anneal brass

[686]

does any one anneal there brass? how do you do it? not how is it done but how do you do it.

[pdawg_shooter]

I anneal every 5 loads on bottle necked brass and every 3 or 4 on straight wall brass. I used the hot lead method. I heat my lead to 750*, dip the brass in motor mica then into the lead. I hold the brass with my fingers, that prevents overheating. When the case head starts to get hot on my fingers I drop the brass in water. Works great and is very uniform.

[jrinne0430]

How far down you dip the strait walls? I have only annealed bottle necked.

[cbrick]

Here's an article on annealing by Ken Light and Jim Harris. Ken makes the BC-1000 cartridge case anealer. This will tell you all you want & need to know about annealing.

Cartridge Case Annealing (http://www.lasc.us/CartridgeCaseAnnealing.htm)

Rick

[Shiloh]

I just did 88 .30-40 cases. I put some in water with the primer removed and heated just above the shoulder until I got a slight glow on the neck, and a bluish margin line about 1/4 inch below the shoulder. I alternated a neutral flame from a small propane/oxygen jewelers torch from side to side and got a pretty even line.

I am looking at making a device that rotates cases in a bath of water, and knocking them over with the torch when I get the bluish margin line. This should make things even more consistant.

I'll post pics when I get it made.

Shiloh

[pdawg_shooter]

How far down you dip the strait walls? I have only annealed bottle necked.

On my 45-70 I shoot for 3/4 inch. Revolver brass about 1/4 inch.

[jonkzak]

I use a pie pan filled about 1" with water and stand up the cartridges and use my ole trusty butane torch and heat the shoulder area until a dull red and just flick the cartridge over into the water. In just about 20 min I can do all I want to reload in a sitting.

The object is to keep the temper of the brass in the head area, from the rim to normally about .25" up. One does not want to soften the head as then you will have stretching in the primer pocket leading to blown primers and a face full of very hot gas...

JJ

[nicholst55]

I use the Hornady case annealing kit. It consists of 3 different heat sink/case holders that spin in a cordless screwdriver, and some Tempilaq. You paint a bit of Tempilaq on the case, insert in the case spinner, and heat the neck until the Tempilaq melts. Flick the brass into a pan of cold water, and you're done. It's pretty much foolproof, if you follow directions.

[Willbird]

If you dig around on the Benchrest websites you will find the temps they use, the best way is to use what is called "tempilaq" which melts when you get to the temperature it is rated at, some folks use an alcohol lamp and rotate the case with a sinclair case holder driven by a battery powered screwdriver. For many purposes the "heat until you see dull red" is too hot, that makes the brass dead soft.

Bill

[rbuck351]

I assume because your on this site you have a lead pot. Use pdawg shooters method as it is fast, easy, accurate,cheap, simple and you can't screw up cases as you fingers will fry before the case gets hot enough on the head to damage it. I don't know why people even try to build machines when it takes as long to put a case in a machine as it does to dip it in hot lead. And trying to heat them even with a torch and not to hot. Is the hot lead method just to easy???

[Dan Cash]

I have tried the hot lead method and ended up with soldered cases. Have tried the others too but have settled on the following:
TOOLS: coffee can of water; 3/8"drive socket extension; 3/8 drive socket that will accept the cartridge case with a loose fit and a propane torch. For long cartridges, use a deep set socket.

METHOD: Put the socket on the extension, fill the coffee can with water and light the torch. Turn down the lights in the room where you are working. Put a cartridge in the socket and holding the extension, place the case neck in the troch flame and rotate slowly. When case neck begins to glow, dump case in coffee can.

Works for me.
Dan

[Shiloh]

I assume because your on this site you have a lead pot. Use pdawg shooters method as it is fast, easy, accurate,cheap, simple and you can't screw up cases as you fingers will fry before the case gets hot enough on the head to damage it. I don't know why people even try to build machines when it takes as long to put a case in a machine as it does to dip it in hot lead. And trying to heat them even with a torch and not to hot. Is the hot lead method just to easy???

