Making Brown Annealed Brass Shine Again!

[BT Sniper]

I feel like I have finally figured out the best way so far for me to anneal large quanities of brass at the same time and make them shine better then new again.

I think this may be very helpfull for all you 22 LR swagers out there if you want to turn them a bright brass color.

I'll get more info on techniques in a minute. Here is a couple pics.

BT

[mac0083]

Whatever your method is, it certainly shines it up reel nice. You say you've also found an easier way to anneal? Can't wait to learn this!

[BT Sniper]

Got late last night before I could get around to posting my findings but here we go.

I have been able to anneal up to a few hundred 40 S&W size cases at the same time using my BBQ grill and an over the sink stainless steel colander.

Last time I took my propain bottel in to be refilled they must have fully opened some valve because now I can get the full flame out of it. I'm able to peg the temp at 700+

So I took out the grill and anything else that was in the way of the burner and placed the sink conander, that I picked up at wally world $14, filled with a single layer of brass inside and on top of the burner. After about 10-15 minutes with temp as hot as possible (usually 600-700 deg) I opened it up and took the propain tourch to any brass that was not all ready glowing.

From there I dumped everything in a bucket of water and continued the process.

Now for the helpfull tips I have found with the help of many here on the board. After the brass has cooked I soak them in an acid bath. The poll PH reducer mixed in water does work best as was noted by members here. I got to the point were I skipped dumping the hot brass in the water and dumped them strait into the acid bath. Make sure you are upwind and the bucket is downwind of anyone that may be affected as boiling acid fumes can't be good I'm sure.

Anyway this only needed a couple minutes in the acid and then rinced with water and left to dry.

Now what I found to work best at removing the brown scale left over was a couple teaspoons full of any of your typical bore cleaner solivent mixed in the tumbler with wallnut shell and left to tumble overnight. I used Hoppes Benchrest. I'm pretty sure the ammonia in the cleaner is not recamended for brass you intend to reload but for brass jackets I certainly don't think it is an issue. Be sure and keep this media sepperate from the rest. Anyone care to verify this in reguards to ammonia and brass for cases you intend to reload. I must say it has produced the cleanest and brightest brass cases for me so far.

Notice the cases above in teh picture. The 40 S&W case got stuck inside a 45 ACP and showed a good example of the before and after of this process. The other cases are 5.7x28 that had the laquer coating on it which burned of nicly and shined right up.

Have not tried making bullets from the cases yet but I immagine they should be better then my annealing in a large skillet attempts.

I'll keep you guys up to date with my findings. Thanks to all of you that posted helpfull info in the "pickeled brass thread".

BT

[BT Sniper]

I would think this tecnique should work well for the 22LR brass crowd out there.

Good shooting guys.

BT