipe when i was about 20 .many moons ago.....learnt the hard way on that one. 🤣😂😁😀😎
Been poisoned off welding, big-time.sucks
When I was a boy (1960s) we had three ashtrays which were made from old artillery shell casings, two 4 inch and one 6 inch diameter.
From memory, they were cut off to be about 1½ to 2 inches tall, with a central post added on the inside to make it easier to carry them.
So when I saw your title I just said yep, of course you can.
The central post is actually in those old artillery casings to begin with. It's the primer. Allows for the flame to reach more of the powder faster
I thought about doing the same thing. There is always spent brass that can't be reloaded again, for various reasons, that can be melted down and use for other things. Thumbs Up!
Very nice work! I definitely have to give this a try.
That buffed up quite nicely!
Very cool experiment! Really enjoyed watching! Peace from Welland Ontario Canada 🇨🇦
I’m really impressed that work that well
I have been trying to cast and machine a small cannon barrel for a while. I'm just too lazy to make enough greensand to do it. This video has some good information in it.
Mate, I love your work.
The one you buffed looks like gold. Very nice.
Great video! I'm glad I found your channel. I'm inspired.
Wow that turned out looking great.
Beautiful looking metal!
i had similar surface "issues" when i tried casting brass in clay bonded sand. probably because it is so liquid that it penetrates into the sand. you could probably mix in some lead to make it into a free machining brass too
Well done, I like watching your videos!
Nice work, from Australia, l love the machining bit too 😀
That would make some beautiful handle scales
God, this was so satisfying to watch.
great video, keep up the good work
Pretty cool man! Fun project.
An oldie but a goodie 👍🏻😁. And yes I did watch this wen it first came out 😉
Looks pretty machinable to me. I don't understand why anyone would say otherwise until they tried it. Great job!
That's awesome. Good job.
I'm thinking brass AR receiver. The one you made from aluminium cans needs little brother.
Funny, I been wanting to do a 1911 frame but not sure if the brass would hold up at all 😁
@@meathead010 I know this is late but you should try it. And if you've already done it let us know
I agree that's awesome. Now you can make your own plumbing fittings
Great video
Am I the ONLY one who was freaking out a bit when he started melting down that ultra precious 223 brass?!?!? Range brass or not, given our current component shortages, brass is kinda sacred ground, no?
In 2021 that brass like silver coins.
You got a lot of talent, very entertaining video
Really liked the video, subbed
I had bought a 6x6 sheet of brass on ebay a few months ago not realizing the difference in brass alloy 260, 360, etc. I bought it for a project my brother asked if I could make a wood medallion for his dulcimer in brass instead and a custom design using my cnc router(a stepcraft). Delayed by months but I finally got working on it. I was breaking bits no matter my trial n error with my feeds/speeds. I figured maybe the brass was a hard alloy or something. Well I had just backtracked to my purchase history and found out my plate was 260 brass. A bit much for my machine to pocket machine out. A few details left out here but I had learned quite a bit in the differences. A 360 alloy brass, I believe, would be better for my case.
I enjoyed the video. We always collected the ejected shells at the gun range when I grew up. We would use them for reloading. Free. A real treat to find the "tin" shells. Real nice looking.
Nice work!!!
you earned my sub. great video!
I believe that the Navy guys at Brunswick in the early seventies used spent brass to make lighthouses, my dad had several
Yes the Navy messing around with the equipment OMG
Very cool stuff
When I cast brass I gathered I had to heat the mold, cool slowly.
I was using coal though
Coal was free on the railroad tracks back then
I wish I could still do work with metal
On secon thought, now you need to turn a brass cartridge from one of these.... possibly load and shoot(?)... that would be a nice act of re-creation of your part... :)
C260/2600 "cartridge" brass is a great all around material: decently high strength, very formable. Going for properties either direction tends to drop off the others quickly.
It's great for jewelry and projects. I buy (lead free) plates of it and machine in on my little hobby cnc router (yeah, it's gummy) but it's nice for the ability to form it after machining.
