blow torch, water and brass cases
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he's attempting to anneal the cases. he wants to make the necks softer w/o changing the metal around the head of the case in order to get more life out of them. brass hardens as it is worked (fired, resized) and the necks eventually split
and by "attempting" i mean he's probably accomplishing nothing
and by "attempting" i mean he's probably accomplishing nothing
Mt Shooter
Member
He is annealing them, once they get to a certain temp you knock it over into the water I believe is how it works. Not sure how you tell what the temp is unless he is looking for a color change or something.
74sharps
Member
Color is what is being watched. I've been looking into that same thing for my .41LC. Brass runs a bit more than I care to pay and can be fire formed from .38SPL. easy enough.
yeah, lots of new brass is annealed and has a odd discoloration around the neck.
i'd consider this before doing the "knock it over in water" method. http://www.6mmbr.com/annealing.html
i'd consider this before doing the "knock it over in water" method. http://www.6mmbr.com/annealing.html
mrkubota
Member
...to slow on the keyboard for me...
qajaq59
Member
It's not hard to do, but if you're going to start annealing, read up on it and practice on some scrap brass before attacking your good cases. It takes a little knowledge and practice to get it done right.
redneck2
Member
Go to Varmint Al's site to find out how it's done.
IIRC, most all commercial cases are annealed before their first loading. On some military brass and commercial brass in very large calibers, you'll see the heat marks on the brass.
I hand form brass for my .357 Herrett and anneal it. Pretty easy to do.
IIRC, most all commercial cases are annealed before their first loading. On some military brass and commercial brass in very large calibers, you'll see the heat marks on the brass.
I hand form brass for my .357 Herrett and anneal it. Pretty easy to do.
Floppy_D
Member In Memoriam
Good article, taliv.
jmorris
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A friend of mine uses this technique on 300 Weatherby cases. Using handheld propane torch not Oxy/Act. As above, in 1” of water, heat to color change and tip as you are just annealing the neck and shoulder. He clams cases last over twice as long when annealed every other loading.
rcmodel
Member in memoriam
That's the way I have done it for about 40 some years.
I very seldom anneal anything anymore, but used too a lot when using GI 30-06 brass to make several smaller calibers.
Heat to light red and tip over in the water.
Contrary to some folks opinion, it works just fine.
Without it, case loss is unacceptable when re-forming or fire-forming 30-06 & .308 to many other calibers.
With it, every case is a good one when you get done.
rcmodel
I very seldom anneal anything anymore, but used too a lot when using GI 30-06 brass to make several smaller calibers.
Heat to light red and tip over in the water.
Contrary to some folks opinion, it works just fine.
Without it, case loss is unacceptable when re-forming or fire-forming 30-06 & .308 to many other calibers.
With it, every case is a good one when you get done.
rcmodel
cracked butt
Member
Just hold the case in your fingers and heat it with a propane torch until the neck discolors down to the shoulder. It doesn't need to be water cooled to annel the brass.
For easy annealing get some of these.
http://www.markingpendepot.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=268
At whatever temp range you think is best. Some folks think 650 degrees is right, some say 700 degrees.
Put the casing in some sort of holder that you can use in a power drill or screwdriver. Apply some of the Tempilstik to the neck then heat with a propane torch until the wax melts (This is usually around 8 seconds, give or take a couple), then tip into water to prevent heat from moving the the base of the case.
Rapid cooling of brass does not adversely affect it, so no worries about that.
http://www.markingpendepot.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=268
At whatever temp range you think is best. Some folks think 650 degrees is right, some say 700 degrees.
Put the casing in some sort of holder that you can use in a power drill or screwdriver. Apply some of the Tempilstik to the neck then heat with a propane torch until the wax melts (This is usually around 8 seconds, give or take a couple), then tip into water to prevent heat from moving the the base of the case.
Rapid cooling of brass does not adversely affect it, so no worries about that.
TurboFC3S
Member
You must have asbestos fingers ...
zxcvbob
Member
How about dunking the case necks in a pot of molten lead? That seems faster and better temperature control (not that I've tried it yet)
cracked butt
Member
If you are doing it correctly it will only heat the neck to annealing temperatures before the brass is too hot to hand on to.
cracked butt
Member
If you are doing it correctly it will only heat the neck to annealing temperatures before the brass is too hot to hang on to. You can see the part that is annealed because it will turn a silverish color and have sort of a blueish rainbow color at the edge of where the annealing is. Like I said, your fingers won't get hot holding on to the rim, and it won't overanneal the case if you stop when the color change gets close to the shoulder. You don't need to get the brass glowing red or try to melt it or anything, just 3 seconds or so in the hottest part of a propane torch's flame and you're done.
cracked butt
Member
I borrowed this short movie from a post on another site, please follow the link and look at post #10 for a full explaination. I've been doing annealing this way for several months since I read that.
http://parallaxscurioandrelicfirear...3884/t/annealing-brass-to-help-fire-form.html
Clark
Member
I did that for a while after reading Varmint Al's site.
I don't do it anymore, ever at, at all, for any reason.
For some cartridges I now buy no turn neck reamers and have Forster sizing dies honed out at the factory.
For some cartridges I now will just buy new brass if the neck splits.
I must have 30,000 pieces of brass, have shot 5,000 rounds in my life, and have 15 years left to shoot.
No more annealing for me.
I don't do it anymore, ever at, at all, for any reason.
For some cartridges I now buy no turn neck reamers and have Forster sizing dies honed out at the factory.
For some cartridges I now will just buy new brass if the neck splits.
I must have 30,000 pieces of brass, have shot 5,000 rounds in my life, and have 15 years left to shoot.
No more annealing for me.
cracked butt
Member
I don't bother with .223, .308, or 30-06, those are all very easy to replace.
The 8x57, 8x56r, .303, and 6.5x55 cases do get annealed though.
David Wile
Member
Hey folks,
When I first started reloading, it was quite common to anneal cases after trimming them. The method was to stand them in a pan with an inch of water, heat the neck and shoulder of a case with a propane torch till it was cherry red, knock it over in the water and move on to the next case until finished.
I did this for a while, but then realized that both case stretching and case hardening were more related to shooting hot loads. I was not shooting hot loads and noticed that my full length resizing and shooting was not making the cases longer like some folks shooting hot loads. Pretty soon I realized I really did not have to trim or anneal my cases.
I would think if you are shooting cases hard you will have more of a need to trim and anneal cases to get more shooting life out of them.
Best wishes,
Dave Wile
When I first started reloading, it was quite common to anneal cases after trimming them. The method was to stand them in a pan with an inch of water, heat the neck and shoulder of a case with a propane torch till it was cherry red, knock it over in the water and move on to the next case until finished.
I did this for a while, but then realized that both case stretching and case hardening were more related to shooting hot loads. I was not shooting hot loads and noticed that my full length resizing and shooting was not making the cases longer like some folks shooting hot loads. Pretty soon I realized I really did not have to trim or anneal my cases.
I would think if you are shooting cases hard you will have more of a need to trim and anneal cases to get more shooting life out of them.
Best wishes,
Dave Wile
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