Tried it with scrap Turkish Mauser brass. Thought I would try scrap brass first. Glad I did. Otherwise my Krag brass would have lead soldered on it like the Mauser brass.

Shiloh

[3006guns]

One of my old reloading books discusses case annealing in fair detail and outlines most of the methods already mentioned. Unlike steel, brass when heated then quenched does not harden...it stays at the annealed point. The first method I tried worked easily, so I stuck with it........stand the cases in water and heat with a small propane torch then tip them over. That's it. You should practice first, as I found that it's really not necessary to heat the brass to a red color. Just heat until it begins to turn a shade of brown/black and then knock it over and you're done. I did heat them to BRIGHT red by accident on my first try (can happen quickly) and brother, they were soft! You could crush the case mouth by squeezing with your fingers. The bases were fine though.

But back to the old reloading book....they came up with a nifty little gizmo that was nothing more than a rectangular sheet metal tray, maybe 3" x 4" and deep enough to keep the bases covered with water. This thing had a handle soldered to it, so you pack it with cases (in water) hold the handle in one hand and a propane torch in the other. Heat the necks/shoulders until they all turn color (takes a very short time) then dump the whole lot into a bucket of water. Reach down with your little tray and dip out more water, pack in more cases and repeat.

I found that exotic heating doesn't seem to make much difference either. The heat spreads so rapidly in the brass that just heating on one side of the neck/shoulder seems to work as well. I still try to make it an "even heat all around" if I can, but honestly it's not rocket science. A device to rotate the cases before a flame, etc. gets a little carried away for the home reloader. Keep it simple and enjoy it!

[qajaq59]

I just hold the case neck in front of the torch until my fingers get hot and then drop it on an aluminum sheet. That seems to be the the right temp and I don't have to deal with wet cases. It has worked well so far. But most everyone I talk to has a favorite method so there's lots of variety to choose from.

[zampilot]

I hold them between thumb and forefinger, hold through the flame of a propane torch so the mouth is on one side of the flame and the flame is on the brass slightly below the mouth about 1/2" away, twist rapidly, at about a 4 second count they just start to turn reddish, then it's into water. I end up with about 3/4" of a 45-70 case done, very uniform throughout.

[shotman]

has anyone done this. I have a hot plate [heat molds on] put a cast iron grill plate on it. turn on hi and it will get dull red. I set brass on it and hold with finger till head is warm and throw in damp sand. It works and no wet brass. I dont mess with most just the odd ball that is hard to get. rest dont waste the time on rick

[Recluse]

If you dig around on the Benchrest websites you will find the temps they use, the best way is to use what is called "tempilaq" which melts when you get to the temperature it is rated at, some folks use an alcohol lamp and rotate the case with a sinclair case holder driven by a battery powered screwdriver. For many purposes the "heat until you see dull red" is too hot, that makes the brass dead soft.

Bill

I've used some of the temperature pencils and they work okay--gives you a good indication for characteristics you're looking for in regards to temperature.

As for as "heat until you see dull red is too hot," I agree. When I anneal cases, I'm out in my reloading shop anyhow. I pull down the shades and turn out the lights. THEN when I begin to see the faintest glow on the necks, I tip them over into the water.

If you do it in the light, it takes a bit longer to see that reddish glow. Without the lights, you'll see it much quicker and avoid (in most cases) overheating the brass.

:coffee:

[jmorris]

I don't know why people even try to build machines when it takes as long to put a case in a machine as it does to dip it in hot lead.


The one I built is truly effortless, here is a video of it running.
http://s121.photobucket.com/albums/o213/jmorrismetal/annealer/?action=view&current=an1.flv

When heating the case watch the flame color (not case color) when it turns orange the Zinc is beginning to burn off. So when the flame starts to turn orange it's done any more is too much. Any case that's "glowing" (950 degrees +) will be dead soft, you don't want that.

http://www.6mmbr.com/annealing.html is more information on the subject than you wanted to know.