Annealing Made Perfect

[tcoz]

I don't anneal my brass but if I did this is the machine I'd want.....this and a pocketful of cash..

https://www.creedmoorsports.com/product/3554/Annealing-Made-Perfect

It appears to be a lot more sophisticated than the other induction annealers I've seen.

 

[salpal48]

To buy a machine Like that , is a total waste Of Money. . I First have been annealing By hand for 40 years Then purchase a Sagebrush annealer. The Myth of annealing with the Correct Temp. is Just that myth. Annealing Is a leaning Process To be acquired Through practice.
Companies have Now Found a new way To extract More cash and Turn a Simple procedure Into a science. Then There are The Loaders who swallow This Crap Hook , line and sinker. . people should save there money and Buy something simple. sine I have my machine . I have used It on a regular basis. without problem, remember Practice and Learn

 

[tcoz]

I don't know anything about annealing.....so, you're saying that all of the technical talk I read and all of these devices people create and sell to make the process easier and faster aren't necessary and you can get results that are just as good by doing it the old fashioned way?
It doesn't surprise me. We seem to be pretty good at doing that.

 

[salpal48]

Yes, Annealing with Loading has been around since 1920-30. Phil Sharp In his 1937 book . " Complete Guide to Handloading .". Outlined . The basic process. . A pan of water . deprimed cases in the pan mid way filled. . Heat The case all around with a Torch until neck and shoulder Turns aLight Brownish, Not red or Cherry red.. It just makes the neck somewhat softer . Red or Cherry make Them too soft.. after Heating submerge case into the water . Now this hand Method will not let you know the exact temp. But makes No difference. .
This hand process Is slow if you have a lot of cases to do. . I purchase this basic machine to do it faster. You can view The Sagebrush On Line To see. This is a simple Turntable. where You place The case and make a 1 RPM motor . You can anneal appox 36 cases per minute. . No water needed. . the case passes through The flame in appox 1.5 seconds then falls into may box to cools. simple and quick.
Yes This machine was $350.00. I decided To buy This machine because it will handle Rimmed as well as Rimless case. It will take 2 Torches . I use the Burns O Matic Mini torch with the Tanks under My table. i can do appox 500 case in about 20 minutes. quick simple and easy. simple adjustment. i know Guys who Built there Own. if you want. But I chose to Buy One. I have seen Guys Buy those expensive machine with Feeders ,Cooler . . It is just an Ego Booster . or as they end up On the Garage sale Table for $20.00.
I have seen Guys annealing 5.56 Brass. Why spend a $1000 to anneal a .10 cent piece Of brass. just scrap it

 

[Tinybob]

I use the hand method too. Burnz o matic, hold top 1/3 of brass in front of flame, while turning, till it's too hot to hold with your fingers, drop in a pan of water. The reason for holding with your fingers is you won't get the bottom 2/3 of case too hot. You learn not to burn your fingers pretty quickly.

 

[R. Cobb]

I do the same, except I don't use the water method. I have the two ounce bottle of Tempilaq 750*, (painted on the inside of the mouth on a few cases out of the lot) it cooks off before your fingers get too hot. I then drop them into a metal coffee can to cool. Then onto decapping and resizing the bass. Then into walnut cleaner before I finish the processing.
I have done both. Same results but with no drying time with the dry method.

 

[Orcon]

Here is my DIY anealer. Let me know if you want one, I'm selling them for $100 a piece.

 

[dh1633pm]

I'll buy one if you can modify the wallpaper on the anealer base? For $100 is quite a deal.

 

[Captcurt]

I don't know anything about annealing.....so, you're saying that all of the technical talk I read and all of these devices people create and sell to make the process easier and faster aren't necessary and you can get results that are just as good by doing it the old fashioned way?
It doesn't surprise me. We seem to be pretty good at doing that.

I guess I am behind the times. I have reloaded since the mid 70's and the only time that I annealed anything was when making brass for 308 Norma Mag out of 300 H&H. I had to cut about 1/2" off of the case, set a shoulder and fireform it. I annealed it because the neck of the new brass was originally shoulder. All it took to anneal was a pan of water and propane torch. Worked for 40 rounds just fine and cost less than a dollar in gas. I suppose I should get with the program and spend a load of money on a machine instead of buying new brass.

 

[tcoz]

I have enough brass on hand that it would take a couple of years for me to shoot through all of it one time much less the three, four or five times that I could shoot it before having to anneal.

 

[redbullitt]

Honestly I have had success with the candle method... lol Regular ole torch and fingers on the casehead does work too. Not worried about glow or anything like that. Before it burns me it gets quenched. Doesnt need to be totally annealed or anything like that perfect stuff you see people going for I dont think.

All I want to do is relax the brass and take out the hardening, and I do not think you need to get it as hot as people often do. Not ideal or the most accurate I am sure, but I have had noticeable success with it. I have had good lapua 223 cases fired many times, and the necks were obviously work hardened and groups were notably poor. Annealed with a torch and quenched... voila bullets seated worlds better AND precision was as expected on firing them.

Just shot a 10 shot group with that brass today... still going strong and does not need annealed again yet.

