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Thread: Annealing Jackets

  1. #21
    Boolit Master bearcove's Avatar
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    I have a few pans in the garage that are beyond kitchen duty that would fit good. 9x12 or so. I'm saving 22lr brass. Slow process shooting single shots. Don't go to range much, usually just go plinking on BLM it's closer. The guys running the range claim all the brass people leave behind.

  2. #22
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    Well I finally got around to taking pictures while I was annealing some brass.

    I use a standard gas BBQ nad had good success with it as is using the same stainless steel collender as Jon pictured in previous post. I have sence lined the inside of the BBQ with fire bricks and have been able to increase the temp at the location of the brass even more. I anneal a good amount of brass at the same time. About enough to cover the collender with one layer. Then stir mid way threw. About 10 minutes tops is all that is needed to make sure all the brass glows. I did try a Crystal Light citric acid soak afterwards and found the results far better then pool PH reducer but teh drink mix does not maintain acidity very long I found. I will be getting som eof the high grade uncut citric acid to try out like Jon used.

    So here we go! Annealing a lot of jackets at same time made easy!

    Standard gas BBQ grill




    Inside of grill lined with fire brick kind of like an oven






    Temp 700 degree + at the top of the lid, hotter at the location of the brass I have found because of fire brick oven effect



    and resulting annealed cases, must be about 100 or so per group. Notice shine lessens after each soak in the cristal light drink mix and this was with atleast a full cup of the mix and about 3 cups hot water.


    Annealing case can really be very easy and fast. Just make sure to always use safty gloves and glasses and watch out for live primers and for sure live rounds that may slip into vast suppies of brass.

    Good shooting and Swage On!

    BT
    Last edited by BT Sniper; 09-03-2012 at 10:57 PM.
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  3. #23
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    Here are some photos I took of my annealing process using an electric kiln. If I stack the pans, I can do about 900 cases at a time, with the cores installed. If I just pour empty cases into a deeper pan, I can do a couple thousand at a time.

    http://s1134.photobucket.com/albums/...ing%20Jackets/

    Hope this helps.

    Fred

  4. #24
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    Here you go Fred!

    Great job, Sorry I never got around to posting your pics for you. Photobucket is pretty good for posting pics though. Hope you post more.

    BT









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  5. #25
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    Thanks, BT. Kevin Rohrer showed me how to use photobucket. Now you've got to show me how to get them to directly post to the thread...........

    I'm much better at making ammunition and shooting than I am at running computers....

    Fred

  6. #26
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    Posting pics can be a bit of work. But once you have it in photobucket it is easy. When you place your mouse over the pic 4 option links come up. Copy the bottom option (actually can just left click it or right click and select copy) then paste here in your reply. All there is to it.

    BT
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  7. #27
    Boolit Bub Apache's Avatar
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    When you anneal with the cores, can't you also bond the cores at the same time?

    Jim
    Preparing for the worst and hoping for the best.

    www.ApacheGunWorks.com



  8. #28
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    Thanks, BT. I'll have to give it a try.

    Apache,

    If I added some flux, it would probably bond the cores, but I'm just shooting paper, dirt clods and tin cans, so I haven't really felt the need to go the little extra step to bond them. From what BT says, it's only a matter of adding a drop of bonding solution (aka: flux) to each case before adding the cast bullet as a core. Maybe on one of my batches I'll give it a try and see if it makes a difference. I haven't done any experiments to see how well they hold together, either. At some point I most likely will, though.

    Hope this helps.

    Fred

  9. #29
    Boolit Bub Apache's Avatar
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    Thanks for the answer...I figured as much.

    I will be doing some of my own in the very near future and it answers the question of bonding. Now to figure out how to do some bonded partition type bullets and dual thickness jackets....
    Preparing for the worst and hoping for the best.

    www.ApacheGunWorks.com



  10. #30
    Boolit Master
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    The cases also cut much better in their harder form. When they are annealed they get kind of gummy.

  11. #31
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    I don't trim any of my cases. I think if I had to do that, I probably wouldn't make near as many bullets. The large hollowpoint punch on my .44 bullets just rolls the excess down into the hollowpoint cavity. Works like a charm and I don't have to spend hours trimming, or cutting, cases.

