Anealing by dipping case necks in hot lead?

[Jayhawkhuntclub]

So as not to side track the previous thread, I'm starting a new one.

Dipping the necks in my lead pot at 650 degrees is cheaper!

Never heard of this before. Anyone else have experience with this method?

[popper]

You need to leave the spent primer in and use pure lead. I don't like holding my hand above a hot lead pot.
PITA - use the candle annealing method - much less trouble.

[DougGuy]

700° is not hot enough to anneal brass. Until you see it glowing a dull cherry red, all you are doing is wasting your time.

[dragon813gt]

The temp of the brass case is what anneals it. The hotter the flame, the quicker the annealing which means less chance for the heat to migrate to the case head.

People like to complicate it for some reason. You don't need to do it in a dark room. You don't want to see it change to red. If you use a socket in a drill w/ a torch of your choice you can watch the color change as it moves down the neck.

I know you asked about the lead pot method so sorry for going off topic a little. If you want to hold your hand above a molten pot of lead and deal w/ lead stuck to the cases have at it. It has to be pure lead and even then you might end up w/ lead on the cases.

[Outpost75]

I've always used a propane torch clamped in the bench vise, holding the sized, decapped, cleaned cases with my fingers, twirling the case as I held the blue inner cone at the base of the neck, a few seconds is all it takes, then drop the case into a water bucket between my feet. If you don't burn your fingers, the case head can't get soft. The anneal color looks like Lake City did it.

[bangerjim]

700F.......no go. And the lead will proably stick in spots to clean brass, just making your life more miserable.

[Czech_too]

First off, let me acknowledge that I'm a newb at annealing brass. I have used a lead pot to do some though. Read somewhere about that method, so I gave it a try. Just how effective/efficient it is compared to a propane torch, I can't say. You definitely want to have the fired primer in the case and any lead that may 'stick' comes off easily with some steel wool. Oh, and I wore welding gloves while doing it, just as I do when casting.

[country gent]

I use a variation of the lead pot method, I replaced the lead with very fine sand from glass making factory. very fine. I have a rack set up in a dedicated lyman pot that has a ring of holes (12) I bring the pot to 800* and work around the ring insert a ccase and remove the next dropping into water bucket. They get a short soak time in the sand. When sizing after being annealed there is no spring back in the necks. Or when expanding either. I trried lead and got cases with lead sticking in them. The sand dosnt stick and a quick run thru the polisher removes any dust. Annealing is fast simple and easy to do with a tourch or other means. Templac can be painted on the inside of case neck to show when tem is reached also. Use what works for you and be as consistant as possible in temps time in flame rotation speed and it will work for you. Amount of Annealing is a time at a certain temp. the reason for going to the color change with the tourch or other heat source is it is fast enough heat dosnr get into case heads. I have been looking into a induction heater for installing bearing for this also. So far expensive and not sure how fast it will be.

[MBTcustom]

I have done it, but I used a pot set at 800 degrees. I held the case neck in the alloy for about 5-8 seconds and dropped the case in a pile on a soft rag.
This is how I used to do it. It's still a good idea, because there is no way to burn the necks.
However, I now do exactly as Outpost75 suggests. I put the inner blue point of the flame to the shoulder of the case at an angle that points toward the case mouth, and twist it in my fingers till I feel the heat and drop them in a pile on a soft rag.
Good enough for government work.

I would like to mention that not all brass turns color, or at least it doesn't all turn that pretty LC color at the temperature we are talking about. Judging by case color is a fools errand. The best method is to use templac to train yourself to keep the right rhythm, but until I remember to buy some, remember: 10 full seconds on 308, 30XCB, 30-06, or 35 caliber variants of these.

[Powder Burn]

Good tip about having a 'fired' primer in the case. Bought some mixed brass 7.62x39 all polished and pretty awhile back. Takes about 4 seconds for the primer to detonate. Used the torch and socket/quench method with a rechargable screwdriver. I now use a universal decapping die before I anneal.

[blackthorn]