(sign places etc will use a very brittle brass that machines well but breaks if you try to form it)
Get some medium or hard silver solder and a propane torch and you can "weld" it nicely (welders call it brazing, but it's actually closer to welding than traditional brazing)
Easy/extra low temp solder is very weak and turns powdery grey, so I don't use it.
I would suggest a non-flammable surface under your foundry and pour area. That tall dry grass that goes up to your bldg could be bad.
Also, I keep a charged water hose & full bucket of water on hand.
never use water anywhere near molten metal. same principle as burning oil but much much worse. powder extinguisher for the furnace area and bushfire beater for the grass would be my suggestion. Sand is also an option but some sort of fire suppression equipment is, as you say, absolutely essential.
@@anthonysellick3520 I was suggesting for the grass fire or runaway embers
I undestood thats what you meant which is why I said NEAR molten metal not ON it. If even a drop inadvertently makes it into the crucible or even a spilled puddle (causing your grass fire) it may flash to steam with the resulting expansion 1 to 1500 if I remember correctly can be enough to fling molten metal in all directions starting more fires and possibly burning you or an observer very badly. It can happen so easily that it simply isnt worth the risk. In any event a beater is much more effective for burning grass than water. Its really just a suggestion for promoting longer life!
@@frankdoss6313 tell ya what how about you don't make suggestions on topics you're clueless about
@@brandonbaker9106 Bless your heart
NICE JOB LOVE IT
Next time just add a little lead just before pouring (assuming you've already cleaned it up, not dirty wheel weights or range lead), stir a little, and then learn the wonders of free machining brass.
I will give this a try!
Did you de-prime the cases before melting?
Very interesting video for me. I work at an Ammo Supply Point (ASP) at Camp Shelby, MS, and my job as a contractor is certifying, demiling, and selling brass casings. Every ammo shot in practice, from 22LR the ROTC use, to 155MM artillery rounds, grenades, AT4 launchers, 105MM tank rounds, 5.56, 7.62, 50., 9mm, it all comes back to me to weigh, count, sell or recycle. I demil the small arms brass by running it through an APE (Ammunition Peculiar Equipment), which consists of a 1,000F furnace that dumps into a deformer. I've processed over 1.4 million pounds of brass there in the last 7 years. Three minutes @ 1,000 degrees is just enough to pop off any live rounds that go through, barely scorching the brass. That's why I have a deformer that crushes it through cogs so it can't be reloaded. I often thought about melting some down into ingots then polishing them to look like gold bricks for my livingroom 😄
Different ammo companies use different materials for the primers cups (brass, stainless, etc.), and I have no idea what the anvils are made of (I'd guess steel). Were the casings decapped before you melted them, or would different materials come off in the slag/dross? I wonder if they'd affect your results if they alloyed with the brass?
Extremely valid question, because the cheapest spent brass is berdan primed, which may mean it's old war surplus and there collectively could be quite a lot of lead or possibly even mercury residue present in the primer cup.
Primers and anvils are brass too. Maybe not on imported military surplus junk, but even there I have never seen steel in a primer. The silver ones are just nickel plated brass. Thin plating.
Both primers and anvils are brass. Some are nickel plated, some aren't, but all are brass. Copper initially tried, but quickly found too malleable. Steel too hard, even soft steel, to work for primers even though soft steel will work for cases. No difference in material between Boxer vs Berdan. Boxer anvils part of the primer. Berdan anvils part of the case. Not enough residual mercury left to matter even with the old primers. What little is left is a salt that can be washed if desired.
When I clicked on this I thought you were going to MAKE bullet casings on the marching lathe.
There is something about machining brass. Just so nice.
That’s a great size lathe what lathe are you using ?
the finish on that was just "WOW"
I miss the shooting lane. I live in Norway so it's strict here with weapons. I don't mind that, to many with weapons that shouldn't have. I never owned a gun but tried some. Well, its OK here, that most people don't have immediate access to deadly weapons tho.
It's fun to shoot. I was better at '22s, and rifles same size, a magum threw me away lol. I glad today I know how to use some weapons. I even tried a shotgun once. That was awesome.
