Sounds like it might work if you can get the brass in the right spot in your oven. I'm guessing the ones that were annealed were closer to the flame.
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This has worked pretty well for me:
http://img109.imageshack.us/img109/5...0726194553.jpg
It is a regular heat plate stove, not induction based.
Don't know why the camera made the plate look purple.
Not sure either, but you certainly altered the Space/Time Continuum!
Heated plate is emitting IR light which is invisible for our naked eye but your probably cheaper camera (without sufficient chip filter) amplified it ;-)
It definately looks cool!
Source for those looking for bulk citric acid
http://www.dudadiesel.com/search.php?query=citric
Lemi shine also works well.
Thought I would post it here so I can find it again too :)
GOod shooting
BT
i got mine in the canning section at the supermarket.
I found the supper market citric acid to be way to expensive unless I wasn't looking at the same stuff. The local brewing supply store was just as bad. I found the on line price to be much better and it works good. I didn't notice any difference between it and the lemi shine.
Good shooting
BT
I have a question. I looked through the threads first, but may have missed it. Anyway, why do we use a citric acid bath? Is it part of the annealing process or just to clean up the brass after? If it is just to clean can I wait til they cool and then SS tumble? Thanks guys. Thaks to BT I'm a .40 to .45 guy.
Russ
It's just to clean the brass. After a hot citric soak for
10 or 15 min. I rinse with plain water, dry, then tumble.
SS is more agressive I think, probably wouldn't need the
citric, but it is cheap & easy. I've been using cheap
uncooked rice for tumbling media, gets 'em clean but
not as shiny as walnut or other stuff. Experiment!
I have a product I have had for a LOOOOOONNNNGGGG time. It was callled "Case Brite or Brite Case" don't recall exactly. I put a couple of caps in with my tumble media when needed. Cases come out bright and shiney. (I use Lizard Litter desert mix.) It was made for bullet cases so I don't believe it has any of the amonia in it.
I did a search and the only thing that came up was Rooster Brite, which also had no amonia. Here is a link if you want to try it:
http://www.trackofthewolf.com/catego.../1/case-bright
I have wondered about the rouster bright products, has anyone used them?
BT
It's ROOSTER Bright. As in cockadoodle doo
Information is on this page:
http://www.roosterlabs.com/products.html
Here's the secret:
Mild citrus fragrance.
Ummmmmmmmmmm. wonder what that is.......... hahaha
question to the annealing experts. i am new to the swaging process and using soft copper tubing (got some really nice looking 125gr 357's) but the base have a tiny stress crack on the corner. When you anneal the copper jacket at first: does it last the entire process of expanding the copper, rounding the end and flattenig the base?
Normally yes but not always. Usually stress cracks at the base is caused by uneven cuts and one side of your round over punch smashing the bottom of your jacket. That can be relieved by annealing but not always. This is especially true of coiled copper tubing as its not as good an alloy as the rigid tubing as well.
I haven't bothered to try annealing the soft copper tubing. I found it to allready be softer then anything else I use to make bullets from. I'm not sure annealing the copper tubing is the problem??
BT
i found the culprit: seems the copper tubing is not seemless and at the corner of the base shows up as a hairline crack
A note on annealing 22lr jackets. I have an old 4# Lee pot I got in a garage sale, never figured out what to do with it. It makes a perfect kiln for doing 100+ jackets @ a time. DUmp them in, crank it to #6, cover w/ heavy tin foil or a ceramic tile & stir once after 5m. Let them go another 5 & turn it off. They come out quite soft & ready for ss pin cleaning & when BT gets me the rest of the dies, I'll be makin bullets.
As far as the tubing goes I end round first then anneal before reducing and swaging. If you have to reduce a few times, it could be worth annealing again.
OK! I had been saying it for a while but today I finally tried it and I must say it worked pretty darn good. Using the Lee #20 lead pot to anneal brass in. I used a new pot that can be found and keep it sepperate from any melted lead.
It is quick! faster then anythign else I have tried yet and cheap! Only takes elc. I let them soak for maybe 20 minutes and WOW! that was too much! Things where glowing! Probably only needed 5-10 minutes max or possibly less. I was able to anneal probably 4-500 24 cal jackets at one time. Quick, perfect and awesome!
Give it a try if you haven't all ready, just make sure you use a clean pot.
Good shooting
Brian
Brian- Bought one for just that. What setting did you use? Built a PID a while back, will probably use that.
Supe
More infor to come! Just want to report back that I had %100 sucess with the brass I annealed in the Lee Lead Pot. I believe it will be my primary means to anneal all my riffle caliber brass jackets.
Got to be sure to clean the brass after annealing! Good way to start the claening process is take the brass stratight from the "Lee Oven" and poor them directly into a bucket of hot citic acid water bath.
I'll get back with my thoughts and future use of the Lee Oven :)
BT
Just came up out of the shop. Finished derimming 22lr jackets and have begun the annealing process. Using an evenheat oven, raising temp to 1250 F for a 1 minute hold. Cases can be crushed with minimal finger pressure. The temps listined at the beginning of this post are holding true.
What model of oven are you using? This seems like the best way to go. The price isn't cheap, but it seems the most efficient way.
I'm with Brian on the Lee 20 pound pot for the annealing.
Compared with the commercial annealers, the Lee is a financially viable way to go. It will run hundreds of .22 LR brass de-rimmed pieces in a single 12 minute batch (goes faster than my ability to assemble into bullets), and is easy to just pick it up, and dump directly into hot water/Lemishine/Cictric Acid bath for cleaning. The lower 1/3 of the pot gets to annealing temperature, so keep the fill to about 1/3 full. That's a lot of brass.
I also tried some 9mm brass, that went fast. It also went fast for the 5.7X28FN brass I annealed in it, 15 minute cycle time.
I'm very happy with this an an annealing vessel.
I'm thinking of getting a used knife blade annealer. Looks like I should be able to do several hundred at once. I just need 400 bucks now....
And here I thought I was going to buy another ivory back scratcher.
$400??? Are you nuts????
Get a BRAND new Lee 20 pound dipper pot for UNDER $100, and do even more, per batch, than you'd ever do with the used knife blade annealer.
The Lee pot version is even designed for the exact perfect temperature range!!!!
http://www.woodenluremaking.com/LeeMagnumMelter110V.jpg
Or do it for 20$. Buy a cast iron skillet with a lid. Fill it full of brass you want to anneal or core bond, and place over a burner on high for fifteen minutes. I am able to do 250-300 40's with bonding the lead in fifteen minutes. I can do more if I'm annealing. Your limited to real estate with the lee pot, and you can only fill it a third of the way full.
Grumpa taught that to me a few weeks ago and works like a charm. You can even add your thermostat in the top to confirm you have reached 800+ degrees.
New here so if someone else mentioned it I did not see it. When I need to dry cases after sonic cleaning I use a food dehydrator that was useless for food but at about 100 degrees for an hour I can dry about 500 9mm brass. Works great, but I wouldn't try food again in it ;)
Is that a gas or electric stovetop you are using? Just curious as I am planning my entry into the swagging realm and I'm trying to figure out how I will anneal brass in my apartment. I've only got a small Q gas grill and an old electric stove that is not self-cleaning. The 4# Lee pot sounds like a good possibility but hey a cast iron pot sounds even better, if feasible.
I'm using a propane turkey fryer for the heat. 15 minutes on high and the pot is above 800. Good or me.