Anealing block

[blaser.306]

Nececity is the mother of invention they say! I needed a way to hold my brass for anealing them so I came up with this "block" and with the addition of a potters banding wheel that was left over from my mom's estate voila! I have different holes bored for all sizes of brass that are requiered. All I do is just center the proper hole on the wheel that is on a bearing , drop in the brass and heat to a light glow in a dimly lit room and repeat (many times) It takes a little time but does the job.Just thought I would share .

[uscra112]

How do you quench them?

[cbrick]

No need to quench brass, wouldn't do any good one way or the other anyway.

Rick

[blaser.306]

How do you quench them?

No need to quench brass after anealing ( unlike steel )

[Recluse]

No need to quench brass, wouldn't do any good one way or the other anyway.

Rick

While this is true, I do it anyway. I think, partly, because "I've always done it this way," and for the other, since I'm working in a darkened area, it makes me feel a little safer knowing I'm not going to stumble or reach down and inadvertently brush up against some hot brass.

[a.squibload]

Looks good, rotating for even heating, and the steel limits the "heat zone".

[cajun shooter]

A very easy and fast way to anneal your brass is the use of a deep socket that has a piece of 1/4 rod welded to it's bottom. The socket is placed into a 1/2 inch drill and rotated on slow speed. When the proper color is reached you just tip the brass out into a box containing old rags or towels.
Dipping into water will not give the same results as air drying which is what I prefer.
There is a man by the name of Jim who sells the tool already made.
Look for Gentleman Jim Products. He is a good friend with Kenny Wasserburger and a good guy to do business with.
He sells many products for BPCR shooting.
KW told me that he anneals before each firing of his competition brass.

[uscra112]

Never in all my years heard anybody advocate aircooling brass when annealing. Cooling quickly stops the heat from migrating down the side of the case, which you don't want annealed. I'll keep on water-quenching, thanks!

Phil

[montana_charlie]

drop in the brass and heat to a light glow in a dimly lit room .

You are heating quite a bit more than necessary. The color change from brass yellow to blue is easily seen in a well-lit room.

CM

[montana_charlie]

Never in all my years heard anybody advocate aircooling brass when annealing.

There have been many videos made of the various automatic annealing machines doing their thing.
I have never seen even one where a water bucket is set up to catch the hot brass.

Likewise, I have watched documentries of cases being manufactured, and they get annealed at several points. In none of those are the hot cases quenched.

So, I don't either ...

CM

[nicholst55]

A very easy and fast way to anneal your brass is the use of a deep socket that has a piece of 1/4 rod welded to it's bottom. The socket is placed into a 1/2 inch drill and rotated on slow speed. When the proper color is reached you just tip the brass out into a box containing old rags or towels.
Dipping into water will not give the same results as air drying which is what I prefer.
There is a man by the name of Jim who sells the tool already made.
Look for Gentleman Jim Products. He is a good friend with Kenny Wasserburger and a good guy to do business with.
He sells many products for BPCR shooting.
KW told me that he anneals before each firing of his competition brass.

Hornady makes a very similar set of three heatsinks, that they sell with (or without) a bottle of Tempilaq. I use them for most rifle cartridges that I shoot, but large rimmed cases like .45-70 won't fit into any of their heatsinks. I had to improvise for that one.

Hornady Annealing System

[cajun shooter]

Very familiar with the Hornady products. The tool by Jim will handle 45-70 and up as it was designed for BPCR shooters.

[DLCTEX]

No need to weld a rod onto a socket. Harbor freight has a three size (1/2, 3/8, and 1/4) socket adapter that is 1/4 hex drive. Just choose a socket that holds the cartridge in question and spin with a cordless drill. When annealed just tip and drop the cartridge into your medium of choice.