Annealing case necks by dipping them into molten leadthat is held at about seven hundred degrees ‘F’ works well. Wheel weight alloy, which is approximatelyeighty nine parts lead, one part tin and ten parts antimony, melts at sixhundred and nineteen degrees ‘F’ so you can safely set your lead alloytemperature at seven hundred degrees ‘F’. The use of a thermometer will take any guesswork out of theprocess. The reason for using lead forannealing is to keep the temperature low enough for proper uniform annealing,and that is simply not possible using the torch method. With a torch the case is often heated on oneside more than the other, temperatures are not readily repeatable from case tocase, and in falling over into the water, one side is quenched before theother. To minimize the likelihood of lead ‘soldering’ itselfto the brass case it is best to use as close to pure lead as possible (althoughany lead alloy will work). Anneal yourcases with the fired primers left in, as that forms an airlock thatkeeps lead away from the inside of the case. With respect to annealing cases using molten lead, basically you: setthe thermostat on your pot at seven hundred to eight hundred degrees ‘F’ pickup each case by the head and dip the neck of the cases about a quarter-inchinto some powdered graphite or light oil (vegetable oil is fine). The oil keeps lead from sticking to the brassbut, any lead that does stick is easily removed by a quick twist in steel woolwhile the case is still hot. Shake offany excess oil, dip the neck, shoulder, and about a quarter-inch of the casebody into the molten lead and just as you begin to feel an uncomfortable degreeof heat in your fingertips, drop the case into water. If you hold the cases in some other way thanwith your bare fingers, leave them in the molten lead from eight to twelve, butnot more than fifteen seconds. When thecase is hot enough that the lead does not cling to it, it is annealed. Pull the case up out of the lead, tap on theside of the case to remove any bits of lead (if the lead is really sticking,the case isn't annealed!), then drop it mouth down (straight) into a containerthat is mostly full of ice water. Following the anneal, it would be wise to closely inspect the inside ofthe case both visually and with a bent paper clip just to make sure there areno lead drippings adhering to the inside the case. If you are left-handed, have the cases on the right side, thelead in the middle, and the ice water on the left. The cases go only one direction, to the left,and you use only one hand. If you areright handed, reverse the set-up. Because it only takes a few seconds per case, you can anneal hundreds ofcases in an hour with this method. Afterthe annealing process, remove the cases from the water, shake them out and usea piece of bronze wool to clean theannealed portion. This removes any residual lead and/or burnedoil. Then, dry and tumble the cases toremove any traces of residual oil and they are ready to process.

If you get a case visibly red, you have likely ruined that case! You really do not want to remove all the resistance from the case! Take a piece of new, unfired brass and gently squeeze the case mouth, when you see it start to deform release the pressure and watch it spring back. That is the state you should strive for when you anneal.

[kryogen]

Just use a drill and socket, and a torch, takes approx 6 seconds for 308 brass to get the line just below the shoulder. Aim the inner hot spot of the flame at the junction of the neck and mouth. Why make it complicated.

[Maven]

Just use a drill and socket, and a torch, takes approx 6 seconds for 308 brass to get the line just below the shoulder. Aim the inner hot spot of the flame at the junction of the neck and mouth. Why make it complicated.

Excellent advice!

[borg]

doing it with lead only tinned my brass. LOL
Use a torch!

[MtGun44]

Cherry red is way too hot. Makes the case dead soft, not what you really
want. Lowest red heat is at least 950F and you want to anneal somewhere around
750F, so you are 200F too hot and will make the cases dead soft. The only
way to get the necks back is to size and expand them repeatedly, maybe 3-4
cycles to work harden them back a bit.

The dumping in water does nothing whatsoever other than cooling them
quickly. Cooling rate has no effect whatsoever on copper alloys. They
only work harden and heat soften. Cooling rate independent.

I tried the lead pot, kept getting lead sticking to the brass, not good. Quickly
quit that.

[DLCTEX]

The reason I have been told to dump in water is to stop heat from migrating down the case.

[C. Latch]

I use a drill to spin a deep-dish socket over the propane torch, with the brass sticking out of the socket. Even though the brass fits loosely in the socket, it (socket) still functions as something of a heat sink. Set flame spin the first case neck/shoulder in the blue center, counting until it begins to change colors, then drop in water to cool (for safe handling later)......then repeat with all the other brass for the same count. I like to start with clean brass so the color changes are most obvious. I try to anneal the neck, shoulder, and no more than 1/4" of the body.

[N4AUD]

I tried the dip-in-molten-lead method and I got cases with lead stuck to them. A flame is easier for me. Try it for yourself but it just made a big mess of a few .303 cases when I tried it. Propane torches are pretty easy to use, why complicate things?

[Moonie]

Lead dip method works great for me. Dip, cool, decap and clean with ss pins. I do all of my 300BO brass this way.

[Tom Myers]

Lead dip method works great for me. Dip, cool, decap and clean with ss pins. I do all of my 300BO brass this way.

Yep. Dip while still grungy and dirty with powder residue and lube smears. Pretty hard for lead to stick to that stuff.

[tygar]

I used the paste stuff until got it figured out & 10 seconds is just right for 308-06 based cases, 373/338 & mags took 11-12

[collyer]

I also anneal mine in lead. I set my pid on 710 degrees. I leave the primer in the brass. I use graphite powder on the neck of the brass. I took a small piece of flat iron and drilled holes in it to hold 4 to 5 pieces of brass. I use the hand method on one brass and time it. Then I use the flat iron I made to do 4 to 5 at a time and then drop them in water. If the lead is sticking on the brass you need to hold it in the lead a little longer. Been doing this sometime with no problems. Tom

[RobS]

Leaving the spent primer in helps keep the lead out of the inside and also using straight lead and not an alloy also helps. My Dad did some rifle cases for me and I had 10 or 15 left that didn't make the annealing so I did the remaining cases. I used WW alloy the first few and lead stuck all over, then much better with straight lead. Keeping the primer in traps the air inside the case and won't let the alloy into the inside.