Annealing Cases - Anyone every do pistol cases? 45 Colt

[onelight]

I have annealed 45 colt and 44 mag cases the primitive way . And as long as I remembered to do it every 7 or 8 loadings some of these cases made it 30 or 40 loadings maybe more with light to medium loads. Normally a medium to heavy roll crimp on cast.
I would stand the cases in a pan of water about 1/3 of the case length and in a dark room heat until they began to glow red and knock them over in the pan and yes the mouth was soft but never caused any issues. There is no doubt there are better ways to do it , but this worked for me for years.
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[fcvan]

I use my lead pot at casting temperature. I hold the case between thumb and finger, insert the case into the melt, and drop in water when hot. That keeps the heat from going beyond the desired area and not up to the case head. I used this when annealing 41 Mag brass and shooting um, warm loads in my S&W and my Marlin 1894C. I will do the same with my pistol and carbine 45 Colt loads.

I don't shoot many of those hot 45 Colt and all of my brass is 2 or less loadings. The hot ones were range brass I didn't concern myself with. They were once fired as I saw the shooter empty a new box and left them laying. I asked, he said 'go for it.' Those are now twice loaded and in a marked box. By marked, I mean load data and number of reloading is marked.

Run of the mill stuff, like 9mm 40 S&W doesn't get the same treatment exactly. They are in coffee cans, 50 to a bag, 10 bags. When the coffee can is empty, the empties back in the coffee can. With 15K loaded (Wife picked them all up) I am not in any hurry to reload them until I've got 1k fired. Besides, cartridges like 9mm, 40, and 38, aren't really worked that hard by the loads I shoot, I don't want my brass working very hard. I'm retired and don't want my brass working harder than me.

[oley55]

I've used salt annealing for nearly thirty years. Yes, you will end up with some salt on the cases that you surely do not want transferring to your weapons chamber (YIKES!!). What I've done is tumble after annealing. Tumble with a little Dawn and some Lemon Bright (I use stainless steel pins in my F.A. tumbler). Admittedly an extra step that a lot of guys won't consider worthwhile but I dig working in the reload room anyway so I don't consider it a bore.

I for one would be interested in hearing more about your process for pistol cases. How do you hold them, how much case is dipped into the salt, how hot is your salt, what is your dwell time?

I have been hoping to run across an abused 44 two cavity Lee mold that I could punch out to serve as both a heat sink and plyers to hold the cases.

[Baltimoreed]

I can see it when forming brass like 300blkout or 300ham’r from 223/556 or any wildcats made from other brass or high power rifle loads built for sub moa accuracy where consistent neck tension is very important but don’t see the need to anneal straight walled brass that’s loaded with lead bullets, shot at point blank ranges and minute of sass marshall accuracy requirements. Work smarter not harder.

[Kevin Rohrer]

It makes no sense to waste time annealing inexpensive pistol cases.

[onelight]

It makes no sense to waste time annealing inexpensive pistol cases.

Depends on which pistol cartridge case , and the resources of the person who owns the cases.

[gbrown]

^^^^
Agreed, we all are individuals with different needs and limitations. There is no "ONE SIZE FITS ALL."

[GARD72977]

I annealed 45LC for a Taraus thunder bolt. I was starline brass. I did anneal these cases more than I normally do. I wanted them soft.

The purpose was to let the low pressure cartridge seal in the chamber. It worked very well.

Shooting cases that were not annealed would cause the chamber to become dirty very quick. One whole side of the case would be black down to the rim.

[oley55]

I haven't had to opportunity to salt bath anneal with these yet or the appropriate repetitive fire/reload cycles, but when I do I will follow up with results.

Cases are 357mag and 44mag. Holes were drilled 3/4" deep, but ended a little deeper after cutting the slots for the rims with ground down dremel cutoff wheels. Then the wall area near the rim/case head needed to be opened up a bit to accommodate the wider diameter. The intent being for the case wall to be in full contact with the opening of the heat sink.

[Mk42gunner]

I've thought about, but haven't done it yet, of making a simple case holder for annealing in a lead bath (probably work for salt baths too, by drilling appropriate sized holes in a piece of aluminum somewhere around ¼" to ½" thick.

Depending on the width of the aluminum stock, you could do several cases at once. When they have been dipped long enough, just turn it over to empty.

Might work, might not; but it would be simpler than modifying a mold to hold cases.

Robert

[oley55]

I've thought about, but haven't done it yet, of making a simple case holder for annealing in a lead bath (probably work for salt baths too, by drilling appropriate sized holes in a piece of aluminum somewhere around ¼" to ½" thick.

Depending on the width of the aluminum stock, you could do several cases at once. When they have been dipped long enough, just turn it over to empty.

Might work, might not; but it would be simpler than modifying a mold to hold cases.

Robert

No doubt, but I was/am after the benefits of a heatsink for the fairly short, straight walled cases. Something about the nearly 900+ degree heat shooting up those thin walls into the case body. If the annealing creeps up too far case extraction could become an issue.

[Mk42gunner]

No doubt, but I was/am after the benefits of a heatsink for the fairly short, straight walled cases. Something about the nearly 900+ degree heat shooting up those thin walls into the case body. If the annealing creeps up too far case extraction could become an issue.

My plan was to try it with the lead at about 750, and hand hold the first one or two to get the timing down. Probably leave the fired primers in too, and maybe a dip in light oil to help prevent lead from sticking to the brass.

Maybe one day I'll actually try it out, I do know I don't like using a propane torch to anneal brass.

Robert

[warren5421]

I use an Annealzee to do .41 &.44 mag, .44 WCF, .45 Colt and several rifle rounds. New brass from .41 up gets done before first loading. Star Line .45-70 comes with a note if using black powder anneal before first loading. If they need it, I just do all Star Line, then after every 5 loadings. I have both rifle and pistol brass that have 25-30 loadings where only 8-10 are gone from the 100 I started with. I have got splits in the case wall, the few I have piched, some were just lost, unable to find them.

[C-dubb]

I anneal all of my 45 brass every 5 loadings. Have some that have been loaded at least 30 times and still going strong. I built an automatic annealer using free plans that a guy from Australia invented. Works great.

[oley55]

I salt-bath annealed #50 FC 44mag cases yesterday and am pleased with how the heatsink seemed to work. Anneal time 5 seconds in 990 degree salt and the heatsink mold body never exceeded 150 degrees. In the pics you can see where the darker gold hue fades to nothing just at the edge of the mold/heatsink. I wish I had some 400-425 Tempilaq, but based on the heatsink temps I am confident excessive heat did not move up into the case head areas.