Annealing brass

[DaveA37]

I'm curious and wonder:

Do you anneal your rifle cartridge cases?

How many reloads between annealing?

What annealing process do you use (Procedure?)

 

[rick smith]

Yes I anneal my rifle. I use the temp indictor by Hornady. Use to anneal without an indicator but prefer to use an indicator. Anneal after four firings on the average.Rick.

 

[DaveA37]

bump

 

[trailrider121]

pm sent

 

[corbin9191]

I do anneal all of my brass, for the 308 win and 270 win I will anneal after about every 2-3 firings. But for my nickle brass for the 7mm wsm I will anneal every 1-2 firings. I just hold the back of the brass and when it gets to hot I can't hold onto it any more (7-9 seconds) I will just drop it into some water.

 

[OregonCoyoteKiller]

I saw a annealing machine, it was turntable with holes in it, the holes held water and the brass sat in the holes upright. A propane torch pointed at one brass at a time. But I dont know the rate the turntable went. Slow and steady, one at a time, dont know.

 

[roysclockgun]

I have never annealed brass. This, not because I do not believe that doing so may be a good idea. I just have never needed to cause brass to last longer than I find that it last without annealing. When I go to the range, I always pick up brass that is mine and from others, who let once fired brass lay on the range. Add to that the fact that most of my ammo, of which I fire a high rate, was purchased in bulk when surplus cartridges were very inexpensive in cases of 1000 or more. Much of it was under ten cents a round. Because of this, I end up with crates of once fired brass that I can lay aside until needed. When a batch of much reloaded brass begins to show cracked necks when I full length resize, I just dump the entire batch into the recycle brass bin and get out a new batch.
As I said, I have not annealed, but aside from that, I have read that most annealing processes are hit or miss at best.
Steven L. Ashe

 

[BigBlack]

I anneal not just to extend life of my brass but to also increase neck tension consistency. Here is an example of my personal test that convinced me. Here I annealed 6 cases and left 6 un-annealed. I loaded them and shot for groups. My Annealed brass out performed my un-annealed brass. These loads are for a regular ol hunting rifle and shot at 100 yards.

 

[ScreaminEagle]

I don't mean to hijack your thread but I have a question regarding this process too. I have seen it done in a pan of water where the case is heated then tipped over into the water. Can anyone explain this process also when should it be done?

 

[OregonCoyoteKiller]

Check these out
http://www.rifleshootermag.com/new_prod ... index.html
This ones cool : http://www.6mmbr.citymaker.com/f/JDK_Annealer.wmv
Not sure if this guy knows what he is doing: http://www.ammoland.com/2010/05/03/anne ... n-casings/
This talks about water in the pan. :http://www.realguns.com/Commentary/comar46.htm

 

[HeathSexton]

I anneal every 3 firings, I just use a candle.

 

[roysclockgun]

There are so many procedures used to anneal, I have to wonder which ones have any sort of scientific back-up, demonstrating that they are more than just a waste of time.
Certainly the temperature to which the cases are heated, have some bearing on the effectivenes of the annealing. How hot is too hot? When does one know that they are heating enough to do any good?
I know from repairing antique clocks for many years, that working brass hardens it. But how much heat is needed to "soften" the brass, in order to cause it to be close to what it was when new, would be difficult to gauge, outside of a very scientific laboratory. No?
Best,
Steven

 

[DaveA37]

Here is a very good article with photos on annealing brass.

http://www.6mmbr.com/annealing.html

And another,

http://www.ehow.com/list_6781792_anneal ... cases.html

DaveA37

 

[BigBlack]

There are so many procedures used to anneal, I have to wonder which ones have any sort of scientific back-up, demonstrating that they are more than just a waste of time.
Certainly the temperature to which the cases are heated, have some bearing on the effectivenes of the annealing. How hot is too hot? When does one know that they are heating enough to do any good?
I know from repairing antique clocks for many years, that working brass hardens it. But how much heat is needed to "soften" the brass, in order to cause it to be close to what it was when new, would be difficult to gauge, outside of a very scientific laboratory. No?
Best,
Steven

They make marking paint that burns at specific temperatures. I use Tempilaq to determine how hot my necks get. Lapua anneals their brass as you can tell by the discoloration around the neck, and all military loads I have seen are annealed, so I am sure someone has done lab test to find the correct temperature. From all my reading 650 is about right so that is the temperature Tempilaq I use. I also use a cooler Tempilaq down on the body and case head to make sure that part does not get annealed.

 

[big rifle man]

The articles on case annealing were very interesting but the 650 degree tempilaq caught my attention. The Hornady kit contains a bottle of 475 degree tempilaq which, if you read the article doesn't seem to be enough heat. I spoke with a Hornady tech and was told when the 475 degree tempilaq (which is painted 1/3 of the way down the case body) melts the neck is 650 degrees. I'm sure a lot of case annealers knew this but I didn't. Just some food for thought for the newbies including me.