Straight walled revolver brass annealing ???

[GP100man]

I have more time than money & I have some 357 & 44 brass that still looks as if it`s crimped after firing .Not plinking loads ,but not barn burners either, I mostly shoot upper mid loadings.

Anyways I cast & shoot my own 10.5bhn boolits , lubed with carnauba red boolit loobe , there`s a ring of crude on the outside of the case on the bevel (I don`t think it`s lube) that`s as hard as a 38 carbon ring in a 357 chamber !!! 36hrs. of tumbling does 0 for it

Don`t ask how many times I usually just shoot till it splits !

I`m think of testing a batch ,then annealing it then retest it to see if it affects groups , I know that the degree of crimp does especially with slow powders!!

Blastin or Cheering , input welcome !!!

[GP100man]

Here it is fellers , annealed !!

I had a trial & error period , what I did is anneal in 2 second intervals until the brass felt buttery on the expander 6 seconds on my heat source (a propane torch turned as low as it would burn next to a jar of water) I chucked up my lee trimmin holder & spun it slowly to keep heat even .
The only problem I ran into was the brass was a mixed bunch so the heat was a tad too much on `bout 6 cases ,but it is what it is !

It took alot less than I thought to get it softened up !!

http://i746.photobucket.com/albums/xx110/GP100man/102_0510.jpg

[giz189]

Hey GP100, I annealed some 41 magnum brass once. The problem I had was when I next reloaded and shot it. I had a lot of trouble ejecting the empties from the cylinder from my Model 657. Used the same boolits and powder charge and primers as previous loads had. Let us know if you have any trouble with hard ejection after your next reload on these hulls.

[white eagle]

I did the same with starline 44 mag brass
had the same trouble ejecting them \
conclusion /lots of trouble very little return

[geargnasher]

How about using a little less crimp? I mean seating the boolits out a few thousandths farther and just rolling the edge of the mouth over the shoulder of the crimp groove.

Gear

[GP100man]

Like I said it`s a batch of mxed brass & if it turns out bad not much lost , but the pic shows the range of the heat better than it is , I have to look close to find a change in color !

I`ll find out tomorrow - - -- - don`t touch that dial !!!

[ktw]

I have some 45 Colt brass I need to do.

With longer rifle brass I prefer to hold the case head by hand, slowly spinning them in the flame. That is tough to do with shorter handgun brass and for that very reason I'm a bit concerned about too much heat at the case head.

Unless someone else posts up in the next couple of days a new, simple, devishly ingenious method I have not run across to date, I'll probably end up using the standing-in-a-pan-of-water method instead.

-ktw

[rugerdude]

Hey GP100, I annealed some 41 magnum brass once. The problem I had was when I next reloaded and shot it. I had a lot of trouble ejecting the empties from the cylinder from my Model 657. Used the same boolits and powder charge and primers as previous loads had. Let us know if you have any trouble with hard ejection after your next reload on these hulls.


I did the same with starline 44 mag brass
had the same trouble ejecting them \
conclusion /lots of trouble very little return


I have heard of this before. As I understand it, annealing sometimes makes the brass a bit too soft, causing sticky extraction. Use that same brass another time or two and I bet it will work harden and the sticky extraction will disappear.

[lwknight]

I would think that the annealing just opens the grain structure and burn off any lube.

Is it still sticky to extract after resizing?

Most everyone would anneal decapped and sized brass just because most decapping dies are also sizers.

[Wayne Smith]

I still use my lead pot. Softens brass with no visible change in the brass.

[Recluse]

I've been annealing my straight-walled handgun caliber brass for over 20 years.

After the brass has cooled and dried (I drop my in a tub of water), I run each brass through the re-sizing die two times, then put the brass away.

Never had any ejection sticking problems. Those two trips through the resizing die "works" the brass enough so that I can still crimp well, but no ejection problems due to the brass being overly soft and "flaring."

:coffee:

[GP100man]

Worked perfect fellas , now I only stuck 1/4-3/8" in the heat !

no collapsed cases during flaring or seating & no decernable difference in extraction of either lite or heavy loads !

However none fell out the cyl but would as soon as I touched the ejector & looks as if the case expanded straight !!!

No difference in grouping (it`s all me ) but it did`nt hurt !!

I have a big lot of Remington brass that started splitting , I`d lose 3-4 /100 the last loading , guess what`s next !!!!

[3006guns]

There are several good techniques for annealing those short pistol cases, so here's mine............

Deprime all cases. Stand a number of them in a shallow pan of water, so that about 1/3 of the case is above the surface. The water will come up inside through the primer flashole. With a propane torch in one hand and a pencil in the other, heat each case until it turns brown. Use the pencil to knock the case over so that it's submerged and go on to the next. DON'T get the case red at all, or it will be butter soft. It's amazing how fast you can treat 100 cases in this fashion.

[bigboredad]

I've used the same technique that 3006 uses on some hsm .45 colt brass that was so hard it was a splitting with light plinking loads. After annealing they worked great I only have about I used to hate the hsm brass no it is at least usable

[Dannix]

I still use my lead pot. Softens brass with no visible change in the brass.
What temp, duration, and distance from sidewalls?