I know that this topic has been touched on in previous posts. But I'm looking for information and techniques of Annealing brass. I want to make sure that I understand the process completely prior to attempting this in real life.

All input is welcome. ..

If you want to do it right, listen to someone else!

I use a propane torch in a dark room. I spin the case in my fingers, holding the base and heating it at the juncture of the neck and case. It will get hot at the end first. When it just barely starts to glow anywhere (you'll get the first couple too hot) drop it in a pan of cool tap water.

Don

Best thing is to use the tools sold by Hornady (which has the Tempilaq temperature indicator) or the Varmint den.

The trick with annealing is to get to the right temperature (670 F). Too hot, and you have got mush, to cool and you are waisting your time. "cherry red" is way to hot. HTH, Dutch.

Here is a link to "varmints al site he has some good info on this topic. http://www.cctrap.com/~varmint/ahunt.htm

Do this, get a bucket 2 1/2 gal. is fine lay a 1x4 across the top get a propane torch stand the casings on the edge of the board . heat the casings till they just start to glow orange, with a long handeled screw driver tip the glowing casings into bucket of cold water. then put cases into a bath of cider vinegar and stir for appromax. 20 minutes. crud comes off as you aggitate. into cold clear water to stop vinegar action. Now into tumbler for 3 hrs. open top. new lookin brass. luck hotdog

I was wondering being a diesel mechanic I have several tools that might work. I have never anneled cases. But here goes could you use a laser temp gun to keep tabs on the temp of the cases?? Or do the cases heat too quickly to read temp. And how about the use of a blazer micro torch. Mine is about the size of a beer can or so and is very easy to use. I use it for heat shirnking electrical connetors. Just a thought as I was think about doing a few case for my RUM. I was going to get the temp stuff. but if others think this method would be accurate enough great.

[This message has been edited by Steve in MI (edited 12-09-2001).]

I almost wish I needed to anneal some so I could get the Hornady system It's too cool. After reading Dr. Howell's book I wouldn't do the wing and aprayer method! Use the tempilaq nd save yourself some brass and headache

Mike

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Victory through superior firepower!

Don's method will automatically mean you avoid the absolute no no unless ofcourse you wear heavy gloves

You must not anneal the head of the case.

Mike

Mike,

You are right, no gloves. The interesting thing is that the base does not even get warm!

You absolutely don't want cherry red. Just the first hint of a glow.

Don

I use a steel plate with caliber-sized nubs. You heat it up on your stove on HIGH temp and place the cases on the nubs. I also paint 400 deg Tempilaq along the case body. You can watch the heat migrate up the case. When it gets about half way up, remove the case with pliers and quench in cool water. Works great but you then have to clean the case body or tumble them because the Tempilaq streak makes a mark where it melted off.

Each case (6.5 Swede length) takes about 50 seconds. The nice thing about this system is you can anneal a bunch of cases quickly. There's 10 nubs to the plate and if you place them on and remove them at 5 second intervals you can get a bunch of cases done quickly. If that's too quick a pace, just use 5 nubs at a time and you get to spread this across 10 second intervals. Anyway, it's a pretty slick system and I don't have any fear of over annealing the brass or getting the case heads too hot.

Martindog

I place the brass in a pan of water filled to about 1/3 the way up the brass. I heat the mouths 'til a hint of a glow appears and then tip the brass over into the water. Works for me

I decided years ago that annealing is in the same catagory as voodoo, witchcraft, and black magic....and at the cost of bulk brass I shoot them about 10 times and spend the $25.00 for some new bulk brass and toss the other stuff...I have quite a number of guns so it takes me a very long time to shoot a case 10 times...

I might anneal some hard to come by or very expensive cases, should the problem arise. Heck I have trouble hardening my screw driver blades and stock making tools.

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Ray Atkinson

ray@atkinsonhunting.com
atkinsonhunting.com

<<After reading Dr. Howell's book I wouldn't do the wing and aprayer method! >>

I do not think that's an accurate characterization. The newer generation of 'reloaders' are bombarded by oodles and oodles of goodies designed to do a specific job. This is fine for the economy, but I find this group as a whole knows little about the why's and indepth knowledge of good handloading. Boys with toys often. The knowledgeable handloader developes skills and competency- inventing routines and procedures which reflect that knowledge and common sense.

