Annealing Brass

23 May 2002, 03:31

<J Snyman>

Annealing Brass

Someone asked about annealing brass, but I can't find the post.

My gunsmith recommends the following:
1) melt some lead in a suitable container and keep it molten
2) dip the case neck in oil, to prevent the lead from adhering to it, and then into the lead
3) after it has cooled down, clean it and then proceed as with a normal fired case ie lube, size trim etc

23 May 2002, 04:58

Dutch

That works, but only if you control the temperature of the lead. Molten lead can be too cold or too hot (the magic temp is around 600F to anneal brass). HTH, Dutch.

23 May 2002, 05:20

Bob338

Actually brass starts annealing at under the 600 degrees, but in order to get the structure of the brass to be proper for case use, it needs to get to 700 degrees. The annealing process continues even thru higher temperatures but they affect the ductility and elasticity beyond the optimum for our use. The higher the temperature, the softer and less elastic the brass.

Many anneal using the lead pot method and they believe it is far more accurate than any other method. Most use the lead pots used for making cast bullets. After you dip the necks in the molten lead be sure and dump them into cold water to quickly quench them. Non-ferrous metals require quenching to complete the annealing process. You can then size and proceed as normal.

I anneal using a propane torch, twirling the cases with the necks in the blue cone flame of the torch, and dropping them into a bucket of water.

23 May 2002, 07:55

<.>

Annealing temp on brass is a very dull red. This is best seen in a dark work area.

You want to anneal the neck and not the rest of the case. Quench in cold water.

Varmint Al discusses this. Al is an engineer specializing in stress analysis. I trust what he has to say.

http://www.cctrap.com/~varmint/arelo.htm

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23 May 2002, 10:09

Dutch

Bob, thanks for the correction.

Ghenghis, I would strongly advise agains using color to judge temperature. Especially when you can go to the welding shop and get some tempilsticks, or some tempilaq temp indicators.

Also, both the Varmints Den and Hornady now offer annealing tips for a torch. HTH, Dutch.

24 May 2002, 10:07

Flip

Can someone tells me why do you Anneal, or let me put it like this, what changes when you do it, does it get softer or what

24 May 2002, 10:27

<.>

quote:
Originally posted by Flip:
Can someone tells me why do you Anneal, or let me put it like this, what changes when you do it, does it get softer or what

Annealed brass is more ductile. It stretches better. As brass is "worked" it becomes brittle -- much like bending a wire repeatedly until it breaks. Work hardened brass tends to split. It also develops inconsistent neck tension.

As for judging anneal temp by color . . .

Dark work area, dull red color. I'm going to guess that there is a considerable "window" of temp range for annealing brass.

Varmint Al recommends heating to a "dull red" and quenching. Al Harrel (Varmint Al) is a structural engineer, retired from Lawrence-Livermore -- the atom bomb people.

I'm betting that Al knows his stuff on annealed brass. So, dark room, dull red. I can run a temp gauge on the brass, but it seems like too much fuss.

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