Dr. Vette
Handloader
- Apr 16, 2012
- 1,480
- 365
After having some problems with neck tension consistency using the FC brass that came with my rifle I thought I'd better finally try my hand at annealing. I would love a Bench Source unit but don't shoot enough to justify the $500 outlay right now. I tossed out the idea Sunday afternoon at the gun club that some of us should group together and buy a unit, but no one else bit, so...
I bought some 450 degree Tempilaq because that is what was readily available through the local welding supply company. Nobody had 650 or even knew if they could order it. All of the brass has been prepped by depriming, cleaning, etc and was rejected a week ago because I couldn't get consistent necks; most bounced right back when trying to size them with a collet neck die. So, they were all prime candidates. All received a small line of Tempilaq about 1/8" below the shoulder, with 5 of the 10 then receiving a line running all the way down the case. I am using MAPP gas, and quenching in water as soon as I see a bit of red in my darkened garage. Only 1 small wattage lightbulb is on. My cordless drill and a 12mm deep socket held the brass and spun it. I first tested 20 cull brass of the same brand to get the technique down.
Below are the photos of the brass. The single 450 degree line burned up about 1 second before the first hint of redness appeared, and did so consistently. Each piece was in the flame for about 6 seconds. You can also see that the ones with the long stripe burned about the same degree consistently too. Of note, the first 3 photos have the Tempilaq stripes facing up, on the 4th photo they are on the bottom away from the camera.
So how do they look? Color good or not good? Any additional recommendations before I do more?
I'm tempted to next run these through my Lee collet die and see how the neck sizing works to see if I gained anything with this experiment. However I thought I'd post them here first for your thoughts.
Patrick
I bought some 450 degree Tempilaq because that is what was readily available through the local welding supply company. Nobody had 650 or even knew if they could order it. All of the brass has been prepped by depriming, cleaning, etc and was rejected a week ago because I couldn't get consistent necks; most bounced right back when trying to size them with a collet neck die. So, they were all prime candidates. All received a small line of Tempilaq about 1/8" below the shoulder, with 5 of the 10 then receiving a line running all the way down the case. I am using MAPP gas, and quenching in water as soon as I see a bit of red in my darkened garage. Only 1 small wattage lightbulb is on. My cordless drill and a 12mm deep socket held the brass and spun it. I first tested 20 cull brass of the same brand to get the technique down.
Below are the photos of the brass. The single 450 degree line burned up about 1 second before the first hint of redness appeared, and did so consistently. Each piece was in the flame for about 6 seconds. You can also see that the ones with the long stripe burned about the same degree consistently too. Of note, the first 3 photos have the Tempilaq stripes facing up, on the 4th photo they are on the bottom away from the camera.
So how do they look? Color good or not good? Any additional recommendations before I do more?
I'm tempted to next run these through my Lee collet die and see how the neck sizing works to see if I gained anything with this experiment. However I thought I'd post them here first for your thoughts.
Patrick