Martindog,

I have seen much the same thing in reverse: just drill neck-sized holes in an inch thick plate. Much quicker and easier to make yourself.

Don

Steve, I think the temp gun should work, but a 650-670 degree welder's crayon would be the cat's meow. That way you don't need three hands..... HTH, Dutch.

I've done some homework, ,, and I know everything about ANNEALING (hehe)

Doing some research on this forum I discovered a few topics regarding annealing brass, and one of the comments that I have not been able to get a clear answer on is:

Upon heating the case to the proper temp, do you quench rapidly to temper? or do you let the case cool off naturally?

Thanks for the help!!!

TGW

TGWoody,

Cool cartridge brass quickly in cool water. Other metals need to be cooled slowly or they harden. Has something to do with ferrous vs non-ferrous but I'm not smart enough to figure that one out.

On the surface, I would guess ferrous metals have something to do with having iron. Non-ferrous then wouldn't. Where I can't figure it out is you're supposed to cool brass quickly but it stays soft. But if you quench just-cast lead bullets in cool water, they harden (maybe because of the tin or antimony????). Neither to my knowledge contains any iron however, so I'm completely clueless. Need someone else to jump in and explain the real deal.

Martindog

I agree with RAY on Annealing brass

Atkinson is right. Unless you are loading some exotic or you are a pilgrim in the outback, just order some new brass after 10 firings.

If you spend hours forming cases from expensive and rare brass you quickly learn to anneal. Additionally annealing restores the elasticity to necks which are work hardened with just a few reloads. The more consistent grip on bullets enhances accuracy. There are loading manuals that recommend annealing after as few as two reloads (A-Square.) It's neither difficult nor mysterious. I do it routinely at 5 or 6 reloads and the advantage in accuracy is readily apparent.

If you don't spend much time in prepping new brass and use it "as is" from the supplier then I agree it doesn't make much sense to anneal. You're a "reloader" rather than a "handloader". However, for those interested in extreme accuracy and who spend time uniforming primer pockets, deburring flash holes and sorting their brass, the time spent in annealing perfectly good, uniform cases is a fraction of the time spent manicuring them. Annealing has many advantages and no disadvantage, other than the time it takes, which is minimal by comparision.

For factory cartridges, the reload a few times and toss method may be sound advice for some folks...

HOWEVER, as Bob338 pointed out, if you shoot a wildcat or proprietary cartridge, it is too expensive and too time consuming to prep and fire form new brass every 4 or 5 reloads. Most proprietary brass runs around $2 to $3 dollars each. It would be ridiculous to throw away brass that is slightly work hardened when all you need to do is invest a few minutes to anneal.

I use mostly Bell/MAST brass; I generally only neck size my brass; and I anneal after 5 reloads. My brass lasts at least 12 loads and some cartridges last far longer than that. There is no great mystery to properly annealing and it ain�t difficult.

To me, annealing IS the lazy man�s method. By annealing, I don�t waste hours inspecting and sorting brass, reaming primer holes, trimming cases, turning necks, and deburring case mouths. It takes me far longer to prep new brass than to anneal.

I am lazy, therefore I anneal.

While I agree with Bob338 as far as economics and the good use of time is concerned, I have never heard of a bench rester annealing brass before.

If brass life is a concern, a tight neck and a custom die which minimally works the neck (as in .003-.004 or so) will allow for 20+ firings without annealing. Some of the folks that shoot benchrest (and HOT loads, I should point out) get 50+ firings from a case. JMO, Dutch.

As most of you know I shoot 2 different rifles in Lazzeroni calibers and the brass isn't cheap so I want it to last a long time and so annealing is required but it is such a pain in the arse I have someone else do it.

Arizona Ammunition will do it at a very reasonable rate...every 5th loading I send them a hundred cases and they deprime, resize, trim and anneal plus send them back polished in some nifty MTM cses....I don't recall how much but I think around $20 and the MTM cases are worth half that. They're aren't real fast but they do good work and I don't need to worry about it....some of my brass has been annealed 3 or 4 times. I don't know if regular brass will last that long (I don't load really hot) but the Lazzeroni brass is certainly holding up.