annealing case color

['74 sharps]

Started annealing some cases, darkened room, water bath, and got a few copper colored case mouths. Too much heat? Useable? Thanks.......

[cajun shooter]

You really need to read the much talked about and printed material that covers this subject. It's almost impossible to tell some one when to stop.
I also don't think you need to water drop as that has another effect on the brass. Dropped on a large old towel in a box and allowed to air dry is better in my mind.
They have a material you may buy that is heat sensitive and changes color at different temps. It is about $50 or so dollars but will give you a accurate reading until you have enough time to do it on your own. It is sold by Midway IIRC. Later David
PS It's better to stop at the first sign of color than to keep going as you will heat too much of case making it worthless to load.

[Ed in North Texas]

I'm no expert. I was always told to heat until color just starts to show. But there is information on the net. Here's a good article link. Lots of technical info, plus automated and manual annealing techniques explained in some detail. Check out the manual methods at the bottom of the article. You might even be bitten by the bug to build a case turner like DeSimone's.

http://www.6mmbr.com/annealing.html

Ed

[montana_charlie]

The guy in this video shows it can be done in a well-lighted room where you can see what you're doing, and that 'blue' is the color you are looking for.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgD5D0Wzu-c

Personally, I don't use the water quench ...

CM

[MT Trapper]

CM,

How often should a guy anneal cases? How do you know when?

Trapper

['74 sharps]

Thanks for the link.looks like I got some right, some under and some over. I was thinking about the drill, but could not think of a way to hold the case.
Old time cases were solid copper, so I was wondering if a little copper showing with a low pressure powder would be useable.........

[Boz330]

Blue is the color you are looking for and you can do it in a well lit room. Go ahead and shoot the ones you think were over heated, unless they were cherry red they should be ok. I neck size with a tong tool and you can feel the difference if you get a case that is real soft. I just separate those out and use them for practice and they eventually work harden. The big thing you are looking for is a consistent release pressure.

Bob

[MikeT]

Unless you have heated the entire case too hot, the neck will reharden through either use
as suggested by Boz or run the resizeing-neck expanding procedure until you notice the
brass getting stiffer.

Keep on havn' fun!
MikeT

[Ed in North Texas]

Thanks for the link.looks like I got some right, some under and some over. I was thinking about the drill, but could not think of a way to hold the case.
Old time cases were solid copper, so I was wondering if a little copper showing with a low pressure powder would be useable.........

Just off the top of my head, I have square drive socket adapters for the cordless drills (would obviously work in a regular drill too). Take a socket of the right size and chuck it the drill. Voila - a case holder where you can drop cases in and pick/dump them right out. If you have a big enough socket set, you should be able to handle any case ever made, rimmed or rimless.

Ed

[montana_charlie]

CM,

How often should a guy anneal cases? How do you know when?
I'm the wrong guy to ask.
I sometimes anneal cases, but not for the usual reasons.

I reload cases that have not been resized, and the bullets are a slip-fit in the mouth.
I don't depend on 'neck tension', so I have no need to anneal to keep it consistent.
My cases don't get worked, so they don't have any reason to split. Therefore I don't periodically 'soften them' to extend their life.

Kenny Wasserberger wins matches and anneals for each reloading.
He might be a good one to ask ...

CM

[Chicken Thief]

Hold the rim between your fingertips and heat the neck.
When it is to hot to hold you have annealed enough.
Note the colour and time, and you are set to go.
No need to get it red or water quench. Just owerkill and you will sweat out the zink.
If you expand and crimp heawily then 2-3 firings, light of both then 5-6 firings between annealing.

[Cimarron Red]

For my case annealing I hold the case as shown in this photo from Lee's web site using a lock stud and shell holder.

http://leeprecision.com/case-conditioning-tools/case-trimming-tools/

Instead of the drill I use a power screw driver and rotate the case in a light to medium flame from a propane torch (small bottle) for a count of 5 to 6 seconds (using a count-down timer.) I then touch the case to a tempil-stik made to melt at 650 to 660 degrees (available from a mail order industrial supply house.) I use the temp stick for every fourth or fifth case. I then drop each case into a pie pan to air cool. The temperature I'm aiming for is 660 to 665 degrees, and I'm confident I achieve that as seating bullets in the annealed cases is quite a bit easier than it had been prior to annealing. I've been using this method for about eight years now. I regularly anneal .45-70, .38-55, .32-20 and .30-30 cases.

Here's a link to the temperature crayons and liquid at McMaster-Carr. I've only used the crayons.

http://www.mcmaster.com/#heat-sticks/=g5eyf8

[leadman]

Tthe Hornady annealing kit has Templak (sp?) included that is a 475' degree indicator IIRC.
this is the stuff you paint on the case and when it changes color, you are done.

I'm picking up a TempStik from the local welding supply store tomorrow. This works in the same way.

Dropping the case in water does not do anything to the brass other than ensuring the heat does not travel down the case and get it too hot.

Extreme care with the amount of heat is critical for some cases as I found out. I annealed the typical 30-06, 7mm mag, etc, but when I did the 7.62 Nagant the same way the necks, being so thin anyway were collapsing on me while trying to size or expand them. Even seating a boolit in an expanded case would collapse the case neck.
I did manage to load most of them and they are getting work hardened now so are easier to load. This is why I am getting the tempStik.

[nwellons]

Leadman. Regarding Nagant brass. What brand gave you problems? So far, I have used Hotshot Nagant brass and have had no problems, even when I was learning and over heating cases when annealing. Is it that some brands may not be as robust?

[PanaDP]

My understanding is that if your case starts to incandesce you've gone too far. You just want to heat until the surface starts to discolor green or blue. It looks a bit like case coloring.