12 April 2004, 03:58
TwymanCase Brass Annealing Machine
10 to 15 years ago I saw a home brass automatic annealing machine in one of the gun magizines. It was out of my price range then when I was trying to get two kids thur college and keeping old cars running. Who has them? Can you still get them? Thanks for your time, Twyman
12 April 2004, 09:29
ShopCartRacingI believe that Hornady maeks a little Annealing Kit, but I think it is for use with a vibratory case cleaner.
-Spencer
12 April 2004, 10:12
Bob338That's Ken Light Mfg., P. O. Box 17536, Anaheim, CA. The telephone is 714-281-4193. A couple of years ago the cost was $275.
12 April 2004, 12:47
TwymanThanks I found it. Part number BC100 automatic case annealer.now $300, 1-800 790 3184 Thanks again ,Twyman Lyne
Is there a website for this?? Has anybody tried it, is it worth the price?? How does it work?? How is it driven (gas?)?? Easy to use?? High volume?? How much does it weigh. Any other comments??
- mike
It's a lazy Susan affair, powered electrically, with two propane torches heating the necks as they go by. Then they're dumped off the machine. I've just seen pictures of it and a description and review in Precision Shooting quite some time ago. I haven't heard of anyone buying or using one. Why would you when you can do the same thing by hand at 10% of the cost? I doubt there is a very high volume of sales considering the majority of reloaders don't anneal.
Wow, that looks like some machine... Apart from the propane, I guess it is electrically powered (the rotor)?? The claim about being able to anneal 1000 cases per hour sounds attractive - the price a tad less so (but I knew about that).
- mike
19 May 2004, 04:39
TJ_2506I agree on the hand annealing. Varmint Al's website has a pretty good description of the process. Take a look at
http://www.varmintal.com/arelo.htm#Anneal.TJ
A couple of years ago, after 45 years of reloading, I decided that I needed to get into this case annealing business. I studied it pretty thoroughly and looked into all kinds of methods and machines. Conclusions: A) Annealing is a good thing, very useful. B) Fancy machines and methods are a bunch of hoopla. C) Real specifics on temperature are overblown. D) A simple propane torch and a bucket of water is all that is needed. E) With said torch, you can probably do 300 or 400 an hour, maybe more. Who, outside of a commercial operation, would need more?
All you do is set the torch on the bench, then holding the case in your fingers, twirl the neck and upper shoulder in the blue flame until it just starts to turn reddish a skosh, or don't even worry about the color, just go 8-10 seconds, then drp in the water bucket. Soon as they're dry (easy in the sun), you're done. If the case is getting too hot for your fingers, you're heating it too long.