I would like to have a machine... but it is an unlikely purchase. If I were a competition shooter in need of high volumes of the BEST possible brass it would be a legit consideration as my methods are not conducive to that kind of shooting.

 

[Walkalong]

Here is my DIY anealer. Let me know if you want one, I'm selling them for $100 a piece.

View attachment 232994

A bargain for sure. Nice.

 

[tcoz]

Actually, I'm probably going to start exploring an inexpensive annealing solution. I have about 200 previously fired Lapua cases that I bought and I'll likely be recycling quite a few times.

 

[someguy2800]

I anneal 223 brass after it's been loaded 6 or so times. I've spent a lot of time sorting and prepping this lot of brass so it's worth it to me. I also anneal before forming 30 and 357 herrett from 30-30.

I turn off the lights so it's dark and set a propane torch on the floor. Put a piece of brass in a cordless drill and turn at low speed in the flame till you see the first hint of glow. Drop it in a bucket of water. 100 rounds in half an hour mabey? Works fine for doing it once a year.

 

[Nature Boy]

I recently purchased an annealeez (careful how you type that if googling. )

Paid around $250 for it. More expensive than the "little sumpin" for sure but with a bottle of Tempilaq 750 deg I can process a lot of brass in a consistent and repeatable manner.

 

[RPRNY]

I recently purchased an annealeez (careful how you type that if googling. )

Paid around $250 for it. More expensive than the "little sumpin" for sure but with a bottle of Tempilaq 750 deg I can process a lot of brass in a consistent and repeatable manner.

I too recently got the dangerous to spell product you refer to. It works really well with rimless and rebated rim cartridges. Not so well with rimmed and, to date, impossible with 45-70. Any advice?

 

[stoky]

I don't anneal my brass but if I did this is the machine I'd want.....this and a pocketful of cash..
It appears to be a lot more sophisticated than the other induction annealers I've seen.

yowzer
Low voltage induction heaters are cheep.
Anyone using an IR thermometer to monitor brass heating?
At some point, it seems like you have to consider the cost of new brass now and then (which you're going to want anyway) vs the cost of an elaborate machine.

 

[tcoz]

If annealing with the simple torch & drill method, is there any benefit derived from under annealing or do you have to get the temp just right to get any benefit at all?
Like I said, i dont know anything about the process and techniques.

 

[ilbob]

I have never annealed any cases, but that is largely becasue I have not reloaded a lot of bottle neck rifle cases since I learned that it helps save the brass. I think these days I probably would anneal it.

Like many things, you can do it the hard, slow, and/or cheap way, or an easier, faster, and more expensive way.

 

[Nature Boy]

impossible with 45-70. Any advice?

I can't help you on that one. .308/.223/.30-06/.358 are the only calibers I currently load for. Have you called the guy that makes it? He might have some custom wheels that accommodate the rim.

Anyone using an IR thermometer to monitor brass heating?

I tried that but couldn't get a good reading. For now, I'm trusting the tempilaq to tell me how hot I'm getting the brass

 

[Nature Boy]

If annealing with the simple torch & drill method, is there any benefit derived from under annealing or do you have to get the temp just right to get any benefit at all?
Like I said, i dont know anything about the process and techniques.

From all I've been able to gather, under annealing does absolutely nothing other than waste your time. You have to reach a critical temp for a inversely proportional time to change properties, while avoiding getting too hot or having the heat travel too far down the case and soften parts that need to be hard (i.e. the case head area)

I'm in no way pioneer in this endeavor, I'm just following what other people have done and trusting the process controls to avoid 1) wasting my time and 2) ruining my brass. So far I've been successful

I anneal after every firing and find that it improves the consistency of neck tension on the bullet, one of the keys to consistent accuracy.......at least that's the conventional wisdom

 

[someguy2800]

I not educated in metallurgy but I was told that a good method is heating them till they faintly glow in a room with no lights on to tell that they are the right temp. The guy who told me this forms a lot of wildcats so I just follow his advice and don't worry about it. All I know is it sure make forming herrett brass a heck of a lot easier and I've never ruined a case.

 

[tcoz]

I anneal after every firing and find that it improves the consistency of neck tension on the bullet, one of the keys to consistent accuracy.......at least that's the conventional wisdom

I would've thought that annealing too many times would adversely affect the integrity of the brass. I've never heard of somebody doing it after every firing.

 

[Nature Boy]

I would've thought that annealing too many times would adversely affect the integrity of the brass. I've never heard of somebody doing it after every firing.

As long as you're aren't over heating them you aren't hurting them. Regarding the frequency, some folks don't trim their brass after every sizing either. I trim and anneal every time for the same reasons:

1. I'm anal (a condition that seems to be tailor made for this ridiculous hobby)
2. for the consistency

 

[Orcon]

I would've thought that annealing too many times would adversely affect the integrity of the brass. I've never heard of somebody doing it after every firing.

Nah, so long as you don't exceed the boiling point of zinc (1665°F) or anneal past the shoulder you're fine. That's why I don't like the idea of putting MAPP gas on my cases, the stuff burns at over 3600°F.