    The .41 caliber and .357 caliber bullets that I make from 9x19 and .380 ACP, respectively, don't require trimming, as there is enough core to fill out the jacket and leave a soft lead nose.

    Hope this helps.

    Fred

  12. #32
    Boolit Man
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    I bought some 9mm brass at $20/k...I've been busy annealing about 10k of this stuff...it is packaged in lots of 1k. I ran into a bag that had a LOT of FTF primers...when putting them in an already hot kiln they explode on contact. Now I have to add hearing protection to my list of PPE along with already wearing safety googles, leather gloves, and thick clothing of natural fibers. Scared the winnie the pooh right out of me bent over the kiln and dropping some brass in.

  13. #33
    Boolit Mold
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    Wow! Fred, where did you get all of those linotype ingots/pigs that I saw laying by your kiln?

  14. #34
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    b2riesel,

    Yep, live primers and extreme heat make for some fireworks. Years ago, when my kids were little, they were going to help me by sweeping up some lead splatters off the floor of my shop after casting bullets. Seems there was a live primer mixed in and when we moved from that house there was still a little lead splatter on the ceiling of the garage.......

    dfreeman,

    Those are bullet alloy ingots. I've got an old linotype ingot mold and when smelting lead that's one of the ingots I use, along with several 1 pound molds and a 4 pound diving weight mold. What you saw in the photo was only about 1/4 of my lead stash. I'm trying to negotiate for another ton in ingots right now, but the guy seems to think he can get more at a scrap yard. We'll see how it turns out.

    There's a Magma Master Caster right behind the kiln and it takes a lot of alloy to keep it running. I'm afraid that lead is going to be hard to get in the fairly near future, so any I locate is fair game. I even pick up spent bullets on the range when changing targets, and especially after our Cowboy Action Matches.

    Fred

  15. #35
    Boolit Man
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    Fred,

    When I'm expanding the brass right before seating the lead...sometimes I blow out a primer due to the airtight seal of the mandrel inside the brass...when you anneal the brass with the lead inside...in the kiln...do you have problems with lead leaking out the bottom?...or do you carefully weed out the ones with no primers and do them in a separate process?

  16. #36
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    b2riesel,

    When I anneal with the cores in place, the bases are sitting on the stainless steel pan. If there were any cases without primers, the lead would probably only go as far as the pan.

    I do check to make sure there are primers in all the brass that I place cores in prior to annealing, though. It just makes it easier and the primer is part of the weight of the finished bullets. With a primer in place, there is no leakage at all. I've even been known to reseat a spent primer in a case where the primer came out during annealing without a core in place.

    If annealing with cores, and no primers, the cases would have to be setting on a flat surface without holes to stop any molten lead from running out the bottom. I haven't tried it that way, but I recall someone else posting pictures of their process and that's what they did.

    When the cores are melted when annealing, the surface doesn't come out flat on the cores, so I find that I still need to seat the cores to make them uniform. This helps a lot when I use BT's notching die and keeps from having wrinkled jackets in the nose of the finished bullet. Before I started seating the cores, I was getting really ugly bullets, but the seating solved that problem.

    Hope this helps.

    Fred

  17. #37
    Boolit Master
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    Just thought I'd throw this in...

    Probably should not anneal cases with a torch in the sunlight,
    hard to see when they turn red.
    Propane does get hot enough to melt brass...


  18. #38
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    A few more minutes and you could have cast belt buckles!

    Fred

  19. #39
    Boolit Master
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    Dangit, why did you have to suggest that?

    My wife makes jewelry, I'm sure she could help me design a buckle mold
    to make use of my growing pile of scrap brass.

    Maybe something like the confederate "CS" buckle, only it would have "CB" on it?

    Then I'll start to like doing it and have to buy brass, scrounge the yard sales &
    thrift stores, etc....

    Great, another hobby.

  20. #40
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    Sorry.

    Back in the early 1970's, my first duty station with the Sheriff's Office was Boron, CA., outside the north gate of Edwards AFB. The Air Force had a big investigation as to why there wasn't much brass coming off their rifle and pistol ranges. It seems the personnel working the ranges had a small business on the side making and selling brass belt buckles.............

    Now everytime I see melted brass, it makes me think about those guys, since I'd met most of them. I don't know what the final outcome was, but I understand they were making some pretty good belt buckles, from pure brass.

    Fred

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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check