I like this, it proves that shells are pretty much brass. Just subscribed a few days ago :)
Machinability for brass from cases that are provided in a form that are formed, drawn... and most often, machined*, was in question?
*and often it's rapid production... so fast you can't see it happening. Also, suitable for finish work with hand tools (reamers and the like)...
Man this is cool!
Did you knock the spent primers out of the casings before you melted everything
I'd like to see a video of how you made that cool furnace
Great video and great channel, thanks for the effort to post it. What is the name of the song at the end? Thanks.
Great job , now did the furnace burn a round hole in your grass ?
You're a pretty cool dude.
Really cool video you done there sir! First thing I saw though after you machined it down, man drill me a hole in the side of that bigun and and I'll go find me a nice piece of wood to whittle me a handle out of! Boy that would make a great hammer! You can send me a chunk of that if you want to. Happy casting
Just found this, man these are great videos! I noted someone asked about turning the brass into other cases and I have to say I am curious as to if you could as well. I looked up the process once and it does not seem like something one can replicate without a factory kind of space.
on a very small scale you can do it, just not efficiently. its a different case if you are modifying cases rather than remachining wholesale
How does one clean the crucible out? Do you use one for each metal?
Higher zinc content makes it more machinable. Melting will burn out some of the zinc. Making 33% zinc brass is kind of hard to do but apparently Indian did it earlier than anyone thought, forget where I read that. Anyway the brass you produced would be fairly easy to smith, cold smithing. You need to anneal between rounds of smithing. Soldering/brazing brass is difficult you can actually use pure silver for solder because it makes a lower temp alloy as it melts.
Awesome experiment. Maybe soaking the brass in white vinegar overnight will minimize the impurities when smelting? Just a thought.
I just started doing this at home and have been having a problem with small pits forming in the metal so I dont get a smooth finish on the outside. It seems to go all the way through the ingots. Any thoughts?
Can you imagine what a mistake it would be if he tossed in a live round?
you need to flux the brass with borax to keep it from separating into its main components, zinc and copper.
I have melted brass without borax...just saying..
@@dvig3261 a person can shoot themselves in the head and still live, does that mean they should still do it?
BS
boric acid in the form of bug poison works too.
melting does not affect a partitioning of constituent elements .. they are in solution
Beautiful reuse of materials
wow , beautiful
Now make an AR upper out of spent brass.
bdpa kaknox That would be awsome!
will make a heavy weapon
Been done
Now can you machine a case out of it like you did with the aluminum?
I want to do something like this in my own personal yard where did you get the foundry? I love how simple it all looks
ruclips.net/video/G-nw-Px3GQY/видео.html
Awesome!!
wouldn't leaving in the primers contaminate the liquid metal? and what about the left over powder inside the casings? i had thought about melting down casings to make simple things like a brass hammer, but i know nothing about heat treating them to harden it up to avoid it deforming on every strike.
Nice guitar music at the end
You can def make a brass pistol grip for that AR
I am just starting to get interested in smelting so that's why I came acrossed this video. I was wondering when milling what happens to all the shavings do people just melt it into an alloy or throw it away seems wasteful...
very cool .👏👏👏👏
The 75 could be and probably is the zinc that turned to vapors while you melted the casing.
You can add some power to the melting to make it more pure
Would it be possible to make a machines piece of brass for reloading?
Had to click to find out what the hell you were talking about. I think you meant: Can you machine AMMO brass; or maybe CARTRIDGE brass.
I think he 'over annealed his brass, lol. I really enjoyed this video. We are only limited by our imagination. Don't be afraid to try but be CAREFUL.
I think if you do a better casting method like a bottom fill you will lose the voids... still cool how nice that metal flowed and worked.
Yeah, the voids were definitely from sand falling down in the mold because of the way I made it. If I used a solid dowel, packed the sand around it and carefully removed it, would probably do better.
Hey it’s the dude jerky guy! How much is to much?
Amazing
It may have sensible to de-cap the cartridges beforehand to cut down on impurities ?