Question on .22 case annealing

[Capt. Senile]

I've been annealing my jackets made from .22 rimfire cases in a Lyman Master Caster 20 Lb pot. Depending on where I put the thermometer in the pot, the temps go from 730 to 775. They stay in the pot for 30 minutes or so and are water quenched.

My question is how soft should the jackets be after quenching. I can crush the open end with just finger pressure, but not the closed part. Are these jackets soft enough or do I need to anneal the whole bunch again at a higher temp?

Thanks for the help.

[newcastter]

I only cook mine on level 7 of a 20lb lead pot for 7 minutes then stir, 7 more minutes, quench and they are done. And yes can squish with finger on the open tip. You would not want to be able to squish the base with your fingers I believe that would be way to soft.

[fredj338]

I only cook mine on level 7 of a 20lb lead pot for 7 minutes then stir, 7 more minutes, quench and they are done. And yes can squish with finger on the open tip. You would not want to be able to squish the base with your fingers I believe that would be way to soft.

I am about the same, 6min set on 6, stir, 6min. I use a smaller 4#, do about 100 at a pop. If you can fold the case motuh with fingers, it's soft enough to form good points w/o wrinkles.

[Capt. Senile]

Thanks guys. I've got almost 40,000 jackets made and I didn't want to re-anneal them all over again.

[kweidner]

You are good to go. Mine go 800-850 for 20 minutes. They fly great. I just point formed about 650 this morning. Only 7 fold overs in the batch. I have found that after core seating put them in a wide mouth mason jar still lubed and roll around for about 5 minutes. This evenly distributes the lube and will help with hydraulic dents.

[Lizard333]

You should be fine. If they can be pinched with your fingers, your good to go.

Btw, water quenching is not needed. Brass does not benefit from quenching like steal. That is unless you want wet jackets.

Have you derimmed that jackets yet. Some dies, it is better to aneal after you derim. You might get some jacket failures.

[newcastter]

The main reason I "quench" is not for the quench effect but is actually a citric bath. It helps with removing the discoloration from annealing. Yes they are wet but they are going to get wet anyway when I tumble them in SS pin media which happens to be my very next step.

[BT Sniper]

I use same technique as Newcastter. Yep hot water citric acid quench right after anneal helps a good deal to start removing unwanted scale from brass followed by tumble in SS media.

When I annealed brass in 20# lead pot I ran it covered at max temp only 1/3 full. Stir after 7-10 minutes cook another 7-10 minutes then pore directly into hot citric acid water bath.

Your cases should turn a slight silver in color if you let air cool and be able to squish between your fingers.

The 700+ temps you recorded sounds good to me.

BT

[Capt. Senile]

My annealing is done after de-riming. The main reason for water quenching is that I don't have a lot of room to leave hot jackets on the bench while doing other things, so into a 5 gallon bucket of water they go. I don't put any Lemishine in the water as I usually anneal at night and it takes several days to get enough jackets to fill the tumbler for a final tumble in the SS media. I don't think leaving jackets for 3-4 days in Lemishine would be a good thing.

I've also found that rinsing and agitating the annealed jackets in warm water for 5 minutes will remove most of the scale. I let the jackets tumble overnight (6-9 hours) for a final polish with a triple helping of Lemishine. They do come out looking like gold.

[newcastter]

My annealing is done after de-riming. The main reason for water quenching is that I don't have a lot of room to leave hot jackets on the bench while doing other things, so into a 5 gallon bucket of water they go. I don't put any Lemishine in the water as I usually anneal at night and it takes several days to get enough jackets to fill the tumbler for a final tumble in the SS media. I don't think leaving jackets for 3-4 days in Lemishine would be a good thing.

I've also found that rinsing and agitating the annealed jackets in warm water for 5 minutes will remove most of the scale. I let the jackets tumble overnight (6-9 hours) for a final polish with a triple helping of Lemishine. They do come out looking like gold.

Basicaly to every man his own....the key is that they are CLEAN before core seating and point forming whatever method you use.